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Astronomers have pulled off an unprecedented feat: detecting ultra-faint light from the Big Bang using ground-based telescopes. This polarized light scattered by the universe's very first stars over 13 billion years ago offers a new lens into the Cosmic Dawn. Overcoming extreme technical challenges, the CLASS team matched their data with satellite readings to isolate this ancient signal. These insights could reshape our understanding of the universe s early evolution, and what it reveals about mysterious components like dark matter and neutrinos.

By using a clever quantum approach that involves two "hands" on a clock one moving quickly and invisibly in the quantum world, the other more traditionally scientists have found a way to boost timekeeping precision dramatically. Even better, this trick doesn't require a matching increase in energy use. The discovery not only challenges long-held beliefs about how clocks and physics work, but could also lead to powerful new tools in science, technology, and beyond.

About 3 billion years after the Big Bang, star formation exploded across the cosmos. During the era dubbed "cosmic noon.” It was also when galaxies and supermassive black holes were growing faster than at any other time in the history of the universe. Now astronomers have discovered a monster from this frenzied period: a supermassive black hole unleashing jets that stretch over 300,000 light-years into space, revealing the sheer violence of its feeding frenzy.

How can radio astronomers successfully identify extraterrestrial radio signals while discerning them from Earth-based radio signals? This is what a recent study published in The Astronomical Journal hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how machine learning could be used to search for extraterrestrial technosignatures while simultaneously identifying radio contamination from human radio signals. This study has the potential to help radio astronomers develop more efficient methods in searching for and identifying radio signals from extraterrestrial civilizations.

Most exoplanets have been detected indirectly through the transit or radial velocity method. But here's an image of the exoplanet 14 Herculis c captured by Webb. It has been described as a "chaotic" and "abnormal" planetary system and is about 7 Jupiter masses, but with a surface temperature of only -3°C. The discovery offers new insights into how planetary systems can develop in dramatically different ways from our own Solar System.

Astronomers recently used a pair of powerful telescopes to zero in on a cosmic battle going on some 11 billion light-years away from us. The combatants are a pair of galaxies charging at each other over and over again, at velocities upwards of 500 kilometers per second. According to one of the scientists studying the scene, one galaxy is cutting into the heart of the other with a blast of radiation.

NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter captured this incredible image of the giant shield volcano Arsia Mons, poking through the cloud tops at Martian dawn. Arsia and the other megavolcanoes on Mars are so tall they're often surrounded by water ice clouds in the early morning. Odyssey is normally staring straight down, so to capture this unique angle, it had to rotate 90 degrees while in orbit so that it could capture a side perspective view of the volcano.

As astronomers found more and more exoplanets in recent years, they've discovered an unusual gap in the population. It's called the Neptunian Desert, a curious scarcity of Neptune-sized exoplanets orbiting close to their stars. Researchers just discovered an exoplanet in the Neptunian Desert around a Sun-like star. Can it help explain the Desert?

Now I know this sounds like a low-budget knockoff of Five Nights at Freddy's, but it's the real deal

The Earth's atmosphere is protected by a magnetosphere, but Mars lacks this protective shield and lost its atmosphere to space long ago through interactions with the solar wind. In a new paper, scientists report that they have directly observed this process of "atmospheric sputtering," watching how incoming ions from the solar wind directly cause neutral atmospheric particles to escape. They found the process is stronger than anticipated, especially in solar storms.

The Sun's surface has unveiled a new secret: ultra fine magnetic "curtains" that create striking patterns of bright and dark stripes across the solar photosphere. Thanks to groundbreaking observations from the NSF Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii, scientists have captured the sharpest ever images of these previously unseen structures, revealing magnetic field variations at scales as small as 20 kilometres.

Many AI models were trained on the text of books, but a new test found at least one model has directly memorised nearly the entirety of some books, including Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which could complicate ongoing legal battles over copyright infringement

Humans first arrived in South America through a series of extraordinary migrations – and genetic studies now reveal more about how they settled and then split into four distinct groups on the continent

Using CRISPR to correct the mutations behind polycystic kidney disease could counter some of the damage the condition causes

Well, you might disagree with the quote, taken from the video below, but you have to admit that this bird is something speciesl. It’s the tropical royal flycatcher (Onychorhynchus coronatus) that I’ve never seen in my perambulations in the tropical forests of  Guatemala, Costa Rica, Peru or Ecuador, though it lives there and, according to Wikipedia, lives “in every mainland South American country except Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay”  Here’s its range map from eBird. where you can also hear its squeaky call:

The taxonomy is confusing, with some bird systematists recognizing five subspecies. However, what you want to look at is this amazing crest, which is normally hidden. Again from Wikipedia:

The tropical royal flycatcher is approximately 12.5 to 18 cm (4.9 to 7.1 in) long and weighs 9.7 to 21 g (0.34 to 0.74 oz). It has an erectile fan-shaped crest. In the nominate subspecies O. c. coronatus it is red with blue tips in the male and yellow or orange in the female. The sexes’ plumages are otherwise alike.

The male takes up the first minute of this video; the rest of the video, well worth watching, shows other amazing birds. I have seen the potoo, but it had to be pointed out to me because it looks exactly like a tree branch.  (We’ll have a “readers’ wildlife post on the potoo soon.)

Imagine being the first explorer to come across one of these birds!

It's quite the journey from "RCT or STFU" to "we will always have a place for controlled clinical studies."

The post Dr. Vinay Prasad is Repeatedly Undermining RCTs. Why? first appeared on Science-Based Medicine.

He was a minor king, yet Tutankhamun’s tomb might have been the most richly stocked of all in ancient Egypt. Now research is revealing the surprising reasons why he was given such a lavish send-off

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have captured breathtakingly detailed images of two giant exoplanets orbiting a distant sun-like star. These observations revealed sand-like silicate clouds in one planet s atmosphere and an unexpected disk around another that may be forming moons something previously seen only in much younger systems. These snapshots offer a rare chance to witness planet formation in real time, giving clues about how worlds like Jupiter and even our own solar system came to be.

Scientists have uncovered how close we can get to perfect optical precision using AI, despite the physical limitations imposed by light itself. By combining physics theory with neural networks trained on distorted light patterns, they showed it's possible to estimate object positions with nearly the highest accuracy allowed by nature. This breakthrough opens exciting new doors for applications in medical imaging, quantum tech, and materials science.

As I’ve mentioned, one could describe the situation in Los Angeles a “shitshow” or a “dumpster fire”.  My take about what happened is that ICE (or other law enforcement officials) went to arrest undocumented immigrants in L.A., but were blocked or impeded by huge protests by American civilians. Both protestors and law enforcement officials were masked: the former, along with the vandalism and violence, shows that the protestors were not committing classical civil disobedience, but didn’t want to be identified; the latter seems unconscionable because law enforcement should not be masked, and should be identifiable. Yes, many demonstrators remained peaceful, but there’s no doubt that there was violence along with attempts to kill or injure law enforcement.

The violence involved protestors setting cars on fire, looting, and worse, firing serious fireworks (Roman candles and M80s) at law enforcement. I don’t think law enforcement provoked these protests, but they did respond with tear gas and flashbangs. At this point, despite the objections of California governor Gavin Newsom, Trump deputized the California National Guard to intervene and protect law enforcement. 4,000 National Guard people were involved, though it’s not clear what, exactly they did. Nevertheless, Newsom has filed a lawsuit against Trump for calling in the Guard.

Then, apparently on Trump’s orders, 700 U.S. Marines were also sent to L.A. to further control the situation. Newsom has also threatened to sue for this as well.

The use of both National Guard and Marines has been widely condemned by the media, especially the progressive or left-wing media. For example, the NYT’s Michelle Goldberg has an op-ed today, “This is what autocracy looks like.” A few quotes:

Since Donald Trump was elected again, I’ve feared one scenario above all others: that he’d call out the military against people protesting his mass deportations, putting America on the road to martial law. Even in my more outlandish imaginings, however, I thought that he’d need more of a pretext to put troops on the streets of an American city — against the wishes of its mayor and governor — than the relatively small protests that broke out in Los Angeles last week.

In a post-reality environment, it turns out, the president didn’t need to wait for a crisis to launch an authoritarian crackdown. Instead, he can simply invent one.

It’s true that some of those protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Los Angeles have been violent; on Sunday one man was arrested for allegedly tossing a Molotov cocktail at a police officer, and another was accused of driving a motorcycle into a line of cops. Such violence should be condemned both because it’s immoral and because it’s wildly counterproductive; each burning Waymo or smashed storefront is an in-kind gift to the administration.

But the idea that Trump needed to put soldiers on the streets of the city because riots were spinning out of control is pure fantasy. “Today, demonstrations across the city of Los Angeles remained peaceful, and we commend all those who exercised their First Amendment rights responsibly,” said a statement issued by the Los Angeles Police Department on Saturday evening. That was the same day Trump overrode Gov. Gavin Newsom and federalized California’s National Guard, under a rarely used law meant to deal with “rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the government of the United States.”

Then, on Monday, with thousands of National Guard troops already deployed to the city, the administration said it was also sending 700 Marines. The Los Angeles police don’t seem to want the Marines there; in a statement, the police chief, Jim McDonnell, said, “The arrival of federal military forces in Los Angeles — absent clear coordination — presents a significant logistical and operational challenge for those of us charged with safeguarding this city.” But for Trump, safeguarding the city was never the point.

It’s important to understand that for this administration, protests needn’t be violent to be considered an illegitimate uprising. The presidential memorandum calling out the National Guard refers to both violent acts and any protests that “inhibit” law enforcement. That definition would seem to include peaceful demonstrations around the site of ICE raids. In May, for example, armed federal agents stormed two popular Italian restaurants in San Diego looking for undocumented workers; they handcuffed staff members and took four people into custody. As they did so, an outraged crowd gathered outside, chanting “shame” and for a time blocking the agents from leaving.  Under Trump’s order, the military could target these people as insurrectionists.

Clearly Goldberg sees calling out both the National Guard and the Marines as a odious step towards an imposition of autocracy in America.  I won’t comment on the above but ask readers to respond to the situation. Here are some questions:

1.)  Should ICE (or whoever started arrested immigrants) have even gone after the people, even if they were undocumented immigrants who entered the country illegally?

2.) Should law enforcement wear masks?

3.) Is this an example of civil disobedience, violent protest, or both?

4.) Given the violence, was it still necessary (or even useful) to call out the National Guard?

5.) Should the Marines have been called out?

finally

6.) What would you do in this situation if you were President (or governor)?