The textbook picture of how planets form – serene, flat discs of cosmic dust – has just received a significant cosmic twist. New research, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, is set to reshape this long-held view. An international team of scientists, wielding the formidable power of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), has found compelling evidence that many protoplanetary discs, the very birthplaces of planets, are in fact subtly warped.
These slight bends and twists in the disc plane, often just a few degrees, bear a striking resemblance to the subtle tilts observed among the planets in our own Solar System. This discovery suggests the initial conditions for planetary systems might be far less orderly than previously thought, with profound implications for how planets grow and settle into their final orbits.
Dr Andrew Winter, the lead author of the study from Queen Mary University of London where he is Royal Society University Research Fellow in astronomy, said: “Our results suggest that protoplanetary discs are slightly warped. This would be quite a change in how we understand these objects and has many consequences for how planets form. Particularly interesting is that the couple of degree warping is similar to the differences in inclination between our own Solar System planets.”
Dr Myriam Benisty, director of the Planet and Star Formation Department at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy said,”exoALMA has revealed large scale structures in the planet forming discs that were completely unexpected. The warp-like structures challenge the idea of orderly planet formation and pose a fascinating challenge for the future.
To uncover these subtle twists, the team meticulously analysed Doppler shifts – tiny changes in the radio waves emitted by carbon monoxide (CO) molecules swirling within the discs. These shifts act like a cosmic speedometer, revealing the gas’s exact motion. As part of a major ALMA program called exoALMA, researchers used this flagship observatory to map the gas’s velocity across each disc in unprecedented detail. By carefully modelling these intricate patterns, they were able to detect when different regions of a disc were slightly tilted, thus revealing the warps.
“These modest misalignments may be a common outcome of star and planet formation,” Dr Winter added, noting the intriguing parallel with our own Solar System. The research not only provides a fresh perspective on the mechanics of planet formation but also raises new questions about why these discs are warped – a mystery the team is eager to unravel.
Is it the gravitational pull of unseen companion stars, or perhaps the chaotic dance of gas and dust that twists these stellar cradles? The findings show that these subtle disc warps, often tilting by as little as half a degree to two degrees, can naturally explain many of the prominent large-scale patterns observed in the gas’s motion across the discs. They even suggest these warps could be responsible for creating intriguing spiral patterns and slight temperature variations within these cosmic nurseries.
If these warps are a key driver of how gas moves within the disc, it profoundly changes our understanding of critical processes like turbulence and how material is exchanged – ultimately dictating how planets form and settle into their final orbits. Intriguingly, the nature of these warps appears to be connected to how much material the young star is actively drawing in towards its center. This hints at a dynamic link between the disc’s innermost regions, where the star is fed, and its outer, planet-forming areas.
This discovery offers a thrilling glimpse into the complex and often surprising realities of planet formation, fundamentally changing our cosmic blueprint and opening new avenues for understanding the diverse worlds beyond our Sun.
This research was conducted by the ‘exoALMA’ collaboration that is an international collaboration of institutions including the Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), University of Florida, Leiden Observatory (Leiden University), European Southern Observatory, Università degli Studi di Milano, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Universidad de Chile, University of St. Andrews, Université Côte d’Azur, The University of Georgia, Monash University, University of Leeds, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, University of Cambridge, Ibaraki University, Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), Wesleyan University, and The Pennsylvania State University.
Smoking is one of the deadliest habits, causing many ailments. It not only damages every organ in the body but is also bad for a person’s overall health. So, deciding to quit is the first step towards leading a healthy and fulfilling life. However, there are certain myths associated with quitting that often derail one from doing it.
The benefits of quitting smoking start the minute you quit, no matter your age, no matter how long you have smoked. (Shutterstock)
Also Read | Cardiologist says ‘gut health impacts your heart health’; shares simple lifestyle habits to avoid post-meal bloating
In an Instagram post shared on April 10, Dr Robert Ostfeld, MD, MSc (cardiology), busted one of these myths that if you have smoked for years, you can’t reduce your risk of heart disease by quitting. Let’s find out what the cardiologist said.
Does quitting smoking not help your heart?
According to the cardiologist, the benefits of quitting smoking start the minute you quit, no matter your age, no matter how long you have smoked.
He also revealed the benefits of quitting after 1 year and 15 years. He highlighted, “Only one year after quitting, your heart attack risk will drop by about 50 percent. In 15 years, it will be the same as if you never smoked. It’s never too late to quit and put your health first.
Quit smoking: Smoking is a major risk factor for gum disease. If you smoke, quitting can help improve your gum health. (Unsplash)
What happens to the body when smoking?
According to the Department of Health, disability and Ageing, smoking is a major cause of cardiovascular disease, such as heart disease and stroke, and cardiovascular disease is one of the major causes of death for both men and women. Smoking increases the risk of blood clots, which block blood flow to the heart, brain or legs.
It can also cause type 2 diabetes. The risk of developing diabetes is 30 to 40% higher for active smokers compared to non-smokers. Smoking can also worsen some of the health conditions related to type 1 diabetes, such as kidney disease, eye disease and poor circulation, which can lead to gangrene.
Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.
A father’s exposure to passive smoking as a child may impair the lifelong lung function of his children, putting them at risk of COPD-a risk that is heightened further if they are childhood passive smokers themselves-finds research published online in the respiratory journal Thorax.
The findings highlight the intergenerational harms of smoking, say the researchers, who urge fathers to intercept this harmful legacy by avoiding smoking around their children.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, more usually known by its acronym of COPD, includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Now the third leading cause of death around the world, COPD kills around 3 million people every year, say the researchers.
Several factors throughout the lifespan may increase the risk of poor lung function and subsequent COPD, and attention is now beginning to focus on the potential role of intergenerational factors, they explain.
While previously published research showed that passive smoking during a father’s childhood may be linked to a heightened risk of asthma in his children by the time they are 7, it’s not clear if compromised lung function may extend into middle age and beyond, they add.
To explore this further, the researchers drew on 8022 child participants in theTasmanian Longitudinal Health Study (TAHS), all of whom had tests to assess their lung function (spirometry).
Their parents completed an initial comprehensive survey on their and their children’s respiratory health. Further check-ups ensued when those children were 13, 18, 43, 50 and 53. These included spirometry to assess 2 measures of lung function (FEV1 and FVC) as well as questionnaires on demographics and respiratory symptoms/disease.
Of the 7243 parents who were alive and could be traced in 2010, 5111 were re-surveyed about whether either of their own parents had smoked when they were under the age of 5 and/or up to when they were 15.
Among the 5097 respondents with complete data, 2096 were fathers. The final analysis included 890 father-child pairs with data on the father’s passive smoke exposure before puberty and lung function data for their children up to the age of 53.
More than two thirds of the fathers (nearly 69%) and more than half of their children (56.5%) had been exposed to passive smoking during their childhoods.
Around half of the children (49%) had a history of active smoking by middle age, and just over 5% of them had developed COPD by this time point, as assessed by spirometry.
After adjusting for potentially influential factors, including the father’s lifetime history of asthma/wheeze and his age, his passive smoke exposure as a child was associated with 56% higher odds of below average FEV1, but not FVC, across the lifespan of his children.
Similarly, fathers’ childhood passive smoke exposure was also associated with a doubling in the odds of an early low-rapid decline in FEV1/FVC in their children. This was statistically significant even after adjusting for potentially influential factors.
And paternal exposure to passive smoking as a child was also associated with a doubling in the risk of COPD by the age of 53 in his children, although this was no longer statistically significant after adjusting for potentially influential factors.
But children whose fathers had been exposed to passive smoking as a child were twice as likely to have below average FEV1 if they, too, had been exposed to passive smoking during their childhood.
The observed associations were only partly mediated through smoking and respiratory illnesses in fathers and their children (each contributing less than 15%).
This is an observational study, and as such, no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect. And the researchers acknowledge that TAHS lacks data on paternal lung function and genetics, preventing assessment of familial aggregation as a potential mechanism.
And their children’s childhood passive smoke exposure was defined as at least one parent smoking 6 days a week, which might have misclassified moderate/light smokers as non-smokers, they add.
But the period before puberty is especially critical for boys, when exposure to harmful substances may change gene expression and modify repair mechanisms, which may then become heritable, say the researchers by way of an explanation for their findings.
“Our findings are novel as this is the first study to investigate and provide evidence for an adverse association of paternal prepubertal passive smoke exposure, rather than just active smoking, on impaired lung function of offspring by middle age,” they write.
“This is of importance from a public health perspective, as passive smoke exposure affects about 63% of adolescents, which is significantly higher than the approximately 7% affected by active smoking.”
They conclude: “These findings suggest that smoking may adversely affect lung function not only in smokers but also in their children and grandchildren…Fathers exposed to tobacco smoke during prepuberty may still reduce risk for future generations by avoiding smoking around their children.”
Source:
Journal reference:
Liu, J., et al. (2025). Paternal prepubertal passive smoke exposure is related to impaired lung function trajectories from childhood to middle age in their offspring. Thorax. doi.org/10.1136/thorax-2024-222482
A new study shows that beetroot juice can reduce blood pressure in older adults by enhancing nitric oxide pathways through shifts in oral bacteria, pointing to a simple nutritional strategy for healthier aging.
Study: Ageing modifies the oral microbiome, nitric oxide bioavailability and vascular responses to dietary nitrate supplementation. Image Credit: Liudmyla Chuhunova / Shutterstock
In a recent study published in the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine, researchers investigated whether nitric oxide (NO) deficiencies, a common aspect of human aging, could be mitigated by consuming nitrate-rich beetroot juice. The study leveraged data from a randomized crossover trial comparing the impacts of beetroot juice consumption on young and older adults.
Study findings revealed that beetroot juice consumption substantially lowered blood pressure (BP) scores in older adults, while having no statistically significant impact on their younger counterparts. Furthermore, the study found that this BP improvement was associated with higher plasma nitrite levels and correlated with decreases in a Prevotella-dominated bacterial module, rather than directly with increases in nitrate-reducing genera. The Prevotella-dominated group included taxa capable of dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonia (DNRA), which may divert nitrite away from NO production. These findings support the notion that dietary nitrate may enhance blood pressure regulation in older adults, with microbiome shifts potentially mediating this effect. However, endothelial function and arterial stiffness were unchanged.
Background
Decades of research have elucidated some of the routine processes associated with aging, with the body’s deteriorating ability to produce nitric oxide (NO), a key molecule for cardiovascular health, well-documented. Conventional interventions often involve the use of pharmacological supplements; however, a significant number of patients respond poorly to these interventions, prompting the search for newer, naturally derived, and physiologically safe alternatives.
Recent research has also established robust links between oral health and systemic disease. However, the biological mechanisms governing these benefits remain largely unknown. One of the few well-documented pathways involves the conversion of dietary nitrate, abundant in green leafy vegetables and beetroot, into nitric oxide (NO). Studies have shown that this process entirely depends on specific oral bacteria (living on human tongues) that process the machinery to convert (enzymatically reduce) nitrate to nitrite. This nitrite is then converted to NO, a vital signaling molecule that relaxes blood vessels and lowers blood pressure.
Unfortunately, aging substantially hinders this process, as the body’s primary mechanism for producing NO, via the enzyme nitric oxide synthase (NOS), becomes less efficient. This age-related decline has been observed to contribute to hypertension and increased cardiovascular risk. However, the oral microbiome and vascular system responses to the aging process remain unknown. Elucidating these interactions may allow for a new “backup” means to mitigate NO deficiency, thereby contributing to healthier aging. In this study cohort, however, baseline NO biomarkers were similar across age groups, suggesting that NO availability may be maintained during healthy aging, and thus, age-related NO decline should be framed cautiously.
About the study
The present study aimed to address the knowledge gaps by conducting a placebo-controlled, double-masked crossover trial involving 39 young adults (aged 18–30) and 36 older adults (aged 67–79), to investigate the impacts of different oral solutions (beetroot juice and mouthwash) on participants’ oral microbiome and vascular responses.
Individuals with known medical histories of pulmonary, metabolic, or cardiovascular diseases were excluded from the sample cohort. Exclusion criteria also included oral diseases, smoking, high BP (> 140/90 mmHg) at baseline, and recent (<3 months) antibiotic use.
The study intervention lasted two weeks (each treatment), separated by additional two-week ‘washout’ periods. The interventions included:
Nitrate-rich beetroot juice (BR): 2 × 70 ml shots/day, each containing ~595 mg nitrate.
Placebo beetroot juice (PL): An identical juice with the nitrate removed. This served as the experimental control.
Antiseptic mouthwash (MW): To observe the impacts of externally disrupting oral bacteria.
Data collection involved the collection of tongue swabs (before and after each period) for oral microbiome analysis via high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Additionally, participants’ key cardiovascular health markers (brachial and central BP) and endothelial function (using flow-mediated dilation [FMD]) were recorded at the same frequency. Finally, Plasma nitrate and nitrite levels were measured as proxy biomarkers of NO bioavailability.
Study findings
The study demonstrated a surprising contrast in how young and older participants responded to the dietary nitrate. The latter cohort had higher baseline BP (mean arterial pressure of 95 vs. 87 mmHg, P < 0.001), but when provided the nitrate-rich beetroot juice, demonstrated a significant reduction in brachial mean arterial pressure (4 ± 4 mmHg [P = 0.003]). Young, healthy adults, however, did not see any such change. Post-nitrate BP was lower than after mouthwash, but not lower than after placebo beetroot juice, which itself increased plasma nitrate and nitrite and had a modest effect on BP in older adults.
Further analyses revealed that the nitrate intervention directly correlated with the decrease in a co-occurring module of bacteria dominated by the genus Prevotella. Prevotella concentrations, in turn, were strongly associated with both the increase in plasma nitrite (r = -0.72, P = 0.001) and decreased BP.
The use of antiseptic mouthwash was also associated with reduced oral microbial diversity (Shannon index, P = 0.004) and impaired vascular function in the young group. Conversely, nitrate supplementation altered the oral microbiome in older adults, leading to increases in specific nitrate-reducing genera, including Neisseria and Rothia. Notably,Neisseria exhibited a proportionally greater increase in older adults compared to the young group.
Conclusions
The present study reveals that dietary nitrate may serve as a potent tool for enhancing cardiovascular health, particularly in older adults. The findings demonstrate, for the first time, that a shift in the oral microbiome associated with higher plasma nitrite levels may contribute to the blood-pressure-lowering effect of nitrate, rather than proving direct causation. This research opens a new frontier for targeted nutritional and probiotic strategies to support cardiovascular health, especially in our aging global population.
Journal reference:
Vanhatalo, A., L’Heureux, J. E., Black, M. I., Blackwell, J. R., Aizawa, K., Thompson, C., Williams, D. W., van der Giezen, M., Winyard, P. G., & Jones, A. M. (2025). Ageing modifies the oral microbiome, nitric oxide bioavailability and vascular responses to dietary nitrate supplementation. Free Radical Biology and Medicine, 238, 682–696. DOI – 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2025.07.002, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0891584925008068
Tom Holland is praising Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey after wrapping up production of the film and right before filming Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Holland is set to play Telemachus in Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s classic, which features a star-studded cast.
“The script is the best script I’ve ever read,” Holland told Agence France-Presse (via France 24).
On working with Nolan, Holland said the filmmaker “is a real collaborator,” adding, “He knows what he wants… but it is not an environment where you can’t pitch ideas or build characters in certain ways.”
The Odyssey is slated to premiere on July 17, 2026, and it is an adaptation of the epic poem from Homer and the story of Odysseus, King of Ithaca, and his perilous journey home after the Trojan War.
The cast of the film includes Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, John Leguizamo, Elliot Page, among many others.
It’s not the first time Holland praises his time with Nolan. In an interview with GQ posted in July, Holland called his experience “amazing” and “the job of a lifetime.”
“The best experience I’ve had on the film set. Incredible,” Holland told GQ. “It was exciting. It was different. And I think the movie is going to be unlike anything we’ve ever seen.”
He continued, “Working with Chris, getting to know him and Emma [Thomas] was absolutely fantastic. I’ve never seen someone that can work the way that they do, and there is a reason why they’re the best in the business for sure. To get a front row seat to that and to be a part of the process and to collaborate with a true master of his craft and learn from him was the best experience I’ve ever had.”
SpaceX’s Starship performing a final burn before splashdown in the Indian Ocean on its August 26 flight. The discoloration is white insulation from deliberately removed tiles and oxidation from a metallic test tile. (credit: SpaceX)
by Jeff Foust Tuesday, September 2, 2025
SpaceX has had, in many respects, a remarkable year so far. The company has performed more than 100 launches of its Falcon 9 rocket, putting the company on a pace to end the year with at least 150 launches, well above a record set last year. The company has been the single biggest customer of those launches, putting more than 1,900 Starlink satellites into orbit that provide services to more than seven million customers worldwide.
The failures prompted speculation of design flaws imperiling the program.
One program, though, has been weighing down the company: Starship. The company’s first three test flights of the vehicle this year—in January, March, and May—all suffered mission-ending failures. The first two encountered problems during Starship’s ascent that caused the vehicle to reenter and break apart over the Caribbean, while the third completed its ascent but lost attitude control while in space, leading to an uncontrolled reentry over the Indian Ocean (see “Starship setbacks and strategies”, The Space Review, June 9, 2025.)
Then, in June, another Starship upper stage was destroyed during preparations for a static-fire test, an issue that the company traced to a faulty composite-overwrapped pressure vessel (COPV) that burst below its rated pressure. One industry observer, speaking on background, noted that the company appeared to be regressing: after demonstrating last year it could fly Starship to pinpoint splashdowns in the Indian Ocean while “catching” the Super Heavy booster back at the launch site, the company was now making mistakes not seen since much earlier in Starship’s development.
The failures prompted speculation of design flaws imperiling the program. “Can SpaceX Solve Its ‘Exploding Starships’ Problem?” asked the headline of a Scientific American article last month, speculating that all three failures were linked a problem with harmonic oscillations with the Starship upper stage that SpaceX said it corrected after the January failure. Another inquisitive headline came from New York magazine: “Is Elon Musk’s Starship Doomed?” It was not so much about vibrations than just bad vibes, as it rounded up comments from a group that ranged from a blogger to a space architect expressing skepticism that Starship could work.
Starship/Super Heavy takes off on its tenth test flight. (credit: SpaceX)
A (nearly) perfect ten
That was the environment facing the Starship program as it prepared for its tenth Starship/Super Heavy launch. The plan for Flight 10 was similar to recent test flights, in large part because SpaceX wasn’t able to carry out many of the tests planned for those previous flights. That included the deployment of mass simulators of next-generation Starlink satellites through Starship’s slot-shaped payload door. (Since Starship was flying a suborbital trajectory, the payloads would burn up on reentry minutes later.) Also on tap was a relight of a Raptor engine while in space, something completed on just one previous test flight but essential to plans for future orbital flights.
If all went according to plan, Starship would splash down in a designated region of the Indian Ocean a little more than an hour after liftoff. The Super Heavy booster, as with the previous flight, would not be recovered back at the launch site but instead attempt a soft splashdown just off the coast after performing tests.
After a first launch attempt was scrubbed August 24 because of a group equipment issue and second the next day due to weather, the vehicle finally lifted off at 7:30 pm EDT August 26 from the Starbase, Texas, test site on the Gulf coast. And what was remarkable about the next 66 and a half minutes was that the flight followed the plan, almost to the letter.
Starship completed its ascent without incident, while the Super Heavy booster flew back to a designated area off the coast, testing alternative engine configurations for a final landing burn, hovering just off the water before splashing down .Starship, now on its suborbital arc, opened its payload pay door and released eight Starlink mass simulators using the “Pez” dispenser, so named after the candy. Later, one Raptor engine ignited for a few seconds.
Then came reentry. Cameras on the exterior of Starship, connected via Starlink, provided high-resolution video of the vehicle enduring the heat of its passage through the upper atmosphere. SpaceX had said that, if Starship survived and the reentry was on target, a camera on a buoy in the Indian Ocean would be able to capture images of the final phases of flight, with the vehicle pitching up for a landing burn.
“It’s not been an easy year but we finally got the reentry data that’s so critical to Starship. It feels good to be back!” Diez said.
The reentry was on target, and that camera captured the vehicle making that final maneuver before settling down onto the surface of the water, falling over, and breaking apart. That video, though, show Starship was oddly discolored, with the nose appearing white and much of the body a rusty orange-red. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk later said it was linked to experiments with the vehicle’s thermal protection system: white from insulation in areas where tiled had been intentionally removed before launch, and the rust color from metallic test tiles. “Worth noting that the heat shield tiles almost entirely stayed attached, so the latest upgrades are looking good!”
The flight was not perfect. One of 33 Raptor engines in the Super Heavy booster shut down during ascent. Early in reentry, something appeared to break apart in the aft skirt of Starship, while one flap showed some damage; neither appeared to affect reentry and landing burn.
The company, though, declared success. “Every major objective was met, providing critical data to inform designs of the next generation Starship and Super Heavy,” SpaceX stated in a summary of the flight.
Starship during reentry on the August 26 flight. (credit: SpaceX)
Playing from behind
The flight had ended a streak of three test flights where many, if not most, major objectives were not met, as well as the ship destroyed in ground testing. It was clearly a relief to the company and its employees. “The last 4 vehicle failures and countless hours by engineering teams and technicians working to correct for the lessons we learned got us to a great outcome today,” Shana Diez, director of Starship flight reliability at SpaceX, said in a social media post hours after the flight.
“It’s not been an easy year but we finally got the reentry data that’s so critical to Starship. It feels good to be back!” she added.
Starship might be back, but it’s also behind. That string of failures means the program is lagging schedules it set for itself, and with NASA, for development of the vehicle to meet the company’s needs—launching next-generation Starlink spacecraft—as well as for NASA’s Artemis program.
It’s the latter that has attracted more attention given the increasing rhetoric, at least in the US, about a new space race with China to see who can land the first astronauts on the Moon since the Apollo program. China is making steady progress on launch vehicles and spacecraft needed for a landing that the country has projected to take place by 2030.
That would still be a few years behind the official NASA schedule, which continues to project Artemis 3 taking place in 2027. Sean Duffy, the secretary of transportation who was named acting NASA administrator nearly two months ago, has repeatedly stuck to that schedule in public comments, including a string of television interviews.
“In 2027, we WILL return American astronauts to the Moon,” he posted on social media August 28 (emphasis in original), including a clip from a CBS News interview where he reiterated that he believed the schedule was realistic: “I think we’re on track, where we sit today, to keep the 2027 mission in play.”
However, SpaceX is behind scheduled previously announced by NASA for key milestones in Starships’ development needed for the Artemis lunar lander version of the vehicle. At a briefing in April 2024, just after the third Starship/Super Heavy flight that included a transfer of cryogenic propellants from one tank to another within Starship, NASA officials said they expected to perform the first ship-to-ship transfer of propellants in 2025. That will require placing one Starship into orbit and then launching another to dock with it, demonstrating the refueling needed for sending a lunar lander Starship to the Moon.
The delays from the string of failures make it highly unlikely that SpaceX will be able to demonstrate that in-space propellant transfer this year.
“They feel very comfortable on Starship. They feel like they’re on pace for the lander,” Duffy said of SpaceX. “They said if there’s a holdup for Artemis 3, it’s not going to be them.”
“The key milestone that we are watching for, and everyone is watching for, is when will they be able to demonstrate cryogenic propulsion transfer,” Lori Glaze, NASA associate administrator for exploration systems development, said at a July 25 meeting of the Space Studies Board. “We were anticipating that would be completed by this year. Clearly, that is slipping, but we are anxiously watching for their next launch to see how they’re making progress towards achieving that particular milestone.”
She didn’t indicate when NASA now expected that propellant transfer test to take place, but it is essential to later milestones, including an uncrewed test flight of the Starship lander, touching down on the Moon and then taking off again. Completing that mission will require multiple Starship “tanker” launches to fill the lander’s propellant tanks with liquid oxygen and methane: perhaps 15 to 20, some argue, although neither NASA nor SpaceX have provided an updated estimate.
Getting all that done in order to support a 2027 Artemis 3 mission would appear to be a tall order. At the Space Studies Board meeting, Glaze showed a chart of milestones leading up Artemis 3, including Starship testing. The chart, though, did not include dates. Asked for a schedule by board members, she said NASA had a more detailed schedule she could provide to the committee; if she did, that document was not disclosed.
Duffy, attending a Crew-11 launch attempt at the Kennedy Space Center a few days later, said he had met with SpaceX executives about the Artemis 3 schedule and received assurances. “They feel very comfortable on Starship. They feel like they’re on pace for the lander,” he told a group of social media influencers who were guests of the launch. (Duffy did not attend any of the pre- or post-launch media briefings organized by NASA.) “They said if there’s a holdup for Artemis 3, it’s not going to be them.”
The question is now less about whether SpaceX can keep Starship from exploding—it did, at least for this flight—than if it can keep its development schedule from exploding, with consequences that go beyond just a launch vehicle program.
Jeff Foust (jeff@thespacereview.com) is the editor and publisher of The Space Review, and a senior staff writer with SpaceNews. He also operates the Spacetoday.net web site. Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author alone.
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Pakistan’s trade deficit widened 29% to $6 billion in just two months of this fiscal year due to stagnant exports and a double-digit jump in imports, reflecting early signs of the government’s trade liberalisation policy.
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said on Tuesday that the gap between imports and exports reached $6 billion during the July-August period of this fiscal year. The deficit was $1.4 billion, or 29%, more than the comparative period of the last fiscal year.
The $1.4 billion higher deficit in just two months is also much more than the $1 billion loan tranche of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Pakistan and the IMF are starting negotiations for the tranche in the third week of this month.
Imports during the first two months of the current fiscal year reached $11.1 billion, up $1.4 billion, or 14.2%, according to the national data-collecting agency. Imports were also double the total value of exports during this period.
The PBS stated that exports remained stagnant at $5.1 billion in two months, hardly 0.7% more than the comparative period.
Pakistan’s external sector stability largely hinges upon smooth and higher inflows of foreign remittances, as exports are not picking up despite multiple initiatives that successive governments announced over time. The Planning Commission’s Uraan Pakistan and Stefen Dercon’s Economic Growth Plan have also not helped boost exports significantly.
But exporters complain that exchange rate rigidity is eroding their competitiveness. The rupee has gradually appreciated after the authorities again intervened to arrest the downward slide of the local currency.
The rupee-dollar parity closed at Rs281.72 on Tuesday, which was better than a day earlier. But during the steep decline of the rupee about two years ago, exporters could not take advantage of the situation, and exports remained stuck at around $2.5 billion a month.
Under the IMF programme, the government has committed to reduce import taxes by 52% over five years. Its first phase was implemented in July this year. Trade liberalisation is so far not supported by an increase in exports, which may bring the external sector under pressure.
The Ministry of Commerce and the World Bank have projected that trade liberalisation would increase exports by 14% and imports only in the range of 5% to 7% over the medium to long term.
Tight control over imports till June had decreased pressure on Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves, but if exports do not pick up in the coming months, the government may have to review its trade liberalisation policy.
The PBS said that on a year-on-year basis, exports amounted to a mere $2.4 billion in August, which were $345 million, or 12.5%, less than the same month of the last year. The yearly contraction in exports should be a matter of concern for policymakers.
Contrary to the reduction in exports, imports grew 6.4% to $5.3 billion. It was the second consecutive month of this fiscal year when imports remained above the controlled threshold of $5 billion. In absolute terms, imports grew $319 million in a single month.
As a result, the trade deficit also widened over 30% to $2.9 billion last month. In absolute terms, there was a $664 million increase in the trade deficit. The PBS data showed that on a month-on-month basis, the trade deficit shrank 8.8%. Exports dipped 10% to $2.4 billion last month compared to July. Imports also decreased 9.4% to $5.3 billion. One reason for lower monthly imports was clearance of bulk cargoes in July, which importers had withheld in anticipation of a reduction in taxes.
The increase in imports is also reflected in monthly tax collection by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). The FBR has surpassed the two-month customs duty collection target. Against the target of Rs192 billion, the customs duty collection amounted to Rs204 billion with 20% growth. The growth in customs duty collection was more than the growth in the total tax collection of Rs1.66 trillion for the two-month period.
The Korean Film Council has confirmed that Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice has been selected as South Korea’s submission to the Best International Feature category of the Oscars.
The film has just premiered in competition at Venice Film Festival to rave reviews (see Deadline’s review here). Neon has North American rights to the film, which is financed and produced by Korean studio CJ ENM, reuniting the distributor and studio behind Bong Joon Ho’s multiple Oscars winner Parasite in 2020.
CJ ENM is releasing the film in South Korean cinemas on September 24, which ensures that it comfortably complies with the Oscars’ qualifying rules for theatrical release in the Best International feature category.
The committee that selected the film included producer Kwak Sin-ae (Parasite), producer and president of the Producers’ Guild of Korea Lee Dong-ha (Train To Busan), director Shin Su-won and actor Jang Hye-jin (Parasite).
Among the elements that prompted the committee to select the film, they said it was “considered the most competitive film among all entries, across all criteria” and “a highly polished black comedy, where the protagonist’s antisocial behavior, driven by his desire for home, becomes compelling.” Also it was “the film that stands out for its outstanding quality and excellent performances”.
Lee Byung-hun stars in the film as a man who is driven to desperate measures when he is laid off from his job. The film also stars Son Yejin, Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ran, Cha Seung-won and Yoo Yeon-seok. Michèle Ray Gavras and Alexandre Gavras of France’s KG Productions are on board as producers alongside Park and Back Jisun of Moho Film, with CJ Group’s Miky Lee as executive producer.
Park’s Decision To Leave won best director in Cannes in 2022 and was selected for the Oscars Best International Features shortlist at the end of that year, but didn’t make the final five nominations in that category.
Oxford scientists have found that sleep may be triggered by tiny energy leaks in brain cell mitochondria, suggesting our nightly rest is a vital safety mechanism for the body’s power supply. Credit: Stock
A new study reveals that a buildup of metabolism in specialized brain cells is what triggers the need for sleep.
Sleep may serve as more than rest for the mind; it may also function as essential upkeep for the body’s energy systems. A new study from University of Oxford researchers, published in Nature, shows that the drive to sleep is caused by electrical stress building up in the tiny energy-producing structures of brain cells.
This finding provides a concrete physical explanation for the biological need for sleep and has the potential to reshape scientific thinking about sleep, aging, and neurological disorders.
Mitochondria and energy imbalance
The research team, led by Professor Gero Miesenböck from the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics (DPAG) and Dr. Raffaele Sarnataro at Oxford’s Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, discovered that sleep is triggered when the brain responds to a subtle imbalance in energy. The central role lies with the mitochondria, microscopic organelles that convert oxygen and food into usable energy.
In certain sleep-regulating neurons studied in fruit flies, mitochondria that become overloaded begin leaking electrons. This leakage produces harmful byproducts called reactive oxygen species. The leak functions as a signal that forces the brain into sleep, allowing balance to be restored before cellular damage spreads further.
“You don’t want your mitochondria to leak too many electrons,” said Dr. Sarnataro. “When they do, they generate reactive molecules that damage cells.”
Neurons as circuit breakers
The team also discovered that specialized neurons behave like circuit breakers: they monitor the electron leak from mitochondria and trigger sleep once a critical threshold is reached. By altering how these cells managed their energy—either increasing or reducing electron flow—the scientists were able to directly control the amount of sleep in fruit flies.
Even replacing electrons with energy from light (using proteins borrowed from microorganisms) had the same effect: more energy, more leak, more sleep.
Professor Miesenböck said: “We set out to understand what sleep is for, and why we feel the need to sleep at all. Despite decades of research, no one had identified a clear physical trigger. Our findings show that the answer may lie in the very process that fuels our bodies: aerobic metabolism. In certain sleep-regulating neurons, we discovered that mitochondria – the cell’s energy producers – leak electrons when there is an oversupply. When the leak becomes too large, these cells act like circuit breakers, tripping the system into sleep to prevent overload.”
The findings help explain well-known links between metabolism, sleep, and lifespan. Smaller animals, which consume more oxygen per gram of body weight, tend to sleep more and live shorter lives. Humans with mitochondrial diseases often experience debilitating fatigue even without exertion, now potentially explained by the same mechanism.
“This research answers one of biology’s big mysteries,” said Dr. Sarnataro. “Why do we need sleep? The answer appears to be written into the very way our cells convert oxygen into energy.”
Reference: “Mitochondrial origins of the pressure to sleep” by Raffaele Sarnataro, Cecilia D. Velasco, Nicholas Monaco, Anissa Kempf and Gero Miesenböck, 16 July 2025, Nature. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09261-y
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