Space
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AstronomyClouds in the Milky Way’s plasma bubbles came from the starry disk — and far beyond
Gas clouds in the Fermi bubbles have a wide range of chemical compositions, suggesting some may have been ripped from other galaxies.
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AstronomyA fast radio burst’s rapid, steady beat offers a clue to its cosmic origin
Amped-up neutron stars, pairs of magnetically entangled neutron stars or magnetar quakes could explain a three-second-long train of radio blips.
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AstronomyThe most distant rotating galaxy hails from 13.3 billion years ago
Astronomers have spotted a rotating galaxy whose light comes from just 500 million years after the Big Bang.
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AstronomyHere are the James Webb Space Telescope’s stunning first pictures
President Biden revealed the NASA telescope's image of ancient galaxies whose light has been traveling 13 billion years to reach us.
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AstronomySand clouds are common in atmospheres of brown dwarfs
Dozens of newly examined brown dwarfs have clouds of silicates, confirming an old theory and revealing how these failed stars live.
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Quantum PhysicsAliens could send quantum messages to Earth, calculations suggest
Scientists are developing quantum communications networks on Earth. Aliens, if they exist, could be going further.
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Planetary ScienceA new look at the ‘mineral kingdom’ may transform how we search for life
A new census of Earth’s crystal past hints that life may have begun earlier than expected, and could be a tool to look for water and life elsewhere.
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Earth50 years ago, a new theory of Earth’s core began solidifying
In 1972, scientists proposed that Earth’s core formed as the planet came together. Fifty years later, that theory is generally accepted, though many mysteries about the core remain.
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SpaceSix months in space leads to a decade’s worth of long-term bone loss
Even after a year of recovery in Earth’s gravity, astronauts who’d been in space six months or more still had bone loss equal to a decade of aging.
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AstronomyAn otherwise quiet galaxy in the early universe is spewing star stuff
Seen as it was 700 million years after the Big Bang, the galaxy churns out a relatively paltry number of stars. And yet it’s heaving gas into space.
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AstronomyGravitational wave ‘radar’ could help map the invisible universe
Gravity ripples scattering off warped spacetime near massive objects might help astronomers peer inside stars and find globs of dark matter.
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AstronomySeven newfound dwarf galaxies sit on just one side of a larger galaxy
Seven newly found dwarf galaxy candidates are stick to just one side of the large galaxy M81. Astronomers don’t know why.