Technology Feature |
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News & Views |
Slow-beating radio waves from a long-lived source
Astronomers have uncovered a source of radio waves that pulsate more slowly than expected. Meticulous records reveal that the emission has been detected for decades, highlighting the remarkable foresight of scientists in bygone years.
- Victoria M. Kaspi
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Article |
A rotating white dwarf shows different compositions on its opposite faces
The Zwicky Transient Facility has observed a transitioning white dwarf with two faces, with one side of its atmosphere dominated by hydrogen and the other by helium.
- Ilaria Caiazzo
- , Kevin B. Burdge
- & Dave I. Sahman
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Article
| Open AccessCarbonaceous dust grains seen in the first billion years of cosmic time
An (ultraviolet) dust attenuation feature at 2,175 Å, attributed to carbonaceous dust grains in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, also exists in galaxies up to a redshift of 7.
- Joris Witstok
- , Irene Shivaei
- & Christopher N. A. Willmer
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Nature Podcast |
Disrupting snail food-chain curbs parasitic disease in Senegal
Intervention against schistosomiasis also shows agricultural and economic benefits, and the successful launch of India’s Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Shamini Bundell
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News |
Stunning star nursery is latest JWST image to amaze astronomers
Powerful space telescope reveals star-forming region — image of the week.
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Article
| Open AccessDiverse organic-mineral associations in Jezero crater, Mars
Raman and fluorescence spectra, consistent with several species of aromatic organic molecules, are reported in the Crater Floor sequences of Jezero crater, Mars, suggesting multiple mechanisms of organic synthesis, transport, or preservation.
- Sunanda Sharma
- , Ryan D. Roppel
- & Anastasia Yanchilina
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Research Highlight |
SpaceX satellites are leaking radio waves — a potential headache for science
Unregulated radio waves emanating from satellites in the Starlink constellation could cause problems as more are launched.
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News |
India shoots for the Moon with Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander
The Moon’s south pole is in India’s sights as the nation prepares to launch a robotic lander and explorer.
- T.V. Padma
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Article |
Remote detection of a lunar granitic batholith at Compton–Belkovich
Measurements from the Chang’e-1 and Chang’e-2 microwave instruments reveal an anomalously hot geothermal source on the Moon that is best explained by a roughly 50-kilometre-diameter granitic system below the geological feature known as Compton–Belkovich.
- Matthew A. Siegler
- , Jianqing Feng
- & Mackenzie N. White
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Nature Podcast |
Even a ‘minimal cell’ can grow stronger, thanks to evolution
Exploring evolution in a ‘minimal cell’, and Galaxy-wide gravitational waves.
- Benjamin Thompson
- & Shamini Bundell
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Article
| Open AccessMartian dunes indicative of wind regime shift in line with end of ice age
Evidence for a stratigraphic sequence involving initial barchan dune formation, with the transition in wind regime consistent with the end of the ice age is found, compatible with the Martian polar stratigraphic record.
- Jianjun Liu
- , Xiaoguang Qin
- & Chunlai Li
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News |
Euclid launch: dark-energy mapper poised to probe cosmic mysteries
The European craft could help to investigate why the Universe’s expansion is accelerating, along with other cosmic questions.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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News |
These six distant galaxies captured by JWST are wowing astronomers
See researchers’ favourites from a survey of the deep Universe by the James Webb Space Telescope.
- Alexandra Witze
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News |
Giant gravitational waves: why scientists are so excited
Astrophysicists describe what galaxy-wide gravitational waves could mean for our understanding of black holes and the history of the cosmos.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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News |
Monster gravitational waves spotted for first time
Using beacon stars called pulsars, a decades-long effort has found space-time ripples that are light years wide.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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Article |
Galaxies in voids assemble their stars slowly
We show that void galaxies have had slower star formation histories than galaxies in denser large-scale environments and find two main types of star formation history in all environments.
- Jesús Domínguez-Gómez
- , Isabel Pérez
- & Almudena Zurita
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Article |
A close-in giant planet escapes engulfment by its star
The giant planet 8 Ursae Minoris b seems to have avoided engulfment by its giant host star through a stellar merger that either affected the evolution of the host star or produced 8 Ursae Minoris b as a second-generation planet.
- Marc Hon
- , Daniel Huber
- & Lauren M. Weiss
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Article |
Detection of stellar light from quasar host galaxies at redshifts above 6
Images and spectroscopy obtained by the JWST from two HSC-SSP quasars show massive, compact and disc-like galaxies, indicating that the relation between black holes and their host galaxies was in place less than a billion years after the Big Bang.
- Xuheng Ding
- , Masafusa Onoue
- & Jinyi Yang
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Article |
Formation of the methyl cation by photochemistry in a protoplanetary disk
JWST observations of CH3+ in a protoplanetary disk in the Orion star-forming region are reported showing that gas-phase organic chemistry in the interstellar medium is activated by ultraviolet irradiation and the methyl cation.
- Olivier Berné
- , Marie-Aline Martin-Drumel
- & Mark G. Wolfire
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Article |
X-ray polarization evidence for a 200-year-old flare of Sgr A*
A study reports the measurement of the polarization degree and angle of X-rays from Sagittarius A* reflected off a nearby cloud, indicating an X-ray flare about 200 years ago.
- Frédéric Marin
- , Eugene Churazov
- & Silvia Zane
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News & Views |
From the archive: Oxford observatory delayed, and cyclone mysteries
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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Article
| Open AccessA binary pulsar in a 53-minute orbit
PSR J1953+1844 (M71E) has an orbital period of 53.3 minutes and a companion with a mass of 0.07 M⊙, making it a bridging object between redbacks and black widows in the evolutionary track.
- Z. Pan
- , J. G. Lu
- & M. Zhu
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News |
Life in the cosmos: JWST hints at lower number of habitable planets
Observations from the James Webb Space Telescope suggest that a second world in a seven-planet system lacks an atmosphere.
- Alexandra Witze
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Article
| Open AccessNo thick carbon dioxide atmosphere on the rocky exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 c
The detection of thermal emission from the rocky exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 c using the Mid-Infrared Instrument on the James Webb Space Telescope reveals a dayside brightness temperature that disfavours a thick, CO2-rich atmosphere.
- Sebastian Zieba
- , Laura Kreidberg
- & Gabrielle Suissa
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Article |
Vanadium oxide and a sharp onset of cold-trapping on a giant exoplanet
Analysis of transits of an ultra-hot giant exoplanet reports the precise abundance constraints of 14 major refractory elements, showing distinct deviations from proto-solar, along with a sharp transition temperature at which those elements are depleted.
- Stefan Pelletier
- , Björn Benneke
- & Julian Stürmer
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Article |
Spin state and deep interior structure of Mars from InSight radio tracking
Analysis of radio science data from the NASA InSight Mars lander reveals details of the rotation of the planet, which have been used to determine fundamental information about its core, mantle and atmosphere.
- Sébastien Le Maistre
- , Attilio Rivoldini
- & W. Bruce Banerdt
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Article
| Open AccessDetection of phosphates originating from Enceladus’s ocean
Cassini’s Cosmic Dust Analyzer mass spectra of ice grains emitted by Enceladus show the presence of sodium phosphates, suggesting that phosphorus is readily available in Enceladus’s ocean in the form of orthophosphates.
- Frank Postberg
- , Yasuhito Sekine
- & Shuya Tan
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Article
| Open AccessSilicon isotope constraints on terrestrial planet accretion
The nucleosynthetic composition of silicon in meteorites indicates that material akin to early-formed differentiated asteroids must represent a major constituent of terrestrial planets such as Earth and Mars.
- Isaac J. Onyett
- , Martin Schiller
- & Martin Bizzarro
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News & Views |
From the archive: hay fever, and the transit of Venus across the Sun
Snippets from Nature’s past.
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Nature Podcast |
A brain circuit for infanticide, in mice
Research reveals system underlying behaviour change towards young, and identifying the source of fast solar wind.
- Noah Baker
- & Nick Petrić Howe
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Article
| Open AccessA metal-poor star with abundances from a pair-instability supernova
The chemical composition of the Galactic halo star J1010+2358 shows extremely low sodium and cobalt abundances, different from most other halo stars, indicative of a very metal-poor star being seeded with elements from a pair-instability supernova.
- Qian-Fan Xing
- , Gang Zhao
- & Jing-Kun Zhao
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Article
| Open AccessInterchange reconnection as the source of the fast solar wind within coronal holes
Measurements of fast solar wind streams from the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft provide strong evidence for the interchange reconnection mechanism being responsible for accelerating the fast solar wind.
- S. D. Bale
- , J. F. Drake
- & J. C. Kasper
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News |
Lasers pierce the stunning dark skies of the Atacama Desert
One of the world’s most advanced telescopes, located in Chile, uses the beams to make artificial stars.
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News |
JWST spots the most distant ‘smoke’ molecules ever seen in space
The presence of the molecules in an early galaxy means it must have pumped out stars at a furious pace, researchers say.
- Alexandra Witze
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Obituary |
Frank Shu (1943–2023)
Astrophysicist who researched galactic structure and star formation.
- Douglas Lin
- & Fred Adams
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Article |
Spatial variations in aromatic hydrocarbon emission in a dust-rich galaxy
We present James Webb Space Telescope observations that detect the 3.3 μm polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon feature in a galaxy observed less than 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang.
- Justin S. Spilker
- , Kedar A. Phadke
- & Katherine E. Whitaker
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News & Views |
Search for distant atmosphere off to a rocky start
Astronomers have used observations of infrared light to measure the heat emanating from an Earth-sized exoplanet known as TRAPPIST-1b. Their findings reveal that the planet is a bare rock, devoid of any atmosphere.
- Laura Kreidberg
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Article
| Open AccessA broadband thermal emission spectrum of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-18b
The dayside thermal emission spectrum and brightness temperature map of the ultra-hot Jupiter WASP-18b obtained from the NIRISS instrument on the JWST showed water emission features, an atmosphere consistent with solar metallicity, as well as a steep and symmetrical decrease in temperature towards the nightside.
- Louis-Philippe Coulombe
- , Björn Benneke
- & Peter J. Wheatley
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Research Briefing |
World’s strongest laser enables pressure-driven ionization
The degree of ionization inside giant planets and stars determines their material properties. In burning stars, ionization is controlled by temperature, whereas pressure-driven ionization is dominant in cooler objects. Experiments creating the extreme conditions needed for pressure-driven ionization in the laboratory shed light on this complex process.
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News |
Gravitational-wave detector LIGO is back — and can now spot more colliding black holes than ever
The twin gravitational-wave detectors have started a new observation run after a major upgrade.
- Davide Castelvecchi
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Article |
Observing the onset of pressure-driven K-shell delocalization
Experiments at the National Ignition Facility show how delocalization of K-shell electrons is driven by extreme pressure and temperature.
- T. Döppner
- , M. Bethkenhagen
- & D. O. Gericke
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News |
Does the roar of rocket launches harm wildlife? These scientists seek answers
With rocket lift-offs set to increase drastically, a team will monitor the effects of noise pollution at a California spaceport.
- Nicola Jones
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Article
| Open AccessA massive quiescent galaxy at redshift 4.658
GS-9209 is spectroscopically confirmed as a massive quiescent galaxy at a redshift of 4.658, showing that massive galaxy formation and quenching were already well underway within the first billion years of cosmic history.
- Adam C. Carnall
- , Ross J. McLure
- & Sam Walker
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News Explainer |
China’s mysterious spaceplane returns to Earth — what we know
Specialists speculate that it might be similar to a US spaceplane, and it could have research or military uses.
- Yvaine Ye
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News |
JWST spots biggest water plume yet spewing from a moon of Saturn
The huge watery cloud spurting from Enceladus could carry the ingredients for life farther into space than previously known.
- Alexandra Witze
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Article |
A highly magnetized environment in a pulsar binary system
The observation of pulsar emission at various orbital phases of a companion star probes the diverse magnetic structure in a binary system, and exhibits varying polarization behavior, akin to that observed in certain fast radio bursts.
- Dongzi Li
- , Anna Bilous
- & Yuan-Pei Yang
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Article |
The nature of an ultra-faint galaxy in the cosmic dark ages seen with JWST
The JWST, with the aid of gravitational lensing, confirms the extreme distance of an ultra-faint galaxy at a redshift of 9.79, showing it to have a luminosity typical of the sources responsible for cosmic reionization and highly compact and complex morphology.
- Guido Roberts-Borsani
- , Tommaso Treu
- & Rogier A. Windhorst
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Article |
A temperate Earth-sized planet with tidal heating transiting an M6 star
The authors report on a temperate Earth-sized planet orbiting the cool M6 dwarf LP 791-18 with a radius of 1.03 ± 0.04 R⊕ and an equilibrium temperature of 300–400 K, with the permanent night side plausibly allowing for water condensation.
- Merrin S. Peterson
- , Björn Benneke
- & Thomas Barclay