What happens to matter when it’s crushed beyond the point where atoms can exist? Inside a neutron star, the densest visible object in the universe, matter is compressed into states so extreme that physicists still don’t fully understand what’s there.
In this calm long-form space documentary, we take a journey layer by layer through the interior of a neutron star — from the crystalline crust where exotic nuclei form structures unlike anything on Earth, through the bizarre \.
Superconducting qubits—bits of quantum information—have been widely considered a promising technology for moving quantum computing forward. But there’s still much work to be done before they can be brought out of a near absolute zero temperature environment. The lab of Professor Hong Tang has recently published two studies that advance the technology.
To solve practical problems, quantum processors need a lot of qubits—up to thousands to millions. Such a large number of qubits requires significantly complex wiring and a way to store them at a temperature colder than deep space. This is complicated by the physical size of the cryogenic devices, known as dilution refrigerators, that maintain qubits at a temperature just above absolute zero. In a study published in Nature Photonics, Tang’s research team has found a way around this obstacle.
A flexible and cost-effective solution is to build a quantum network by connecting qubits inside separate refrigerators. Connecting qubits with standard coaxial cables, however, wouldn’t work if those cables were kept in a room temperature environment. And storing them all in one very cold room would be near impossible. Even under an optimistic assumption of 1,000 qubits per refrigerator, scaling to 1 million qubits would require linking 1,000 refrigerators—an arrangement that is physically impractical within a single room.
If you walk across the open yard in front of the Physics, Math and Astronomy building at the University of Texas at Austin, you’ll see a 17-story tower and a huge L-shaped building. What you won’t see is what’s underneath you. Two floors below ground, behind heavy double doors stamped with a logo that most students have never noticed, sits one of the most powerful lasers in the United States.
I was the lead laser scientist on the Texas Petawatt, or TPW as we called it, from 2020 to 2024. Texas Petawatt, which is currently closed due to funding cuts, was a government-funded research center where scientists from across the country applied for time to use specialized equipment. It was part of LaserNetUS, a Department of Energy network of high-power laser labs.
This type of laser takes a tiny pulse of light, stretches it out so it doesn’t blast optics to pieces, and amplifies it until, for a brief instant, it carries more power than the entire U.S. electrical grid. Then it compresses the pulse back to a trillionth of a second to create a star in a vacuum chamber.
Using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), Chinese astronomers have inspected two nearby galactic globular clusters, namely NGC 6517 and NGC 7078. The study resulted in the discovery of six new millisecond pulsars in these clusters, which are isolated and faint. The finding was detailed in a paper published April 9 on the arXiv pre-print server.
The sun continuously blasts charged, magnetic field-carrying particles, or plasma, in all directions. This solar wind interacts with the magnetic fields and atmospheres of several of our solar system’s planets and other bodies, sculpting long magnetic tails of charged particles—magnetotails—that stretch into space behind them.
Magnetotails contain thin layers of electric current-carrying plasma sheets, which sometimes “flap” in an up-and-down waving motion. Spacecraft observations have revealed that flapping in Earth’s magnetotail can be driven by a process called magnetic reconnection, in which magnetic field lines rapidly break and then snap together in a new configuration, releasing stored energy. However, whether reconnection plays this same role beyond Earth has thus far been a mystery.
Yuanzheng Wen and colleagues report the first evidence that magnetic reconnection may also trigger magnetotail flapping at Mars. Their findings are published in the journal AGU Advances.
There’s one particular challenge facing the crewed missions of the near future that scares mission planners more than almost any other: fire.
A new paper from researchers at NASA’s Glenn Research Center and Johnson Space Center and Case Western Reserve University details a planned mission to test the flammability of materials on the Moon’s surface – where they expect flame to act much differently than it does here on Earth.
On Earth, gravity causes hot gases to rise, drawing fresh, cool oxygen to the base of the flame. In some cases where the material is marginally flammable, this can result in a phenomenon called “blowoff”, which actually extinguishes the fire.
A long time ago I became friends with a guy named Frank White. He was working with president Reagan’s National Commission on Space, and my friend Dave Brody and I were shooting a documentary where we were interviewing some of the Commission members. We hit it off immediately. Fellow O’Neillians all. Since then Frank has become a close buddy and ally in the cause of the Space Revolution. Our styles couldn’t be more different I am the Charge the enemy! guy and he is a gentle, quiet human being. Along the way to the Frontier, he coined the term OverView Effect, as a means of expressing what happens to people when they fly above the MotherWorld and gaze back at her. He nailed it with that one. Dude’s got himself a real-live “meme”! And I couldn’t be happier. So now it’s time to get the man up there so he can get “Effected” himself! The team at MoonDAO are raising funds right now to send this beautiful human into space. You can help! They’ve already raised over $150k! So join in right now and let’s do this thing! Send Frank to Space! Right now! Make a donation! UP!
Want to go to space? Join Frank White and bring the Overview Effect to Earth to help unite humanity.
“The presence of fungal species in cleanroom environments, their potential to survive prolonged exposure to space conditions, in combination with the results of this study, underscore fungal conidia as a significant consideration for planetary protection.” [ https://www.labroots.com/trending/space/30458/fungus-nasa-cl…nditions-2](https://www.labroots.com/trending/space/30458/fungus-nasa-cl…nditions-2)
NASA cleanrooms exist to keep spacecraft free of fungus and bacteria that could unknowingly hitch a ride to another world. But what if these procedures aren’t sufficient? This is what a recent study published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated if decontamination strategies outlined by NASA’s planetary protection office are sufficient in preventing fungus and bacteria on Earth from contaminating other worlds.
For the study, the researchers conducted a series of experimental simulations to ascertain the survival probabilities of several microorganisms and whether they would survive on Mars and during the journey to the Red Planet. The primary goal of this study was to address a knowledge gap with planetary protection, specifically whether current protocols are sufficient in preventing bacteria and other microorganisms from hitching a ride on spacecraft to other worlds.
In the end, the researchers found that a known fungus called Aspergillus calidoustus (A. calidoustus) was found to survive sterilization procedures, contrary to rigorous cleaning. Additionally, the researchers found that A. calidoustus would not only survive the trip to Mars, but it could also survive on the surface of Mars despite the extreme radiation and temperatures. However, the team did find that A. calidoustus met its end when exposed to a combination of radiation and the extreme cold of the Martian surface.