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Astronomers Discover Bizarre “Forbidden” Planet That Should Not Exist

Lead Image: Artist’s conception of a large gas giant planet orbiting a small red dwarf star called TOI-5205. Credit: Image by Katherine Cain, courtesy of the Carnegie Institution for Science “Forbidden” Planet Orbiting Small Star Challenges Gas Giant Formation Theories Based on our current understanding of planet formation, TOI-5205b should not exist; it is a “forbidden” planet. A team of astronomers has discovered an unusual planetary system in which a large gas giant planet orbits a small red dwarf star called TOI-5205. Their findings challenge long-held ideas about planet formation. Led by Shubham Kanodia from the Carnegie Institution for Science,…

Why Do We Remember Emotional Events Better? Columbia Neuroscientists Identify Specific Neural Mechanism Responsible

Lead Image: People tend to remember emotional events more vividly and for longer periods of time compared to neutral events. This is why people often remember significant emotional events, such as a wedding or a traumatic experience, for many years. This heightened memory recall for emotional events can be both a blessing and a curse, as it can bring back powerful memories and emotions, but also lead to the persistence of traumatic memories. Neuroscientists at Columbia Engineering have discovered a specific neural mechanism in the human brain that tags information with emotional associations for enhanced memory. Many individuals recall emotional…

Revolutionizing Mechanobiology: New Electromagnetic Device Sets New Standard for Tissue Testing

Illustration of an instrument for tensile testing of soft biological tissues that is based on the interaction between an electromagnet and a ferromagnetic bead. A buoyant element between the tissue and the bead provides mechanical stability during testing. Characterizing the biomechanical properties of living tissue with high fidelity will help elucidate changes in their function during organ development, physiology, and disease. Credit: BioHues Digital According to researchers, a groundbreaking electromagnetic device has set a new benchmark for precision in the field of mechanobiology. This device, which enables accurate measurement of a variety of soft biological tissues, makes it possible to…

A New Potential Approach to Treating Lupus

Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks its own healthy tissues and organs. This results in inflammation and damage to various parts of the body, including the skin, joints, kidneys, heart, lungs, brain, and blood cells. Targeting iron metabolism in immune system cells could be a potential new approach for treating systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the most prevalent form of the chronic autoimmune disease lupus. Researchers from Vanderbilt University Medical Center recently published their findings in the journal Science Immunology, revealing that by blocking an iron uptake receptor, disease pathology is reduced and the…

Dark Energy Experiment Reveals Galaxy Gold Mine in First Large Survey

Lead Image: Illustration showing the Hobby-Eberly Telescope and VIRUS spectrograph pairs mounted on either side of the telescope. Credit: McDonald Observatory/HETDEX Collaboration Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) systems support catalog release of over 200,000 new star and galaxy locations. Astronomers have barely scratched the surface of mapping the nearly endless stars and galaxies of the heavens. Using supercomputers and the help of thousands of citizen scientists around the world, researchers with The University of Texas at Austin have now revealed the locations of more than 200,000 new astronomical objects. Their goal is to map even more and use that knowledge…