Tag Archives: ScienceAlert

There may be a habitable world at the Sun’s closest solar twin. In the complex space inhabited by the Alpha Centauri triple star system, JWST has just discerned the presence of a giant exoplanet orbiting Alpha Centauri A, the most Sun-like of the three stars. Moreover, that exoplanet is in the star’s habitable zone – the perfect distance from the …

A new test helps predict which kids face the largest genetic risk of a high body mass index (BMI) later in life. That could help parents establish healthy habits early on. The new test, put together by a large team of international researchers, is what’s known as a polygenic score or PGS. These scores are used to group genetic variations …

We’re still not sure exactly what causes Alzheimer’s disease, but we know what its effects look like, and we’re getting better at detecting the early signs of it – including, perhaps, those in our speech. Scientists from Boston University have developed a new AI ( artificial intelligence) algorithm that analyzes the speech patterns of those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). …

The Mediterranean diet and others like it have been extensively linked to reducing the risk of disease, cognitive decline, and premature death. Now a new study provides more evidence that this choice of foods can protect against dementia – as well as giving us some clues as to why. A team from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago wanted to …

Astronomers have confirmed the earliest, most distant black hole yet – and it’s surprisingly monstrous for its time. Residing in a galaxy called CAPERS-LRD-z9, it was already approximately 300 million times the mass of the Sun just 500 million years after the Big Bang, when the baby Universe was just 3 percent of its current age. Additionally, this discovery sheds …

When global events set our minds to wondering if humanity has what it takes to persist, it’s natural to wonder about other worlds, other life, other intelligent species, and if those others might be better suited to survive whatever Great Filters they face. Those are fanciful thoughts, but there’s an underpinning of nuts-and-bolts thinking to them. It starts with identifying …

Ozempic and drugs like it have done wonders for weight loss by mimicking the natural hormone GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1), which helps control blood sugar and appetite. Now a new study shows how gut microbe byproducts could have the same effect. Enteroendocrine cells (EECs) in the gut are responsible for producing natural GLP-1, and recent research has suggested a reduced number …

In 2023, astronomers recorded one of the most extraordinary space explosions they had ever seen. It took place some 750 million light-years away, flaring into the detectors of the Zwicky Transient Facility on 7 July. At first, it looked just like a normal supernova – the explosive death of a star – and astronomers named it SN 2023zkd. Six months …

A recent discovery by a team of astronomers centres on a galaxy cluster called CHIPS 1911+4455, located an incredible 6 billion light-years from Earth. At its heart lies a supermassive black hole that has only recently ‘turned on’, just a thousand years ago. While that might sound like a long time, it’s merely a blink of an eye in astronomical …

The idea of taking blood from the young to rejuvenate the elderly is getting an increasing amount of attention from scientists, and a new study has shown how some of the youthful properties of our skin can be restored with this kind of blood swap. A special 3D human skin model was set up in the lab by researchers, who …