Category: 7. Science

In movies, people phase through walls like ghosts — think Vision from “Avengers” or Harry Potter going through Platform 9¾. It looks effortless. But in the real world, trying that trick would just leave you with a bruised nose and a lot of questions.

One question, for instance, might be why can’t we walk through walls? Atoms, which are the building blocks of matter, are mostly empty space. The tiny nucleus — which is about 100,000 times smaller than the whole atom — sits at the center, while the electrons orbit far away. So why do solid objects feel so … solid?

A burst of radio energy from deep space just set a new record. It was brighter than anything like it ever seen before – and it came from a galaxy only 130 million light-years away. That’s unusually close by cosmic standards.

The burst, known as a fast radio burst or FRB, lasted just a few milliseconds but packed enough power to outshine entire galaxies in radio light.

This one was so intense, scientists gave it a nickname: RBFLOAT – short for “radio brightest flash of all time.”

What is a fast radio burst?

A fast radio burst is a short, intense spike of radio waves that lasts only a few milliseconds. That’s a thousandth of a second. But in that split second, it can outshine entire galaxies in the radio part of the spectrum.

FRBs have been baffling astronomers since they were first discovered in 2007. Nobody knows for sure what causes them. But this new detection could finally help change that.

Why RBFLOAT is a big deal

The burst was detected by an international team using a network of radio telescopes known as CHIME – short for Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment – and a new system called the CHIME Outriggers.

The Outriggers, located at separate sites across North America, give the main CHIME telescope a powerful upgrade. Together, they allow astronomers to pinpoint exactly where a radio signal came from. This precision made all the difference.

On March 16, 2025, CHIME picked up an ultra-bright flash. It was so bright, in fact, that scientists weren’t sure if it was coming from deep space or just a burst of radio interference here on Earth.

But the CHIME Outriggers quickly narrowed it down: the signal came from a galaxy called NGC 4141, located in the constellation Ursa Major.

Where do the bursts come from?

The burst came from the outer edge of the galaxy – right near a region where new stars are being born. This area is hot, chaotic, and full of activity, which makes it a prime candidate for violent events like FRBs.

The current leading theory is that FRBs come from magnetars – a type of neutron star with insanely strong magnetic fields. These stars are known for producing powerful flares, especially when they’re young.

Because the burst came from just outside the star-forming region, it might have been produced by a magnetar that’s slightly older than most and had more time to develop.

“These are mostly hints,” said Kiyoshi Masui, associate professor of physics at MIT. “But the precise localization of this burst is letting us dive into the details of how old an FRB source could be.”

“If it were right in the middle, it would only be thousands of years old – very young for a star. This one, being on the edge, may have had a little more time to bake.”

New eyes on the sky

CHIME was originally built to map hydrogen in space. But over time, it became clear that the telescope was picking up something else: FRBs.

Since 2018, CHIME has detected about 4,000 fast radio bursts. However, until recently, it couldn’t tell exactly where the bursts were coming from.

That changed with the addition of the CHIME Outriggers – smaller versions of the telescope placed in different locations. When a flash is picked up, all of the telescopes work together to trace it back to a specific location in the sky.

“Imagine we are in New York and there’s a firefly in Florida that is bright for a thousandth of a second, which is usually how quick FRBs are,” said Shion Andrew, a graduate student at MIT’s Kavli Institute.

“Localizing an FRB to a specific part of its host galaxy is analogous to figuring out not just what tree the firefly came from, but which branch it’s sitting on.”

Diversity of fast radio bursts

Once they had locked in the location of RBFLOAT, scientists went back through six years of CHIME data to see if anything similar had been seen before in the same spot. Nothing was found. That puts RBFLOAT firmly in the “one-off” category – a burst that flares once and then goes silent.

“Right now we’re in the middle of this story of whether repeating and nonrepeating FRBs are different. These observations are putting together bits and pieces of the puzzle,” said Masui.

That’s a major question in FRB science: are the ones that repeat caused by something different than the one-time flashes? This discovery doesn’t answer that question – but it gives researchers a big piece of evidence to work with.

Because it’s so bright and close, they can study the area around the burst in greater detail than ever before.

“There’s evidence to suggest that not all FRB progenitors are the same,” said Andrew. “We’re on track to localize hundreds of FRBs every year. The hope is that a larger sample of FRBs localized to their host environments can help reveal the full diversity of these populations.”

The race to understand FRBs

For now, scientists are digging deeper into the data – studying not just the burst itself, but also its environment, its galaxy, and any signs of activity that might hint at what caused it.

The discovery of RBFLOAT doesn’t solve the FRB mystery, but it’s one of the clearest clues yet.

The more fast radio bursts that scientists find and locate, the closer they’ll get to cracking the code. And with CHIME and its new Outriggers up and running, the race is on.

The full study was published in the journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Image Credit: Danielle Futselaar

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A hormone-receptor interaction weakens immunity. Targeting it could fight cancer.

Scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified how a hormone binds to a receptor on immune cells, allowing cancer cells to evade the body’s defenses. The study, published in Nature Immunology, points to potential new directions in cancer immunotherapy and may also open avenues for treating inflammatory and neurological conditions.

“Myeloid cells are among the first group of immune cells recruited to tumors, but very quickly these tumor-fighting cells turn into tumor-supporting cells. Our study suggests that receptors on these myeloid cells get stimulated by this hormone and end up suppressing the immune system,” said Cheng Cheng “Alec” Zhang, Ph.D., Professor of Physiology and a member of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at UT Southwestern. Dr. Zhang co-led the study with first author Xing Yang, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher in the Zhang Lab.

Dr. Zhang noted that current immunotherapies, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors, only benefit about 20%-30% of patients. This limited success suggests that cancer uses multiple strategies to escape detection and destruction by the immune system.

Discovery of LILRB4 receptor

Several years ago, researchers in the Zhang Lab examined how myeloid cells, a type of immune cell that normally attacks cancer, could be suppressed. They identified an inhibitory receptor called LILRB4, and when this receptor was activated, the myeloid cells lost their ability to target tumors.

Building on that discovery, Dr. Zhang, Dr. Yang, and their team conducted a genome-wide search for proteins that interact with LILRB4. One strong candidate was a hormone known as SCG2. While earlier studies hinted that SCG2 might influence immune activity, its precise role and receptor were not established. Laboratory tests confirmed that SCG2 binds directly to LILRB4, triggering a signaling cascade that shut down the tumor-fighting function of myeloid cells and prevented them from recruiting T cells to attack tumors.

In mice genetically altered to express the human form of LILRB4, injected cancer cells that produced SCG2 grew rapidly as tumors. Treating these mice with an antibody that blocks LILRB4 significantly slowed cancer growth, as did artificially ridding the animals’ bodies of SCG2.

Together, these experiments suggest that interactions between LILRB4 and SCG2 allow cancer to grow unchecked by myeloid cells, T cells, and potentially other immune cell types. Dr. Zhang suggested that disrupting this interaction could someday offer a new immunotherapy option to treat cancer. Conversely, because this interaction neutralizes myeloid cells’ immune activity, delivering extra SCG2 could be a promising treatment for autoimmune or inflammatory disorders spurred by myeloid cells. Dr. Zhang and his colleagues plan to investigate both ideas in future studies.

Reference: “Secretogranin 2 binds LILRB4 resulting in immunosuppression” by Xing Yang, Ryan Huang, Meng Fang, Yubo He, Jingjing Xie, Xiaoye Liu, Chengcheng Zhang, Qi Lou, Mi Deng, Wei Xiong, Cheryl Lewis, Zade Sadek, Ankit Gupta, Lianqi Chen, Xuewu Zhang, Lei Guo, Lin Xu, Ningyan Zhang, Zhiqiang An and Cheng Cheng Zhang, 24 July 2025, Nature Immunology.
DOI: 10.1038/s41590-025-02233-4

This study was funded by grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) (R01CA248736, R01CA263079, and Lung Cancer 779 SPORE Development Research Program), the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (RP220032, RP15150551, RP190561), The Welch Foundation (AU-0042-20030616, I-1702), Immune-Onc Therapeutics Inc. (Sponsored Research Grant No. 111077), the National Institutes of Health (R35GM130289), and NCI Cancer Center Support Grant (P30CA142543).

The University of Texas has a financial interest in Immune-Onc in the form of equity and licensing. Dr. Alec Zhang holds equity in and had sponsored research agreements with Immune-Onc.

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Following a successful launch of NASA’s SpaceX 33rd commercial resupply mission, new scientific experiments and cargo for the agency are bound for the International Space Station.

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, carrying more than 5,000 pounds of supplies to the orbiting laboratory, lifted off at 2:45 a.m. EDT on Sunday, on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

“Commercial resupply missions to the International Space Station deliver science that helps prove technologies for Artemis lunar missions and beyond,” said acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy. “This flight will test 3D printing metal parts and bioprinting tissue in microgravity – technology that could give astronauts tools and medical support on future Moon and Mars missions.”

Live coverage of the spacecraft’s arrival will begin at 6 a.m., Monday, Aug. 25, on NASA+, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and more. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.

The spacecraft is scheduled to dock autonomously at approximately 7:30 a.m. to the forward port of the space station’s Harmony module.

In addition to food, supplies, and equipment for the crew, Dragon will deliver several experiments, including bone-forming stem cells for studying bone loss prevention and materials, to 3D print medical implants that could advance treatments for nerve damage on Earth. Dragon also will deliver bioprinted liver tissue to study blood vessel development in microgravity, as well as supplies to 3D print metal cubes in space.

These are just a sample of the hundreds of biology and biotechnology, physical sciences, Earth and space science investigations conducted aboard the orbiting laboratory. This research benefits people on Earth while laying the groundwork for other agency deep space missions. As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future human exploration of Mars, inspiring the world through discovery in a new Golden Age of innovation and exploration.

During the mission, Dragon also will perform a reboost demonstration of station to maintain its current altitude. The hardware, located in the trunk of Dragon, contains an independent propellant system separate from the spacecraft to fuel two Draco engines using existing hardware and propellant system design. The boost kit will help sustain the orbiting lab’s altitude starting in September with a series of burns planned periodically throughout the fall of 2025. During NASA’s SpaceX 31st commercial resupply services mission on Nov. 8, 2024, the Dragon spacecraft performed its first demonstration of these capabilities.

The Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to remain at the space station until December, when it will depart the orbiting laboratory and return to Earth with research and cargo, splashing down off the coast of California.

Astronomers have discovered the brightest and closest fast radio burst ever observed, shedding new light on one of the Universe’s greatest enigmas.

For over a decade, fast radio bursts (FRBs) have baffled astronomers. These fleeting but immensely powerful flashes of radio energy last just milliseconds yet can briefly outshine entire galaxies.

Now, scientists have captured an FRB unlike any seen before – an ultrabright signal from a nearby galaxy 130 million light-years away.

Nicknamed “RBFLOAT” (Radio Brightest Flash of All Time), this extraordinary event is not only the brightest FRB on record but also one of the closest ever detected.

Its intensity and proximity are giving researchers the clearest view yet into the origins and environments of these mysterious cosmic phenomena.

What are fast radio bursts?

Fast radio bursts are intense radio pulses that appear randomly across the sky, each lasting no more than a blink of an eye.

In that instant, they unleash as much energy as our Sun produces in an entire year. First identified in 2007, FRBs quickly became one of astrophysics’ most puzzling discoveries.

Because they can be seen billions of light-years away, FRBs offer a unique tool for probing the structure of the Universe. Yet, their origins remain uncertain.

Leading theories suggest that magnetars — neutron stars with extreme magnetic fields — may be behind at least some of these bursts.

The brightest burst ever seen

On March 16, 2025, astronomers monitoring the sky with the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) witnessed a radio flash so strong it initially seemed too bright to be real.

At first, researchers suspected interference from Earth-based signals. But within hours, confirmation arrived from CHIME’s newly expanded Outrigger system: this was no mistake, but the brightest fast radio burst ever detected.

The source was traced to NGC 4141, a spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. At just 130 million light-years away, this FRB is a rare cosmic neighbour. Its remarkable clarity offers scientists a once-in-a-generation chance to probe the phenomenon in detail.

How CHIME found it

CHIME, located in British Columbia, is made up of four giant halfpipe-shaped antennas. Originally designed to map cosmic hydrogen, it has become one of the most prolific FRB detectors, logging over 4,000 bursts since 2018.

Until recently, though, CHIME lacked the precision to pinpoint exactly where these bursts originated. That changed with the deployment of CHIME Outriggers – smaller companion telescopes stationed across North America. Acting as a continent-wide observatory, they allow astronomers to triangulate FRB signals with extraordinary accuracy.

This event marks the first major discovery using the fully operational CHIME-Outrigger system, proving its power to not only detect bursts but also map them to their host galaxies and specific regions within.

Where the burst came from

Analysis revealed that the fast radio burst originated at the outer edge of NGC 4141, just beyond a zone of active star formation.

This location is particularly intriguing. Magnetars are thought to form in the hearts of such regions, where massive young stars collapse.

The position of this burst suggests it may have come from a slightly older magnetar that has since migrated outward.

This finding adds weight to the idea that FRBs can occur in a variety of galactic environments, reflecting the diversity of their possible sources.

One-off or part of a pattern?

Another major question about fast radio bursts is whether all of them behave the same way. Most appear only once, while a few are repeaters, flashing sporadically or even rhythmically like a heartbeat.

To test whether RBFLOAT might belong to this rarer category, astronomers combed through six years of CHIME data. No other signals were found from the same location, suggesting that this burst is a one-off – at least for now.

Whether repeaters and non-repeaters represent the same underlying phenomenon or entirely different astrophysical events remains an open question. The discovery of RBFLOAT provides an important new data point in this ongoing debate.

A window into the Universe

Because it is both bright and nearby, RBFLOAT is a goldmine for astronomers. By studying how its radio waves travelled through space, scientists can learn about the intergalactic medium, magnetic fields, and even test models of fundamental physics.

The upgraded CHIME-Outrigger system is expected to localise hundreds of bursts every year. As the catalogue of precisely mapped FRBs grows, researchers hope to untangle whether these spectacular events come from a single type of source or represent a family of distinct cosmic explosions.

The discovery of the brightest fast radio burst to date marks a milestone in our quest to understand these mysterious flashes.

For now, the true source of fast radio bursts remains hidden. But with detections like RBFLOAT, astronomers are closer than ever to unlocking the secrets behind these cosmic fireworks.

Researchers at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences developed a novel MnCoO_x catalyst capable of effectively breaking down hazardous industrial pollutants benzene and toluene. The breakthrough, recently published in Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering, highlights a promising method for addressing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in industrial emissions.

Volatile organic compounds like benzene and toluene are prevalent in industrial emissions and pose significant health and environmental risks. Current methods for their removal often struggle with efficiency, particularly when multiple VOCs are present simultaneously. This study addresses a critical gap in the effective and efficient degradation of these compounds.

The research team synthesized MnCoO_x catalysts with varying manganese to cobalt ratios and evaluated their performance in degrading benzene and toluene. Notably, the MnCoO_x and MnCo₂O_x variants demonstrated superior catalytic efficiency, achieving 90% conversion of benzene and toluene at 290 ℃ and 248 ℃, respectively, with complete degradation observed at higher temperatures (300–350 ℃). The catalysts also exhibited excellent CO₂ selectivity, underscoring their potential for environmentally friendly applications.

The team prepared a series of MnCoO_x catalysts by adjusting the ratios of manganese to cobalt (1:2, 1:1, and 2:1). They conducted experiments under both single and binary VOC conditions to analyze catalytic performance. Advanced characterization techniques were used to understand the relationship between catalyst structure, redox properties, and catalytic activity.

This study provides a significant contribution to the field of VOC treatment, offering a feasible solution for the simultaneous degradation of benzene and toluene. The findings could lead to improvements in industrial pollutant management systems and promote the development of more efficient, cleaner technologies for air purification.

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants 22206146, U21A20524) and other key funding bodies. For more detailed insights, the full study is available in Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering: https://journal.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-025-1942-6. Future research will explore scaling the catalyst for industrial applications and examining its efficacy with other VOCs.

The US military’s Boeing-built X-37B spaceplane is in space again for its eighth mission.

The X-37B is an uncrewed craft that, just like the USA’s retired Space Shuttle, launches on a rocket and after re-entry makes an unpowered landing on a terrestrial runway. The vehicle has engines it can use to maneuver in space, but in 2024 deliberately grazed Earth’s atmosphere by “aerobraking” to make a significant change to its orbit.

It’s thought the spaceplane has other means to change its orbit – a move that requires a lot of energy – and is therefore the subject of occasional criticism from China on grounds it could be a weapons platform.

Little is known about the missions flown by the X-37B, save that they sometimes last for more than a year and nearly always involve experiments with new space technologies.

The craft launched again last week, atop a SpaceX Falcon 9, and this time Boeing had a a little to say about the mission, namely that on this flight the spaceplane:

• Includes a Boeing integrated service module to increase payload capacity for experimentation activities on orbit; >
• Is hosting several technology demonstrations from government partners on this mission, include laser communications and a quantum inertial sensor designed to support navigation when GPS is unavailable.

Boeing tested that quantum GPS tech in March 2025, when it described it as involving a “using a six-axis quantum inertial measurement unit (IMU” that use “a quantum-sensing technique called atom interferometry to detect rotation and acceleration using atoms.”

The USA’s Sandia National Laboratories have described atom interferometry as “an ultra-precise way of measuring acceleration” and built a “high-performance silicon photonic modulator — a device that controls light on a microchip” to put it to work.

The nub of the matter is that atom interferometry can be used to measure position – the same job we use GPS for today.

Which brings us back to why China is a bit antsy about the X-37B: Beijing worries it could take out its Beidou satnav satellites. The US worries about losing GPS satellites too, as modern warfare relies on them.

This X-37B flight therefore takes on a little more significance, as it’s testing a tech that could allow future spacecraft – and aircraft and who knows what else – to find their way even if satnav systems succumb to … something.

The Pentagon’s not said when it expects the X-37B back on Earth, or what it hopes to achieve with this mission. ®