Nine new and exotic creatures for the pulsar zoo
Researchers using MeerKAT in South Africa have discovered nine millisecond pulsars, most of them in rare and sometimes unusual binary systems, as the first result of a targeted survey. An international team with significant contributions from AEI (Ha.....»»
Octopuses sleep—and possibly dream—just like humans
The cephalopods experience an apparent sleep state with REM-like activity. Enlarge (credit: Imagen Rafael Cosme Daza ) Most creatures sleep, but until now, REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, the phase of sleep in which drea.....»»
Black hole ripples could help pin down expansion of universe
The echoes of light from jets launched from black holes offers a new way to pin down the distance to these exotic objects and to study a largely unobserved population in the center of the Galaxy. It could also even help determine the rate of expansio.....»»
Exciting insights into the sexual development of an extinct marine reptile
Fossil skeletons have long fascinated researchers as a window to prehistory. But so far, little is known about details of sexual development in extinct creatures. An international team of researchers from China, Germany and Japan, with significant pa.....»»
NANOGrav hears “hum” of gravitational wave background, louder than expected
Exotic stars called millisecond pulsars serve as celestial metronomes. Enlarge / In this artist’s interpretation, a pair of supermassive black holes (top left) emits gravitational waves that ripple through the fabric of space-t.....»»
Scientists find key evidence for existence of nanohertz gravitational waves
A group of Chinese scientists has recently found key evidence for the existence of nanohertz gravitational waves, marking a new era in nanohertz gravitational wave research. The research was based on pulsar timing observations carried out with the Fi.....»»
World"s largest filled-aperture radio telescope finds missing link in evolution of spider pulsar system
Researchers from the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) and their collaborators at home and abroad have discovered a binary pulsar with a 53-minute orbital period using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spheri.....»»
New millisecond pulsar detected with FAST
Using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), a team of Chinese astronomers has detected a new millisecond pulsar in the globular cluster Messier 53. The finding is reported in a research paper published June 16 on the pre-p.....»»
Unicorns in southern Africa: The fascinating story behind one-horned creatures in rock art
One-horned creatures are found in myths around the world. Although unicorns in different cultures have little to do with one another, they have multiple associations in European thought......»»
Study reports first realization of a Laughlin state in ultracold atoms
The discovery of the quantum Hall effects in the 1980s revealed the existence of novel states of matter called "Laughlin states," in honor of the American Nobel prize winner who successfully characterized them theoretically. These exotic states speci.....»»
Physicists Make Matter out of Light to Find Quantum Singularities
Experiments that imitate solid materials with light waves reveal the quantum basis of exotic physical effects.....»»
Scientists describe a novel way to manipulate exotic materials
An advance in a topological insulator material—whose interior behaves like an electrical insulator but whose surface behaves like a conductor—could revolutionize the fields of next-generation electronics and quantum computing, according to scient.....»»
Discovery of white dwarf pulsar sheds light on star evolution
The discovery of a rare type of white dwarf star system provides new understanding into stellar evolution......»»
A marine mystery: Finding the link between climate change and sea sponge loss
Sea sponges are essential to marine ecosystems. They play critical roles in the ocean, as they provide shelter and food to a plethora of marine creatures, recycle nutrients by filtering thousands of liters of sea water daily, and are hosts to microbe.....»»
Why tickling turns some people on
In the wonderful world of sexuality, nearly anything is possible. Almost anything can be sexually arousing to someone, somewhere. We’re complex creatures, us humans, and our ability to use our imaginations never fails to astonish. Think of.....»»
Astronomers investigate the properties of a nearby pulsar
Using the XMM-Newton satellite and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), astronomers have conducted X-ray and near-infrared observations of a nearby middle-aged pulsar known as PSR B1055-52. Results of the observational campaign, published on the arXiv p.....»»
Discovery of a new animal parasitic euglenid species in rice fields
A detailed investigation has led to the discovery of a new species of parasitic euglenid found in ostracods and other creatures residing in rice fields. This euglenid has undergone a secondary loss of its photosynthetic capability. The infection rate.....»»
Thousands of New Creatures Discovered in Deep-Sea Mining Zone
A new study found more than 5,000 new species in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a mineral-rich area of seafloor that companies aim to mine for critical materials.....»»
Weevils, long-nosed beetles, are unsung heroes of pollination
Butterflies, bees, and even bats are celebrated as pollinators: creatures that travel from flower to flower to feed, and in the process, help fertilize the plants by spreading pollen. But some of nature's most diverse pollinators often go unnoticed,.....»»
The Trillion-Dollar Auction to Save the World
Ocean creatures soak up huge amounts of humanity’s carbon mess. Should we value them like financial assets?.....»»
Toward the realization of chiral spin liquids and non-Abelian anyons in quantum simulators
Chiral spin liquids are one of the most fascinating phases of matter ever imagined by physicists. These exotic liquids exhibit quasi-particles known as non-Abelian anyons that are neither bosons nor fermions, and whose manipulation could allow for th.....»»