Covid-19 news: Self-isolation period cut to 5 days in England

by

By Michael Le Page, Clare Wilson, Jessica Hamzelou, Sam Wong, Graham Lawton, Adam Vaughan, Conrad Quilty-Harper, Jason Arunn Murugesu and Layal Liverpool Sajid Javid, health secretary, arrives at No.10 Downing Street, London, UK James Veysey/Shutterstock Latest coronavirus news as of 2pm on 13 January Isolation period shortened for people with covid-19 in England People who … Read more

Streams of stars orbiting the Milky Way shed light on galaxy’s dark matter

by

Stellar groupings orbiting in the outskirts of the Milky Way shed new light on the evolution of our galaxy as well as the elusive dark matter that surrounds it. Scientists from the Carnegie Institution for Science mapped a dozen associations of stars that orbit within the gaseous halo that envelopes our galaxy, the Milky Way. … Read more

New Bait Uses Mosquitoes’ Love of Malaria Parasite to Bite Them Back

by

Plant-based meat alternatives are making the rounds from food blogs to five-star restaurants—and soon they may appear on menus for some decidedly different diners. A new study published in Communications Biology shows how to trick mosquitoes into eating beet juice “blood” laced with poison. Mosquito-borne diseases kill more than 700,000 people every year, with malaria … Read more

Meet Relativity Space: the little 3D printing rocket company that could

by

One fast-growing rocket start-up is 3D printing its way to space. The space industry is in the middle of a historic boom. As industry giants take their first leaps and crewed voyages to outer space, new, smaller rocket companies continue to crop up, adding to the brewing frenzy to get to space faster, cheaper and … Read more

‘Cow’ supernova is brightest ever seen in X-ray observations

by

Astronomers have spotted the brightest “Cow” supernova ever seen in X-rays, providing shining new evidence that the recently discovered phenomenon might be driven by an emerging black hole or a neutron star.  Cow supernovae are a newly-labeled subclass of the explosive events, which occur when giant stars reach the end of their lives; they run … Read more

Powerful superflares discovered erupting from superdense stellar corpse

by

A visualization of a superflare on the recurrent nova v2487 Oph. (Image credit: LSU Prof. Robert Hynes, with his BinSim program) A rare type of white dwarf star has been erupting in the most extreme superflares of its kind ever seen, researchers find in a new study. The star in question, known as V2487 Oph, … Read more