MI weekly selection #329
Bright gamma-ray flashes found around pulsars
Extremely bright gamma-ray flashes known as Cherenkov emissions have been detected circling around pulsars, created when charged particles moving in a sense faster than light travel through the pulsar’s surrounding quantum vacuum. “This is a very exciting new prediction because it could provide answers to basic questions such as … the origin of the gamma-ray glow at the center of galaxies,” said study co-author Dino Jaroszynski.
Bees boost offspring’s immunity by adding RNA to jelly eaten by larvae
Bees pass along RNA molecules that boost immunity in the worker and royal jellies they produce for larvae. Researchers also think the RNAs help produce queen bees.
Monkeys’ brain cells stimulated by deep learning
Deep learning systems can produce images that stimulate brain cells in monkeys. To create the best image to stimulate the cells, researchers fed information back into the deep learning system so it could make adjustments to better boost the monkeys’ neural activity.
Porous lens coating may make multijunction solar cells more economical
Multijunction solar cells are more efficient than commercial solar cells because they convert energy from the sun’s infrared spectrum in addition to its visible light, but they are much more expensive. New plastic lenses that are coated with layers of a porous, anti-reflective material for use with multijunction cells are much more economical.
Does the Medusavirus hold the key to DNA’s origins in complex life?
The ability of the Medusavirus to transform an amoeba into a cyst with stone-like qualities may hold clues regarding how eukaryotic organisms originated.