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Science Magazine
- CDC nominee dropped, free speech challenge, court order on probationary worker dismissals: Trump Tracker
Argotec announces modular satellite platform

Italian smallsat developer Argotec has unveiled a new modular satellite bus design that it believes provides flexibility in accommodating a wide range payloads.
The post Argotec announces modular satellite platform appeared first on SpaceNews.
Climate Change Could Soon Raise Our Exposure to Viruses From Sewage
Nostalgia and Thinking About the Past Helps Us Hold Onto Our Friendships
1.4 Million-Year-Old Hominin Is the Oldest Face of Western Europe
JWST Findings May Suggest Our Universe Exists Inside a Black Hole
Watch a fish hunt by hiding behind a shark
NIH reinstates some of its early-career scientists
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Science Magazine
- Can NIH overturn a court order blocking it from slashing overhead payments? Unlikely, one expert says
Can NIH overturn a court order blocking it from slashing overhead payments? Unlikely, one expert says
Wartime destruction of Ukraine dam has set off a ‘time bomb’
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Science Magazine
- News at a glance: Axing Columbia grants, questioning researchers about socialism, and powering the Voyagers
News at a glance: Axing Columbia grants, questioning researchers about socialism, and powering the Voyagers
Dinosaur-era mammals’ fur color revealed for first time
Implants can help deaf kids hear—but many still struggle with spoken language
L3Harris taps commercial AI partners for Pentagon’s Golden Dome program

Golden Dome will require more than just deploying sensors and interceptors. The system needs a 'collaborative autonomous network'
The post L3Harris taps commercial AI partners for Pentagon’s Golden Dome program appeared first on SpaceNews.
New FCC space chief seeks licensing reform and “intensive” use of spectrum

The new head of the Federal Communications Commission’s space division says his focus will be licensing reform and spectrum access.
The post New FCC space chief seeks licensing reform and “intensive” use of spectrum appeared first on SpaceNews.
How Your Smartphone Camera Could Track Your Heart Rate
Join or die: How satellite manufacturers approach competition with SpaceX

If satellite manufacturers don’t find ways to compete more effectively, SpaceX could dominate their market.
The post Join or die: How satellite manufacturers approach competition with SpaceX appeared first on SpaceNews.
When Pixels Become the Priority

In this week's episode of Space Minds, Dan Smoot, CEO of Maxar Intelligence sits down with host David Ariosto.
The post When Pixels Become the Priority appeared first on SpaceNews.
Ionizing radiation: its biological impacts and how it is used to treat disease
This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast features Ileana Silvestre Patallo, a medical physicist at the UK’s National Physical Laboratory, and Ruth McLauchlan, consultant radiotherapy physicist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
In a wide-ranging conversation with Physics World’s Tami Freeman, Patallo and McLauchlan explain how ionizing radiation such as X-rays and proton beams interact with our bodies and how radiation is being used to treat diseases including cancer.
- This episode was created in collaboration with IPEM, the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine. IPEM owns the journal Physics in Medicine & Biology.
The post Ionizing radiation: its biological impacts and how it is used to treat disease appeared first on Physics World.
Layoffs gut research agency that helped monitor U.S. education
Deadly avian flu strain is spreading rapidly in Antarctica
Dwarf Lemurs Combat Aging During Hibernation by Reversing Their Cellular Clocks
ESA lays foundations for the future of data transmission

Europe’s investment in HydRON, a multi-orbit optical data relay network, signals a pivotal shift in how data is moved across Earth and beyond. The program aims to transform satellite connectivity, […]
The post ESA lays foundations for the future of data transmission appeared first on SpaceNews.
Covid Vaccines Have Paved the Way for Cancer Vaccines
Earth’s core could contain lots of primordial helium, experiments suggest
Helium deep with the Earth could bond with iron to form stable compounds – according to experiments done by scientists in Japan and Taiwan. The work was done by Haruki Takezawa and Kei Hirose at the University of Tokyo and colleagues, who suggest that Earth’s core could host a vast reservoir of primordial helium-3 – reshaping our understanding of the planet’s interior.
Noble gases including helium are normally chemically inert. But under extreme pressures, heavier members of the group (including xenon and krypton) can form a variety of compounds with other elements. To date, however, less is known about compounds containing helium – the lightest noble gas.
Beyond the synthesis of disodium helide (Na2He) in 2016, and a handful of molecules in which helium forms weak van der Waals bonds with other atoms, the existence of other helium compounds has remained purely theoretical.
As a result, the conventional view is that any primordial helium-3 present when our planet first formed would have quickly diffused through Earth’s interior, before escaping into the atmosphere and then into space.
Tantalizing clues
However, there are tantalizing clues that helium compounds could exist in some volcanic rocks on Earth’s surface. These rocks contain unusually high isotopic ratios of helium-3 to helium-4. “Unlike helium-4, which is produced through radioactivity, helium-3 is primordial and not produced in planetary interiors,” explains Hirose. “Based on volcanic rock measurements, helium-3 is known to be enriched in hot magma, which originally derives from hot plumes coming from deep within Earth’s mantle.” The mantle is the region between Earth’s core and crust.
The fact that the isotope can still be found in rock and magma suggests that it must have somehow become trapped in the Earth. “This argument suggests that helium-3 was incorporated into the iron-rich core during Earth’s formation, some of which leaked from the core to the mantle,” Hirose explains.
It could be that the extreme pressures present in Earth’s iron-rich core enabled primordial helium-3 to bond with iron to form stable molecular lattices. To date, however, this possibility has never been explored experimentally.
Now, Takezawa, Hirose and colleagues have triggered reactions between iron and helium within a laser-heated diamond-anvil cell. Such cells crush small samples to extreme pressures – in this case as high as 54 GPa. While this is less than the pressure in the core (about 350 GPa), the reactions created molecular lattices of iron and helium. These structures remained stable even when the diamond-anvil’s extreme pressure was released.
To determine the molecular structures of the compounds, the researchers did X-ray diffraction experiments at Japan’s SPring-8 synchrotron. The team also used secondary ion mass spectrometry to determine the concentration of helium within their samples.
Synchrotron and mass spectrometer
“We also performed first-principles calculations to support experimental findings,” Hirose adds. “Our calculations also revealed a dynamically stable crystal structure, supporting our experimental findings.” Altogether, this combination of experiments and calculations showed that the reaction could form two distinct lattices (face-centred cubic and distorted hexagonal close packed), each with differing ratios of iron to helium atoms.
These results suggest that similar reactions between helium and iron may have occurred within Earth’s core shortly after its formation, trapping much of the primordial helium-3 in the material that coalesced to form Earth. This would have created a vast reservoir of helium in the core, which is gradually making its way to the surface.
However, further experiments are needed to confirm this thesis. “For the next step, we need to see the partitioning of helium between iron in the core and silicate in the mantle under high temperatures and pressures,” Hirose explains.
Observing this partitioning would help rule out the lingering possibility that unbonded helium-3 could be more abundant than expected within the mantle – where it could be trapped by some other mechanism. Either way, further studies would improve our understanding of Earth’s interior composition – and could even tell us more about the gases present when the solar system formed.
The research is described in Physical Review Letters.
The post Earth’s core could contain lots of primordial helium, experiments suggest appeared first on Physics World.
Multi-orbit operators highlight growth outside Starlink’s spotlight

While Starlink’s broadband contract wins often grab the spotlight, a panel of multi-orbit operators at the Satellite Conference here highlighted how they are also gaining significant traction with enterprise and government customers.
The post Multi-orbit operators highlight growth outside Starlink’s spotlight appeared first on SpaceNews.
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Science Magazine
- Climate finding endangered, USDA freezes Maine, and vax stat deciphered: Trump Tracker
Climate finding endangered, USDA freezes Maine, and vax stat deciphered: Trump Tracker
RBC Signals adds 10 antennas to global ground-station network

RBC Signals is acquiring 10 six-meter antennas to expand its ground-station network.
The post RBC Signals adds 10 antennas to global ground-station network appeared first on SpaceNews.
Cognitive Space claims two SDA awards

Cognitive Space will work with the Space Development Agency to optimize missile tracking and network routing.
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Astronomers Detect Dancing Twin Stars That Produce Strange Signals
To Avoid Becoming a Meal, These Male Octopuses Sedate Their Mates
CRISPR Eliminates Targeted Tumors by 50 Percent
Rosemary and Sage Could Lead to Better Alzheimer’s Treatment
The Doomsday Clock’s Advance Toward Destruction Mirrors a Decline in Our Well-Being
Farming wasn’t a wholesale success when it arrived in North Africa
Fossil face found in Spanish cave belongs to first known Western European
Space Development Agency adjusts satellite procurement strategy

The agency has found that building a constellation of networked spacecraft is more complex than initially anticipated
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China’s expanding footprint in geostationary orbit raises security concerns

HELSINKI — China is expanding its presence and capabilities in the strategically vital geostationary belt, raising security concerns due to unpredictable satellite movements, according to experts. Participants in a panel […]
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A Life Oasis Protected Plants During the Permian Mass Extinction Event
Isar Aerospace wins Norwegian Space Agency launch contract

Isar Aerospace has won a launch contract from the Norwegian Space Agency as the company prepares for its first orbital launch attempt.
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