SciGlow | All Science News In One Place
SciGlow is a newsletter of science stories from the major research labs. Headlines link to in-depth articles and editorials. SciGlow keeps scientists and others up-to-date on current research.
Quasars are the Universe’s brightest beacons; shining with magnitudes more luminosity than entire galaxies and the stars they contain. In the center of this light, at the heart of a quasar, researchers think, is an all-consuming black hole. Researchers, for the first time, have observed the accelerated rate at which eight quasars consume interstellar fuel … Read more
The oldest stars in our Galaxy are also the busiest, moving more rapidly than their younger counterparts in and out of the disk of the Milky Way, according to new analysis carried out at the University of Birmingham. The findings provide fresh insights into the history of our Galaxy and increase our understanding of how … Read more
A new study argues that Saturn’s interior flows like honey due to its magnetic field, which may help solve the mystery of why the planet’s powerful winds stop 8,500km inside the giant gas planet. Unlike Earth, Saturn has no solid surface; it is a gaseous planet, consisting mostly of hydrogen and helium that move around … Read more
The Moon is thought to have formed after a planetary embryo hit the Earth ~4.5 billion years ago. This produced a phenomenom that has never been observed by any human being. This so called ‘giant impact’ generated a lot of heat and some matter was ejected into space to form a large cloud of vapor … Read more
Astrophysicists have discovered that the pulsar wind nebula (PWN) surrounding the famous pulsar B0540-69 brightened gradually after the pulsar experienced a sudden spin-down rate transition (SRT). This discovery, made by a group of astrophysicists led by GE Mingyu and LU Fangjun at the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, provides … Read more
The distant Solar System contains a large reservoir of objects beyond the orbit of Neptune, which are the icy remnants of planetary formation. These small icy bodies are challenging to discover, but their orbital properties and surface composition provide critical information about the formation and evolution of the Solar System. The Outer Solar System Origins … Read more
A new study indicates that some exoplanets may have better conditions for life to thrive than Earth itself has. “This is a surprising conclusion”, said lead researcher Dr Stephanie Olson, “it shows us that conditions on some exoplanets with favourable ocean circulation patterns could be better suited to support life that is more abundant or … Read more
New images taken by a lander on the surface of the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu have yielded clues into the composition and origins of its rocks, which bear strong similarities to primitive meteorites called carbonaceous chondrites. The findings from Ralf Jaumann and colleagues present evidence linking the asteroid to a particular class of meteorites, supporting theories … Read more
Neutrinos come in three flavours made up of a mix of three neutrino masses. While the differences between the masses are known, little information was available about the mass of the lightest species until now. It’s important to better understand neutrinos and the processes through which they obtain their mass as they could reveal secrets … Read more
Microbial life on Mars may potentially be transported across the planet on dust particles carried by wind, according to a study conducted in the Atacama Desert in North Chile, a well-known Mars analogue. The findings are published in Scientific Reports. Armando Azua-Bustos and colleagues investigated whether microbial life could move across the Atacama Desert using on … Read more