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Categories: Engineering: Robotics Research, Space: The Solar System
Published Astronomers uncover methane emission on a cold brown dwarf
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Astronomers have discovered methane emission on a brown dwarf, an unexpected finding for such a cold and isolated world. The findings suggest that this brown dwarf might generate aurorae similar to those seen on our own planet as well as on Jupiter and Saturn.
Published 'Tube map' around planets and moons made possible by knot theory
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have developed a new method using knot theory to find the optimal routes for future space missions without the need to waste fuel.
Published Novel robotic training program reduces physician errors placing central lines
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source More than five million central lines are placed in patients who need prolonged drug delivery, such as those undergoing cancer treatments, in the United States every year, yet the common procedure can lead to a bevy of complications in almost a million of those cases. Researchers developed a robotic simulation training program to provide trainee physicians with more practice on the procedure. A year after deploying the program the team found that all complication types -- mechanical issues, infections and blood clots -- were significantly lower.
Published No gamma rays seen coming from nearby supernova
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A nearby supernova in 2023 offered astrophysicists an excellent opportunity to test ideas about how these types of explosions boost particles, called cosmic rays, to near light-speed. But surprisingly, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected none of the high-energy gamma-ray light those particles should produce.
Published Most massive stellar black hole in our galaxy found
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Astronomers have identified the most massive stellar black hole yet discovered in the Milky Way galaxy. This black hole was spotted in data from the European Space Agency's Gaia mission because it imposes an odd 'wobbling' motion on the companion star orbiting it. Astronomers have verified the mass of the black hole, putting it at an impressive 33 times that of the Sun.
Published How Pluto got its heart
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The mystery of how Pluto got a giant heart-shaped feature on its surface has finally been solved by an international team of astrophysicists. The team is the first to successfully reproduce the unusual shape with numerical simulations, attributing it to a giant and slow oblique-angle impact.
Published Stellar winds of three sun-like stars detected for the first time
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An international research team has for the first time directly detected stellar winds from three Sun-like stars by recording the X-ray emission from their astrospheres, and placed constraints on the mass loss rate of the stars via their stellar winds.
Published Exoplanets true to size
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A star's magnetic field must be considered in order to correctly determine the characteristics of exoplanets from observations by space telescopes such as Kepler, James Webb, or PLATO. Researchers show that the distribution of the star's brightness over its disk depends on the star's level of magnetic activity. This, in turn, affects the signature of an exoplanet in observational data. The new model must be used in order to properly interpret the data from the latest generation of space telescopes pointed at distant worlds outside our Solar System.
Published Star Trek's Holodeck recreated using ChatGPT and video game assets
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Star Trek's Holodeck is no longer just science fiction. Using AI, engineers have created a tool that can generate 3D environments, prompted by everyday language.
Published The hidden role of the Milky Way in ancient Egyptian mythology
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Astrophysicists shed light on the relationship between the Milky Way and the Egyptian sky-goddess Nut. The paper draws on ancient Egyptian texts and simulations to argue that the Milky Way might have shone a spotlight, as it were, on Nut's role as the sky. It proposes that in winter, the Milky Way highlighted Nut's outstretched arms, while in summer, it traced her backbone across the heavens.
Published Study shedding new light on Earth's global carbon cycle could help assess liveability of other planets
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Research has uncovered important new insights into the evolution of oxygen, carbon, and other vital elements over the entire history of Earth -- and it could help assess which other planets can develop life, ranging from plants to animals and humans.
Published Engineers design soft and flexible 'skeletons' for muscle-powered robots
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Engineers designed modular, spring-like devices to maximize the work of live muscle fibers so they can be harnessed to power biohybrid robots.
Published How the moon turned itself inside out
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Linking analyses of the moon's gravity field with models of its earliest evolution, scientists tell a story of the moon turning itself inside out after it solidified from a primordial magma ocean. The process left behind a vestige of dense, titanium-rich material beneath its Earth-facing side that makes its presence known by gravity anomalies.
Published Climate change threatens Antarctic meteorites
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Antarctica harbors a large concentration of meteorites imbuing the icy continent with an unparalleled wealth of information on our solar system. However, these precious meteorites are rapidly disappearing from the ice sheet surface due to global warming, according to a new study.
Published Neutron stars are key to understanding elusive dark matter
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists may be one step closer to unlocking one of the great mysteries of the universe after calculating that neutron stars might hold a key to helping us understand elusive dark matter.
Published CHEOPS detects a 'rainbow' on an exoplanet
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The CHEOPS space telescope is providing new information on the mysterious exoplanet WASP-76b. This ultra-hot giant is characterized by an asymmetry between the amount of light observed on its eastern terminator -- the fictitious line that separates its night side from its day side -- and that observed on its western terminator. This peculiarity is thought to be due to a 'glory', a luminous phenomenon similar to a rainbow, which occurs if the light from the star -- the 'sun' around which the exoplanet orbits -- is reflected by clouds made up of a perfectly uniform substance. If this hypothesis is confirmed, this would be the first detection of this phenomenon outside our solar system.
Published 'Smart swarms' of tiny robots inspired by natural herd mentality
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers gave nanorobots a trait called adaptive time delay, which allows them to better work together.
Published Intelligent liquid
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have developed a programmable meta-fluid with tunable springiness, optical properties, viscosity and even the ability to transition between a Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluid. The first-of-its-kind meta-fluid uses a suspension of small, elastomer spheres -- between 50 to 500 microns -- that buckle under pressure, radically changing the characteristics of the fluid. The meta-fluid could be used in everything from hydraulic actuators to program robots, to intelligent shock absorbers that can dissipate energy depending on the intensity of the impact, to optical devices that can transition from clear to opaque.
Published Elastocaloric cooling: Refrigerator cools by flexing artificial muscles
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source There is room for just one small bottle in the world's first refrigerator that is cooled with artificial muscles made of nitinol, a nickel-titanium alloy. But the mini-prototype is groundbreaking: it shows that elastocalorics is becoming a viable solution for practical applications. This climate-friendly cooling and heating technology is far more energy-efficient and sustainable than current methods.
Published Unlocking supernova stardust secrets
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research has discovered a rare dust particle trapped in an ancient extra-terrestrial meteorite that was formed by a star other than our sun.