Category: 7. Science

  • Giant planet discovered just 124 light-years from Earth

    Giant planet discovered just 124 light-years from Earth

    A nearby star has a new heavyweight companion, and it swings around on a path that is anything but neat. The world, labeled GJ 2126 b, traces a stretched orbit that pushes close to its star, then races far away again.

    In new observations, researchers identified a giant world 124 light years away that circles its star every 272.7 days on a highly stretched path, eccentricity equals 0.85.


    In addition, it has a minimum mass of about 1.3 Jupiter masses at roughly 0.71 astronomical units, about 66 million miles, from its star. These values come from 112 radial velocity measurements with the HARPS spectrograph.

    Who led the work

    “This planet orbits a low-mass star and ranks among the most eccentric exoplanets discovered,” wrote Arbel Schorr from the School of Physics and Astronomy at Tel Aviv University (TAU) who led the study. 

    Most planets in our own neighborhood move on nearly round routes, so an orbit this stretched stands out. High eccentricity often points to a chaotic past shaped by strong gravitational run-ins.

    A path like this can reshape a planet’s temperature and atmospheric behavior across a single year. The extremes also make modelers revisit how giant planets form and later get knocked around.

    How GJ 2126 b was detected

    The team used HARPS, a precision instrument at ESO’s 3.6 meter telescope, that maintains about 1 meter per second velocity stability. That level of steadiness lets astronomers watch a star’s tiny wobble over many years.

    They mined the publicly curated HARPS-RVBank, which compiles 252,615 velocities for 5,239 stars observed before January 2022.

    Public datasets like this let independent teams test ideas and spot signals that earlier searches may have missed.

    Numbers help. With a semi-major axis of 0.71 AU and eccentricity of 0.85, periastron, the closest approach, sits near 0.11 AU, about 9.9 million miles. The farthest point stretches to roughly 1.31 AU, about 122 million miles.

    Those swings mean large changes in stellar heating across a single 272.7 day year. Timing, chemistry, and cloud formation likely shift dramatically between close pass and far turn.

    What we know about GJ 2126

    The host star, often listed as an M-dwarf of type M0V, is a cool, low-mass object with about 0.65 times the Sun’s mass and 0.73 times its radius. Its temperature sits near 4,159 kelvin and its metal content is high for a dwarf star.

    GJ 2126 is a high proper-motion star about 124 light years from Earth. Its brightness and proximity make follow-up work practical with existing instruments.

    Could be a brown dwarf

    Because the orbital tilt is unknown, the mass estimate is a lower limit. The team considered whether the companion might cross into brown dwarf territory if the orbit is nearly face-on.

    They argue that Gaia astrometry and the absence of long-term trends disfavor a very massive companion around this star. The paper reports a renormalized astrometric error near unity, a value not expected for a heavy hidden object.

    The researchers compared different ways to search for periodicity in uneven time series. They leaned on the Phase Distance Correlation periodogram, designed to handle non-sinusoidal signals like those from eccentric orbits.

    They also considered a known trap in velocity work, where two planets in a 2:1 resonance can masquerade as one eccentric planet. Their modeling rejected such alternatives for this dataset.

    Why M dwarfs complicate things

    Cool stars frequently show magnetic activity that adds noise to velocity data. Teams monitor spectral activity indicators to avoid mistaking star spots for planets and to validate true orbits.

    In this case, the auxiliary indicators did not line up with the 272.7 day signal. That mismatch supports a planetary cause rather than rotating surface features.

    Exciting discovery for astronomers

    “We report the discovery of GJ 2126 b, a highly eccentric (e = 0.85) Jupiter-like planet orbiting its host star every 272.7 days,” wrote Schorr.

    Their dataset spans about fifteen years around the critical phases of the orbit. That coverage anchored the fit and strengthened the case for a single object on an extreme path.

    Giant planets can acquire extreme eccentricities through planet-planet scattering after their birth in a gas disk. Numerical experiments show this process can drive e above 0.9 without invoking a distant stellar companion.

    If that picture holds here, the system once hosted additional massive bodies that jostled each other until only one remained on a wild orbit. That would line up with the lack of a long-term drift in the present data.

    Next steps for GJ 2126 b

    The planet’s radius is unknown because no transit has been seen in the available survey photometry. Without the tilt, the true mass remains uncertain, so further work aims to refine those values.

    Future velocity campaigns could detect subtle variations tied to mutual interactions, if any undiscovered companions exist. Continued astrometric monitoring may also tighten the mass constraints.

    Thermal measurements and reflected-light studies would be challenging, yet not out of the question for future facilities. The close approach near periastron may offer the best shot at characterization time.

    Long-baseline velocities will also test for secular changes that hint at additional bodies or tidal effects. A refined inclination would settle the mass question and finally close the door on the brown-dwarf scenario.

    The study is published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

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  • Study shows modular quantum systems work even with imperfect links

    Study shows modular quantum systems work even with imperfect links

    For years, the biggest hurdle in quantum computing has been scale. While quantum processors can already tackle complex simulations in chemistry, material science, and data security, most remain too small and fragile to be practical for large-scale applications.

     A new study led by the University of California, Riverside, suggests that may be changing.

    Researchers demonstrated through simulations that multiple small quantum chips can be linked together into one functioning system even if the connections between them aren’t flawless.

    The finding points to a path for building larger, fault-tolerant quantum computers sooner than expected.

    “Our work isn’t about inventing a new chip,” said Mohamed A. Shalby, the paper’s first author and a doctoral candidate in UCR’s Department of Physics and Astronomy.

    “It’s about showing that the chips we already have can be connected to create something much larger and still work. That’s a foundational shift in how we build quantum systems.”

    Scaling, in this context, means handling ever-larger amounts of data without breaking down. Fault tolerance refers to a system’s ability to detect and correct errors automatically. Together, they form the backbone of reliable quantum computing.

    Chips linked, errors corrected

    In practice, connecting quantum chips has been difficult because links between separate processors tend to be noisy, especially when housed in different cryogenic refrigerators.

    “Connections between separate chips — especially those housed in separate cryogenic refrigerators — are much noisier than operations within a single chip,” Shalby explained. “This increased noise can overwhelm the system and prevent error correction from working properly.”

    The UC Riverside-led team found, however, that even when inter-chip links were up to 10 times noisier than the chips themselves, the system could still detect and correct errors.

    “This means we don’t have to wait for perfect hardware to scale quantum computers,” Shalby said. “We now know that as long as each chip is operating with high fidelity, the links between them can be ‘good enough’ — not perfect — and we can still build a fault-tolerant system.”

    Building reliable quantum systems

    The research highlights why simply counting qubits isn’t enough.

    Individual “logical” qubits (the usable building blocks of quantum programs)  are created by combining hundreds or even thousands of physical qubits. This redundancy allows the system to correct errors that naturally creep in.

    One of the most effective techniques is the surface code, in which a quantum processor encodes logical qubits by detecting and fixing mistakes within its own architecture. Shalby’s team simulated thousands of modular designs using this method, testing them across multiple levels of error and noise.

    The results suggest scalable, reliable quantum systems could be built using today’s imperfect hardware.

    “Until now, most quantum milestones focused on increasing the sheer number of qubits,” Shalby said. “But without fault tolerance, those qubits aren’t useful. Our work shows we can build systems that are both scalable and reliable — now, not years from now.”

    The research drew inspiration from earlier work at MIT and used tools from Google Quantum AI. It was supported by the National Science Foundation and conducted with collaborators in Germany.

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  • Tiny liquid changes improve spacecraft life-support efficiency

    Tiny liquid changes improve spacecraft life-support efficiency

    Liquids behave in strange ways without gravity, creating challenges for astronauts and engineers. A new study from the University of Mississippi shows how surface tension, rather than gravity, can control how waves move through barriers.

    The findings could make future space systems more efficient and lighter, a crucial need for long missions.

    The research team, led by Likun Zhang, senior scientist at the National Center for Physical Acoustics and associate professor in physics and astronomy, studied how liquid waves behave in low gravity.

    “In low-gravity cases like the space station, surface tension dominates everything,” said Zhengwu Wang, a fourth-year Ole Miss doctoral student in physics and co-author of the study.

    “The curvature of the water – the meniscus – is going to appear around structures, and we wanted to know how that meniscus would affect how waves move across barriers.”

    When water touches a partially submerged barrier, such as a leaf on a pond, surface tension pulls the liquid upward.

    This curve, called the meniscus, can change how much energy waves transmit through the barrier.

    “This is the first experiment studying this behavior in fluid, but it opens the door to new phenomena and new physics,” said Zhang. “This work is valuable because it shows a new way to control fluid for the first time.”

    Small changes, big impacts

    The researchers found that the shape of the meniscus can either increase or reduce energy passing through a barrier. A slight curve allows more energy to cross.

    But a steeper curve restricts energy flow.

    Likun Zhang (right), senior scientist, and doctoral student Zhengwu Wang, photograph water passing a barrier while adjusting the meniscus curve caused by surface tension. Credit – Photo by Clara Turnage/University Marketing and Communications

    “Our common sense tells us a barrier should block waves, but here we found certain meniscus shapes can make waves pass through more easily,” Zhang said.

    “Only a tiny, 1.5-millimeter change in the meniscus shape caused the transmission to drop from about 60% to just a few percent. Tiny meniscus, huge impact.”

    Such effects are subtle on Earth. In space, they can have a huge influence on life-support, fuel, and cooling systems. “These are really tiny effects in daily life, but they can have a huge impact in microgravity environments,” Wang said.

    Testing the fluid mechanics

    To test their theory, the team simulated low gravity by generating small surface waves.

    They placed a partial barrier in the path of those waves and measured the meniscus with acoustic tools.

    By changing the barrier’s height and adjusting its surface coating to be water-attracting or water-repelling, the researchers controlled how much energy traveled past the barrier.

    “As physicists, we are looking at very fundamental problems: the like problem of wave dynamics and barriers,” Zhang said. “But being able to control fluid behavior in low gravity is crucial – whether you’re talking about water recycling systems or fuel tanks – because you can’t rely on gravity to separate liquids and gases.”

    The study’s implications extend beyond spacecraft. Zhang noted that the findings could improve microfluidic devices, which guide fluids through tiny channels just millimeters wide.

    Such systems power printers, DNA chips, and lab-on-a-chip technology used in biomedical engineering.

    “This is the first experiment studying this behavior in fluid, but it opens the door to new phenomena and new physics,” Zhang said. “This work is valuable because it shows a new way to control fluid for the first time.”

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  • Bones of ancient child suggest humans could have interbred with Neanderthals earlier than thought

    Bones of ancient child suggest humans could have interbred with Neanderthals earlier than thought

    Melanie Lidman
    Associated Press

    TEL AVIV, Israel — Modern humans and Neanderthals were interacting 100,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to researchers who used CT scans and 3D mapping to study the bones of a child they believe was the result of interbreeding between the two distinct groups.

    The child, described in a recent study published in the peer-reviewed journal L’Anthropologie, was buried in a cave in Israel some 140,000 years ago. Because no ancient DNA was extracted from the fossilized remains, it’s impossible to confirm the child’s origins, but scientists say microscopic details in the bones indicate the child had traits of both groups.

    When the bones were first excavated from Skhul Cave in northern Israel in 1931, archaeologists recognized that the child belonged to neither Homo sapiens, who had arrived in the region from Africa, nor Neanderthals, who arrived from Europe. They concluded it was a separate species indigenous to the area.

    But the new 3D mapping allowed researchers to study small details of the skull that had previously been difficult to see or decipher. Researchers were able to examine distinctive traits such as the construction of the inner ear and the imprint of blood vessels that supplied the brain.

    By comparing known characteristics of both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, the researchers concluded the child was the result of interbreeding.

    Previously, the earliest known example of interbreeding between the groups was around 40,000 years ago in central Europe, explained Israel Hershkovitz, the lead researcher of the study and a professor of archaeology and human evolution at Tel Aviv University.

    A new glimpse into ancient relations

    The new research helps shed light on when the two groups began interacting and offers clues about their relationships.

    “What we’re saying now is that there was an extensive relationship between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals that started around 140,000 years ago,” and the two groups “managed to live side by side with no evidence for hostile encounters,” Hershkovitz said.

    The interbreeding and shared cultural practices, including burials and tool construction, challenge the notion of Homo sapiens as “intolerant” to other human groups due to their eventual dominance, Hershkovitz said.

    Without DNA, it will be impossible to prove that the child was a hybrid human, said Pascal Gagneux, an evolutionary biologist studying human origins at the University of California San Diego who was not involved in the research. Still, he said, the details revealed by the mapping, including the internal structure of some bones and several features, support the hybrid hypothesis.

    Peering inside an ancient skull

    Researchers took thousands of isolated scans of the skull and jaw of the child and then created a virtual 3D model of the fossil.

    The model allowed them to analyze tiny details that are impossible to see on the fossilized bones, including delicate parts inside the skull. Blood vessels, for example, make a small imprint on the inside of a skull.

    While some of the grooves are visible to the naked eye, the 3D scans allowed researchers to see the blood vessels like “tributaries of a river,” Hershkovitz said.

    The patterns are distinct between the two groups, because Neanderthals and Homo sapiens have different brain shapes that require different blood delivery.

    The virtual mapping created a more accurate reconstruction of the child’s skull than could be built from the bones and plaster when the remains were originally excavated. The new reconstruction is much more elongated, which is more typical for Neanderthals, Gagneux said.

    However, the detailed reconstruction does not answer many of the questions surrounding the discovery, Gagneux said. Were the parents of the child also interbred? Or was one Neanderthal and the other Homo sapien? Why was the child, or anyone else, buried in the cave?

    Thomas Levy, a professor in cyber-archaeology also at the University of California San Diego, said he was impressed by the study’s use of 3D models. The advances in scientific visualization allow more accurate measurements and comparisons of specimens, said Levy, who was not involved in the research.

    The technology also offers archaeologists a fresh opportunity to review conclusions from objects excavated many years ago.

    Living in harmony

    Skhul Cave is one of three caves in the region that represent some of the oldest known intentional burials in the world, dating to more than 100,000 years ago, in the middle of the Paleolithic era. Multiple sets of remains were found at each site, and some are still being painstakingly excavated with tiny drills, which could provide more clues in the future.

    In ancient times, Israel was a land bridge and point of interaction between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens.

    Because Homo sapiens eventually replaced Neanderthals in the region and across the world, many people speculate that their interactions were violent and hostile, with Homo sapiens eventually responsible for the “total elimination” of Neanderthals, Hershkovitz said.

    “What Skhul is telling us is that Homo sapiens are not a vicious, aggressive creature, but one that managed to live in peace” with other groups, he said. “Our aggressive behavior, which continues today in our long history, is a recent phenomenon that has cultural roots and not biological roots.”

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  • Comparative outcomes of supraspinatus tendon reconstruction and superior capsule reconstruction for massive irreparable posterosuperior rotator cuff tears

    Comparative outcomes of supraspinatus tendon reconstruction and superior capsule reconstruction for massive irreparable posterosuperior rotator cuff tears

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  • How oxygen made the deep ocean home to animals, spurring rapid evolution

    How oxygen made the deep ocean home to animals, spurring rapid evolution

    Environment  |  News releases  |  Research  |  Science

    August 25, 2025

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  • A Promising New Method for Detecting Supernovae at Record Speed

    A Promising New Method for Detecting Supernovae at Record Speed

    Supernovae are among the most energetic phenomena in the Universe, and definitely one of the most spectacular! These events take place when a star has reached the end of its life cycle and undergoes gravitational collapse at its center, exploding and shedding its outer layers in the process. For astronomers, supernovae are not only a fascinating field of study, shedding light on the evolution of stars, but are also a means of measuring distance and the rate at which the Universe is expanding. They are an essential part of the Cosmic Distance Ladder because their brightness makes them very reliable “standard candles.”

    Spotting supernovae represented a major challenge, though, since they are transient events that are extremely difficult to predict. Luckily, astronomers are getting better at spotting supernovae thanks to high-cadence surveys by observatories that continuously monitor the skies. According to a new study led by the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) in Barcelona, it is still crucial to develop protocols and methods for detecting them promptly. They further present a methodology for obtaining the spectra of supernovae as soon as possible by combining wide-field sky surveys with immediate follow-up by telescopes.

    The research was led by Lluís Galbany, a staff researcher at the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) and a member of the Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya(IEEC). He and his colleagues at the ICE-SCIC and IEEC were joined by researchers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE), the Instituto de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (ICEN), the Instituto de Astrofísica de La Plata (IALP), and numerous universities worldwide. Their paper, “Rapid follow-up observations of infant supernovae with the Gran Telescopio Canarias,” has been published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (JCAP).

    Artistic elaboration based on images from the original paper Galbany et al., JCAP, 2025. Credit: Galbany et al., JCAP, 2025

    Detecting a supernova during the first hours and days after it explodes is essential since the explosion preserves direct clues about the progenitor system. This information helps distinguish between competing explosion models and allows astronomers to estimate critical parameters and study the local environment. This has proved very challenging in the past because most supernovae were detected days or weeks after the explosion event. These explosions fall into two broad categories, which are determined by the mass of the progenitor star.

    The first are known as thermonuclear supernovae, which involve stars whose initial mass did not exceed eight Solar masses (typically white dwarfs). If these stars are part of a binary system, their powerful gravity will likely siphon material from their companion, raising the star’s internal pressure until it explodes in a Type Ia supernova. The second type is core-collapse supernovae, which involve massive stars whose initial mass exceeds this limit. As Galbany summarized in an ICE-CSIC press release:

    They shine thanks to nuclear fusion in their cores, but once the star has burned through progressively heavier atoms—right up to the point where further fusion no longer yields energy—the core collapses. At that point, the star collapses because gravity is no longer counterbalanced; the rapid contraction raises the internal pressure dramatically and triggers the explosion. The sooner we see them, the better.

    As noted, high-cadence surveys that cover large sections of the sky and revisit them frequently are changing this, though protocols are still needed to exploit the data they collect. The protocol developed by Galbany and his colleagues begins with a rapid search for candidates based on the criteria that it was absent in the previous night’s images, and the new light source lies within a galaxy. When both conditions are met, the team triggers the Optical System for Imaging and low-Intermediate-Resolution Integrated Spectroscopy (OSIRIS) instrument on the Gran Telescopio de Canarias (GTC) to obtain spectra from the explosions. Said Galbany:

    The supernova’s spectrum tells us, for instance, whether the star contained hydrogen—meaning we are looking at a core-collapse supernova. Knowing about the supernova in its very earliest moments also lets us seek other kinds of data on the same object, such as photometry from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) that we used in the study. Those light-curves show how brightness rises in the initial phase; if we see small bumps, it may mean another star in a binary system was swallowed by the explosion.

    The ICE Gran Telescopio Canarias telescope, located at the El Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma, Spain. Credit: Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias The ICE Gran Telescopio Canarias telescope, located at the El Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma, Spain. Credit: Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

    The team tested this method using GTC data and found ten supernovae that occurred within six days, two within the first 48 hours. The ten events were divided equally into the thermonuclear and core-collapse categories, and the team confirmed them by making additional cross-matches with data obtained by other observatories on the same patch of sky. Based on the success of their study, the team believes that even faster detections are within reach. As Galbany summarized:

    What we have just published is a pilot study. We now know that a rapid-response spectroscopic program, well coordinated with deep photometric surveys, can realistically collect spectra within a day of the explosion, paving the way for systematic studies of the very earliest phases in forthcoming large surveys such as the La Silla Southern Supernova Survey (LS4) and the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), both in Chile.

    Further Reading: ICE-CSIC, arXiv

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  • Three NASA research rockets could paint the sky with colorful vapor trails tonight

    Three NASA research rockets could paint the sky with colorful vapor trails tonight

    The mesopause is the coldest layer of the planet’s atmosphere, with temperatures that can dip to nearly minus 148 degrees Fahrenheit, according to NASA.

    Scientists have been eager to learn more about that dynamic part of the atmosphere because it is known to be a “mixing ground where weather patterns from the lower atmosphere transfer energy upward into space, fueling turbulence that can increase drag on satellites.”

    Its location, however, is too high for weather balloons to reach and too low to study using satellites. Sounding rockets, on the other hand, can be launched to specific altitudes to capture data and observations.

    The first two TOMEX+ rockets will launch within roughly a minute of each other and release trails of vapor, known as vapor tracers. A third rocket equipped with a laser will then send out pulses of light that will help researchers track the twists and turns of the vapor tracers, enabling them to track motions in the upper atmosphere as energy moves through it.

    Vapor tracers typically contain barium, lithium and an aluminum compound — similar to the materials used to make colorful fireworks — according to NASA. The small amounts of gas are not thought to be harmful to people or other life on the ground, the agency said.

    Earlier attempts to launch the TOMEX+ rockets were called off because of Hurricane Erin, which churned up the Atlantic Ocean last week and created high seas in NASA’s designated rocket recovery area.

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  • New Study Rocks Jupiter’s Giant Impact Theory

    New Study Rocks Jupiter’s Giant Impact Theory

    Jupiter holds secrets at its heart that continue to puzzle scientists. The largest planet in our Solar System has what researchers call a “dilute core,” a central region that doesn’t have sharp boundaries like once expected. Instead of a distinct rocky centre surrounded by layers of gas, Jupiter’s core gradually blends into the hydrogen-rich layers above it, creating a smooth transition zone.

    This unusual structure was first discovered by NASA’s Juno spacecraft, which has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016. The finding surprised astronomers, who had assumed giant planets would have more clearly defined cores. The mystery deepened when observations revealed that Saturn appears to have a similar dilute core structure.

    Juno awaiting its launch in 2011 (Credit : Bill Ingalls)

    One popular explanation for Jupiter’s fuzzy core involved a catastrophic collision early in the planet’s history. Scientists theorised that a massive object, perhaps containing half of Jupiter’s core material, crashed into the young planet with such force that it thoroughly mixed the central region. This collision would have been so violent that it scrambled the dense rock and ice at Jupiter’s centre with the lighter hydrogen and helium surrounding it.

    A team of researchers at Durham University decided to put this giant impact theory to the test using powerful computer simulations. Working with scientists from NASA, SETI, and the University of Oslo, they used the DiRAC COSMA supercomputer to model what would happen when massive objects collide with Jupiter sized planets. The team ran multiple simulations using cutting edge software, testing various impact scenarios including extremely violent collisions. They employed new methods to better simulate how materials would mix during such catastrophic events.

    A picture of The Ogden Centre for Fundamental Physics Building, at Durham University (Credit : Padgriffin) A picture of The Ogden Centre for Fundamental Physics Building, at Durham University (Credit : Padgriffin)

    The results were clear and unexpected; none of the simulations produced a stable dilute core like the one Jupiter actually has. Instead, the computer models showed that after a giant impact, the dense rocky material would quickly settle back down, creating a sharp boundary between the core and the outer hydrogen layers, exactly the opposite of what Juno observed.

    “We see in our simulations that this kind of impact literally shakes the planet to its core, just not in the right way to explain the interior of Jupiter that we see today.” – Dr. Thomas Sandnes from Durham University.

    The study, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, suggests that Jupiter’s dilute core formed through a much more gradual process. Rather than being created by a single dramatic collision, the unusual structure likely developed as the growing planet slowly absorbed both heavy and light materials during its formation billions of years ago. This gradual formation theory gains support from the fact that Saturn also has a dilute core. Dr. Luis Teodoro from the University of Oslo pointed out that Saturn’s similar structure strengthens the idea that dilute cores are not the result of rare, extremely high energy impacts but instead form gradually during the long process of planetary growth and evolution.

    These findings have implications beyond our Solar System. Astronomers have discovered many Jupiter and Saturn sized planets orbiting other stars. If dilute cores form gradually rather than through rare catastrophic events, it suggests that most of these distant worlds might have similarly complex internal structures. The research demonstrates that while giant impacts certainly played important roles in planetary formation, they cannot explain every feature we observe. As scientists continue to study our stellar neighbourhood and the thousands of planets beyond, mysteries like Jupiter’s core remind us that the universe still holds many surprises.

    Source : New study counters idea that Jupiter’s mysterious core was formed by a giant impact

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  • ‘Cyborg’ moon jellyfish created to study changes in Earth’s oceans

    ‘Cyborg’ moon jellyfish created to study changes in Earth’s oceans

    The ocean covers most of our planet, yet much of it remains out of reach. Scientists have long struggled to study life in the deep sea. Robotic equipment is expensive, and people cannot dive to extreme depths.

    These issues leave entire marine ecosystems unexplored. Nicole Xu, an engineer at CU Boulder, is confident that her lab’s “cyborg” moon jellyfish can help.


    These sea creatures, also known as Aurelia aurita, are simple but remarkable. They move with little effort, pulsing gently as their translucent bells expand and contract. Their tentacles drift behind them like threads, yet every motion is purposeful.

    Creating “cyborg” moon jellyfish

    Xu has watched jellyfish for years, first as a fascinated student and now as a researcher. She studies their movements not just to admire them, but to put them to work.

    Her team attaches small electronic devices to the animals. These devices stimulate their muscles and allow researchers to steer them. Soon, the system may carry sensors to track temperature, acidity, and other ocean data.

    That could send jellyfish into places humans rarely reach, and return information that is otherwise too costly to gather.

    “Think of our device like a pacemaker on the heart,” Xu said. “We’re stimulating the swim muscle by causing contractions and turning the animals toward a certain direction.”

    Survival through 500 million years

    Climate change is hitting the ocean hard. The water is getting warmer and more acidic as carbon dioxide levels rise.

    Marine life struggles to adapt, and many species are in danger. Scientists need to measure how these changes unfold.

    The challenge is scale. The ocean is vast, deep, and unpredictable. Sending ships or robots everywhere is simply not possible.

    That is where jellyfish stand out. They are some of the most energy-efficient creatures alive. They have survived in their current form for more than 500 million years.

    Moon jellyfish are ideal explorers

    Jellyfish don’t have a brain or spine, but their basic organs and nerve nets keep them moving.

    They also lack nociceptors, so they don’t experience pain the way humans do. Their stings cannot break human skin, which makes them easier to work with.

    Moon jellyfish live in many environments. They often float near shorelines where food is abundant. But they also dive to extreme depths, even as far as the Mariana Trench, 36,000 feet (10,900 meters) down.

    That range makes them ideal for exploration. Xu first tested her biohybrid jellyfish in 2020, guiding them through shallow waters near Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

    “There’s really something special about the way moon jellies swim. We want to unlock that to create more energy-efficient, next-generation underwater vehicles,” she said.

    Learning how moon jellyfish work

    Xu’s lab doesn’t only focus on movement. She and her team study how jellyfish push water as they swim. To see this, they fill tanks with biodegradable particles like corn starch. They then shine lasers through the water.

    The particles light up the flow patterns created by the jellyfish. This approach replaces older methods that used synthetic tracers such as glass beads. Those tracers were more toxic and less sustainable. Corn starch is safer, cheaper, and better for the animals.

    Her group also works on improving steering in natural ocean conditions. The open sea is far less predictable than a lab tank, so making the technology reliable outside is a big step.

    Xu believes these advances can lead to new tools that draw ideas from nature rather than replacing it. But the research is not only about technology – it also raises ethical questions.

    Nicole Xu stands behind the main jellyfish tank in her lab. (Credit: Glenn Asakawa)
    Nicole Xu stands behind the main jellyfish tank in her lab. Click image to enlarge. Credit: Glenn Asakawa

    Caring for moon jellyfish in labs

    For many years, scientists believed invertebrates could not feel pain. New evidence now suggests that some may react to harmful experiences.

    That means researchers must think carefully about how their experiments affect the animals they study. Xu takes this seriously.

    She watches for signs of stress in her jellyfish. Stress usually causes them to produce extra mucus and stop reproducing.

    Her jellyfish show none of those patterns. Instead, they seem to be thriving. Inside her tanks, baby polyps the size of pinheads are growing, with tiny tentacles starting to appear. That growth suggests the jellyfish are healthy and reproducing naturally.

    “It’s our responsibility as researchers to think about these ethical considerations up front,” Xu said. “But as far as we can tell, the jellyfish are doing well. They’re thriving.”

    Jellyfish as ocean allies

    Jellyfish may look simple, but they represent a major shift in how humans can explore the ocean. By combining engineering with biology, Xu’s work shows that living creatures can serve as allies in research.

    They move efficiently, survive in extreme environments, and carry little risk to humans. Outfitted with sensors, they could one day map parts of the ocean we know almost nothing about.

    This is not science fiction. Xu has already proven the concept in the field. Her next steps include refining the technology and expanding its capabilities.

    She sees jellyfish not only as data gatherers but also as inspiration. Their effortless swimming could shape how we design future underwater vehicles.

    The idea challenges how people think about research tools. Instead of building larger machines, we might adapt what already exists in nature. It is efficient, elegant, and potentially transformative.

    At the same time, Xu insists that ethical care for the animals must remain at the center of this work.

    Her project stands as a reminder that progress and responsibility can go together. The moon jellyfish, a creature that has floated through Earth’s waters for half a billion years, may now help us understand how those waters are changing today.

    The study is published in the journal Physical Review Fluids.

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