Science, Space, Health & Robotics News - Page 156

All the latest Science, Space, Health & Robotics news with plenty of coverage on space launches, discoveries, rockets & plenty more - Page 156.

Follow TweakTown on Google News

Hubble spots 'missing link' with a supermassive black hole being born

Adam Hunt | Apr 14, 2022 4:01 AM CDT

A study on the black hole titled "A dusty compact object bridging galaxies and quasars at cosmic dawn" has been published in Nature.

Hubble spots 'missing link' with a supermassive black hole being born

Astronomers have used the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data to identify a black hole growing into a supermassive black hole while the universe was only 750 million years old. They found the black hole forming inside a galaxy from the early days of the universe called GNz7q, marking the first observation of a black hole growing inside such a galaxy.

"Our analysis suggests that GNz7q is the first example of a rapidly growing black hole in the dusty core of a starburst galaxy at an epoch close to the earliest supermassive black hole known in the universe. The object's properties across the electromagnetic spectrum are in excellent agreement with predictions from theoretical simulations," said lead author Seiji Fujimoto.

Continue reading: Hubble spots 'missing link' with a supermassive black hole being born (full post)

Putin has named his next target and it's not even on Earth

Jak Connor | Apr 14, 2022 12:33 AM CDT

Vladimir Putin has named his next target while simultaneously shielding his people from the atrocities committed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

Putin has named his next target and it's not even on Earth

The announcement from Russian President Vladimir Putin came during his visit to the Vostochny Cosmodrome, a Russian spaceport located in the far east of Russia. As reported by The Moscow Times, Putin stated that Russia needs to rebuild its "moon program".

The Russian president added that the Luna 25 mission, a planned uncrewed lunar lander mission scheduled to launch in August 2022, will be completed by the third quarter of this year. At this time, Putin directed a question to the head of Russia's space agency Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, asking, "Are we going to make it in time in the third quarter?"

Continue reading: Putin has named his next target and it's not even on Earth (full post)

First lunar samples collected by NASA's Neil Armstrong sold at auction

Jak Connor | Apr 14, 2022 12:02 AM CDT

Moondust collected by NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong on the Apollo 11 mission was recently sold at an auction as a part of a Space History Sale.

First lunar samples collected by NASA's Neil Armstrong sold at auction

The moondust is a part of the first lunar samples collected by astronaut Neil Armstrong, according to NASA. The samples were auctioned off by Bonhams, which originally estimated that the moondust would be worth anywhere between $800,000 to $1.2 million. However, at the Space History Sale held on Wednesday in New York, the very small amount of microscopic moon dust sold for $504,375, falling very short of what Bonhams expected.

When Bonhams received the lunar samples, it was unable to verify the total weight due to the fineness of the dust. Eventually, Bonhams cited the dust in microns and that the dust was actually found in the seams of a bag that was used to transport the original lunar samples that were collected in 1969.

Continue reading: First lunar samples collected by NASA's Neil Armstrong sold at auction (full post)

Russia may be moving military vehicles to the Finland border in video

Jak Connor | Apr 13, 2022 6:33 AM CDT

An unconfirmed video that has appeared on some news outlets suggests that Russia is moving military equipment to the Finland border.

Russia may be moving military vehicles to the Finland border in video

The footage is unverified by Ukraine officials but shows Russian military vehicles on the move, which Newsweek reports to be K-300P Bastion-Ps, coastal defense missile systems. The video was uploaded by the Twitter user OSINTdefender spans 43-seconds, and the individual filming makes sure to showcase the nearby street sign that is directions to Helsinki, the capital of Finland.

Since the video is unverified, some people are speculating that it could be Russian propaganda deliberately released by the Kremlin. Finland declared independence from Russia in 1917 and is now preparing to make a historic decision to join NATO "before midsummer", a move that Russia has warned Finland against doing while also suggesting there will be some level of consequences if Finland follows through.

Continue reading: Russia may be moving military vehicles to the Finland border in video (full post)

Ukraine GPS signals attacked by Russian forces, claims US general

Jak Connor | Apr 13, 2022 1:36 AM CDT

Russia is currently attacking a key piece of Ukraine's space infrastructure, according to a recent report from NBC.

Ukraine GPS signals attacked by Russian forces, claims US general

The report from NBC quotes the US Space Force, which says it's possible that Russia has positioned jammers around Ukraine that are interrupting the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites regularly used for navigation and mapping. Notably, the jammers aren't targeting the satellites in space, but the devices used to receive the data, preventing them from receiving any usable signal.

Furthermore, David Thompson, the Space Force's vice chief of space operations, spoke to NBC and said that at the moment, Russia hasn't attacked any satellites in low-Earth orbit, but officials are monitoring the region for such a situation to unfold. Additionally, some areas in Ukraine are suffering from an internet shortage despite SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's generous donation of Starlink satellites.

Continue reading: Ukraine GPS signals attacked by Russian forces, claims US general (full post)

NASA photographs a helicopter on the surface of Mars from space

Jak Connor | Apr 13, 2022 1:01 AM CDT

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reached Mars on in 2006 and was tasked with studying the Red Planet's geology and climate.

NASA photographs a helicopter on the surface of Mars from space

While the orbiter has done a great job at observing Mars' geology from a distance, it has also been put to other uses. NASA has pointed the HiRISE (High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera at the surface of Mars to spot the two newest members on Mars, NASA's Perseverance rover and martian helicopter Ingenuity, which together landed in early 2021.

The images taken by NASA's orbiter showcase a top-down view of Perseverance exploring the cracked surface of a rock formation called "Maaz", which translates from Navajo to English as "Mars". Located around 650 feet to the left of Perseverance is Ingenuity calmly seated on martian bedrock. Recently, Perseverance stumbled upon its own parachute and snapped some images that one Twitter user keenly caught. More on that story can be found here.

Continue reading: NASA photographs a helicopter on the surface of Mars from space (full post)

NASA confirms largest comet ever seen is heading towards Earth

Jak Connor | Apr 13, 2022 12:33 AM CDT

NASA has confirmed that the largest comet ever observed has a diameter of about 85 miles and is now officially the largest comet ever seen after observations from the Hubble Space Telescope.

NASA confirms largest comet ever seen is heading towards Earth

The comet is C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein (BB)) and was originally discovered in 2014 by two astronomers, Pedro Bernardinelli and Gary Bernstein, through archived images from the Dark Energy Survey. Previous estimates for the size of BB were anywhere between 62 and 124 miles, but now NASA has pointed the Hubble Space Telescope at the comet and confirmed the diameter of its nucleus to be 85 miles across.

NASA writes on its blog that BB has beaten the previous record-holder comet C/2002 VQ94 which has an estimated nucleus of 60 miles across. The space agency explains that the comet has been hurling toward Earth for 1 million years now and won't pose any threat to Earth when it makes its approach in 2031, where it won't come within a billion miles of Earth, or about the distance to Saturn.

Continue reading: NASA confirms largest comet ever seen is heading towards Earth (full post)

MIT scientists have managed to reverse hearing loss with new treatment

Adam Hunt | Apr 12, 2022 8:01 AM CDT

Frequency Therapeutics, the biotechnology company responsible for the new treatment, was founded in part by scientists from MIT.

MIT scientists have managed to reverse hearing loss with new treatment

The company's approach uses regenerative therapy rather than hearing aids or implants to return hearing to those with hearing loss. Frequency has designed a drug candidate that can be injected into the ear to regenerate progenitor cells within the cochlea, which are cells that come from stem cells and are used to create the hair cells that enable hearing.

"I wouldn't be surprised if in 10 or 15 years, because of the resources being put into this space and the incredible science being done, we can get to the point where [reversing hearing loss] would be similar to Lasik surgery, where you're in and out in an hour or two and you can completely restore your vision. I think we'll see the same thing for hearing loss," said co-founder Jeff Karp.

Continue reading: MIT scientists have managed to reverse hearing loss with new treatment (full post)

New measurements threaten to upend the Standard Model of physics

Adam Hunt | Apr 12, 2022 7:36 AM CDT

A study on the new measurement titled "High-precision measurement of the W boson mass with the CDF II detector" has been published in the journal Science.

New measurements threaten to upend the Standard Model of physics

The W boson is an elementary particle, a fundamental building block of all matter in the universe, which governs the weak force, one of four fundamental forces in nature (the others being the strong force, the electromagnetic force, and the gravitational force). The Standard Model of particle physics describes these elementary particles, but new experiments have shown the mass of the W boson is significantly greater than previously thought.

"If this is real, and not some systematic bias or misunderstanding of how to do the calculations, then it's a huge deal because it would mean there's a new fundamental ingredient to our universe that we haven't discovered before," said Harry Cliff, a particle physicist at Cambridge University who works at the Large Hadron Collider.

Continue reading: New measurements threaten to upend the Standard Model of physics (full post)

NASA releases breakthrough research, filling a gap in Earth's climate

Jak Connor | Apr 12, 2022 5:18 AM CDT

NASA has announced it achieved a major milestone in gathering data on Earth's climate through its GEDI mission.

NASA releases breakthrough research, filling a gap in Earth's climate

The space agency took to its blog and social media channels to announce the release of a new data product from the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI), which provides what NASA calls the "first near-global estimate of aboveground forest biomass and the carbon it stores". On NASA's blog, the space agency explains that climate researchers will be able to access the data product and plug in their regions of query to study forest structure and carbon content with increased precision.

GEDI is equipped to the International Space Station (ISS) and is specifically designed to measure Earth's vegetation by creating 3D maps with data acquired by shooting laser pulses at the trees and land below it. NASA writes that the results GEDI has acquired have compared nicely to the forest inventories listed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis data.

Continue reading: NASA releases breakthrough research, filling a gap in Earth's climate (full post)