Professor Aerts, from the Institute of Astronomy at KU Leuven, Belgium, is a pioneer in asteroseismology whose influential research and leadership have earned her top scientific honours, including the Francqui, Kavli, and Crafoord Prizes. She is also widely recognised for her mentoring, academic teaching and leadership in international space missions. The appointment is for an initial term of four years, starting from 1 July 2025.
Ekaterina Zaharieva, Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, said:
‘Professor Aerts is an outstanding scientist and a strong voice for European research. Her deep experience and dedication will be a real asset to the ERC Scientific Council. I warmly welcome her and look forward to working together to support excellence in science.’
President of the European Research Council Prof. Maria Leptin said:
‘The independent identification committee has again ensured both the quality and continuity of the ERC governing body. Welcome to Conny Aerts as a new member. She brings her stellar scientific track record to our Scientific Council and also her understanding of the challenges scientists face today. We will benefit from her engagement in mentoring the younger generation of researchers, as well as her experience in making basic science relevant to practical applications.’
Professor Aerts replaces Professor Chryssa Kouveliotou who stepped down at the end of March 2025. ERC Scientific Council members are appointed by the European Commission based a search carried out by an independent Identification Committee, composed of six distinguished researchers and chaired by Prof. Carl-Henrik Heldin. The mandate of this committee is to identify new members for the renewal of the Scientific Council membership and to maintain a pool of candidates for future replacements of Scientific Council members. The selection process involves consultations with the scientific community.
The ERC Scientific Council is composed of 22 distinguished scientists and scholars representing the European scientific community. Their main role is to set the ERC strategy and to select the peer review evaluators. The ERC and the Scientific Council is chaired by the ERC President, Maria Leptin.
Biography
Conny Clara Aerts is a Belgian professor in astrophysics. Professor Aerts studied mathematics at Antwerp University and completed her PhD in astrophysics in 1993 at KU Leuven. She was an independent Postdoctoral Fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) from 1993 to 2001, spending research time at various institutes worldwide, while also acting as an advocate for equal opportunities for women in science. She was appointed as a lecturer at KU Leuven in 2001 and completed the promotion path to full professor by 2007. She has previously been awarded two Advanced Grants and one Synergy Grant by the ERC. She became the first woman to be awarded the Belgian Francqui Prize (2012) and the FWO Excellence Prize (2020) in the category of Science & Technology. In 2022, she became the third woman to be awarded the Kavli Prize in Astrophysics for her pioneering work and leadership in asteroseismology. In 2024, she won the Crafoord Prize in Astronomy for developing methods of asteroseismology and their application to the study of rotating stars.
About the ERC
The ERC, set up by the European Union in 2007, is the premier European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. It funds creative researchers of any nationality and age, to run projects based across Europe. The ERC offers four core grant schemes: Starting Grants, Consolidator Grants, Advanced Grants and Synergy Grants. With its additional Proof of Concept Grant scheme, the ERC helps grantees to bridge the gap between their pioneering research and early phases of its commercialisation. The ERC is led by an independent governing body, the Scientific Council. Since November 2021, Maria Leptin is the President of the ERC. The overall ERC budget from 2021 to 2027 is more than €16 billion, as part of the Horizon Europe programme, under the responsibility of European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, Ekaterina Zaharieva.
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The PRISMA flow diagram illustrating the literature search process is presented in Fig. 1. Based on a systematic search across the specified databases, a total of 3,245 articles were initially retrieved. These included 539 articles from Embase, 1037 from PubMed, 847 from Scopus, 770 from Web of Science, and 16 from ProQuest. After removing 1388 duplicate records, two researchers independently screened the titles and abstracts of 1857 articles. Of these, 1,806 articles were excluded due to non-compliance with the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The full texts of 51 articles were assessed, and ultimately, 27 primary studies were selected for data extraction [27, 29, 42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66]. The remaining 24 articles were excluded for the following reasons: they did not focus on burn injuries, lacked direct or indirect data extraction possibilities, used alternative effect size metrics, did not utilize MSCs, or employed bilayered scaffolds.
Fig. 1
PRISMA flow diagram detailing study screening and selection
Study characteristics
Animal models
Among the included studies, 14 studies utilized mice, 11 studies employed rats, one study used rabbits, and one study involved pigs (Fig. 2A). Of these, 16 studies focused on male animals, six studies on female animals, and one study included both sexes (Fig. 2B). The sex of the animals was not reported in four studies. Regarding the burn models, 16 studies induced third-degree burns, nine studies created second-degree burns, and the burn model was not specified in two studies (Fig. 2C). The methods employed to induce burns, along with other relevant information pertaining to the animal model, are concisely presented in Table 1.
Fig. 2
Comperhensive overview of included study characteristics
Mesenchymal stem cells
Out of the 20 studies that utilized MSCs, 11 studies employed animal-derived MSCs, while nine studies used human-derived MSCs (Fig. 2D). Specifically, 11 studies used adipose tissue-derived MSCs, six studies utilized bone marrow-derived MSCs, and three studies employed umbilical cord-derived MSCs (Fig. 2E). A summary of the points mentioned, along with the methods for identifying and characterizing MSCs based on ISCT guidelines [67], is provided in Table 2.
Secretome
According to Table 3, among the seven studies that isolated MSCs, three studies focused on exosomes, one study investigated microvesicles, one study examined small extracellular vesicles, one study analyzed paracrine proteins, and one study utilized conditioned medium (Fig. 2F). Of these, four studies investigated secretomes derived from umbilical cord MSCs, two studies explored secretomes from adipose-derived MSCs, and one study used secretomes from iPSC-derived MSCs (Fig. 2G). For isolation, four studies employed ultrafiltration, and three studies used ultracentrifugation as the primary methods.
Scaffold types
In terms of scaffolds, six studies utilized biological-based scaffolds, while 21 studies employed hydrogel-based scaffolds (Fig. 2H). The hydrogel formulations included injectable hydrogels, foam hydrogels, amorphous hydrogels, film hydrogels, freeze-dried hydrogels, nanofiber hydrogels, and bioprinted hydrogels (Fig. 2I). The most commonly used biomaterials in these hydrogels were hyaluronic acid, collagen, chitosan, gelatin, and alginate (Fig. 2J). The information provided pertains to scaffolds, including Scaffold Compositions, Forms, and characterization methods, as well as the Structural and Biological Properties of scaffolds, all of which are comprehensively presented in Table 4.
Result of risk of bias assessment
The risk of bias assessment, conducted using the SYRCLE tool, yielded the following findings across the included studies. In the domain of selection bias, under the subcategory of sequence generation, 18 out of 27 studies (66.7%) were classified as having a low risk of bias. In the baseline characteristics subcategory, all but one study—i.e., 26 out of 27 studies (96.3%)—were deemed to have a low risk of bias. However, in the allocation concealment subcategory, all studies were rated as having an unclear risk of bias. In the domain of performance bias, the random housing subcategory indicated that 15 out of 27 studies (55.6%) were at low risk of bias, whereas in the blinding subcategory, all studies were assessed as having an unclear risk of bias. Regarding detection bias, the random outcome assessment subcategory showed that, with the exception of three studies, the remaining 24 out of 27 studies (88.9%) were classified as low risk. In contrast, the blinding subcategory within this domain revealed that all studies had an unclear risk of bias.In the domain of attrition bias, all but three studies—i.e., 24 out of 27 studies (88.9%)—were determined to have a low risk of bias. Finally, in the domain of reporting bias, all studies were consistently rated as having a low risk of bias. In total, of the 27 studies evaluated, 19 studies (70.4%) were classified as having an overall low risk of bias and were included in our review, while the remaining 8 studies (29.6%) were deemed to have an unclear risk of bias (Fig. 3). Also, to examine the impact of studies with unclear risk of bias on potential under- or overestimation of results, a subgroup analysis was conducted for the primary outcome. As shown in Table 5 and (Supplementary Data S2), these studies did not significantly influence the overall findings.
Fig. 3
Quality assessment of individual studies using SYstematic Review Center for Laboratory animal Experimentation (SYRCLE) tool
Primary outcome
Our analysis demonstrates that the synergistic effect of MSCs and scaffolds significantly improves wound closure rates, measured as the primary outcome, across three time frames. To evaluate the progression of wound healing, these time points were categorized as short-term (1-week), mid-term (2 weeks), and long-term (3 weeks). These intervals align with the inflammatory, proliferative, and remodeling phases of the wound healing process, respectively, and were selected based on standard practices in preclinical burn wound research. Moreover, these time points were chosen due to their frequent reporting in the scientific literature, enabling standardization and comparison of results across studies. These results are derived from 23 studies for the 1-week time point, 25 studies for 2 weeks, and 12 studies for 3 weeks. The effect was most pronounced at 1 week (SMD = 3.97, 95% CI: 2.92 to 5.01), followed by 2 weeks (SMD = 3.47, 95% CI: 2.23 to 4.61), and 3 weeks (SMD = 3.03, 95% CI: 1.96 to 4.11) (Fig. 4A–C). These results indicate that the combination of MSCs and scaffolds is highly effective in promoting wound healing, with the strongest impact observed in the early stages. However, the high heterogeneity (I2 > 50%) across studies suggests variability in experimental conditions, which should be considered when interpreting these findings.
Fig. 4
Forest plot demonstrating the therapeutic efficacy of MSC-scaffold combinations in promoting wound closure in a burn animal model. A Week 1, B Week 2, C Week 3
Subgroup analysis and meta-regression
Due to the presence of high heterogeneity and to investigate its underlying causes as well as identify factors influencing therapeutic efficacy, we conducted a subgroup analysis across three time frames: 1 week, 2 weeks, and 3 weeks. The results revealed noteworthy findings (all results are available in Table 5 and Supplementary Data S2). Our results indicate that, in the comparison between the use of MSCs and MSC-derived secretome, the administration of MSCs (SMD = 4.75, 95% CI: 3.15 to 6.36) demonstrated superior therapeutic efficacy in the short term (1-week) compared to secretome (SMD = 2.90, 95% CI: 1.77 to 4.03). However, in the medium term (2-week) and long term (3-week), specifically in 2-week the therapeutic efficacy of secretome (SMD = 3.94, 95% CI: 2.30 to 5.58) was greater than that of MSCs (SMD = 3.20, 95% CI: 1.71 to 4.68). I2 analysis in this subgroup suggests that one of the main sources of heterogeneity was the inclusion of MSCs and MSC-derived secretome combined with scaffolds. Separate analysis of these combinations reduced heterogeneity; however, due to the limited number of secretome studies, we included both scaffold-based MSC and secretome data in the pooled results. The investigation of the therapeutic efficacy of MSCs across various animal models indicates a significant reduction in I2 (heterogeneity). This suggests that the choice of animal model utilized in the studies may be one of the key factors contributing to the heterogeneity observed in our results. The evaluation of the therapeutic efficacy of MSCs in second- and third-degree burn models reveals significant findings. In the one-week time frame, the wound closure rate in second-degree burns (SMD = 3.95, 95% CI: 2.00 to 5.90) was notably sharp compared to third-degree burns (SMD = 6.36, 95% CI: 2.99 to 9.74). However, as might be expected, the therapeutic efficacy in the second and third weeks was better in second-degree burn models (SMD = 3.49, 95% CI: 1.41 to 5.56; SMD = 3.21, 95% CI: 0.99 to 5.43) compared to third-degree burns (SMD = 2.46, 95% CI: 0.31 to 4.60; SMD = 2.83, 95% CI: 1.64 to 4.01), respectively. Additionally, the reduction in I2 suggests that the type of burn model used may be one of the contributing factors to the heterogeneity observed in our results. In addition, the type of scaffolds used also significantly influences therapeutic efficacy. Our results demonstrate that, in the one-week time frame, MSCs combined with biological scaffolds exhibited superior therapeutic efficacy (SMD = 8.83, 95% CI: 0.76 to 16.90) compared to hydrogels (SMD = 4.02, 95% CI: 2.37 to 5.67). However, in the two- and three-week time frames, the therapeutic efficacy of hydrogels (SMD = 3.41, 95% CI: 1.89 to 4.93; SMD = 3.60, 95% CI: 1.31 to 5.89) was greater than that of biological scaffolds (SMD = 2.75, 95% CI: −0.54 to 6.04; SMD = 2.74, 95% CI: 1.56 to 3.91). The absence of a notable reduction in I2 within the scaffold type subgroup can be attributed to the substantial variation in scaffold nature (i.e., polymer-based vs. biological-based scaffolds) and in their constituent components (i.e., natural or synthetic biomaterials). This broad variability in both structural origin and material composition likely contributes to the persistent heterogeneity observed, which may, in turn, affect the robustness and certainty of the derived conclusions.The type of MSCs used significantly influences both heterogeneity and therapeutic efficacy. Our analysis highlights distinct performance patterns across different MSC sources—Umbilical Cord, Bone Marrow, and Adipose—over one-, two-, and three-week time frames. Umbilical Cord-derived MSCs demonstrated the highest therapeutic efficacy in the short term, with a SMD of 6.74 (95% CI: 4.88 to 8.60) at one week. This efficacy remained robust at two weeks (SMD = 6.30, 95% CI: 4.03 to 8.56) but declined slightly by three weeks (SMD = 3.29, 95% CI: 0.64 to 5.94). Similarly, Bone Marrow-derived MSCs exhibited strong therapeutic effects, with an SMD of 6.27 (95% CI: 4.74 to 7.81) at one week, 4.27 (95% CI: 1.73 to 6.81) at two weeks, and 4.42 (95% CI: 1.83 to 7.02) at three weeks. In contrast, Adipose-derived MSCs showed comparatively lower efficacy across all time frames: SMD = 4.16 (95% CI: 1.27 to 7.05) at one week, 1.56 (95% CI: 0.01 to 3.10) at two weeks, and 1.51 (95% CI: −0.28 to 3.30) at three weeks. Furthermore, the observed reduction in I2 suggests that the source of MSCs is a key factor contributing to the heterogeneity in our results. Regarding the source of MSCs, the results demonstrate that human-derived MSCs exhibit significantly higher therapeutic efficacy compared to animal-derived MSCs in the one- and two-week time frames. Specifically, human-derived MSCs showed an SMD of 6.66 (95% CI: 3.38—9.94) at one week and 3.86 (95% CI: 1.20 to 6.52) at two weeks. In contrast, animal-derived MSCs displayed lower efficacy, with an SMD of 3.60 (95% CI: 1.78 to 5.43) at one week and 2.52 (95% CI: 1.02 to 4.02) at two weeks. However, the results in the three-week time frame present a contrasting pattern. Here, animal-derived MSCs demonstrated higher therapeutic efficacy (SMD = 3.54, 95% CI: 0.91 to 6.17) compared to human-derived MSCs (SMD = 2.85, 95% CI: 1.62 to 4.07). Regarding MSC-derived secretomes, our results indicate that secretomes extracted from Adipose-derived MSCs exhibit higher therapeutic efficacy compared to those from Umbilical Cord-derived MSCs in the one- and two-week time frames. Specifically, Adipose-derived secretomes demonstrated an SMD of 3.67 (95% CI: 2.26 to 5.08) at one week and 4.83 (95% CI: − 2.26 to 12.16) at two weeks. In contrast, Umbilical Cord-derived secretomes showed lower efficacy, with an SMD of 2.78 (95% CI: 0.97 to 4.58) at one week and 4.10 (95% CI: 3.20 to 4.99) at two weeks. These findings suggest that Adipose-derived MSC secretomes may offer superior therapeutic benefits in the short to medium term. Furthermore, the results of our meta-regression analysis indicate that no dose–response relationship was observed regarding the number of MSCs administered and their therapeutic efficacy across the three specified time frames (Supplementary Data S2). Also, given the absence of a universally established criterion for classifying sample sizes in preclinical studies, we categorized sample sizes based on the ARRIVE guidelines and the distribution of sample sizes in the included studies [68]. Specifically, we classified sample sizes as small (n < 6, below the minimum recommended threshold), sufficient (n = 6–11), or large (n > 11). Our analysis revealed that, of the 27 included studies, 12 were classified as small, 13 as sufficient, and 2 as large. This distribution suggests that the overall sample sizes are sufficient to ensure the reliability of the meta-analytic results. Furthermore, subgroup analysis based on sample size across all three time frames demonstrated that the greatest therapeutic efficacy was observed in the adequate sample size group. Consequently, smaller sample sizes did not significantly influence the intervention outcomes and were not a determining factor in the strength of the evidence.
Secondary outcomes
Angiogenesis
Our analytical results demonstrate that the synergistic effect of MSCs and scaffolds significantly enhances the expression of CD31, a key marker of angiogenesis (SMD = 6.24, 95% CI: 3.90 to 8.58) (Fig. 5A). This finding underscores the potential of combining MSCs and scaffolds to promote vascularization, which is critical for effective tissue repair and regeneration. However, the I2 values exceeding 50% for both parameters indicate high heterogeneity among the studies included in the analysis.
Fig. 5
Forest plot demonstrating the therapeutic efficacy of MSC-scaffold combinations on: A angiogenesis, B collagen deposition, C inflammatory cytokines, D growth factors
Collagen
The findings from our analysis highlight that the synergistic interaction between and scaffolds significantly enhances collagen deposition at burn wound sites (SMD = 4.97, 95% CI: 2.22 to 7.73) (Fig. 5B). This suggests that the combined application of MSCs and scaffolds plays a pivotal role in promoting tissue regeneration and improving wound healing outcomes. However, the high heterogeneity observed, as indicated by I2 values exceeding 50%, points to substantial variability across the studies included in this analysis.
Inflammatory cytokines
Our analysis reveals that the combined use of MSCs and scaffolds exerts a powerful anti-inflammatory effect, significantly lowering the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Specifically, we observed notable reductions in TNF-α (SMD = − 4.06, 95% CI: − 1.72 to −6.4), IL-6 (SMD = − 6.24, 95% CI: − 2.23 to −10.26), and IL-1 (SMD = − 5.13, 95% CI: − 1.69 to −8.56) (Fig. 5C). These results suggest that the interaction between MSCs and scaffolds plays a critical role in dampening inflammatory pathways, which could have significant implications for therapeutic strategies in inflammatory diseases and tissue repair. However, the high heterogeneity reflected by I2 values exceeding 50% for all three cytokines indicates considerable variability across the studies analyzed.
Growth factors
The results of our analyses indicate that the synergistic effect of MSCs and scaffolds significantly enhances the expression of key growth factors, including TGF-β (SMD = 6.21, 95% CI: − 1.6 to 14.03) and VEGF (SMD = 7.30, 95% CI: 4.85 to 9.75) (Fig. 5D). The observed effect sizes suggest a substantial impact of this combination on promoting growth factor activity. However, the I2 values exceeding 50% for both parameters indicate high heterogeneity among the studies included in the analysis.
Publication bias
To assess publication bias, we employed three widely used methods: the trim and fill method, funnel plot analysis, and Egger’s and Begg’s tests. According to Table 6, for the primary outcome, the asymmetric distribution in the funnel plot and the addition of studies in the trim and fill method across all three time frames suggest the presence of significant publication bias. Furthermore, Egger’s and Begg’s tests yielded p-values < 0.05 at the 1-week and 2-week time points, further supporting the existence of notable publication bias. However, at the 3-week time point, the p-values from Egger’s and Begg’s tests exceeded 0.05, indicating no significant evidence of publication bias during this period. The evaluation of publication bias for secondary outcomes also revealed notable findings. For CD31 expression, inflammatory cytokines, and growth factors, the asymmetric distribution in the funnel plot, the addition of studies in the trim and fill method, and Egger’s test with p-values < 0.05 all indicate significant publication bias. However, Begg’s test yielded p-values of 0.11, 0.12, and 0.76, respectively. The asymmetric funnel plot, the addition of studies in the trim and fill method, and Begg’s test with a p-value < 0.05 suggest significant publication bias. In contrast, Egger’s test showed a p-value of 0.11 (all results are available in Supplementary Data S3).
Table 6 Summary of publication bias and sensitivity analysis resualts for outcomes
Sensitivity analysis
For sensitivity analysis, we employed the one-out remove method to assess the influence of individual studies on the SMD as the effect size metric. According to Table 6, for both the primary outcome and secondary outcomes, the one-out remove method revealed that no outlier studies were identified, indicating that no single study had a significant impact on the overall SMD. This suggests that the results are not disproportionately influenced by any individual study (all results are available in Supplementary Data S4).
A new study demonstrates that sarcopenia-related muscle decline associated with aging can be modeled within a relatively short period in space, paving the way to study potential treatments quicker and more effectively.
To understand the changes of muscle in microgravity, researchers at the University of Florida (US) engineered skeletal muscle microtissues from donor biopsies and launched them to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX CRS-25.
Their findings may inform therapies for sarcopenia, which is common with aging and affects up to 50% of people aged 80 and older, according to estimates.
“Using electrical pulses to trigger real-time muscle contractions in space, we can simulate exercise and observe how it helps protect against rapid muscle weakening in microgravity,” explains Siobhan Malany, one of the lead researchers.
“This technology advancement offers insight into how we might preserve muscle health during long-duration space missions and ultimately, how to combat age-related muscle loss here on Earth.”
Spaceflight-induced muscle weakness offers a rapid model for studying age-related sarcopenia, which typically develops over decades on Earth.Apart from lifestyle changes, there is no current clinical treatment for sarcopenia. It can lead to disability and injuries from falls and is associated with a lower quality of life and an increased mortality.
Muscles in space
Space flight comes with the absence of gravity and limited strain on muscles, which causes weakness, a prominent feature of sarcopenia, within a short period of time. This offers a “time lapse view” on age-related atrophy-associated changes in the muscle, highlight the researchers.
“This relatively short window of time in space provides a microgravity model for muscular aging and opens opportunities for studying sarcopenia, which normally takes decades to develop in patients on Earth,” notes the research team.
The microtissues were taken from young, active donors, and aged, sedentary donors and cultured in an automated mini lab. Besides regular feeding and monitoring of cultures, the lab also performed electrical stimulation to simulate exercise.
On Earth, the contraction strength of microtissues from young, active individuals was almost twice as much as the strength of tissues from older, sedentary individuals. After only two weeks in space, muscle strength tended to decline in the young tissues and was now more comparable to the strength of old tissues.
A similar trend was observed in muscle protein content, which was higher in young microtissues on Earth compared to old microtissues but decreased in microgravity to levels measured in old tissues. Further, space flight changed gene expression — particularly in the younger microtissues — and disturbed cellular processes related to normal muscle function.
Interestingly, the scientists found that electrical stimulation could mitigate these changes in gene expression “to some extent.”
Their findings were published in Stem Cell Reports.
In other aging-focused space research, David Beckham’s IM8 supplement brand, co-founded with Prenetics, sent specially designed 3D organoids — miniature, simplified versions of human tissues — into space to study accelerated aging. The researchers also leveraged microgravity’s unique environment that speeds up this process.
The Bullet Cluster, named for its distinctive shape, has long been considered a smoking gun for the existence of dark matter in space.
(Sorry, couldn’t resist the pun.)
But the James Webb Space Telescope, a partnership of NASA and its European and Canadian counterparts, has now traced that hidden material with unprecedented precision. In new images, such as the one displayed at the top of this story, scientists have obtained the most detailed information yet on the notorious cosmic collision between two massive groups of galaxies, 3.8 billion light-years away in the Carina constellation.
What makes this cluster famous isn’t the violence of it all. It’s that the crash stripped the visible matter, such as hot gas, from the dark matter, a mysterious-yet-abundant substance that doesn’t shine or interact with light. This unseen material stealthily shapes galaxies.
“Webb’s images dramatically improve what we can measure in this scene — including pinpointing the position of invisible particles known as dark matter,” said Kyle Finner, a Caltech scientist involved in the research, in a statement.
SEE ALSO:
Rubin Observatory’s first images flaunt millions of galaxies. Take a look.
With Webb, astronomers have discovered thousands of previously unknown faint and distant galaxies and used the data to map the region’s total weight.
Long ago when the two galaxy groups slammed into each other at ultra high speeds, the visible gas clouds slowed down and got dragged behind, while the dark matter kept going. This separation was partly captured in earlier images by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, but the latest Webb data reveals more subtle details.
Mashable Light Speed
In the new study, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, researchers combined measurements of strong and weak “gravitational lensing” to create a high-resolution mass map.
When a massive object like a galaxy cluster sits in the foreground of a more distant galaxy, it bends and magnifies the background light in a process called gravitational lensing. NASA often uses the analogy of a bowling ball placed on a foam mattress or trampoline to illustrate how the fabric of spacetime bends: Light that would otherwise travel straight curves as it passes through the warped spacetime. The natural phenomenon creates a magnifying glass in the sky, allowing scientists to then see even more distant objects than would ordinarily be possible.
The new map doesn’t assume that light and mass must go hand in hand — a crucial consideration because dark matter doesn’t shine. It instead tracks how the background galaxies appear warped.
A new James Webb Space Telescope study of the Bullet Cluster has revealed unprecedented detail that could help scientists trace dark matter. Credit: NASA GSFC / CIL / Adriana Manrique Gutierrez illustration
To understand gravitational lensing and dark matter, James Jee, a professor at Yonsei University, says to think of a pond filled with clear water and pebbles. The water, in this case, is dark matter, and the pebbles are background galaxies.
“You cannot see the ‘water’ unless there is wind, which causes ripples,” he said. “Those ripples distort the shapes of the pebbles below, causing the water to act like a lens.”
The real surprise was seeing a faint trail of mass extending from the subcluster — a possible “bridge” of material that could tell a deeper story about the cluster’s past. In that trail, researchers also found what’s called intracluster light — stars that have been stripped from their home galaxies and now drift freely, bound only by the cluster’s gravity.
These stars seem to follow the dark matter closely. The researchers found the light and mass were aligned within just about 20,000 light-years. This means wandering stars could give scientists a new way to map invisible matter in future galaxy collisions.
The findings hint that the Bullet Cluster’s history may be messier than scientists thought. Rather than a simple two-object collision, the evidence points to a more complex chain of events, with other previous smashups. And even with all this new detail, researchers still haven’t captured the whole picture — Webb’s field of view only includes the “head of the giant,” as one scientist put it.
“Webb’s initial images allow us to extrapolate how heavy the whole ‘giant’ is,” Jee said, “but we’ll need future observations of the giant’s whole ‘body’ for precise measurements.”
Some of the water around Antarctica has been getting saltier. And that has affected the amount of sea ice at the bottom of the planet.
A study published on June 30 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that increases in salinity in seawater near the surface could help explain some of the decrease in Antarctic sea ice that have been observed over the past decade, reversing a previous period of growth.
“The impact of Antarctic ice is massive in terms of sea-level rise, in terms of global warming, and therefore, in terms of extremes,” said Alessandro Silvano, a senior scientist at the University of Southampton studying the Southern Ocean and lead author of the study. The findings mean “we are entering a new system, a new world”, he said.
Each year, the sea ice floating atop the Earth’s polar oceans melts in the summer and refreezes in the winter, acting as a mirror that bounces the sun’s heat back into space. Since the late 1970s, as global temperatures ratcheted upward, sea ice in the Arctic has been swiftly declining. But in the Antarctic sea ice continued to grow into the 2010s.
The study used data from satellites to track changes by using a brightness measurement that subtly correlates to salt content. But because the signal is small and easily drowned out by other factors, Dr Silvano said, it wasn’t possible to analyse them effectively until recent advances in algorithms.
When Dr Silvano and his co-authors first noticed the rising salinity, they doubted the signal was real, suspecting an error in the satellite data. But as physical measurements from ocean instruments began to confirm the trend, they realised the signal was accurate.
“Because melting ice should freshen the ocean, we thought that we should have seen freshening, right?” Dr Silvano said, adding that climate change is also increasing precipitation and runoff from melting glaciers in the Antarctic, which should mean more fresh water coming into the ocean’s surface. “Instead, we saw increasing salinity.”
As the salt content increases, the density of the water changes, drawing warmer water – typically stashed deep under the surface – upward. Hotter water causes the ice floating on it to melt, and prevents it from growing back in the winter as much as it used to.
Because less sea ice means less fresh water balancing out the salinity and warmth, it’s a feedback loop that threatens greater warming, he said.
Sharon Stammerjohn, a senior research associate at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, who was not involved in the research, described the paper as a sort of missing link for the potential drivers of Antarctic sea-ice changes.
“We have been struggling for about the last decade to try to figure out why Antarctic sea ice had such a rapid decline and continues to decline,” she said.
Typically, Dr Stammerjohn said, the ocean acts as a bank of planetary heat. Because fresher water is less dense, it acts as a lid, holding back the salt and trapping heat deep below the surface. Rising salinity means the layers of the ocean are mixing more, and letting more heat escape to the surface. “Up until 2015 we kind of kept a lid on that,” she said.
Cecilia Bitz, a professor of climate science at the University of Washington, said observations of the Antarctic’s complex dynamics and vast, hard-to-access landscape remained sparse until about 10 years ago. Then, improvements in satellite data along with a growing fleet of autonomous buoys with sensors, known as Argo floats, which provided some of the data used in Dr Silvano’s study, began to fill in the gaps.
Recently, the Department of Defense announced it would be no longer be providing some of the satellite data that researchers use to monitor changes in sea ice. According to an announcement Monday, the data will become unavailable after July 31.
“This not only affects polar researchers who rely on this for Antarctic sea ice and Arctic sea ice, but another sensor on there is key for hurricane forecasting,” Dr Stammerjohn said.
While the details of how the scientific community might adapt when this program is canceled are unclear, she said, there are other satellite products, including ones maintained by the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, that may be able to fill the gap. NYTIMES
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The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has revealed its first imagery, which will be followed by more detailed observations to gain a deeper understanding of the universe
Located at the top of Cerro Pachón in Chile, the observatory is a joint venture by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy (DOE), designed to transform our understanding of the cosmos.
In just over ten hours of early test observations, the observatory has already captured millions of stars and galaxies, along with thousands of asteroids.
A next-generation eye on the sky
Rubin Observatory stands out as one of the most advanced optical astronomical facilities ever built. Its 8.4-meter telescope features the largest digital camera in the world, paired with an advanced data processing system capable of handling a massive volume of astronomical information.
Set to begin its full scientific operations in 2025, the observatory’s main project, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), will scan the entire visible Southern Hemisphere sky every few nights for ten years. This effort will produce a dynamic, high-resolution time-lapse view of the night sky, unlike anything seen before.
The universe’s most profound mysteries
A key goal of the Rubin Observatory is to help scientists investigate some of the biggest unanswered questions in cosmology. These include the nature of dark matter and dark energy, mysterious forces that together comprise approximately 95% of the universe but remain poorly understood.
The observatory’s detailed and frequent observations will provide important data to improve scientific models of how galaxies form and evolve, as well as how the universe is expanding and whether previously unknown cosmic phenomena exist.
Improving planetary defence
The Rubin Observatory will also revolutionise our understanding of the solar system. Its nightly sky scans will detect millions of asteroids, comets, and even interstellar objects, many of which have never been observed before.
This capability makes Rubin the most powerful solar system discovery tool ever constructed. Its findings will be vital for planetary defence efforts, potentially identifying space rocks that pose a future threat to Earth or the moon.
Creating a stream of data
The observatory’s data output is expected to surpass the combined total of all previous optical observatories, just in its first year of operation. Over its decade-long mission, Rubin will produce an archive of information, The imagery and insights generated will be publicly accessible, enabling collaboration not only among professional scientists but also among citizen scientists and educators worldwide.
Named in honour of astronomer Vera C. Rubin, who provided the first compelling evidence for dark matter, the observatory is set to create a new era of astronomical discovery.
China’s Tianwen-2 probe has officially begun its deep space mission by capturing a stunning image of Earth and the Moon from 590,000 kilometers away. Released by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) on July 1, the image symbolises the start of a decade-long journey to explore a near-Earth asteroid and a distant comet. Launched on May 29, Tianwen-2 will collect samples from asteroid Kamo’oalewa by 2027 and later investigate comet 311P/PANSTARRS. This dual-target mission marks a significant step forward for China’s space program, aiming to unlock key secrets about the origin of the Moon, water, and life.
Tianwen-2 probe: Earth-Moon images from deep space released by CNSA
The stunning photo was taken on May 30, 2025, when Tianwen-2 was nearly 590,000 kilometers away from Earth. The picture beautifully frames Earth and its natural satellite, the Moon, together in the vast darkness of space. This image was captured using the spacecraft’s narrow-field-of-view navigation sensor, an instrument designed to help the spacecraft maintain its orientation and enable precise autonomous navigation.This camera plays a critical role in guiding Tianwen-2 through deep space, allowing it to operate independently from ground control while maintaining stability during its long voyage.
Source: CNSA
Source: CNSA
Tianwen-2 marks milestone with over 12 million km travelled since May 29 launch
As of July 1, 2025, CNSA reports that Tianwen-2 is operating smoothly. As reported, the Tianwen-2 probe has been in orbit for 33 days with a distance of 12 million kilometres since its May 29 launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center aboard a Long March 3B rocket. Its successful performance in this early stage builds confidence in its ability to complete its complex multi-target mission.This probe is part of China’s broader space strategy to expand its scientific reach beyond the Moon and Mars, pushing boundaries into asteroid and comet exploration—domains previously dominated by NASA, ESA, and JAXA.
Tianwen-2 heads toward Kamo’oalewa; a mysterious near-Earth asteroid
Tianwen-2 is heading toward Kamo’oalewa, a small near-Earth asteroid that orbits the Sun in a path similar to Earth’s. What makes this asteroid particularly intriguing is the hypothesis that it might be a fragment of the Moon, dislodged by a massive impact event in the distant past.Upon arrival in 2026, the spacecraft will conduct detailed investigations, including:
Surface imaging and mapping
Material composition analysis
Landing and sample collection
The samples will then be returned to Earth by 2027, providing researchers with rare, untouched material from a near-Earth object—potentially from the Moon’s ancient past.
Tianwen-2 to explore mysterious comet after asteroid sample return
Tianwen-2’s mission doesn’t end after the asteroid sample returns. It will be re-tasked to study the comet 311P/PANSTARRS, known for its active tail and mysterious dust ejection events. This phase of the mission could begin shortly after the asteroid visit and will involve:
Close flybys of the comet’s nucleus
Observations of gas and dust activity
Analysis of chemical composition
Scientists hope this exploration could provide vital clues about the origin of Earth’s water and organic molecules, helping to answer one of science’s oldest questions—how life-supporting ingredients arrived on our planet.
Tianwen-2 sets a new standard with 10-year asteroid-to-comet space voyage
According to The Astronomy Magazine, the Tianwen-2 mission is planned to last more than 10 years, making it one of the longest and most scientifically rich deep-space missions in China’s history. Its dual-phase nature—first targeting an asteroid, then a comet—requires exceptional engineering and mission planning.This strategy mirrors the complexity and ambition of missions like NASA’s OSIRIS-REx and ESA’s Rosetta, but with a uniquely Chinese twist: combining asteroid sample return and comet observation into a single, seamless voyage.Also Read | NASA alert! 120-foot airplane-sized asteroid 2025 MM to make closest flyby on Earth today; should we be concerned
Previously described as playing astronomical ‘spot the difference,’ Kilonova Seekers asks the public to compare the latest images of a section of night sky to an image of the same section of space taken on previous nights. Their goal – to spot new stars or significant changes in light intensity that may indicate that something remarkable has happened in space.
Published today (July 1) in Astronomy & Astrophysics, the project has announced its first published major discovery – a bright exploding star.
The object underwent an extreme brightening (increasing by 2500 times) that was not seen when compared to the image taken 2 days earlier. The quick response and diligent work of the public allowed the object to be studied and classified early in its evolution, identifying it as a cataclysmic variable star, and given the name GOTO0650.
Co-lead of Kilonova Seekers, Dr. Tom Killestein, Warwick Prize Fellow in the Astronomy and Astrophysics group, University of Warwick said: “Kilonova Seekers is a unique opportunity for members of the public to take part in true real-time astrophysics. Remarkably, public volunteers identified this star as an object of interest within 3 1/2 hours of the image being taken by the GOTO telescopes – this discovery could have been missed among many other objects without their efforts.
“The involvement of the volunteers didn’t stop there, as there was a huge follow-up response from the public. It was flagged for further observations from the Swift and Einstein Probe space observatories, and GOTO0650 was bright enough for amateur astronomers to take impressively high-quality observations of with their own equipment, which formed a key part of the paper and really helping us understand the object.”
Cataclysmic variable stars sporadically increase in brightness by large amounts before dropping back to normal levels. They are compact binary star systems, consisting of a white dwarf star stealing matter from its companion donor star. Periodically, material from the donor star hits a critical density and temperature within the disc of gas that surrounds the white dwarf, which causes an explosive outburst and bright flashes of light.
The fast response of the public enabled the team to get an unusually highly complete dataset on the star, including spectroscopy, X-ray, and UV measurements, supplemented by the impressively high-quality observations of the amateur astronomers. These observations suggest it is a period bouncer, the final state of a cataclysmic variable star, and a rare object to find even in the age of widespread wide-field imaging surveys.
Co-lead of Kilonova Seekers, Dr Lisa Kelsey, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Institute of Astronomy and Kavli Institute for Cosmology, Cambridge said: “Citizen science is a powerful way to make novel serendipitous discoveries in vast datasets that would normally need to be analysed in depth by scientists.
“With over 2.8 million classifications so far, the discovery of GOTO0650 is really the pinnacle of 2 years of consistent hard work from our volunteers. Without the Kilonova Seekers volunteers flagging this object, rapid follow-up would not have been possible, and this object may have been missed entirely.”
The Kilonova Seekers Project is approaching its two-year anniversary of inviting members of the public to analyse near real-time data collected from the Warwick-led Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO) project. This project takes all-sky survey images of space from two arrays of telescopes located on opposite sides of the planet — in Spain and Australia.
The vast numbers of observations taken in these imaging surveys will soon be beyond the capacity of individual and small teams of scientists to label and validate. Citizen Science is a viable, mutually beneficial solution to avoid objects like GOTO0650 being missed.
As a shining example of such efforts, Kilonova Seekers has provided over 3,500 members of the public with the opportunity to discover supernovae and variable stars using real data. With volunteers from around the world, there is almost always someone online looking at the data in real-time.
Svetoslav Alexandrov, Kilonova Seekers Volunteer based in Bulgaria said: “Traffic in Sofia, Bulgaria, is always awful during the mornings so I have to pass time on the bus somehow, and contributing to citizen science is an excellent way to do that! Kilonova Seekers is on the top of my list, because it’s mobile-friendly and most importantly, it offers us fresh imagery almost every single day.
“I literally screamed with joy when I saw that I was going to be a co-author of the research paper. I’m certain that people on the street raised their eyebrows when they saw me screaming and dancing, but I didn’t care. I knew I am a co-discoverer of something significant, and this was all that mattered”
Cledison Marcos da Silva, Kilonova Seekers Volunteer based in Brazil said: “This discovery was very important to me, as I was going through a serious health problem and the citizen science we do at Kilonova Seekers was distracting me from my situation. I never imagined that we would discover such a bright transient, so it was a huge surprise, and we were very happy when we found out. This discovery shows the importance of citizen science, both scientifically and personally. Even from your bed, or on the street with your cell phone, there is the possibility of making a very important discovery.”
Mayahuel Torres-Guerrero, Kilonova Seekers Volunteer based in Mexico said: “The journey from the discovery of GOTO0650 to the publication of the paper in Astronomy & Astrophysics has been personally rewarding. I had the opportunity to learn how to download data from LCO telescopes and to produce light curves that allowed us to monitor echo outbursts. It was very exciting when GOTO0650 produced an echo outburst on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day! It was a great journey for someone who has studied social sciences like me!”
GOTO is a network of telescopes that is principally funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and operated by the University of Warwick at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma, Spain, and Siding Spring Observatory in NSW, Australia, on behalf of a consortium including the University of Warwick, Monash University, Armagh Observatory & Planetarium, the University of Leicester, the University of Sheffield, the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT), the University of Turku, the University of Portsmouth, the University of Manchester and the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC).
