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Category: evolution

Flipped quantum interference unlocks clearer gluon maps from near-miss nuclear encounters

Scientists studying particle collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) usually capture what happens when atomic nuclei smash into one another at nearly the speed of light. But even when the nuclei don’t collide, interesting things can happen. In a new paper just published in Physical Review Letters, members of RHIC’s STAR collaboration describe a new way to use near-miss collisions at RHIC to study what’s going on inside the nucleus. The approach advances the reach of RHIC, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science user facility at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, into the next frontier in nuclear physics—a journey into the inner workings of the building blocks of matter.

The technique relies on particles of light, known as photons, that surround the nuclei as they speed around the 2.4-mile (3.9-kilometer) RHIC racetrack. Acting something like the beam of a giant X-ray machine, the photons around one nucleus can interact with particles called gluons inside a nucleus whizzing by in the opposite direction. By tracking the signals produced by those interactions, scientists can map out the distribution of the gluons—the glue-like particles that hold the nucleus together.

“This is an extension of the many ways people have used light to probe hidden structures in our world—from using X-rays to see broken bones and reveal the 3D atomic structures of proteins, to capturing signals from the cosmic microwave background to study the evolution of the universe,” said Ashik Ikbal, a STAR collaborator from Kent State University who carried out this work as a major component of his postdoctoral research. “In this case, we’re using light to map out features at a scale much smaller than atoms to study the gluons that hold quarks together inside the protons and neutrons of atomic nuclei.”

Testing the problem of time with cold atoms

An ultracold atomic gas is used as a self-contained miniuniverse to show that time can be defined without an external clock. It’s demonstrated that entropy exchange between different sectors of the system provides an internal time that robustly orders the dynamics and yields a Schr\ odinger description of the observed evolution.

Genomes from Oceania offer new clues to human evolution

A new Yale-led study provides one of the most detailed and comprehensive analyses to date of genetic variation in human populations in Oceania, filling a major gap in representation in genomics research. Despite harboring remarkable diversity, populations in this vast region in the South Pacific historically have been overlooked in global human genetic studies, which have often focused largely on people of European descent, researchers say. The study is published in the journal Science.

“The drastic underrepresentation of Oceanians limits our understanding of human evolution and could exacerbate health inequalities as genomic research is used to develop novel medical treatments,” said lead author Serena Tucci, assistant professor of anthropology in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences and principal investigator of the Yale Human Evolutionary Genomics Laboratory. “To fill that gap, my research team embarked on a large-scale project to expand what is known about human genetic variation, including genetic variants inherited from extinct hominins.”

The work shows how the genes that ancient humans acquired after mating with extinct hominins continue to shape the biology, health and survival of our species today.

How Life Learned to Think: The Complete History of Intelligence

Your brain is running on twenty watts right now. The power of a dim lightbulb. And yet it contains the entire eight-hundred-million-year history of life’s most improbable experiment — the experiment of intelligence itself. In this episode, we follow that experiment from its very beginning: from the first bacterium that navigated a chemical gradient in the ancient ocean, through the nerve nets of jellyfish, the distributed arms of the octopus, the tool-making crow, the grieving elephant, the dreaming mammalian brain — all the way to the only creature that has ever turned its intelligence on the question of where intelligence came from. This is not a story about the human brain. It is a story about what matter does when evolution pressures it long enough and hard enough. It is the deepest origin story you have.

/ @theevolutionoflife2026 Subscribe to the channel and join us — there is much more of this story still to tell.

Ultra-Hot Jupiter WASP-121b Reveals Atmospheric Secrets

“WASP-121b is particularly extreme, with average temperatures on the dayside hemisphere being around 2,770 Kelvin, while those on the nightside are closer to about 1,000 Kelvin,” said Dr. Tom Evans-Soma. [ https://www.labroots.com/trending/space/30649/ultra-hot-jupi…-secrets-2](https://www.labroots.com/trending/space/30649/ultra-hot-jupi…-secrets-2)

What can an exoplanet’s temperature differences teach astronomers about exoplanet atmospheres? This is what a recent study published in Nature Astronomy hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated the extreme temperature difference between the dayside and nightside of an exoplanet. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the atmospheric composition and evolution of exoplanets, which could narrow the criteria for searching for life beyond Earth.

For the study, the researchers used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to observe WASP-121 b, which is a well-known ultra-hot Jupiter located approximately 880 light-years from Earth. The primary motivation behind the study was to fill existing knowledge gaps regarding the atmospheric effects of these extreme temperatures. When an exoplanet passes in front of its star, light passes through the atmosphere, enabling astronomers to study this light and learn about the atmosphere.

Until JWST, astronomers lacked the technology to observe exoplanet atmospheres in extreme detail. In the end, the researchers found that WASP-121 b’s atmosphere exhibits massive temperature differences between the dayside and night side, coinciding with changes in carbon monoxide and water vapor. These temperatures vary from approximately 4,525 degrees Fahrenheit on the dayside and 1,340 degrees Fahrenheit on the night side.

How a single mutation rewired a 23-species bacterial community over four years

The time-development of species communities cannot be understood solely through ecological interactions or environmental factors, as evolution can also alter community dynamics. This observation helps to understand, among other things, the consequences of antibiotic resistance.

Evolution can alter the composition of communities, but its effects are difficult to investigate in nature, as they begin to manifest only after long periods of time. However, the rapid pace of microbial reproduction makes it possible to observe evolution in the laboratory “in real time,” from one generation to the next.

“In studies focusing on the microbiome, using synthetic microbial communities, as we did in this study, has opened up new avenues for investigating key questions related to complex communities,” says Professor Teppo Hiltunen from the University of Turku.

Lunar orbiter concept could reveal five key elements across moon in two years

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have used simulations to show that a newly developed, compact X-ray telescope could be used to map the chemical composition of the entire lunar surface, a vital breakthrough for understanding its geological evolution. Detailed modeling of the detector and a realistic satellite mission show that two years would be enough to map five key elements, while an array of 5-by-5 detectors could improve resolution and get results faster.

The geological evolution of the moon remains a mystery to scientists. This reflects how challenging it is to get accurate information, such as a complete map of the geochemistry of the lunar surface. Since we cannot readily go and collect samples from anywhere, scientists use a technology known as X-ray fluorescence imaging, in which detectors directed at the moon are used to pick up X-rays released by specific elements when they are hit by solar rays.

While observations during the Apollo and Chandrayaan missions have successfully yielded partial maps, we are nowhere near a comprehensive map that might illuminate lunar geology. This is due to significant technical challenges, including a lack of sufficient illumination by solar rays during the lifetime of a mission and degradation of the detector. The illumination issue is particularly pronounced in polar regions, where solar X-rays are much weaker.

Milky Way black hole’s missing wind finally found after a half-century-long search

The hunt is over. After more than 50 years of searching, astrophysicists at Northwestern University have finally discovered evidence of a powerful wind blowing from the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A•.

According to theoretical physics and a long-accepted understanding of galaxies’ evolution, as black holes consume materials, they should produce wind or jets. Even a small amount of gas falling into a black hole should generate enough energy to push material outwards. Without wind, Sgr A* would be a unique outlier.

But, until now, no one could find it.

Saturn-sized exoplanet with Earth-like temperature reveals methane-rich atmosphere

A planet that is about the size of Saturn, but with a temperature more like Earth’s, has an atmosphere rich in methane, according to a new study using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Unlike the gas giant planets—Jupiter and Saturn—in Earth’s solar system, which are distant from the sun and therefore extremely cold, and so-called “hot Jupiters”—giant planets beyond the solar system that are scorching hot due to their proximity to the stars they orbit—the planet is one of only a handful of known temperate, giant planets and the first to have its atmosphere analyzed.

The new details about the composition of the planet’s atmosphere will inform models of planetary formation and evolution and could improve astronomers’ understanding of how Earth’s atmosphere works, according to the research team.

Scientists found a giant magnetic “twist” hidden inside the Milky Way

A hidden magnetic twist inside the Milky Way may rewrite what scientists know about how our galaxy is held together. Astronomers have uncovered a strange magnetic “flip” hidden inside the Milky Way. Using a new radio telescope, researchers mapped the galaxy’s magnetic field in unprecedented detail and discovered that a mysterious reversal in the Sagittarius Arm cuts diagonally across space. The finding could reshape how scientists understand the structure and future evolution of our galaxy.

For hundreds of years, astronomers have studied the night sky in an effort to understand the forces shaping the universe. One of the most important, yet invisible, forces inside the Milky Way is its magnetic field. Now, researchers at the University of Calgary are producing one of the clearest views yet of that hidden structure.

“Without a magnetic field, the galaxy would collapse in on itself due to gravity,” says Brown, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Calgary.

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