When a galaxy known as M82 had a near-miss with its neighbour, it set off an explosive burst of star formation that sent plumes of hot gas tens of thousands of light years into space. Now a team of UK and American astronomers has discovered that these gas clouds are like the jets from a high pressure shower head.

M82 – which astronomers call a “starburst galaxy” – is located at a distance of a bit more than 10 million light years from our own Milky Way. Dr. Linda Smith, from the Department

Astronomers have detected and probed dark energy by applying a powerful, new method that uses images of galaxy clusters made by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. The results trace the transition of the expansion of the Universe from a decelerating to an accelerating phase several billion years ago, and give intriguing clues about the nature of dark energy and the fate of the Universe.

“Dark energy is perhaps the biggest mystery in physics,” said Steve Allen of the Institute of Astronomy (Io

In the battle against forest fires COMETS’ Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) monitoring and evaluation capabilities may offer beleaguered emergency crews the lifeline they need to control the fire.

The COMETS project improved the capabilities of two helicopters and an airship to enable them to cooperate. These UAVs can be used in aerial missions including natural disasters remediation, traffic and environmental monitoring, surveillance, security and law enforcement, and terrain mapping.

An engineer at the University of Sheffield is leading a £4.5m project that could revolutionise the way scientists, medics and others see the world – by allowing the earlier detection of cancer, the instant analysis of medical screening tests, and permitting the emergency and security services to work effectively in murky surroundings. It will also open up broad tracts of science to unique high-quality imaging by enabling physicists to understand better the most fundamental interactions of matter, by

While the Cassini spacecraft has been flying toward Saturn, chemists on Earth have been making plastic pollution like that raining through the atmosphere of Saturn’s moon, Titan.

Scientists suspect that organic solids have been falling from Titan’s sky for billions of years and might be compounds that set the stage for the next chemical step toward life. They collaborate in University of Arizona laboratory experiments that will help Cassini scientists interpret Titan data and plan a futur

Univ. of Michigan software connects all who care for a patient in and out of hospital

Like a chain with many fragile links, the care of every hospital patient in America is made up of dozens, even hundreds, of daily interactions and handoffs between the doctors, nurses, therapists, residents and medical students who care for them. The chain extends out of the hospital, too, into the offices of a patient’s primary and specialty care doctors, their pharmacy, their insurance company

As a bridge between western and eastern Europe, ENERGIA’s International Cooperation Network promotes knowledge transfer about information and communication technologies (ICT) in both emergent and traditional sectors.

The network was formed to promote knowledge transfer between five eastern European countries (Bulgaria, Georgia, Poland, Romania and Russia) and five EU countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Greece and Italy) and later extended to include the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Th

How dolphins evolved to fly like birds under water

Physicists in Japan have discovered how the surface of a dolphin’s skin reduces drag and helps them glide smoothly and quickly through water. These findings could help scientists design faster, energy-efficient boats, ocean liners, and submarines. This research is published in the Institute of Physics journal, Journal of Turbulence.

Scientists have known for some time that dolphins have evolved streamlined bodies which

Some nuclear fusion reactions inside stars occur more slowly than we thought and, as a consequence, stars themselves, as well as galaxies and the entire universe are a bit older than expected. This is what comes out from the last results of Luna experiment (Laboratory for Underground Nuclear astrophysics), settled by National Laboratories of Gran Sasso and realized in cooperation by Infn and Ruhr University in Bochum (Germany). The study, that will be published on the review Physics Letters B next Ju

Massive Star Observed that Forms through a Rotating Accretion Disc

Based on a large observational effort with different telescopes and instruments, mostly from the European Southern Observatory (ESO), a team of European astronomers has shown that in the M 17 nebula a high mass star forms via accretion through a circumstellar disc, i.e. through the same channel as low-mass stars.

To reach this conclusion, the astronomers used very sensitive infrared instruments to penetrate th

U of T physicists have developed a way to entangle photons which could ultimately lead to an extremely precise new measurement system.

Their study appears in the May 13 issue of the journal Nature. The findings could ultimately prove useful in developing ways to measure gravitational waves or the energy structure of atoms, and could also help in the development of “quantum computers.” (Quantum computers work according to the principles of quantum mechanics, which describes atoms, pho

Scientists studying the Big Bang say that it is possible that string theory may one day be tested experimentally via measurements of the Big Bang’s afterglow.

Richard Easther, assistant professor of physics at Yale University will discuss the possibility at a meeting at Stanford University Wednesday, May 12, titled “Beyond Einstein: From the Big Bang to Black Holes.” Easther’s colleagues are Brian Greene of Columbia University, William Kinney of the University at Buffalo, SUNY, Hiranya Peir

Astronomers may not have observed the fabled “Stairway to Heaven”, but they have photographed something almost as intriguing: ladder-like structures surrounding a dying star.

This image, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, reveals startling new details of one of the most unusual nebulae known in our Galaxy. Catalogued as HD 44179, this nebula is more commonly called the “Red Rectangle” because of its unique shape and colour as seen with ground-based telescopes.

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Two at a time

A computer scientist at Washington University in St. Louis has developed a novel technique to extract more DNA from a single sequence reaction than is normally possible, reducing both cost and time of the sequencing process.

Michael R. Brent, Ph.D., associate professor of computer science, has applied software developed in his Washington University laboratory that sorts through the maze of genetic information and finds predicted sequences.

“Normally,

Long-exposure images of the giant elliptical galaxy M87 by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, together with radio observations, have provided spectacular evidence of repetitive outbursts from the vicinity of the galaxy’s supermassive black hole. Magnetized rings, bubbles, plumes and jets ranging in size from a few thousand to a few hundred thousand light years point to ongoing violent activity for hundreds of millions of years.

“The hot X-ray emitting gas extending for hundreds of

For years, astronomers have wondered whether stars similar to the Sun go through periodic cycles of enhanced X-ray activity, like those often causing troubles to telephone and power lines here on Earth.

ESA’s X-ray observatory XMM-Newton has now revealed for the first time a cyclic behaviour in the X-ray radiation emitted by a star similar to the Sun. This discovery may help scientists to understand how stars affect the development of life on their planets.

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