Two teams of astronomers have found direct evidence that when a star goes supernova‚ it leaves behind a neutron star or a black hole. These are compact objects of extreme density; a teaspoon of neutron star material has the weight of a mountain‚ and nothing can escape a black hole. Their formation has long been linked with supernovae‚ but this is the first time that direct evidence has been seen linking the dramatic explosions and the extreme objects.Supernovae are extremely bright‚ and the objects they create are tiny‚ smaller than a city. Their nature is often assessed long after the supernova has faded. So‚ while we have found black holes and neutron stars where supernovae used to be and we have observed many supernovae right after they happened‚ humans had yet to see this direct link.In May 2022‚ South African amateur astronomer Berto Monard discovered the supernova SN 2022jli. Its light came from a spiral galaxy NGC 157‚ 75 million light-years away. Two teams immediately started studying the event and reported that as the brightness of the supernova began to decline‚ as it was expected to‚ it showed a periodic 12-day brightening and fading. Something quite unique.“In SN 2022jli’s data we see a repeating sequence of brightening and fading. This is the first time that repeated periodic oscillations‚ over many cycles‚ have been detected in a supernova light curve‚” lead author of one of the papers‚ Thomas Moore from Queen’s University Belfast‚ said in a statement.The periodic behavior was the tell-tale sign that the supernova had left something behind. Well‚ two things. The exploded star had a companion‚ which survived the explosive demise of its partner. That companion continued to orbit what was left over from the supernova. Moore’s team couldn’t pinpoint what behavior was causing this‚ but a second team led by Ping Chen from the Weizmann Institute of Science spotted periodic movement of hydrogen gas and gamma rays from the system.This was enough to paint a cosmic picture and reveal the compact object. The companion star has been interacting with the material ejected by the supernova‚ which made the companion puffier. Now‚ the compact object left behind by the supernova orbits through this puffy atmosphere. Whenever it does that‚ it steals matter‚ leading to a lot of energy being released. This can only be caused by a neutron star or black hole being left over from the supernova.“Our research is like solving a puzzle by gathering all possible evidence‚” Chen explained. “All these pieces lining up lead to the truth.”Moore’s paper was published a few months ago in The Astrophysical Journal. Chen’s paper is published today in the journal Nature and will be presented at the 243rd American Astronomical Society meeting in New Orleans.

Although awareness when under general anesthetic is‚ thankfully‚ pretty rare‚ it’s a phenomenon that appears to affect one group more than others: females. Until now‚ scientists haven’t been sure quite why this happens‚ but a new study suggests sex hormones could be a contributing factor.General anesthesia works in part by changing the activity of the hypothalamus‚ the part of the brain that regulates sleep and wakefulness‚ sending us into a state of controlled unconsciousness. Previous research has found that the circuits of neurons in this region differ between sexes and are modulated by sex hormones‚ but the impact of this on anesthesia has not been so well studied.Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania sought to change that‚ first by conducting a behavioral analysis of anesthetic sensitivity in both mice and humans. In mice‚ this involved the animals being able to detect and remove a sticker from their snout as a sign that they had emerged from anesthesia. The data from humans came from a trial involving 30 healthy volunteers‚ with researchers assessing their ability to respond to sound cues and carry out tests of awareness and cognition.In both cases‚ the results revealed that females took longer to become anesthetized and emerged from the state faster. They also discovered that the lesser resistance of males was modulated by testosterone; castrated male mice became more resistant‚ and then were less resistant when given testosterone injections.The next stage of the study was to monitor the brain under anesthesia. The first step in this was carrying out electroencephalograms (EEGs)‚ which can be used in clinical settings to measure the depth of the anesthetic state. Somewhat unexpectedly‚ this revealed no sex-based differences in either mice or humans. However‚ whole-brain activity mapping in mice did show differences‚ with higher levels of activity in the hypothalamus in male mice.In their paper‚ the researchers conclude that their results “demonstrate that sex differences in anesthetic sensitivity are evolutionarily conserved and not reflected in conventional [EEG]-based measures of anesthetic depth.” They further describe this as “covert resistance to anesthesia” and suggest that it may well explain the higher incidence of awareness under general anesthesia in females and why typical clinical approaches‚ such as EEGs‚ have not revealed any sex-based differences.The study’s conclusion also highlights another important factor – where the information clinicians use to guide anesthesia comes from. “In clinical settings‚ anesthetic administration is typically guided by data disproportionally compiled in males‚” the authors explain. “As we demonstrate‚ this approach may significantly underestimate anesthetic requirements for female patients.”Alongside further research‚ studies such as this may help in the path to ensuring that anesthesia is experienced equally.The study is published in the journal PNAS.

WASP-69b is an exoplanet that has just 30 percent of Jupiter's mass‚ but is 10 percent larger. This world is dramatically puffed-up because it orbits very close to its star‚ completing an orbit in just 3.9 days. And its inflated layers are not staying put – the stellar wind is eroding them‚ creating a comet-like tail. The latest observations suggest that it is much longer than scientists had expected.The tail extends for at least 580‚000 kilometers (360‚000 miles). It is composed mainly of helium‚ which the astronomers tracked with the Keck Observatory. The stellar wind sculpted the atmosphere escaping the planet into a long‚ wispy tail that can be seen clearly in infrared light.“Previous observations suggested that WASP-69b had a modest tail‚ or no tail at all‚” Dakotah Tyler‚ astrophysics doctoral candidate at UCLA and first author of the study‚ said in a statement. “However‚ we have been able to definitively show that this planet’s helium tail extends at least seven times the radius of the giant planet itself.”The star WASP-69 is slightly smaller and cooler than the Sun‚ not that this is enough to stop it affecting the planet. The planet’s being cooked‚ and losing about one Earth's worth of mass every billion years or so. These kinds of planets are very common in space and even planets in our Solar System‚ like Mars‚ experience atmospheric loss from the solar wind.“The WASP-69b system is a gem because we are able to study its atmospheric mass-loss in real-time‚” says co-author‚ Erik Petigura‚ associate professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UCLA. “This makes for a rare opportunity to understand the critical physics that shapes thousands of other planets.”“These comet-like tails are really valuable because they form when the escaping atmosphere of the planet rams into the stellar wind‚ which causes the gas to be swept back. Observing such an extended tail allows us to study these interactions in great detail‚” Petigura continued.WASP- 69b has a dense and hazy atmosphere that is partially clouded. It is an extreme example of atmospheric loss and a tailed planet‚ but it won’t just evaporate away. The planet has 90 Earth’s worth of mass‚ so the star will destroy it by becoming a red giant in several billion years‚ rather than making it evaporate away.The study is published in The Astrophysical Journal and was presented at the 243rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

If you've ever watched Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo‚ you will have seen the pop pop boat in action. The children's toy uses the heat from a candle to power an engine that propels the boat forward. They're pretty neat as children's toys‚ but what is far cooler‚ of course‚ is creating pop pop boat so large it can carry an actual human. That noble goal has been successfully achieved by a team‚ who demonstrated it to YouTuber and science communicator Steve Mould.First off‚ how do pop pop boats work? While it might sound simple‚ the inner workings of the toy are a little more complicated than you'd expect.You start by filling a tube leading to the "engine" – a small metal container underneath a candle – before placing the boat in water and lighting the candle to begin heating the water. Lo and behold‚ the boat moves forward. The complicated part is how exactly that works.  Inside the "engine"‚ the water is heated‚ evaporating some of it and causing pressure inside the engine to increase. This causes water to be forced further down the tube and out of the end. But as it cools‚ the drop in pressure forces water back into the tube again towards the engine‚ where it is heated and the process repeats. So if water is constantly being sucked in and pushed out again‚ how does this generate forward thrust?One theory was that‚ as the water is expelled‚ it is fired out in one direction‚ pushing the boat forward‚ but as it comes back into the tube the water comes from all directions rather than the one. The result is a net forward motion. However‚ according to Mould – who had a see-through pop pop made boat made by the scientific glassblowing team at the University of Southampton to see for himself – this isn't quite right. In fact‚ as the boat expels the water‚ the jet causes the boat to move forward. That is its equal and opposite reaction. However as the water comes back into the tube‚ it is met by the water and gas further up the tube‚ and it is this that it pushes against rather than causing the boat to move backward. The result is a net forward motion‚ with no way to steer.  Mould was able to try out a life-sized version of the pop pop boat‚ courtesy of the AHHAA Science Centre in Tartu Estonia. It's slow-going‚ but nevertheless awesome to see.

The incredible entries for Close-Up Photographer Of The Year (CUPOTY) have been judged and the winners are just as incredible as you’d expect them to be. While Hungarian photographer Csaba Daróczi scooped the £2‚500 ($3‚000) cash prize and the CUPOTY 05 title‚ the runners-up are equally impressive. We take a close-up look (see what we did there) at some of this year's top 100 images.The Bird of the Forest by Csaba Daróczi is this year's overall winner.Image credit: © Csaba Daróczi | cupoty.comThe title of Young Close-Up Photographer Of The Year was won by 17-year-old Spanish photographer Carlos Pérez Naval for his photograph of a Moorish gecko climbing a wall. His impressive image features both the gecko and some mineral "trees".A Moorish gecko (Tarentola mauritanica) climbs on a wall covered with mineral deposits that look like trees.Image Credit: © Carlos Pérez Naval | cupoty.com“One day‚ I was lucky enough to find a Moorish gecko very close to the pyrolusite’s wall‚ so I tried to make the most of the encounter. I wanted to capture a gecko in the ‘petrified forest’ for a long time‚ but they only recently appeared in my village (probably carried in fruit baskets from hotter areas). Due to climate change they can now survive here‚” said Naval in a statement seen by IFLScience. British photographer Barry Webb won the Fungi &; Slime Moulds category‚ making it the third year in a row he has achieved a category win. His extraordinary image of a slime mold topped with a crown of ice was enough to secure him the win‚ though taking the image proved somewhat of a challenge. A tiny slime mold (Didymium squamulosum) proudly wears a crown of ice.Image Credit: © Barry Webb | cupoty.com“This 1mm [0.04 inch] tall slime mold (Didymium squamulosum) was found in leaf litter on a Buckinghamshire woodland floor in January. Attracted by the way the frost had formed a crown shape on top of the fruiting body‚ I had to be very careful not to breathe on it. During a previous attempt with another slime mould‚ my breath had melted the ice when I inadvertently got too close‚" Webb said. In the Insects category‚ René Krekels' winning image‚ taken in the Netherlands‚ shows a group of wood ants defending their nest by spraying acid. Wood ants defend their community by spraying acid.Image Credit: © René Krekels | cupoty.comMeanwhile‚ the Invertebrate Portrait category was won by Tibor Molnar‚ with his close-up of the face of a jumping stick (Stiphra) taken in Yasuni National Park‚ Ecuador.“The best way to describe these invertebrates is part walking stick‚ part grasshopper! When they jump‚ they are not particularly graceful‚ and they tend to tumble around completely off-balance‚” Molnar said.Part grasshopper‚ part stick insect‚ this jumping stick (Stiphra) provides a comical portrait.Image Credit: © Tibor Molnar | cupoty.comOverall‚ 11 categories showcased the best close-up photography has to offer‚ attracting almost 12‚000 entries from 67 countries across the world. Twenty-three judges from scientific‚ media‚ and natural history backgrounds came together for over 20 hours of collective judging to pick the winners."Personally‚ I think this is our best collection of winning images yet‚ and I’m so grateful to those who entered as it allows us to see and learn from their work and to recognise how incredible and surprising the world is‚" said CUPOTY co-founder Tracy Calder.Take a look at the full top 100 images here. 

A new paper has attempted to answer the question of whether Earth‚ and our artificial constructions‚ are visible to advanced alien civilizations out there also on the search for life.The hunt for alien life‚ as it is at the moment on Earth‚ is fairly elegant in its simplicity. As well as looking out for potential signals deliberately or unintentionally sent out into space by alien civilizations‚ we scan the stars for tiny dips in light that suggest an exoplanet has blocked our view of its light. Once we have located an exoplanet‚ we can look at factors such as where the planet is in its solar system to figure out if it is in a habitable zone. Gases in planets' atmospheres block specific wavelengths of light‚ meaning that if we measure the spectra‚ we can get an idea of the chemical composition of the planet‚ searching for potential indicators of life.Our methods‚ and telescopes‚ have advanced pretty quickly. According to research in 2013‚ if the JWST was placed 50 light-years away from Earth it would still be able to detect signs of life on the planet.                    In a new paper‚ Z. Osmanov‚ a researcher with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)‚ attempted to answer whether alien civilizations with more powerful telescopes could go further and detect complex structures on our planet‚ a surefire sign of intelligent civilizations. You don't get many skyscrapers built by single-celled life‚ or dogs.Osmanov focused on the capabilities of Type I and Type II civilizations on the Kardashev scale. Type I civilizations are hypothetical alien societies that can harness all the energy on their planet from their host star‚ whereas Type II civilizations can harness the total energy of the host star itself."Since the question is to identify our society with civilization‚ the major focus should be on the search for large ships‚ buildings and space satellites etc‚" Osmanov writes in the paper. "Such artifacts might easily be identified as artificial constructions. For this purpose‚ it is natural to focus on the visible light reflected from the corresponding objects."                 While it might sound difficult or impossible to figure out what technology advanced‚ star-harnessing civilizations are capable of‚ we know that they too are constrained by the laws of the universe. A way to detect buildings and structures on a far-off planet likely requires seeing it from several angles."Instead of using large telescopes of astronomical sizes (although‚ such a possibility cannot be excluded from consideration)‚ one can apply long baseline optical interferometry‚ by using at least two telescopes separated by a huge distance."Even placing extremely large telescopes – with a diameter of several million kilometers‚ out of reach of Type I civilizations though hopefully not Type II civilizations – far apart from each other‚ there are limits to the distance at which we can be detected."We have found that the maximum distance‚ where a 10 meter length-scale construction might be spatially resolved is of the order of 3000 ly [light-years]‚" the paper explains.Using the Drake equation (a speculative way of calculating the probability of alien life based on constraints such as the number of planets in habitable zones etc)‚ and assuming the distribution of potential alien civilizations are evenly distributed throughout the galaxy‚ Osmanov speculates that around 650 alien civilizations may be close enough to detect our buildings and structures if they are looking. Of course‚ depending on how far away the civilization is‚ they would be looking earlier in our history‚ detecting (for example) the structures built by the Maya or Ancient Romans.The study is published in Acta Astronautica.

It’s official: 2023 was the hottest year on Earth since records began‚ overtaking the previous record-breaking year by a significant margin.The global average temperature of 2023 was 1.48°C (2.6°F) warmer than pre-industrial levels in the 19th century and 0.60°C (1.08°F) warmer than the 1991-2020 average‚ according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service. These temperatures were 0.17°C (0.30°F) warmer than the previous highest annual temperatures seen in 2016.“Temperatures during 2023 likely exceed those of any period in at least the last 100‚000 years‚” Samantha Burgess‚ deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service‚ said in a statement.But that’s not all. There were several other climate records that were smashed in 2023: It was the first year where all days had global average temperatures over 1°C (1.8°F) warmer than the pre-industrial period. Nearly half of the days in 2023 were more than 1.5°C (2.7°F) warmer than the 1850-1900 pre-industrial level. For the first time‚ two days in November were more than 2°C (3.6°F) warmer than the 1850-1900 level.  July and August 2023 were the warmest two months on record.Average air temperatures were the warmest on record‚ or close to the warmest‚ over substantial parts of all ocean basins and all continents (bar Australia).Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane – two of the most prominent greenhouse gases driving climate change – hit record levels in 2023‚ reaching 419 parts per million and 1902 parts per billion respectively.Surface air temperature anomaly for 2023 relative to the average for the 1991-2020 reference period.Image credit: C3S/ECMWFThe record-breaking year of 2023 was given a boost by the unprecedented warm conditions seen from June. It’s significant that 2023 was an El Niño year. This is a phase in the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle whereby global temperatures are pushed upwards. It's a highly complex natural process that’s closely associated with warming temperatures in the Pacific Ocean around the equator having a knock-on effect on the rest of the planet. However‚ make no mistake: these records are a damning reflection of how human activity is changing our planet. One of the prime causes of the warm temperatures seen in 2023 was increasing concentrations of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere produced by the burning of fossils‚ industrial agriculture‚ and other human activities. As ever‚ climate scientists are stressing that the planet needs to urgently ditch fossil fuels to negate the deepening impacts of the climate crisis. “The extremes we have observed over the last few months provide a dramatic testimony of how far we now are from the climate in which our civilisation developed. This has profound consequences for the Paris Agreement and all human endeavours. If we want to successfully manage our climate risk portfolio‚ we need to urgently decarbonise our economy whilst using climate data and knowledge to prepare for the future‚” noted Carlo Buontempo‚ director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Brown dwarfs are very peculiar celestial objects. They form like stars‚ but they are not massive enough to start nuclear fusion in their core‚ so they don’t quite make it as stars. Some of them are the size of planets‚ with clouds and turbulent atmospheres‚ although they are not really planet-like. Some of them have aurorae‚ like the Northern Lights we see on Earth. However‚ it’s not exactly clear how.Brown dwarf W1935 is exactly that kind of object. Astronomers observed it with JWST and expected to see methane in its atmosphere‚ which is very common in brown dwarfs. Practically‚ infrared light has a big dip at a specific wavelength‚ the signature of methane presence as methane absorbs that light. But the team did not see absorption – they saw emission. Something is making methane glow.“We expected to see methane because methane is all over these brown dwarfs. But instead of absorbing light‚ we saw just the opposite: The methane was glowing. My first thought was‚ what the heck? Why is methane emission coming out of this object?” lead researcher Jackie Faherty‚ an astronomer at the American Museum of Natural History in New York‚ said in a statement.Emitting methane has been seen on Jupiter and Saturn‚ and this is associated with auroral activity. The giant planets have aurorae from interactions between their strong magnetic fields and the solar wind‚ as well as material released by some of their active moons: volcanic Io for Jupiter. and the geyser of Enceladus for Saturn. But W1935 is isolated. There’s no stellar wind flowing onto it that would cause the aurora. and a moon has not been seen. “With W1935‚ we now have a spectacular extension of a solar system phenomenon without any stellar irradiation to help in the explanation‚” added Faherty. The lack of stellar irradiation is also puzzling for another reason. The best model suggests that the brown dwarf’s atmosphere is getting hotter with altitude‚ a bit like Earth’s stratosphere. Stratospheres have been witnessed on exoplanets but always in conjunction with the light and heat from the star. Once again‚ it’s unclear what is going on here.“This temperature inversion is really puzzling‚” added Ben Burningham‚ a co-author from the University of Hertfordshire in England and lead modeler on the work. “We have seen this kind of phenomenon in planets with a nearby star that can heat the stratosphere‚ but seeing it in an object with no obvious external heat source is wild.”Despite being a few hundred degrees hotter than Jupiter‚ this is the coldest brown dwarf to be a candidate for auroral activity. A previous brown dwarf with aurorae was a lot hotter. More observations of these objects will certainly come in time to understand what is going on.Research discussing the discovery was presented at the 243rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

You might think cats and dogs are natural enemies‚ like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon. But let me tell you about Oakley and Binx Dyer from Edmond‚ Oklahoma. These two‚ a dog and a cat‚ show us that sometimes‚ the most unlikely friendships are the strongest and most loyal. One evening‚ in the... The post Cat sees family dog get attacked by coyotes and swiftly takes matters into her own ‘hands’ appeared first on Animal Channel.

'Apparently you're afraid of my words,' Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene told Hunter as he scurried away.