These five galaxies, called Stephan’s Quintet, are about 290 million light-years away
Four of the five are engaged in a deadly game of chicken, swooping past one another closer and closer until, one day in the cosmic future, they will most likely smash together and merge
This cloud of dust and gas surrounding a dying star is called the Southern Ring, or the Eight-Burst Nebula
It’s about 2000 light-years away and nearly half a light-year across. The bright cloud that makes up the ring came from the outer layers of one of the stars at the centre
This image showcases one of JWST’s other key capabilities: examining the light shining through the atmosphere of an exoplanet
It is the spectrum of light coming from a planet called WASP-96b, a gas giant about 1150 light-years from Earth
These four images, showing two sparkling nebulas, a group of doomed galaxies and the chemical composition of a giant exoplanet, are the culmination of decades of work by scientists and engineers – and they’re just the beginning
Yesterday, @NASAWebb also released a stunning image called “Webb’s First Deep Field, containing thousands of galaxies from the cosmic dawn
After its December 2021, launch, JWST beamed down its very first images in February, but those images were part of the telescope testing process, not science images, and they did not yet demonstrate #JWST’s full power
Now that we have the first full-resolution images from JWST, the next step is getting more detailed data from even deeper observations of the cosmos so that researchers can start digging into the science
The discovery that faulty metabolism is at the root of many brain diseases suggests a surprising way to protect our brains from the ravages of ageing newscientist.com/article/mg2573…
If you own a car, you will have noticed the engine getting less efficient with time
The further you drive it, the more fuel it takes to make the same journey – until, eventually, it becomes so underpowered that it needs a physical push to climb even a gentle hill
Now, it is emerging that much the same is true of the human brain
Microscopic structures called mitochondria, found in every brain cell, are quite literally the engines of our thoughts and feelings
Researchers are building models of everything from black holes to the big bang in tanks of liquid. Now some claim these surprisingly simple models are showing us where our theories of space-time are wrong. newscientist.com/article/mg2583…
This is a black hole. Well, not a black hole in the common sense. Germain Rousseaux’s experiment at @InstitutPprime is a physical model of how the immense gravity of black holes can suck in waves – conventionally light waves, but in this case water waves – so they can’t escape.
It is what is known in the trade as a “gravity analogue”, and it is far from the only one. Over the years, researchers have created dozens of these tabletop models of everything from black holes to the entire infant cosmos! newscientist.com/definition/bla…
Researchers are building models of everything from black holes to the big bang in tanks of liquid. Now some claim these surprisingly simple models are showing us where our theories of space-time are wrong newscientist.com/article/mg2583…
From meeting an older version of yourself in virtual reality to writing letters from the future, these evidence-based tricks can help you improve your health and happiness. newscientist.com/article/mg2583…
Exciting news! New Scientist’s book club launches today, and we’re kicking things off with the excellent science fiction novel The Ferryman by Justin Cronin (@jccronin)
Justin Cronin's new science fiction novel transmutes the familiar trope of a utopia with a dark secret into a deep story with humanity at its centre. Read along with us at #NewScientistBookClubnewscientist.com/article/mg2583…
Are plants conscious?
Radical new experiments hint at sentience and cognition throughout the botanical kingdom, which may provoke a rethink of our understanding of the human mind newscientist.com/article/mg2553…twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
You’ve probably seen the way a Mimosa pudica plant, also called the touch-me-not, folds its leaves when they are touched
But you may not have heard that if you put one into a sealed chamber with a dose of anaesthetic, it will eventually stop reacting to touch, as though it has been knocked out or put to sleep
Albania's Vjosa river was due to be the site of a massive hydroelectric dam, but in March the Albanian government declared the entirety of the Vjosa a wild river national park, the first (and probably last) of its kind in Europe. newscientist.com/article/mg2583…
Dams are disastrous for biodiversity and other crucial ecological gifts rivers bestow upon us. So the saving of the Vjosa is a big win for nature – including the critically endangered Balkan lynx and an inspiration for other river conservation projects newscientist.com/article/213447…
In 2007, construction for a 108-megawatt power plant across the lower reaches of the Vjosa began , however endless delays and decades later the government pulled the plug