#The Mice colliding galaxies

[themculibrary]

Mystery, Thriller, and Horror Masterlist

a cabin in the woods (ao3) - nightwalker steve/tony E, 26k

Summary: It was supposed to be a relaxing vacation, a chance for them to spend some time as a couple and work out some of the kinks in their relationship. That was before everything got weird.

A Morbid Taste for Ice (ao3) - sitehound darcy/loki M, 198k

Summary: Darcy Lewis likes to think of herself as terribly adaptable, with an "If life gives you lemons, zap life with a Taser and demand chocolate" sort of attitude. And life, lately, has had a perverse sense of humor, first trapping her in a state of perpetual Science Assistant in the armpit of New Mexico known as Puente Antiguo; and then forcing her to live in a trailer home with Jane Foster, Jane's guy, Thor, and his brother, Loki, master of mischief and wide-scale urban renewal.

But Darcy's not about to let her situation get her down. She's managed to get pretty good at her job, and with liberal application of a credit card, made her rustic house a home. And wielding a Taser and armored by her snarky wit, she's more than a match for the God of Mischief.

Stumbling face-first over the frozen body of a friend on the front porch, however, is more than even mostly unflappable Darcy can handle. The obvious suspect is her mentally unstable roommate. But despite all his other faults, Darcy is certain Loki isn't the perpetrator. And not just because she's starting for fall for him....

A Sky Full of Stars (ao3) - OllieCollie pepper/tony T, 52k

Summary: The kid is small, but he’s a dead weight in Tony’s arms. As he pulls back and away from the cryopod, something catches his eye, stopping him in his tracks. In the bottom of the pod, underneath where the boy had just been lying, is a stamped image of a spider. Next to the symbol lies a small but clear logo. Oscorp.

Provided with the opportunity to get access to life-saving treatment for his ill daughter, Tony Stark accepts the position as pilot for a two-year long delivery across the galaxy. But when an undocumented asteroid causes the ship to crash land on an unknown planet, Tony uncovers a dark secret about his employer.

Now he has to hike miles over uncharted terrain with the only other survivor—a traumatized teenager with strange, spider-like abilities. Danger lurks around every corner, and it’s a fight to survive as the duo faces deadly threats, ranging from rushing rivers to forty-foot predators.

Oh yeah, and the kid he’s with doesn’t even speak the same language as he does.

Cyclical (ao3) - Pandagirl23 bucky/tony M, 24k

Summary: An old estate was bought. Under the weeds are tunnels and the halls. Light shall be shed on a wrong that was done.

Dirty Little Secret (ao3) - spideynoir mj/peter M, 71k

Summary: MJ is now a successful journalist in New York. Peter is getting his masters while handling two jobs at once. When they reunite after years of not seeing each other since high school, it reignites a flame between them that neither expected to feel again. Starting a relationship isn't an option, but what if they remove all the complications of dating and keep all the... fun? While MJ deals with finally letting her guard down, Peter struggles to keep his two worlds from colliding. Not to mention that a dangerous menace has reached their city and now Peter has to do everything in his power to protect those he cares about.

eight feet under (and no air to breathe) (ao3) - DustySoul G, 13k

Summary: Daredevil gets buried alive.

The horrible and random demise of a civilian effects Nat and Clint. They’re going to waste time digging up this day old grave - just like the mice in this little game knew they would. They don’t actually expect the man to be alive.

Matt Murdock has to pull through, somehow, and protect his identity (both of them) while he tries to make his way back to Hell’s Kitchen. At least the journey is easier from Midtown and not a grave.

ex nihilo (ao3) - angrbodagiantess M, 27k

Summary: Something sinister is happening in Avengers Tower, and where is everybody?

haunt, haunted, haunting (ao3) - katling T, 8k

Summary:

To haunt - To appear or recur often, especially as a ghost Haunted - Often visited by ghosts or spirits Haunting - Persistently recurring to the mind, difficult to forget

Natasha Romanov returns after the Civil War, thinking she can carry on just like before. She’s wrong. She’s very, very wrong.

I'll Tell No Lies (ao3) - doctorestranged peter/wade E, 77k

Summary: When a series of murders take place, Peter Parker goes undercover in Sister Margaret’s to get intel on Tony Stark’s prime suspect: Deadpool. Peter goes in hoping to get enough information so that Spider-Man can save the day, but like everything in Peter’s life, it becomes a bit more complicated than that and it soon becomes apparent that he might not be the best fit for the job.

I'm the Guy That Didn't Marry Pretty Pamela Brown (ao3) - Kathar clint/phil M, 56k

Summary: Agent Phil Coulson of SHIELD is reluctantly heading home for his high school reunion, at the request of an old friend. Natasha Romanov is playing the part of his girlfriend, even though she’s not. Clint Barton’s shown up with his bike, his bass, and a surprising knowledge of bluegrass. To complicate matters, Phil's parents wish he’d just settle down, Natasha has a hidden agenda, Clint ends up aiding and abetting juvenile delinquency, and the town in general is extraordinarily concerned with alien carp.

Interworld (ao3) - Captain_Panda steve/tony M, 12k

Summary: You won’t ever get tired of an Avengers, Assemble! call at four in the morning.

There is no formal alarm; you are awoken by the crack of wood being liberated from its hinges. As the shadowy creature tosses the door aside, you register five facts: it is huge, crackling, jagged, bleak, and cannot be of Earth. It advances quickly.

You have a gun in the drawer next to your bed.

(1) Cowboy up. (2) Duck and roll. . o .

You're Tony Stark.

Tonight, every choice will count towards your survival.

life’s for the living (and the things in between) (ao3) - SalParadiseLost T, 70k

Summary: The Avengers get called in to help with a series of disappearances in Norway that seem to be connected to an old Norse legend. Thor has been shattered by Ragnarok, but he goes on the mission to get away from the memories that haunt him in New Asgard. Instead of a reprieve though, he finds himself facing his ghosts more than ever, especially once one of them begins to sound suspiciously like his brother.

Aka Thor is haunted, first by Loki, and later by a much less friendly ghost.

Provenance (ao3) - kingdomfaraway T, 81k

Summary: “I heard a rumor that you were introducing your new protégé to the world. I wanted to come and meet the young man who impressed Tony Stark while only in High School," Mr. Osborn spoke.

“No poaching,” Mr. Stark responded in a firm voice. “Finders keepers.”

Peter almost had to laugh at that one, technically if anything, Mr. Osborn helped create Spider-man, he would have dibs over Mr. Stark. But he certainly wasn’t going to mention it to either man.

(or: Peter Parker Struggles With Identity, Tony Stark is Concerned Dad and Norman Osborn is Creepy)

returning (ao3) - harcourt N/R, 3k

Summary: While under the influence of Loki’s scepter, Clint keeps finding strange notes telling him to wake up and isn’t quite sure what to make of them.

And they keep appearing.

The Devouring Storm (ao3) - blondsak, mysterycyclone mj/peter, ned/flash T, 98k

Summary: The city is unusually quiet tonight. Oh, sure, he’s had his usual crimes: muggings, drug deals, a few break ins. Nothing special. Nothing that could possibly explain the thread of tension winding through him, slowly tightening like a noose. Ever since last night, his spidey senses have set off at a low, maddening hum, distracting him, needling him, filling him with a restless energy that’s robbed him of restful sleep. He’s used to dealing with his super powered anxiety, but this feels different somehow. More ominous. And what’s weirder is that other people seem to be a little more wary, a little more on edge than usual, too. Cops, firefighters, even one of the guys Peter caught snatching a purse commented on it from his web cocoon on a street light.

“You feel that, Spidey? The city’s all weird tonight. Feels like the whole place is holding its breath, waiting on something.”

The One That Got Away (ao3) - lomku steve/tony T, 13k

Summary: Steve Rogers wants to go on a coffee date. Maria Hill is out for the enemy’s blood. Tony Stark is arguing with himself about what to do with a certain super-soldier’s advances. Oh, and the Skrulls are invading. Again.

The Weeping Siren (ao3) - GalaxyThreads T, 90k

Summary: When Vanaheim requests aid dealing with a creature dubbed the Weeping Siren, Sif had never thought Loki capable of doing something so recklessly selfless. Then again, this whole fiasco has made her acutely aware of something: she and the Warriors Three never really knew Loki. (AKA the Warriors Three and Sif realize they were wrong about Loki) gen, Pre-Thor

What's The Worst That Could Happen? (ao3) - slightly_salty_ace peter/wade M, 33k

Summary: Spider-man narrowly missed landing on the rooftop, but grabbed the gutter at the last second. It creaked under his weight, threatening to give. The vigilante's arms shook as he struggled to haul himself up. The bitter taste of blood filled his mouth, and his chest ached as he fought for air. Suddenly, the gutter broke free, sending Spider-man crashing into the busy street below.

Civilians screamed in shock, some scattering while others crowded around the fallen hero. There was a thud next to Spider-man's head, and he opened his eyes to see Iron Man standing over him. The armored man pointed a repulsor at Spider-man's head.

"Surrender, Spider-man. You can't win."

[learnwithmearticles]

Cosmic Rays

Science time! This week: cosmic rays.

Cosmic rays are not a strong concern for people on Earth, but they are constantly moving throughout the universe at nearly the speed of light.

What They Are

Cosmic rays are made up of particles. Most atoms start with a nucleus made up of protons and neutrons (subatomic particles), with an outer layer of negatively charged subatomic particles called electrons. Most atoms of cosmic rays have had their outer layers stripped and so are just nuclei.

As far as we know, they can come from the sun of our solar system, black holes, and exploding stars (supernovae). Scientists found this from studying particles and their energy levels, which can be used to find out the force and origin associated with the particles’ accelerations and velocities. Finding their exact origins is difficult because particles are pulled around by magnetic fields throughout the universe, but the origins listed above are the most likely due to their immense ‘strength’, able to send particles traveling at nearly the speed of light.

Many of the particles have the nuclei of hydrogen: one proton which has a positive charge. Cosmic rays have also been found to have helium, uranium, and other elements, though to a far rarer extent.

What They Do

These particles are considered high-energy, meaning they can cause a strong impact when they collide with something, such as cells of the body. Because of Earth’s magnetosphere and atmosphere, the majority of cosmic rays do not interact with life here.

Colliding with particles of the Earth’s atmosphere causes the particles from outer space to lose a lot of their energy, as well as turn into secondary particles, like neutrinos. Neutrinos are produced every time the nuclei of atoms collide or break apart. They are neutral in charge and completely harmless because they almost never interact with other particles.

(Neutrinos have no charge, so the energy associated with them comes only from the process that formed it. More energy in the reaction creates more energy in the neutrino).

Studying cosmic rays has helped us gain a lot of information about the universe.

Before the 1950s, studying cosmic rays was the only way to study particles smaller than atoms. From these studies, scientists discovered smaller particles like muons, pions, and kaons.

Blazars are another example. A blazar is a galaxy powered by a black hole. As matter goes into the black hole, large amounts of energy are emitted. We are able to discover blazars specifically because the energy ‘beam’ is in the direction of Earth, so the particles end up making their way here.

In addition to learning from cosmic rays, humans have faced limitations because of them. Cosmic rays are an ionizing radiation - they damage DNA and living tissue. Cosmic rays as they are in outer space, again, do not reach Earth to a harmful extent, but astronauts are exposed to them.

This exposure causes risks of cancer, cataracts, eye diseases, and bone marrow dysfunction. Recent studies, mostly on mice, have also associated cosmic ray exposure with mental states like anxiety and emotional reactivity, and impaired neurotransmission.

Scientists are still working on continuing manned missions in space, to the moon and, hopefully, Mars. The Artemis missions are working on being able to do so, but such missions have been halted for a long time since the Apollo missions.

Carbon-14 Dating

Another neat use of cosmic rays is in carbon-14 dating, to which they are essential.

Carbon dating is a type of absolute dating, meaning it provides exact years or periods of time for the creation and use of artifacts. It works on materials as old as about 60,000 years.

Carbon-14 dating relies on the decay of the carbon-14 isotope. The carbon-14 isotope is radioactive, has six protons, which makes it carbon, and 8 neutrons, while default carbon has six. It is one of the secondary particles caused by cosmic rays reacting to particles in Earth’s atmosphere; therefore, it could not exist without cosmic rays.

Carbon-14 exists in living organisms, and it starts to change when they die, gradually turning into other elements. Carbon-14 dating then measures how much carbon-14 remains in the organic material at the time of testing.

For example, carbon-14 dating was used to date the remains of Ötzi the Iceman, found frozen in the Alps. The hunter and his clothing, from carbon dating, were found to have died about 5,300 years ago.

Radiocarbon dating, like carbon-14 dating, is extremely valuable to archaeology and learning about the world around us. The existence of carbon-14, due to cosmic rays, has been essential to that learning.

Cosmic rays are an ever-present part of our world. They exist throughout the universe yet rarely directly affect us on Earth. While they have posed an issue on space travel, they have also provided invaluable information on the human past as well as the present universe.

Additional Resources

1. https://news.uchicago.edu/explainer/what-are-cosmic-rays#

2. https://news.wisc.edu/what-are-cosmic-rays-why-do-the-matter/

3. https://www.energy.gov/science/doe-explainsneutrinos#

4. https://news.wisc.edu/what-is-a-blazar/

5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10044754/

6. https://news.uchicago.edu/explainer/what-is-carbon-14-dating#

[spacenutspod]

This strange-looking galaxy seems to be a spiral with a long tidal tail stretching away. It’s known as Arp 122, and it’s actually not just one galaxy, but two separate galaxies. NGC 6040 is the warped spiral galaxy seen edge-on, while LEDA 59642 is the round, face-on spiral. The two are colliding about 540 million light-years from Earth, and it gives us a preview of the Milky Way’s future collision with Andromeda. This image was taken by the venerable Hubble Space Telescope What will Arp 122 look like when the merger is complete? We’ll try to keep you posted, but this ongoing merger will take hundreds of millions of years, so be patient. While galactic mergers incredibly dramatic and energetic events, they occur at a snail’s pace, just because of the massive distances involved. But still, even a slow-motion collision can create chaos and grandeur. Star formation begins to ramp up from collisions of gas clouds and extreme gravitational interactions. Usually, the merged galaxies can shine up to ten times brighter than they did individually. Over time, this completely changes the structure of the two (or more) colliding galaxies, usually results in a single, merged galaxy. The Mice Galaxies (NGC 4676) are famous interacting galaxies currently undergoing a process of collision and merger. The long tail on the right side is a result of the gravitational tidal forces during the merging process. When galaxies merge, a significant amount of molecular gas flows into the central region, promoting the formation of numerous stars and facilitating the growth of supermassive black holes. Image Credit: NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC/LO), M.Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and ESA. The collisions can also create stellar features called tidal tails, like the one seen in Arp 122, or in the Mice Galaxies, above. The tails can look like streams or arcing rivers of stars moving along in the wake of the collision. Other features can be created that look like ripples, similar to how ripples form when you toss a rock into a pond. Astronomers have learned how to interpret the different features to learn more about the original galaxies and their collisions.   And don’t worry about the Milky Way’s collision with its nearest galactic neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). We have at least four billion years to wait before they actually meet up. The post This Strange-Looking Galaxy is Actually Two. And They're Merging appeared first on Universe Today.

[savantefolle]

A Story at the End of the Universe

A Story set at the End of the Universe - Cousin Entropy, by Michèle Laframboise #hardSF #humor #endofuniverse #heathdeath #Entropy

True to the laws of thermodynamics, the expanding universe keeps cooling down. Now, the last transformed humans linger near the black hole at the center of our Galaxy. The UnAttached, who count their age in billions of years, feed on the powerful X-ray emissions and rail against Entropy, that selfish cousin who sucks leftover energy. The Attached, recently forced to leave their ruined worlds,…

[mystarypi-astronomy]

This is Arp 242, also known as the Mice Galaxies! 🐭🐭🐭

They are two spiral galaxies that are colliding and merging! The battle between these galaxies produces long “tails” of gas and dust, giving it its distinct name. 🐁🐁🐁

Taken by me (Michelle Park) using the Slooh Canary Two telescope on June 3rd, 2020 at 23:23 UTC.

[just--space]

NGC 4676: When Mice Collide : These two mighty galaxies are pulling each other apart. Known as the "Mice" because they have such long tails, each spiral galaxy has likely already passed through the other. The long tails are created by the relative difference between gravitational pulls on the near and far parts of each galaxy. Because the distances are so large, the cosmic interaction takes place in slow motion -- over hundreds of millions of years. NGC 4676 lies about 300 million light-years away toward the constellation of Bernice's Hair (Coma Berenices) and are likely members of the Coma Cluster of Galaxies. The featured picture was taken with the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys in 2002. These galactic mice will probably collide again and again over the next billion years so that, instead of continuing to pull each other apart, they coalesce to form a single galaxy. via NASA

[thegeekcloud]

Welcome to another one of my lectures. Today we're gonna talk about

Galaxy Collisions

The dance of the universe

Featuring L.I.S.A.

As some of you might know (or might not know) pur galaxy is in a course of collision with the galaxy of Andromeda. Of course this colission is gonna happen in about 4 billion years and we're probably not gonna be alive as a species, let alone as individuals. But even if we were, the sun would not collide with anything as proven by computational simulations and observing other collisioms happening right now far far away in our universe. Like, a chance of 1 in 100000000000. You have way more chances winning the lottery when each person on the planet has bought a ticket.

So

What happens?

Let's imagine 2 galaxies. Each one is caught in the gravitational pull of the other, much like everything else in the world. As they draw closer, that pull becomes stronger.

The first thing to part each galaxy is the interstellar gas and dust. This acts like a fluid, particles moving closely together, and is very light in weight so it is easily separated by the main disk of the galaxy. This phenomenon does not require the galaxies to collide, but merely to pass close enough. It results in the creation of "tails" of gas and dust, coming out of the galaxy and stretching out to where the other galaxy passed by.

Here we have an example. This pair of interracting galaxies is called "The Mice" for obvious reasons

Preety huh?

Now. As i said the two galaxies can collide. According to the difference in mass between them we have two cases:

Galaxies significantly smaller are absorbed by the larger one. This is called "galactic cannibalism" (💀). We're currently doing this to the magellanic clouds (if you live in the southern hemisphere you have probably seen them in the sky). Thìs is also probably what andromeda is gonna do to us (Andromeda is visible in the northern hemisphere and about the only galaxy you can really see with the naked eye)

If they're about the same size they crash. Boom:

In any case, interstellar gas and dust are exchanged, the two galaxies become one, the tidal waves compress matter near the center of the galaxy and star formation is triggered. There is a whole category of galaxies called "Starburst galaxies" which are very bright in infrared light (they appear normal in the sky through your optical telescope). These galaxies we predict are the result of such colissions.

Explosive star formation however means that the "fuel" of the galaxy is spend very quickly, and so the galaxy "dies" (meaning no new stars are formed) pretty quickly (meaning a few hundred million years).

MOREOEVER

mg favourite part cause that's what I'm currently specializing in my studies

After such a collisions we end up with two centers of galaxies (meaning their supermassive black holes - enter song by MUSE-) in a common disk. These two INCREDIBLY HEAVY objects orbit each other and affect the orbits of nearby stars. Those stars are so light compared to the black holes tgat are actually SHOT OUT of the galaxy. If the combined mass of lost stars is comparable in terms of size with the mass of the black holes then those two begin to lose torque and end up getting closer. After getting close enough they start producing gravitational waves, causing them to lose even more energy and bringing them closer, until in the end they become one.

Now,

We can't yet detect those. The frequency they produce is too low for our ground detectors and so it is burried under noise and the limitations of the instrument itself.

BUT

in the 2030s a new detector will launch. And i mean that quite litterally, as they will launch it in SPACE. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA for short. Nice lady) will be comprised of 3 ships positioned equidistantly in the angles of a triangle and will follow a specific path, following the earth around the sun but far enough from the planet. The three ships will be like 50km apart. A laser beam connects them all.

An interferometer uses a phenomenon of light called symbolometry. Depending on the wave's phase, we either see light or darkness in our screens. This is a ground detector:

Ground detectors have "arms" of length of 5km and detect frequencies like 10Hz to 1000Hz or smth like that, i don't actually remember the number. LISA tho, will bave much bigger arms (50km long) covering more space, interracting with a wave more fully and more easily. So, LISA aims to detect waves between 0.1 mHz and 1Hz. It will also be away from other earthly noise, like earthquakes.

One time they almost mistook a signal for a truck passing by and causing the mirrors reflecting the light back to tremble. Yeah. Don't worry, they noticed.

But the future is looking bright. Cause galaxy collisions are a window to the past (since the rate of stat formation is similar to the one we had in the first steps of the universe) and to the future (as i said, it'll happen to us too)

More science

[apod]

2021 October 4

NGC 4676: When Mice Collide Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing & Copyright: William Ostling (The Astronomy Enthusiast)

Explanation: These two mighty galaxies are pulling each other apart. Known as the "Mice" because they have such long tails, each spiral galaxy has likely already passed through the other. The long tails are created by the relative difference between gravitational pulls on the near and far parts of each galaxy. Because the distances are so large, the cosmic interaction takes place in slow motion -- over hundreds of millions of years. NGC 4676 lies about 300 million light-years away toward the constellation of Bernice's Hair (Coma Berenices) and are likely members of the Coma Cluster of Galaxies. The featured picture was taken with the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys in 2002. These galactic mice will probably collide again and again over the next billion years so that, instead of continuing to pull each other apart, they coalesce to form a single galaxy.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211004.html

[captainpotassium]

NGC 4676: When Mice Collide via NASA https://ift.tt/2Ybs5w4

These two mighty galaxies are pulling each other apart. Known as the "Mice" because they have such long tails, each spiral galaxy has likely already passed through the other. The long tails are created by the relative difference between gravitational pulls on the near and far parts of each galaxy. Because the distances are so large, the cosmic interaction takes place in slow motion -- over hundreds of millions of years. NGC 4676 lies about 300 million light-years away toward the constellation of Bernice's Hair (Coma Berenices) and are likely members of the Coma Cluster of Galaxies. The featured picture was taken with the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys in 2002. These galactic mice will probably collide again and again over the next billion years so that, instead of continuing to pull each other apart, they coalesce to form a single galaxy.

(Published October 04, 2021)

[entertainmentnerdly]

The Mice (NGC 4676): Colliding Galaxies With Tails of Stars and Gas [3973 x 1865] via /r/spaceporn http://bit.ly/2VNZTIE

[alxndrasplace]

(ESA/Hubble)  Hubble's newest camera takes a deep look at two merging galaxies

Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), the newest camera on NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, has captured a spectacular pair of galaxies engaged in a celestial dance of cat and mouse or, in this case, mouse and mouse.

Located 300 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices, the colliding galaxies have been nicknamed "The Mice" because of the long tails of stars and gas emanating from each galaxy. Otherwise known as NGC 4676, the pair will eventually merge into a single giant galaxy.

Credit: NASA, Holland Ford (JHU), the ACS Science Team and ESA

About the Object

Name: Mice Galaxies, NGC 4676 Type: Local Universe : Galaxy : Type : Interacting Distance: 300 million light years Constellation: Coma Berenices Category: Galaxies Coordinates

Position (RA): 12 46 10.40 Position (Dec): 30° 43' 38.77" Field of view: 3.21 x 2.41 arcminutes Orientation: North is 64.6° right of vertical

Source

[scienceetfiction]

2018 in Science

from Wikipedia 

Some highlights:

1 January – Researchers at Harvard, writing in Nature Nanotechnology, report the first single lens that can focus all colours of the rainbow in the same spot and in high resolution, previously only achievable with multiple lenses.

2 January – Physicists at Cornell University report the creation of "muscle" for shape-changing, cell-sized robots.

3 January  – Scientists in Rome unveil the first bionic hand with a sense of touch that can be worn outside a laboratory.

9 January  – A pattern in exoplanets is discovered by a team of multinational researchers led by the Université de Montréal: Planets orbiting the same star tend to have similar sizes and regular spacings. This could imply that most planetary systems form differently from the Solar System.

10 January – Researchers at Imperial College London and King's College London publish a paper in the journal Scientific Reports about the development of a new 3D bioprinting technique, which allows the more accurate printing of soft tissue organs, such as lungs. 15 January –  University of Washington scientists publish a report in the journal Nature Chemistry of the development of a new form of biomaterial based delivery system for therapeutic drugs, which only release their cargo under certain physiological conditions, thereby potentially reducing drug side-effects in patients.

17 January – Engineers at the University of Texas at Austin, in collaboration with Peking University scientists, announce the creation of a memory storage device only one atomic layer thick; a so-called 'atomristor'.

19 January – Researchers at the Technical University of Munich report a new propulsion method for molecular machines, which enables them to move 100,000 times faster than biochemical processes used to date.

22 January –  Engineers at MIT develop a new computer chip, with "artificial synapses," which process information more like neurons in a brain.

24 January – Scientists in China report in the journal Cell the creation of two monkey clones, named Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua, using the complex DNA transfer method that produced Dolly the sheep, for the first time.

25 January –  Researchers report evidence that modern humans migrated from Africa at least as early as 194,000 years ago, somewhat consistent with recent genetic studies, and much earlier than previously thought.

Scientists working for Calico, a company owned by Alphabet, publish a paper in the journal eLife which presents possible evidence that Heterocephalus glaber (naked mole-rat) do not face increased mortality risk due to aging.

29 January – Scientists report, for the first time, that 800 million viruses, mainly of marine origin, are deposited daily from the Earth's atmosphere onto every square meter of the planet's surface, as the result of a global atmospheric stream of viruses, circulating above the weather system, but below the altitude of usual airline travel, distributing viruses around the planet.

6 February  –  The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) reports that global sea ice extent has fallen to a new record low. 9 February – Human eggs are grown in the laboratory for the first time, by researchers at the University of Edinburgh.

14 February  – Researchers found that blocking the enzyme beta-secretase (BACE1) in mice reduces formation of plaques responsible for Alzheimer's disease.

16 February – Scientists report, for the first time, the discovery of a new form of light, which may involve polaritons, that could be useful in the development of quantum computers.

19 February – Scientists identify traces of the genes of the indigenous Taíno people in modern-day Puerto Ricans, indicating that the ethnic group was not extinct as previously believed.

28 February – Astronomers report, for the first time, a signal of the reionization epoch, an indirect detection of light from the earliest stars formed – about 180 million years after the Big Bang.

9 March – NASA medical researchers report that human spaceflight may alter gene expression in astronauts, based on twin studies where one astronaut twin, Scott Kelly, spent nearly one year in space while the other, Mark Kelly, remained on Earth.

19 March – Uber suspends all of its self-driving cars worldwide after a woman is killed by one of the vehicles in Arizona. This is the first recorded fatality using a fully automated version of the technology.

18 April  –  Nanyang Technological University demonstrates a robot that can autonomously assemble an IKEA chair without interruption.

25 April   –  Scientists publish evidence that asteroids may have been primarily responsible for bringing water to Earth.

27 April – Stephen Hawking's final paper – A smooth exit from eternal inflation? – is published in the Journal of High Energy Physics.

30 April – Researchers report identifying 6,331 groups of genes that are common to all living animals, and which may have arisen from a single common ancestor that lived 650 million years ago in the Precambrian.

10 May – NASA's Carbon Monitoring System (CMS) is cancelled by the Trump administration.

17 May – Scientists warn that banned CFC-11 gas emissions are originating from an unknown source somewhere in East Asia, with potential to damage the ozone layer.

22 May –  Scientists from Purdue University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences report the use of CRISPR/Cas9 to develop a variety of rice producing 25-31% more grain than traditional breeding methods.

24 May  –  Researchers at the University of Leeds report that climate change could increase arable land in boreal regions by 44% by the year 2100, while having a negative impact everywhere else.

30 May  –  The first 3D printed human corneas are created at Newcastle University.  The FDA approves the first artificial iris.

Physicists of the MiniBooNE experiment report a stronger neutrino oscillation signal than expected, a possible hint of sterile neutrinos, an elusive particle that may pass through matter without any interaction whatsoever.

4 June – Direct coupling of the Higgs boson with the top quark is observed for the first time by the ATLAS experiment and the CMS experiment at CERN.

6 June –  Footprints in the Yangtze Gorges area of South China, dating back 546 million years, are reported to be the earliest known record of an animal with legs.

8 June – The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory unveils Summit as the world’s most powerful supercomputer, with a peak performance of 200,000 trillion calculations per second, or 200 petaflops.

20 June  – Gene-edited pigs are made resistant to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, one of the world's most costly animal diseases.

2 July  –  First confirmed image of a newborn planet, exoplanet PDS 70b, several times larger than the planet Jupiter.

11 July – Scientists report the discovery in China of the oldest stone tools outside of Africa, estimated at 2.12 million years old.

12 July – The IceCube Neutrino Observatory announces that they have traced a neutrino that hit their Antarctica-based research station in September 2017 back to its point of origin in a blazar 3.7 billion light-years away. This is the first time that a neutrino detector has been used to locate an object in space.

Using NASA's Hubble and ESA's Gaia, astronomers make the most precise measurements to date of the universe's expansion rate – a figure of 73.5 km (45.6 miles) per second per megaparsec – reducing the uncertainty to just 2.2 percent.

17 July – Scientists led by Scott S. Sheppard report the discovery of 12 new moons of Jupiter, taking its total number to 79. This includes an "oddball", Valetudo (originally known as S/2016 J 2; Roman-numeral designation Jupiter LXII), that is predicted to eventually collide with a neighbouring moon.

20 July – Scientists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham announce the reversal of aging-associated skin wrinkles and hair loss in a mouse model. 25 July –  Scientists report the discovery, based on MARSIS radar studies, of a subglacial lake on Mars, 1.5 km (0.93 mi) below the southern polar ice cap (see image), and extending sideways about 20 km (12 mi), the first known stable body of water on the planet.

27 July – The longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century occurs.

30 July –  Using high-resolution satellite images, researchers from the Chizé Centre for Biological Studies report an 88% reduction in the world's biggest colony of king penguins, found on Île aux Cochons in the subantarctic Crozet Archipelago.

A study by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center concludes that terraforming of Mars is physically impossible with present-day technology.

1 August  –  Lab-grown lungs are successfully transplanted into pigs for the first time.

16 August  –  Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories reveal a platinum-gold alloy believed to be the most wear-resistant metal in the world, 100 times more durable than high-strength steel.

16 August  – First complete map of the wheat genome.

18 August – Research presented at the Goldschmidt conference in Boston concludes that water is likely to be a common feature of exoplanets between two and four times the size of Earth, with implications for the search of life in our Galaxy.

20 August –  Scientists report that life, based on genetic and fossil evidences, may have begun on Earth nearly 4.5 billion years ago, much earlier than thought before.

22 August   –  Scientists report evidence of a 13 year-old hominin female, nicknamed Denny, estimated to have lived 90,000 years ago, and who was determined to be half Neanderthal and half Denisovan, based on genetic analysis of a bone fragment discovered in Denisova Cave; the first time an ancient individual was discovered whose parents belonged to distinct human groups.

Researchers report evidence of rapid shifts (in geological-time terms), nearly 30 times faster than known previously, of geomagnetic reversals, where the north magnetic pole of Earth becomes the south magnetic pole and vice versa, including a chronozone that lasted only 200 years, much shorter than any other such reversal found earlier.

30 August – Researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong report a new way of controlling nanobots, using swarm behaviours to do complex tasks in minimally invasive surgeries.

6 September – A study by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign finds that large-scale solar panels and wind turbines in the Sahara desert would have a major impact on rainfall, vegetation and temperatures – potentially greening the region.

12 September – Scientists report the discovery of the earliest known drawing by Homo sapiens, which is estimated to be 73,000 years old, much earlier than the 43,000 years old artifacts understood to be the earliest known modern human drawings found previously.

20 September – Scientists discover molecules of fat in an ancient fossil to reveal the earliest confirmed animal in the geological record that lived on Earth 558 million years ago.

A paper in the Cryosphere journal, from the European Geosciences Union, suggests that building walls on the seafloor could halt the slide of undersea glaciers, which are melting due to warmer ocean temperatures.

Using data from the European Space Agency’s X-ray observatory XMM-Newton, astronomers report the first detection of matter falling into a black hole at 30% of the speed of light, located in the centre of the billion-light year distant galaxy PG211+143.

25 September  – Scientists determine that Vorombe titan, an extinct elephant bird from the island of Madagascar which reached weights of 800 kg (1,800 lb) and heights of 3 m (9.8 ft) tall, is the largest bird known to have existed.

26 September – Researchers provide evidence that phosphorus compounds, key components for life, are made in interstellar space and distributed throughout outer space, including the early Earth.

27 September – A study in the journal Science concludes that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) could halve killer whale populations in the most heavily contaminated areas within 30–50 years. 1 October –  NASA-funded researchers find that lengthy journeys into outer space, including travel to the planet Mars, may substantially damage the gastrointestinal tissues of astronauts. The studies support earlier work that found such journeys could significantly damage the brains of astronauts, and age them prematurely. However, unlike the conditions in space, the study admitted the full radiation doses over short periods.

Astronomers announce the discovery of 2015 TG387 (also known as "The Goblin"), a trans-Neptunian object and sednoid in the outermost part of the Solar System, which may help explain some apparent effects of a hypothetical planet named Planet Nine (or Planet X).

11 October   –  Physicists report that quantum behavior can be explained with classical physics for a single particle, but not for multiple particles as in quantum entanglement and related nonlocality phenomena ("spooky action at a distance" ["gruselige Action in einiger Entfernung" (german)], according to Albert Einstein).

Harvard astronomers present an analytical model that suggests matter—and potentially dormant spores—can be exchanged across the vast distances between galaxies, a process termed 'galactic panspermia', and not be restricted to the limited scale of solar systems.

The world's fastest camera, able to capture 10 trillion frames per second, is announced by the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) in Quebec, Canada.

15 October – A study by the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute finds that insect populations in Puerto Rico have crashed since the 1970s, with some species witnessing a 60-fold decrease in numbers. The fall is attributed to a 2.0 °C rise in tropical forest temperatures.

16 October   –  A comprehensive analysis of demographic trends published in The Lancet predicts that all countries are likely to experience at least a slight increase in life expectancy by 2040. Spain is expected to overtake Japan as it rises from fourth to first place, with an average lifespan of 85.8 years.

Astronomers report that GRB 150101B, a gamma-ray burst event detected in 2015, may be directly related to the historic GW170817, a gravitational wave event detected in 2017, and associated with the merger of two neutron stars. The similarities between the two events, in terms of gamma ray, optical and x-ray emissions, as well as to the nature of the associated host galaxies, are "striking", suggesting the two separate events may both be the result of the merger of neutron stars, and both may be a kilonova (i.e., a luminous flash of radioactive light that produces elements like silver, gold, platinum and uranium), which may be more common in the universe than previously understood, according to the researchers.

17 October –  Researchers report possible transgenerational epigenetic inheritance (i.e., transmission of information from one generation of an organism to the next that affects the traits of offspring without alteration of the primary structure of DNA) in the form of paternal transmission of epigenetic memory via of sperm chromosomes in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, a laboratory test organism.

24 October – Scientists report discovering the oldest weapons found in North America, ancient spear points, dated to 13,500 – 15,500 years ago, made of chert, predating the clovis culture (typically dated to 13,000 years ago), in the state of Texas.

1 November  – The Earth BioGenome Project is launched, a 10-year global effort to sequence the genomes of all 1.5 million known animal, plant, protozoan and fungal species on Earth. Astronomers from Harvard University suggest that the interstellar object 'Oumuamua may be an extraterrestrial solar sail from an alien civilization, in an effort to help explain the object's "peculiar acceleration".

2 November  – The world’s largest neuromorphic supercomputer, the million-core 'SpiNNaker' machine, is switched on by the University of Manchester, England.

5 November  –  Polar ozone holes are healing faster than previously thought, and are expected to completely heal by 2060.

5 November –  Astronomers report the discovery of one of the oldest stars, named 2MASS J18082002-5104378 B, in the universe, about 13.5 billion-years-old, possibly one of the very first stars, a tiny ultra metal-poor (UMP) star made almost entirely of materials released from the Big Bang. The discovery of the star in the Milky Way galaxy suggests that the galaxy may be at least 3 billion years older than thought earlier.

Scientists report the discovery of the smallest known ape, Simiolus minutus, which weighed approximately eight pounds, and lived about 12.5 million years ago in Kenya in East Africa.

7 November – Scientists report the discovery of the oldest known figurative art painting, over 40,000 (perhaps as old as 52,000) years old, of an unknown animal, in the cave of Lubang Jeriji Saléh on the Indonesian island of Borneo

12 November – China's Institute of Plasma Physics announces that plasma in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) has reached 100 million degrees Celsius.

Researchers at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) reveal a humanoid robot prototype, HRP-5P, intended to autonomously perform heavy labor or work in hazardous environments.

20 November – The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) publishes its latest Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, showing record high concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases, with levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) reaching 405.5 parts per million (ppm) in 2017, up from 403.3 ppm in 2016 and 400.1 ppm in 2015. The WMO reports that "there is no sign of a reversal in this trend, which is driving long-term climate change, sea level rise, ocean acidification and more extreme weather."

22 November  – Research published in Environmental Research Letters concludes that stratospheric aerosol injection to curb global warming is "technically possible" and would be "remarkably inexpensive" at $2 to 2.5 billion per year over the first 15 years.

23 November – The Brazilian government reports that deforestation in the Amazon rainforest has reached its highest rate for a decade, with 7,900 sq km (3,050 sq miles) destroyed between August 2017 and July 2018, largely due to illegal logging.

24 November – Scientists report that nearly all extant populations of animals, including humans, may be a result of a population expansion that began between one and two hundred thousand years ago, based on genetic mitochondrial DNA studies.

25 November – Chinese scientists report the birth of twin human girls, Lulu and Nana, as the world's first genetically edited babies. The human genes were edited to resist the HIV virus.

27 November – Researchers at the University of Southern California publish details of a freeze-dried polio vaccine that does not require refrigeration.

30 November – Astronomers report that the extragalactic background light (EBL), the total amount of light that has ever been released by all the stars in the observable universe, amounts to 4 × 1084 photons.

10 December – Voyager 2, a space probe launched in 1977, is confirmed (image of onboard detections) to have left the Solar System for interstellar space on 5 November 2018, six years after its sister probe, Voyager 1.

Four glaciers in the Vincennes Bay region of Antarctica are found to be thinning at surprisingly fast rates, casting doubt on the idea that the eastern part of the icy continent is stable.

Researchers announce the discovery of considerable amounts of life forms, including 70% of bacteria and archea on Earth, comprising up to 23 billion tonnes of carbon, living up to at least 4.8 km (3.0 mi) deep underground, including 2.5 km (1.6 mi) below the seabed, according to a ten-year Deep Carbon Observatory project.

11 December – A report on the impact of climate change in the Arctic, published during the latest American Geophysical Union meeting, concludes that populations of wild reindeer, or caribou, have crashed from almost 5 million to just 2.1 million animals in the last two decades.

17 December  –  Astronomers led by Scott Sheppard announce the discovery of 2018 VG18, nicknamed "Farout", the most distant body ever observed in the Solar System at approximately 120 AU.

Scientists announce that the earliest feathers may have originated 250 million years ago, 70 million years earlier than previously thought

18 December – Scientists report that the earliest flowers began about 180 million years ago, 50 million years earlier than previously thought.

and more

[space-pics]

The Mice (NGC 4676): Colliding Galaxies With Tails of Stars and Gas [3973 x 1865]

[photos-of-space]

The Mice (NGC 4676): Colliding Galaxies With Tails of Stars and Gas [3973 x 1865]

[starwalkapp]

NGC 4676: The Mighty Mice ⠀ Image Credit & Copyright: Bruce Waddington⠀ ⠀ Explanation: These two mighty galaxies are pulling each other apart. Known as The Mice because they have such long tails, each large spiral galaxy has actually passed through the other. Their long tails are drawn out by strong gravitational tides rather than collisions of their individual stars. Because the distances are so large, the cosmic interaction takes place in slow motion -- over hundreds of millions of years. They will probably collide again and again over the next billion years until they coalesce to form a single galaxy. NGC 4676 lies about 300 million light-years away toward the constellation of Bernice's Hair (Coma Berenices) and are likely members of the Coma Cluster of Galaxies. Not often imaged in small telescopes, this field of view catches the faint tidal tails several hundred thousand light-years long.⠀ ⠀ NASA APOD (https://ift.tt/2KSwpan) via Instagram https://ift.tt/320PkWa

[clayhaus]

The Mice Galaxies or NGC 4676A and NGC 4676B are two colliding spiral galaxies located about 290 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. Galactic tidal forces have created massive long "tales" that appear to flow either side of the respective centers of the two interacting galaxies. It may be hard to see in but there are hundreds of other galaxies in this image, all part of the Coma Cluster of galaxies. Using both ESA/ESO/NASA provided software and Photoshop I combined three b&w Hubble Telescope images captured with wide-band filters at 475nm (light blue), 606nm (orange), and 814nm (deep red/near-infrared) to create this image. Enjoy. #Space #Astronomy #Galaxy #Galaxy’s #Cosmology #AstronomyNotAstrology #Stars #HubbleTelescope #Telescope #spacetelescope https://www.instagram.com/p/BrRLXxYALS4/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1suv53u2t88qw