Category: 7. Science

There’s a curious mystery involving a meteor, a massive landslide, and an ancient lake – all buried in the layers of rock and sediment across the Grand Canyon. It’s a story pieced together over decades through science, family ties, and unexpected discoveries.

In a new study from researchers at the University of New Mexico, scientists connect the Meteor Crater impact in Arizona to a rockslide in the Grand Canyon that may have dammed the Colorado River around 56,000 years ago.

This dam likely created a temporary lake, and clues from caves high above the current river level seem to support that idea.

Decades of cave research

The idea took root in the 1960s, when Thor Karlstrom explored Stanton’s Cave in the Grand Canyon with a cross-disciplinary team of geologists and archaeologists.

The experts found evidence of now-extinct species like the California condor and Harrington’s mountain goat, along with split twig figurines made 3,000 to 4,000 years ago by ancestors of today’s tribal communities in the region.

They also uncovered driftwood buried in sediment. Initial testing suggested the wood was older than 35,000 years – pushing the limit of radiocarbon dating at the time.

By 1984, the date was refined to 43,500 years. But recent tests using more advanced methods in labs from New Zealand and Australia now put the driftwood at 56,000 years old.

Mysterious age of the cave deposits

Today, Thor’s son, Karl Karlstrom, a geologist at the University of New Mexico, is carrying that early work forward.

“It would have required a ten-times bigger flood level than any flood that has happened in the past several thousand years,” said Karlstrom.

“Or maybe they are very old deposits left as the river carved down, or maybe they floated in from a paleolake caused by a downstream lava dam or landslide dam? We needed to know the age of the cave deposits.”

Canyon wood matches meteor age

Chris Bastien, another co-author of the study, had been working on wood samples from Stanton’s Cave stored at the University of Arizona’s Tree Ring Lab.

At the same time, David Kring, a scientist working on the chronology of Meteor Crater, had refined its estimated age to a window between 53,000 and 63,000 years using multiple methods.

Then came the break. Jonathan Palmer, a visiting collaborator from Australia, stopped at both Meteor Crater and the Tree Ring Lab during a U.S. road trip.

Palmer noticed something remarkable – the ages of the crater and the driftwood lined up almost perfectly. That connection kicked off the collaboration that led to the new paper.

“From numerous research trips, Karl and I knew of other high-accessible caves that had both driftwood and sediment that could be dated,” said Laurie Crossey.

The team sent a second driftwood sample to labs in Australia and New Zealand, and sediment samples to Tammy Rittenour at Utah State University. Using two separate dating methods, the results came back with nearly identical ages: around 55,600 years.

Meteor’s impact on the Grand Canyon

Back in the 1980s, Richard Hereford of the U.S. Geological Survey proposed that a rockslide near Nankoweap Canyon, about 22 miles downstream of Stanton’s Cave, may have blocked the Colorado River.

That dam could have created a lake that floated wood into the cave. Now, with fresh dating evidence, that idea has resurfaced.

Further support came from Grand Canyon caver Jason Ballensky, who had seen beaver tracks in Vasey’s Paradise caves – deep inside areas far above and away from today’s riverbanks. The only plausible explanation: a massive ancient lake.

The researchers mapped how deep and wide that paleolake might have been. Some caves with driftwood and sediment were found at 940 meters elevation – high enough that the water would have backed up above Lees Ferry, where river trips typically begin. The lake theory started to look more than plausible.

The team also revisited the landslide site. There, reddish, chaotic rocks – consistent with landslide debris – were found beneath rounded river cobbles.

That layering suggests a dam formed, held back water, and was eventually overtopped and eroded away. Based on what’s known from modern dam erosion, the whole cycle could have lasted less than 1,000 years.

The evidence is adding up

Was the Meteor Crater blast enough to trigger the rockslide that dammed the river? Kring has studied the physics of meteorite impacts and estimates that this one would have caused a magnitude 5.4 earthquake – possibly even a 6.0 depending on the model.

Even 100 miles away in the Grand Canyon, the seismic energy would have hit as a magnitude 3.5 shock. That’s enough to dislodge unstable cliffs and trigger rockfalls.

“The team put together these arguments without claiming we have final proof; there are other possibilities, such as a random rockfall or local earthquake within a thousand years of the Meteor Crater impact that could have happened independently,” said Karlstrom.

“Nevertheless, the meteorite impact, the massive landslide, the lake deposits, and the driftwood high above river level are all rare and unusual occurrences.”

“The mean of dates from them converge into a narrow window of time at 55,600 ± 1,300 years ago which gives credence to the hypothesis that they were causally related.”

Meteor strike in the Grand Canyon

There’s still room for debate. The idea that a meteor could have triggered a landslide that created a temporary lake sounds dramatic – but the evidence is adding up.

The picture that’s emerging – a meteor striking Arizona, shaking the Grand Canyon, causing a landslide that blocks the river and forms a lake – isn’t just a wild theory anymore. It’s a serious hypothesis backed by decades of data and careful fieldwork.

And while the story isn’t finished, it’s a strong reminder of how even the most unexpected clues – like a piece of driftwood tucked in a cave – can lead to discoveries about Earth’s past that no one saw coming.

The full study was published in the journal Geology.

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After two decades of tinkering, scientists at NIST have unveiled the world’s most accurate atomic clock, a glowing achievement powered by quantum logic. This aluminum ion clock doesn’t just tick, it computes time to the 19th decimal place. That’s so precise, it could run for billions of years without missing a beat.

By pairing an aluminum ion with a magnesium ion, researchers harness quantum computing techniques to keep time ultra-tight.

Record-Breaking Features:

• 41% more accurate than the previous champ
• 2.6x more stable than any ion clock before it
• Precision upgrades from laser tuning to vacuum chamber engineering

Mason Marshall, NIST researcher and first author on the paper, said, “It’s exciting to work on the most accurate clock ever. At NIST, we get to carry out these long-term plans in precision measurement that can push the field of physics and our understanding of the world around us.”

Supercooling coupled ions for more accurate atomic clocks

Aluminum has the makings of a perfect timekeeper; its atomic “ticks” are ultra-steady, high-frequency, and barely flinch in response to environmental shifts, such as temperature or magnetic fields. It’s more stable than cesium, which still holds the official definition of the second.

But here’s the twist: aluminum doesn’t play well with lasers. It’s shy, tricky to cool or probe, two things atomic clocks need.

So researchers gave aluminum a friend: magnesium. Magnesium may not have flawless ticks, but it’s laser-friendly and acts as a supportive sidekick in what’s known as quantum logic spectroscopy.

• Magnesium cools down aluminum.
• It mirrors aluminum’s motion.

Scientists read aluminum’s “clock state” by watching magnesium’s behavior.

World’s first optical atomic clock with highly charged ions

This clever ion buddy system helps scientists tame aluminum’s brilliance while making it readable, reactive, and remarkably precise. Together, they built a quantum logic clock that not only keeps time but also sets the standard for precision.

One big challenge? The ion trap, where aluminum and magnesium ions are held. Think of it like a tiny arena, but the floor had issues. Tiny jolts, known as excess micromotion, were causing the ions to jitter, disrupting their perfect tick-tock rhythm.

The fix:

Scientists redesigned the trap’s base using a thicker diamond wafer for added stability. They adjusted the gold coatings on the electrodes to rebalance the electric fields and increased their thickness to reduce resistance.

These changes calmed the ions down, eliminating the unwanted wiggles and letting them tick with serene, uninterrupted precision, like a clock finally finding its rhythm.

A new kind of atomic clock possibly reveal new physics

Even the world’s best atomic clock can get hiccups, especially from invisible villains like hydrogen.

Tiny traces of hydrogen were escaping from the steel vacuum chamber and colliding with the ions, disrupting their rhythmic ticking. These collisions meant the team had to reload the clock’s ions every 30 minutes… not ideal when you’re chasing nanosecond perfection.

Solution? Titanium makeover.

By rebuilding the chamber out of titanium, they reduced background hydrogen by 150 times, allowing the clock to run for days without needing a refresh.

But the clock had one more demanding requirement: a super-stable laser to measure the ion’s ticks without introducing noise. The 2019 version relied on weeks of averaging to smooth out quantum jitters caused by the laser itself.

Enter Jun Ye’s team at JILA, wielding one of the most stable lasers in the world—the same powerhouse behind the record-holding Strontium 1 lattice clock. With this upgrade, tick-counting became ultra-clean and reliably crisp.

NASA activates deep space atomic clock

To build the most precise clock in human history, the team needed a laser so stable it wouldn’t flinch at the quantum level. Their solution? A 2-mile fiber-optic handoff across town.

Using underground fiber links, physicist Jun Ye’s team at JILA beamed their ultra-stable laser 3.6 kilometers to Tara Fortier’s lab at NIST. There, a “frequency comb”, a ruler for light, helped synchronize the aluminum ion clock’s laser to match Ye’s. It’s like tuning a musical instrument to perfection… using a beam of light.

With this upgrade:

• The ion probing time jumped from 150 milliseconds to a full second.
• Measurement speed increased dramatically, down to the 19th decimal place in just 1.5 days, not 3 weeks.
• The clock’s stability broke records, making it a landmark in timekeeping.

But it’s not just about counting seconds. This clock can now:

• Help redefine the official length of a second
• Serve as a testbed for quantum physics and logic operations.
• Assist in Earth geodesy, making precision measurements of Earth’s shape and gravitational field.
• Probe deep physics questions, like whether the fundamental constants of nature are secretly shifting over time.

“With this platform, we’re poised to explore new clock architectures, like scaling up the number of clock ions and even entangling them, further improving our measurement capabilities.”

Journal Reference:

1. Mason C. Marshall, Daniel A. Rodriguez Castillo, Willa J. Arthur-Dworschack, Alexander Aeppli, Kyungtae Kim, Dahyeon Lee, William Warfield, Joost Hinrichs, Nicholas V. Nardelli, Tara M. Fortier, Jun Ye, David R. Leibrandt, and David B. Hume. High-stability single-ion clock with 5.5×10−19 systematic uncertainty. Physical Review Letters. DOI: 10.1103/hb3c-dk28

A dusty leg bone, pulled from the ground in 1963 and stored away in a museum drawer for decades, may now be helping scientists rethink the early days of dinosaurs.

Originally found in what’s now Zambia, this 225-million-year-old fossil was largely ignored for years.

However, new research suggests the fossil holds key information about an ancient group of reptiles known as silesaurs. The study may shift long-held assumptions about the size and role of the first dinosaurs.

Fossil challenges dinosaur size

Researchers have been re-examining the femur – first uncovered by British scientists more than 60 years ago – and what they’ve learned is surprising.

“Some fragmentary fossils from the silesaurids and a group of early dinosaurs called the herrerasaurids suggest that these animals could grow much bigger than more complete remains suggest,” said Jack Lovegrove, a Ph.D. student who led the research.

“As more large animals are found close to the origin of dinosaurs, it raises the possibility that the first dinosaur was bigger than we predicted.”

This idea runs counter to the long-standing belief that early dinosaurs started out small and gradually evolved into giants. If Lovegrove’s team is right, dinosaurs may have actually shrunk in size over time.

“If this is the case, then some groups of dinosaurs would have actually gotten smaller across the late Triassic,” Lovegrove said. “Finding more silesaur fossils could help us to figure out how they are related to early dinosaurs and confirm the existence of these size trends.”

Fossils of dinosaur relatives

Silesaurs are an extinct group of dinosaur-like reptiles that lived roughly between 240 and 200 million years ago. For a long time, scientists couldn’t quite figure out where they belonged on the reptile family tree. Were they dinosaurs? Close relatives? Something else entirely?

In 2010, silesaurs were officially recognized as their own group. The most famous example is Silesaurus, a two-meter-long animal with a beak-like jaw that may have helped it eat insects or plants.

Originally considered dinosaur cousins, silesaurs are now thought by some experts to actually be early dinosaurs. One clue is the toothless tip of their lower jaw, which links them to ornithischians – a major group of dinosaurs that would later include species like Triceratops and Stegosaurus.

But even now, placing silesaurs neatly into the dinosaur family tree is tricky. Most of the fossils found are incomplete, which makes identification difficult. That’s why researchers are taking a fresh look not just in the field, but in museum collections.

Old fossil comes back into focus

The femur at the center of this study had been sitting in the Natural History Museum in London for over 50 years before its importance was recognized.

“This fossil was discovered on an expedition to what are now Zambia and Tanzania in the early 1960s,” Lovegrove explains. “The researchers were mainly interested in studying mammal-like reptiles such as the dicynodonts and cynodonts but also found a variety of other fossils.”

“As the fossil wasn’t what they were focusing on, it hadn’t been studied until one of my co-authors, Brandon, came across it. This shows how important museum collections are at preserving specimens whose importance can be appreciated by future generations.”

Silesaurs: One species or many?

The rocks in Zambia where this bone was found are packed with silesaur fossils. Only one species from the region has been formally named – Lutungutali sitwesis – but researchers have found many leg bones that don’t seem to match that species.

Most are about 15 centimeters long. One, however, is more than double that size. This raises two possibilities. Either the large bones belonged to Lutungutali at a more mature stage of life, or multiple species were living side by side.

The team can’t say for sure yet, but the new study shows clear differences in growth patterns between the Natural History Museum bone and others from the area. That might suggest that more than one type of silesaur lived in the same ecosystem.

“It’s historically been assumed that there was just one silesaurid per area in the past,” said Lovegrove. “As a result, fossils from different species might have been lumped together.”

“This could explain the uncertainty we find when we try to understand how silesaurids relate to other animals. New datasets will be important to untangle these evolutionary relationships and work out what’s really going on.”

Bigger than we thought

There’s another piece to this puzzle: size. If silesaurs like the one in the study were as large as the leg bone suggests, they may not have been minor players in their environment. They might have been in charge.

“The size of the bone we’ve studied, as well as others from this formation, suggest that silesaurids might have been the largest herbivores in some parts of the world at this point in the Triassic,” noted Lovegrove.

“The biggest silesaurids were probably taller and longer than the dicynodonts, even if they were lighter. It suggests they probably had a much greater impact on the ecosystem than we’ve realized, especially as they are the most common archosaur found in this region.”

Rewriting the story of dinosaurs

The early evolution of dinosaurs is still full of questions, but fossils like this Zambian femur are helping scientists get closer to the answers.

Silesaurs may have been bigger, more diverse, and more influential than anyone thought. And if they turn out to be early dinosaurs themselves, we may need to rewrite the story of how dinosaurs came to be.

For now, one thing is clear: sometimes the most important discoveries are already sitting on a shelf – waiting for someone to take a second look.

The full study was published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

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“For the first time, we have identified the earliest moment when planet formation is initiated around a star other than our Sun,” says Melissa McClure, a professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands and lead author of the new study, published on July 16 in Nature.

Co-author Merel van ‘t Hoff, a professor at Purdue University, USA, compares their findings to “a picture of the baby Solar System,” saying that “we’re seeing a system that looks like what our Solar System looked like when it was just beginning to form.”

This newborn planetary system is emerging around HOPS-315, a ‘proto’ or baby star that sits some 1300 light-years away from us and is an analogue of the nascent Sun. Around such baby stars, astronomers often see discs of gas and dust known as ‘protoplanetary discs’, which are the birthplaces of new planets. While astronomers have previously seen young discs that contain newborn, massive, Jupiter-like planets, McClure says, “we’ve always known that the first solid parts of planets, or ‘planetesimals’, must form further back in time, at earlier stages.”

In our Solar System, the very first solid material to condense near Earth’s present location around the Sun is found trapped within ancient meteorites. Astronomers age-date these primordial rocks to determine when the clock started on our Solar System’s formation. Such meteorites are packed full of crystalline minerals that contain silicon monoxide (SiO) and can condense at the extremely high temperatures present in young planetary discs. Over time, these newly condensed solids bind together, sowing the seeds for planet formation as they gain both size and mass. The first kilometer-sized planetesimals in the Solar System, which grew to become planets such as Earth or Jupiter’s core, formed just after the condensation of these crystalline minerals.

With their new discovery, astronomers have found evidence of these hot minerals beginning to condense in the disc around HOPS-315. Their results show that SiO is present around the baby star in its gaseous state, as well as within these crystalline minerals, suggesting it is only just beginning to solidify. “This process has never been seen before in a protoplanetary disc — or anywhere outside our Solar System,” says co-author Edwin Bergin, a professor at the University of Michigan, USA.

These minerals were first identified using the James Webb Space Telescope, a joint project of the US, European and Canadian space agencies. To find out where exactly the signals were coming from, the team observed the system with ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, which is operated by ESO together with international partners in Chile’s Atacama Desert.

With these data, the team determined that the chemical signals were coming from a small region of the disc around the star equivalent to the orbit of the asteroid belt around the Sun. “We’re really seeing these minerals at the same location in this extrasolar system as where we see them in asteroids in the Solar System,” says co-author Logan Francis, a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University.

Because of this, the disc of HOPS-315 provides a wonderful analogue for studying our own cosmic history. As van ‘t Hoff says, “this system is one of the best that we know to actually probe some of the processes that happened in our Solar System.” It also provides astronomers with a new opportunity to study early planet formation, by standing in as a substitute for newborn solar systems across the galaxy.

ESO astronomer and European ALMA Program Manager Elizabeth Humphreys, who did not take part in the study, says: “I was really impressed by this study, which reveals a very early stage of planet formation. It suggests that HOPS-315 can be used to understand how our own Solar System formed. This result highlights the combined strength of JWST and ALMA for exploring protoplanetary discs.”

The team is composed of M. K. McClure (Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, The Netherlands [Leiden]), M. van ‘t Hoff (Department of Astronomy, The University of Michigan, Michigan, USA [Michigan] and Purdue University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Indiana, USA), L. Francis (Leiden), Edwin Bergin (Michigan), W.R. M. Rocha (Leiden), J. A. Sturm (Leiden), D. Harsono (Institute of Astronomy, Department of Physics, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan), E. F. van Dishoeck (Leiden), J. H. Black (Chalmers University of Technology, Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory, Sweden), J. A. Noble (Physique des Interactions Ioniques et Moléculaires, CNRS, Aix Marseille Université, France), D. Qasim (Southwest Research Institute, Texas, USA), E. Dartois (Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d’Orsay, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, France.)

Recent studies have unveiled a pressing issue affecting the vast network of satellites orbiting the Earth. With the Sun’s activity ramping up, solar storms are becoming more frequent and intense, leading to unforeseen consequences on satellite operations. Notably, SpaceX’s Starlink satellites are experiencing shorter lifespans due to increased atmospheric drag caused by these geomagnetic disturbances. This phenomenon is causing a ripple effect, raising concerns about satellite collisions, debris, and the overall management of Earth’s crowded orbit.

Solar Storms Are Cutting Starlink Satellites’ Lifespan

Solar storms are proving to be a formidable adversary for satellite technology, specifically impacting the lifespan of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites. Led by Denny Oliveira at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, a study focused on satellite reentries from 2020 to 2024, a period marked by heightened solar activity. As the Sun approached its 11-year solar maximum in October 2024, an intriguing pattern emerged. During this time, 523 Starlink satellites fell back to Earth prematurely. This premature descent is attributed to geomagnetic storms, which heat and expand the upper atmosphere, increasing drag on satellites. This unexpected increase in atmospheric drag forces satellites to slow down, reducing their operational lifespans by about 10 to 12 days, contrary to their designed five-year orbit period.

The implications of this are far-reaching. As satellites lose altitude faster, the risk of them reentering the Earth’s atmosphere sooner than anticipated also rises. This situation challenges existing assumptions regarding satellite reentry safety, necessitating a re-evaluation of current models and strategies for satellite deployment and operation.

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Solar Storms Could Spark Satellite Collisions

In addition to shortening lifespans, solar storms introduce another risk: the potential for satellite collisions. The heating of the atmosphere and the resultant drag do not just affect individual satellites; they also disrupt the orbital models used by operators like SpaceX for collision avoidance. These models often fail to account for the increased drag during geomagnetic storms, leading to unpredictable satellite drifts.

With the unprecedented number of satellites, especially due to megaconstellations like Starlink, the likelihood of collisions increases significantly. This presents a critical challenge for space traffic management, as the possibility of satellites crashing into one another becomes more real. The consequences of such collisions could be catastrophic, not only for the satellites involved but also for the debris they might create, posing a danger to other spacecraft and potentially to life on Earth.

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Faster Reentries and Debris Concerns

Another surprising discovery is the higher velocities at which Starlink satellites reenter the Earth’s atmosphere during geomagnetic storms. While higher speeds usually imply more friction and heating, leading to complete disintegration, Oliveira suggests that some debris might still survive. The reduced atmospheric interaction at these speeds could allow fragments to withstand reentry.

A case in point is the 2024 incident where a 5.5-pound piece of Starlink debris landed in Saskatchewan. Although SpaceX has reassured that there is “no risk to humans,” the increasing number of satellites, now over 7,500 with plans to expand to 42,000, raises questions about future incidents. As more satellites are launched, the potential for debris reaching the ground cannot be ignored, highlighting the need for improved debris management strategies and safety measures.

“Like the Birth of Everything”: Scientists Recreate First Microseconds of Universe to Unveil Wild Behavior of Quark-Gluon Plasma

Managing an Increasingly Crowded Orbit

The unprecedented congestion in Earth’s orbit presents unique challenges. Oliveira emphasizes that this is the first time in history that we have such a high volume of satellites reentering the atmosphere almost weekly. Understanding the influence of solar activity on satellite lifespans and reentries is crucial for the safe management of space traffic.

As we look to the future, the need for robust systems to manage this congestion becomes urgent. Developing reliable methods to predict and mitigate the effects of solar activity on satellites is essential. These advancements will not only ensure the longevity of satellites but also minimize risks associated with debris, safeguarding both space operations and life on Earth. The question remains: how will we adapt our technologies and policies to meet the challenges posed by an increasingly crowded orbit?

This article is based on verified sources and supported by editorial technologies.

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Scientists based in the U.S., Italy, and Spain, set their sights on a mysterious cosmic duo called PSR J1023+0038, or J1023 for short. The J1023 system is comprised of a rapidly rotating neutron star feeding off of its low-mass companion star, which has created an accretion disk around the neutron star. This neutron star is also a pulsar, emitting powerful twin beams of light from its opposing magnetic poles as it rotates, spinning like a lighthouse beacon.

The J1023 system is rare and valuable to study because the pulsar transitions clearly between its active state, in which it feeds off its companion star, and a more dormant state, when it emits detectable pulsations as radio waves. This makes it a “transitional millisecond pulsar.”

“Transitional millisecond pulsars are cosmic laboratories, helping us understand how neutron stars evolve in binary systems,” said researcher Maria Cristina Baglio of the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) Brera Observatory in Merate, Italy, and lead author of a paper in The Astrophysical Journal Letters illustrating the new findings.

The big question for scientists about this pulsar system was: Where do the X-rays originate? The answer would inform broader theories about particle acceleration, accretion physics, and the environments surrounding neutron stars across the universe.

The source surprised them: The X-rays came from the pulsar wind, a chaotic stew of gases, shock waves, magnetic fields, and particles accelerated near the speed of light, that hits the accretion disk.

To determine this, astronomers needed to measure the angle of polarization in both X-ray and optical light. Polarization is a measure of how organized light waves are. They looked at X-ray polarization with IXPE, the only telescope capable of making this measurement in space, and comparing it with optical polarization from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. IXPE launched in Dec. 2021 and has made many observations of pulsars, but J1023 was the first system of its kind that it explored.

NASA’s NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) and Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory provided valuable observations of the system in high-energy light. Other telescopes contributing data included the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in Magdalena, New Mexico.

The result: scientists found the same angle of polarization across the different wavelengths.

“That finding is compelling evidence that a single, coherent physical mechanism underpins the light we observe,” said Francesco Coti Zelati of the Institute of Space Sciences in Barcelona, Spain, co-lead author of the findings.

This interpretation challenges the conventional wisdom about neutron star emissions of radiation in binary systems, the researchers said. Previous models had indicated that the X-rays come from the accretion disk, but this new study shows they originate with the pulsar wind.

“IXPE has observed many isolated pulsars and found that the pulsar wind powers the X-rays,” said NASA Marshall astrophysicist Philip Kaaret, principal investigator for IXPE at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “These new observations show that the pulsar wind powers most of the energy output of the system.”

Astronomers continue to study transitional millisecond pulsars, assessing how observed physical mechanisms compare with those of other pulsars and pulsar wind nebulae. Insights from these observations could help refine theoretical models describing how pulsar winds generate radiation – and bring researchers one step closer, Baglio and Coti Zelati agreed, to fully understanding the physical mechanisms at work in these extraordinary cosmic systems.

More about IXPE

IXPE, which continues to provide unprecedented data enabling groundbreaking discoveries about celestial objects across the universe, is a joint NASA and Italian Space Agency mission with partners and science collaborators in 12 countries. IXPE is led by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. BAE Systems, Inc., headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, manages spacecraft operations together with the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder.

What’s the story

NASA is investigating the vision problems experienced by astronauts who have spent long periods on the International Space Station (ISS).
The issue first came to light when astronauts on six-month missions started needing stronger reading glasses as their time in space increased.
This led to researchers discovering swelling of the optic disk and flattening of eye shape, which are now known as Space-Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome (SANS).

A team of scientists have developed a new material that could transform how we build equipment for space missions and other extremely cold environments. This new copper based alloy maintains its unique “shape memory” properties even at temperatures as cold as -200°C.

Shape memory alloys are fascinating materials that act like mechanical memory foam. When cold, they can be bent and twisted into different shapes. But when heated, they “remember” their original form and snap back to it automatically. This remarkable property makes them incredibly useful for creating actuators that convert energy into movement in machines.

An old school example of an actuator converting energy into movement inside a DVD drive with leadscrew and stepper motor. (Credit : Baran Ivo)

A great way to think about this concept is to imagine a thermostat in your home that automatically adjusts based on temperature, or the mechanisms in spacecraft that need to move and adjust without human intervention. These applications rely on materials that can respond predictably to temperature changes.

Until now, shape memory alloys faced a major limitation in extreme cold. The most common type, made from nickel and titanium, stops working properly below -20°C. A few could function at temperatures below -100°C but they weren’t practical for real world applications.

This created a real challenge for space technology, where equipment regularly faces temperatures well below -100°C. Space telescopes, satellites, and other instruments need reliable moving parts that can function in the harsh cold of space.

Artist impression of the James Webb Space Telescope that operates in temperatures as cold as -223°C (Credit : NASA)

The research team from multiple Japanese institutions, including Tohoku University and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), has developed the new copper-aluminum-manganese alloy that maintains its shape memory properties at extremely low temperatures. They successfully tested their alloy at -170°C, demonstrating that it could effectively control heat transfer by switching between contact and non-contact states. This represents a major advance in materials science.

“We were very happy when we saw that it worked at -170°C, other shape memory alloys simply can’t do this” – Toshihiro Omori from Tohoku University.

The researchers built a prototype mechanical heat switch using their new alloy. This device can automatically control heat flow based on temperature changes. They found that the alloy’s operating temperature can be fine tuned by adjusting its composition, making it adaptable for different applications. This flexibility could prove invaluable for designing equipment for various space missions with different thermal requirements.

The simplicity and reliability of mechanical systems using this alloy could make future space missions far more dependable while reducing the complexity and the weight of spacecraft systems. As space exploration expands and we venture to increasingly more challenging environments, materials like this new alloy will be essential for building the reliable equipment needed for mission success.

Source : New cryogenic shape memory alloy designed for outer space