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A scorpion discovered in South America can spray venom out of its stinger and hit targets up to 35 centimetres away

Two separate theoretical studies published this year argued that time itself is bound up in the odd quantum property of entanglement, but deep mysteries remain

These schools combine an atypical education with a New Age spirituality called anthroposophy.

For decades cosmologists have wondered if the large-scale structure of the universe is a fractal: if it looks the same no matter the scale. And the answer is: no, not really. But in some ways, yes. Look, it’s complicated.

Our universe is unimaginably vast and contains somewhere around two trillion galaxies. These galaxies aren’t scattered around randomly, but are assembled into a series of ever-larger structures. There are the groups, containing at most a dozen galaxies are so. Then there are the clusters, which are home to a thousand galaxies and more. Above them are the superclusters, which twist and wind for millions of light-years.

Is this the end of the story?

In the mid 20th century Benoit Mandelbrot brought the concept of fractals into the mainstream. Mandelbrot didn’t invent the concept of fractals – mathematicians had been studying self-similar patterns for ages – but he did coin the word and usher in our modern study of the concept. The basic idea of a fractal is that you can use a single mathematical formula to define a structure at all scales. In other words, you can zoom in and out of a fractal and it still maintains the same shape.

Fractals appear everywhere in nature, from the branches of a tree to the edges of a snowflake. And Mandelbrot himself wondered if the universe is a fractal. If as we zoom out we will see the same kinds of structures appearing again and again.

And in a way, that’s what we see: a hierarchy of structures at ever-larger scales in the universe. But that hierarchy does come to an end. At a certain scale, roughly 300 million lightyears across, the cosmos becomes homogenous, meaning that there are no larger structures and the universe is (at that scale) roughly the same from place to place.

The universe is definitely not a fractal, but parts of the cosmic web still have interesting fractal-like properties. For example, clumps of dark matter called “halos”, which host galaxies and their clusters, form nested structures and sub-structures, with halos holding sub-haloes, and sub-sub-halos inside those.

Conversely, the voids of our universe aren’t entirely empty. They do contain a few, faint dwarf galaxies…and those few galaxies are arranged in a subtle, faint version of the cosmic web. In computer simulations, the sub-voids within that structure contain their own effervescent cosmic webs too.

So while the universe as a whole isn’t a fractal, and Mandelbrot’s idea didn’t hold up, we can still find fractals almost everywhere we look.

The post Is the Universe a Fractal? appeared first on Universe Today.

At the Berlin synchrotron radiation source BESSY II, the largest magnetic anisotropy of a single molecule ever measured experimentally has been determined. The larger this anisotropy is, the better a molecule is suited as a molecular nanomagnet. Such nanomagnets have a wide range of potential applications, for example, in energy-efficient data storage.

Even highly realistic androids can cause unease when their facial expressions lack emotional consistency. Traditionally, a 'patchwork method' has been used for facial movements, but it comes with practical limitations. A team developed a new technology using 'waveform movements' to create real-time, complex expressions without unnatural transitions. This system reflects internal states, enhancing emotional communication between robots and humans, potentially making androids feel more humanlike.

Even highly realistic androids can cause unease when their facial expressions lack emotional consistency. Traditionally, a 'patchwork method' has been used for facial movements, but it comes with practical limitations. A team developed a new technology using 'waveform movements' to create real-time, complex expressions without unnatural transitions. This system reflects internal states, enhancing emotional communication between robots and humans, potentially making androids feel more humanlike.

Researchers have developed nanodiamond sensors with nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers, offering exceptional brightness and spin properties for quantum sensing and bioimaging. These nanodiamonds outperform commercial options, requiring 20 times less energy and maintaining quantum states 11 times longer. Enhanced sensitivity to magnetic fields and temperature enables precise applications, including disease detection, battery analysis, and thermal management of electronics, marking a significant advancement in nanotechnology-driven quantum sensing for biological and industrial innovations.

Researchers have created a platform, called SIMPL2, that revolutionizes the study of protein-protein interactions by simplifying detection while improving measurement accuracy. While protein-protein interactions have previously been considered 'undruggable' using small molecules, the platform addresses this challenge by facilitating the measurement of these interactions -- improving our understanding of the types of molecules needed to control them.

Bright, twisted light can be produced with technology similar to an Edison light bulb, researchers have shown. The finding adds nuance to fundamental physics while offering a new avenue for robotic vision systems and other applications for light that traces out a helix in space.

Electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft are on track to start commercial passenger carrying services in 2025, but can they stand out from conventional helicopters?

A US facility will pull up to 500,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air per year after it opens in 2025 and sell carbon offset credits to large companies

A map of 31 million galaxies created by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument will be released next year, and could shed light on the origins of this mysterious force

A robotic boom could see thousands of humanoid units entering workplaces and more in 2025, but whether they will have staying power remains to be seen

From auroras to partial eclipses of the sun, Leah Crane is planning out the astronomical events she will be watching next year

In the new photographic collection Our Frozen Planet, Michael Hambrey and Jürg Alean set out to celebrate the world's ice in all its forms

Understanding why we think the way we do is a hot topic for many of 2025’s books – that and finding new ways to re-evaluate old “truths”, says Simon Ing

Around the middle of 2025, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory will begin its mission to help us better understand the cosmos. There's a lot to look forward to, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Feedback was not all that surprised to learn that we tend to only see major rituals as positive experiences once they have finished

Some prominent researchers argue that we should pay heed to the welfare of AIs. Are they right, wonders Alex Wilkins