Space: The Solar System
Published

One year on this giant, blistering hot planet is just 16 hours long      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have discovered an ultrahot Jupiter with shortest orbit of any known gas giant planet.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Carbon dioxide cold traps on the moon are confirmed for the first time      (via sciencedaily.com) 

After decades of uncertainty, researchers have confirmed the existence of lunar carbon dioxide cold traps that could potentially contain solid carbon dioxide. The discovery will likely have a major influence in shaping future lunar missions and could impact the feasibility of a sustained robot or human presence on the moon.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Near-earth asteroid might be a lost fragment of the moon      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Near-Earth asteroid Kamo`oalewa could be a fragment of our moon.

Physics: Acoustics and Ultrasound
Published

A personalized exosuit for real-world walking      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have developed a new approach in which robotic exosuit assistance can be calibrated to an individual and adapt to a variety of real-world walking tasks in a matter of seconds. The bioinspired system uses ultrasound measurements of muscle dynamics to develop a personalized and activity-specific assistance profile for users of the exosuit.

Physics: Acoustics and Ultrasound
Published

Adding sound to quantum simulations      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Aiming to emulate the quantum characteristics of materials more realistically, researchers have figured out a way to create a lattice of light and atoms that can vibrate -- bringing sound to an otherwise silent experiment.

Physics: Acoustics and Ultrasound
Published

Noninvasive imaging strategy detects dangerous blood clots in the body      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Investigators have developed and tested a targeted contrast agent that can detect blood clots in the hearts of patients with atrial fibrillation, or an irregular heartbeat. The strategy could be used to find clots in other parts of the body as well, such as in vessels that, when blocked, can lead to stroke.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Juno peers deep into Jupiter’s colorful belts and zones      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study of data captured in orbit around Jupiter has revealed new insights into what's happening deep beneath the gas giant's distinctive and colorful bands.

Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Space: The Solar System
Published

A lab in the sky: Physics experiment in Earth’s atmosphere could help improve GPS performance      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The Earth's atmosphere has been used as a 'laboratory' to carry out a physics experiment which could help to improve the performance of GPS.

Physics: Acoustics and Ultrasound
Published

Flexible device could treat hearing loss without batteries      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Some people are born with hearing loss, while others acquire it with age, infections or long-term noise exposures. In many instances, the tiny hairs in the inner ear's cochlea that allow the brain to recognize electrical pulses as sound are damaged. As a step toward an advanced artificial cochlea, researchers report a conductive membrane, which translated sound waves into matching electrical signals when implanted inside a model ear, without requiring external power.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Astronomers provide 'field guide' to exoplanets known as hot Jupiters      (via sciencedaily.com) 

By combining Hubble Space Telescope observations with theoretical models, a team of astronomers has gained insights into the chemical and physical makeup of a variety of exoplanets known as hot Jupiters. The findings provide a new and improved 'field guide' for this group of planets and inform ideas about planet formation in general.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Titan’s river maps may advise Dragonfly’s 'sedimental' journey      (via sciencedaily.com) 

With future space exploration in mind, a team of astronomers has published the final maps of Titan's liquid methane rivers and tributaries -- as seen by NASA's late Cassini mission -- so that may help provide context for Dragonfly's upcoming 2030s expedition.

Space: The Solar System
Published

NASA, ULA launch Lucy Mission to ‘fossils’ of planet formation      (via sciencedaily.com) 

NASA's Lucy mission, the agency's first to Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Over the next 12 years, Lucy will fly by one main-belt asteroid and seven Trojan asteroids, making it the agency's first single spacecraft mission in history to explore so many different asteroids. Lucy will investigate these 'fossils' of planetary formation up close during its journey.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Evidence of superionic ice provides new insights into unusual magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Not all ice is the same. The solid form of water comes in more than a dozen different - sometimes more, sometimes less crystalline - structures, depending on the conditions of pressure and temperature in the environment. Superionic ice is a special crystalline form, half solid, half liquid - and electrically conductive. Its existence has been predicted on the basis of various models and has already been observed on several occasions under - very extreme - laboratory conditions. New results provide another piece of the puzzle in the spectrum of the manifestations of water. And they may also help to explain the unusual magnetic fields of the planets Uranus and Neptune, which contain a lot of water.

Space: Exploration Space: The Solar System
Published

Did Venus ever have oceans?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astrophysicists have investigated the past of Venus to find out whether Earth's sister planet once had oceans.

Space: The Solar System
Published

To watch a comet form, a spacecraft could tag along for a journey toward the sun      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new article proposes that space probes could hitch a ride with 'centaurs' as they become comets. Along the way, the spacecraft would gather data that would otherwise be impossible to record -- including how comets, Earth-like planets, and even the solar system formed.

Space: The Solar System
Published

A 5-sigma standard model anomaly is possible      (via sciencedaily.com) 

One of the best chances for proving beyond-the-standard-model physics relies on something called the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix. The standard model insists that the CKM matrix, which describes the mixing of quarks, should be unitary. But growing evidence suggests that during certain forms of radioactive decay, the unitarity of the CKM matrix might break.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Radio signals from distant stars suggest hidden planets      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Using the world's most powerful radio antenna, scientists have discovered stars unexpectedly blasting out radio waves, possibly indicating the existence of hidden planets.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Chang'e-5 samples reveal key age of moon rocks      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A lunar probe launched by the Chinese space agency recently brought back the first fresh samples of rock and debris from the moon in more than 40 years. Now an international team of scientists has determined the age of these moon rocks at close to 1.97 billion years old.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Scientists confirm decrease in Pluto’s atmospheric density      (via sciencedaily.com) 

When Pluto passed in front of a star on the night of August 15, 2018, astronomers deployed telescopes at numerous sites in the U.S. and Mexico to observe Pluto's atmosphere as it was briefly backlit by the well-placed star. Scientists used this occultation event to measure the overall abundance of Pluto's tenuous atmosphere and found compelling evidence that it is beginning to disappear, refreezing back onto its surface as it moves farther away from the Sun.

Space: The Solar System
Published

‘Planet confusion’ could slow Earth-like exoplanet exploration      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study finds that next-generation telescopes used to see exoplanets could confuse Earth-like planets with other types of planets in the same solar system.