United News of Bangladesh

Scientists have found new but tentative evidence that a faraway world orbiting another star may be home to life. A Cambridge team studying the atmosphere of a planet called K2-18b has detected signs of molecules which on Earth are only produced by simple organisms. This is the second, and more promising, time chemicals associated with life have been detected in the planet's atmosphere by Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). But the team and independent astronomers stress that more data is needed to confirm these results. The lead researcher, Prof Nikku Madhusudhan, told me at his lab at Cambridge University's Institute of Astronomy that he hopes to obtain the clinching evidence soon. "This is the strongest evidence yet there is possibly life out there. I can realistically say that we can confirm this signal within one to two years." K2-18b is two and a half times the size of Earth and is seven hundred trillion miles away from us. JWST is so powerful that it can analyse the chemical composition of the planet's atmosphere from the light that passes through from the small red Sun it orbits. The Cambridge group has found that the atmosphere seems to contain the chemical signature of at least one of two molecules that are associated with life: dimethyl sulphide (DMS) and dimethyl disulphide (DMDS). On Earth, these gases are produced by marine phytoplankton and bacteria. Prof Madhusudhan said he was surprised by how much gas was apparently detected during a single observation window. Tatooine-like planet outside the solar system may orbit two failed stars, scientists say "The amount we estimate of this gas in the atmosphere is thousands of times higher than what we have on Earth," he said "So, if the association with life is real, then this planet will be teeming with life," he told me. Prof Madhusudhan went further: "If we confirm that there is life on k2-18b it should basically confirm that life is very common in the galaxy". There are lots of "ifs" and "buts" at this stage, as Prof Madhusudhan's team freely admits. Firstly, this latest detection is not at the standard required to claim a discovery. For that, the researchers need to be about 99.99999% sure that their results are correct and not a fluke reading. In scientific jargon that is a five sigma result. These latest results are only three sigma, 99.7%. Which sounds a lot, but it is not enough to convince the scientific community. But it is much more than the one sigma result of 68% the team obtained 18 months ago,, which was greeted with much scepticism at the time. But even if the Cambridge team obtains a five sigma result, that won't be conclusive proof that life exists on the planet, according to Prof Catherine Heymans of Edinburgh University and Scotland's Astronomer Royal, who is independent of the research team. "Even with that certainty, there is still the question of what is the origin of this gas," she told BBC News. "On Earth it is produced by microorganisms in the ocean, but even with perfect data we can't say for sure that this is of a biological origin on an alien world because loads of strange things happen in in the Universe and we don't know what other geological activity could be happening on this planet that might produce the molecules." That view is one the Cambridge team agree with; they are working with other groups to see if DMS and DMDS can be produced by non-living means in the lab. Other research groups have put forward alternative, lifeless, explanations for the data obtained from K2-18b. There is a strong scientific debate not only about whether DMS and DMDS are present but also the planet's composition. A micromoon will grace the night skies this weekend The reason many researchers infer that the planet has a vast liquid ocean is the absence of the gas amonia in K2-18b's atmosphere. Their theory is that the ammonia is absorbed by a vast body of water below . But it could equally be explained by an ocean of molten rock, which would preclude life, according to Prof Oliver Shorttle of Cambridge University. "Everything we know about planets orbiting other stars comes from the tiny amounts of light that glance off their atmospheres. So it is an incredibly tenuous signal that we are having to read, not only for signs of life, but everything else. "With K2-18b part of the scientific debate is still about the structure of the planet," he said. Dr Nicolas Wogan at Nasa's Ames Research Center has yet another interpretation of the data. He published research suggesting that K2-18b is a mini gas giant with no surface. Both these alternative interpretations have also been challenged by other groups on the grounds that they are inconsistent with the data from JWST, which highlights the strong scientific debate surrounding K2-18b. Prof Madhusudhan acknowledges that there is still a scientific mountain to climb if he is to answer one of the biggest questions in science. But he believes he and his team are on the right track. "Decades from now, we may look back at this point in time and recognise it was when the living universe came within reach," he said. "This could be the tipping point, where suddenly the fundamental question of whether we're alone in the universe is one we're capable of answering." The research has been published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Source: BBC       

A federal panel of medical experts on Wednesday recommended an expansion of RSV vaccinations for adults and a new combination shot as another option to protect teens against meningitis. The 15-member panel typically makes recommendations to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how vaccines should be used. But in a break from decades of practice, the person evaluating Wednesday's recommendations won't have a background in medicine: The agency is without a permanent director, so an ex-prosecutor now at the CDC will make the call. The decision will fall to the CDC's chief of staff, Matthew Buzzelli, said Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon. Buzzelli is not a physician. His CDC bio touts his experience as an attorney, including as a federal prosecutor. Tatooine-like planet outside the solar system may orbit two failed stars, scientists say The scientific panel's recommendations on Wednesday were: — People 50 to 59 should be able to get vaccinated against respiratory syncytial virus have risks including heart disease, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder. — Endorsement of a new combination shot made by GSK that protects against five strains of meningococcal bacteria, including a strain that caused a spate of outbreaks on college campuses about 10 years ago. It would join other products that also target the germs. — Adding a second chikungunya vaccine to the options for Americans age 12 and older who are traveling to countries where outbreaks of the mosquito-borne illness are occurring. About 100 to 200 cases are reported annually among U.S. travelers. — Adding a new precaution for the older chikungunya vaccine that uses weakened but live virus: People 65 and older should weigh the risks of benefits of that version of the shot, the panel said. The precaution was added after panel members heard about an investigation into six reports of people 65 and older — most of them with other medical problems — who became ill with heart or brain symptoms less than a week after vaccination. The investigation is continuing. Chinese doctors implant world's smallest artificial heart in 7-year-old boy It’s not clear how quickly Buzzelli will decide whether to accept the recommendations. The Trump administration named Susan Monarez as acting CDC director in January, and last month picked her to lead the agency. But while she’s awaiting Senate confirmation, she has essentially recused herself from regular duties because of federal law around vacancies, according to two CDC officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss agency matters and feared being fired. Monarez holds a doctorate in microbiology and immunology.

A new Tatooine-like planet outside the solar system may orbit two failed stars, scientists reported Wednesday. Located about 120 light years away, the exoplanet appears to take an unusual path around two brown dwarfs, whipping around at a right angle. Brown dwarfs are sometimes called failed stars because they’re lighter than stars, but heavier than gas giant planets. A light year is nearly 6 trillion miles. The brown dwarf pair was first spotted years ago. Scientists noticed that the twins eclipse each other so one is always partly blocked when seen from Earth. In a new analysis, researchers found that the brown dwarfs' motion was changing — a quirk that's less likely to happen if they circled each other on their own. The research was published in the journal Science Advances. Chinese doctors implant world's smallest artificial heart in 7-year-old boy Scientists know of over a dozen planets that orbit two stars like the fictional “Star Wars” scorching desert planet Tatooine with double sunsets that Luke Skywalker calls home. The new planet’s odd orbit sets it apart. But it hasn't been directly spied, and scientists say more research is needed to be sure it's out there and figure out its mass and orbit. “I wouldn't bet my life that the planet exists yet,” said Simon Albrecht, an astrophysicist with Aarhus University who had no role in the new study. Probing these wacky celestial bodies can help us understand how conditions beyond our solar system may yield planets vastly different from our own, said study author Thomas Baycroft with the University of Birmingham. Planets circling twin stars "existed in sci-fi for decades before we knew that they could even really exist in reality,” he said.

A 7-year-old boy in China has become the youngest recipient of a magnetically levitated biventricular assist device — the smallest and lightest artificial heart available — marking a significant medical breakthrough. Doctors at Union Hospital, affiliated with Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, performed the pioneering surgery earlier this month. The operation, hailed as a potential game-changer in pediatric heart care, involved implanting a newly developed artificial heart weighing just 45 grams and measuring 2.9 cm in diameter. The child, referred to as Junjun, was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy in May 2024 and later suffered from severe cardiogenic shock. With a suitable donor heart unavailable due to his O blood type, doctors opted to use the domestically developed artificial heart. Led by cardiac surgeon Dong Nianguo, the medical team carried out a five-hour procedure. Junjun was able to breathe independently the day after surgery, and his cardiac function continues to improve, according to hospital staff. "Thanks to the doctors, our child now has a chance to survive and wait for a transplant," Junjun’s father said. "Once his inflammation subsides, we hope to go home." Pediatric heart failure remains a serious medical challenge worldwide. In China alone, around 40,000 children are hospitalized with severe heart failure each year, with 7 to 10 percent requiring urgent transplants. Yet, due to a severe shortage of donor hearts, fewer than 100 pediatric heart transplants are carried out annually. While ventricular assist devices offer temporary support, most current models are either unsuitable for children or risk damaging the blood system. "Children aren't just smaller versions of adults — they need devices tailored specifically to them," said surgeon Dong. A strong solar storm heads to Earth. Here's what to know about northern lights To address this need, Union Hospital partnered with Shenzhen Core Medical Technology Co., Ltd. in 2021 to develop a third-generation, magnetically levitated artificial heart. This new device features low power consumption, longer battery life, improved stability for emergency transport, and real-time control over pump speed to meet the patient’s changing circulatory demands. "China is making impressive strides in treating end-stage heart disease, evolving from a follower to a frontrunner in certain areas," said hospital president Xia Jiahong.

A strong solar storm headed to Earth could produce colorful aurora displays across more U.S. states than usual Tuesday night. The sun earlier this week burped out huge bursts of energy called coronal mass ejections, leading space weather forecasters to issue a geomagnetic storm watch. Northern lights were forecast in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Parts of northern Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania may also get a view. The strength of the light show will depend on how Earth's magnetic field interacts with the solar bursts, said Shawn Dahl at NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center. Here’s what to know about auroras and how to spot them. What are northern lights? The sun is at the maximum phase of its 11-year activity cycle, making the light displays more common and widespread. Colorful northern lights have decorated night skies in unexpected places and space weather experts say there are more auroras still to come. “This is going to kind of continue off and on throughout the year,” Dahl said. Last spring, the strongest geomagnetic storm in two decades slammed Earth, producing light displays across the Northern Hemisphere. And last fall, a powerful solar storm dazzled skygazers far from the Arctic Circle when dancing lights appeared in unexpected places including Germany, the United Kingdom, New England and New York City. Aurora displays known as the northern and southern lights are commonly visible near the poles, where charged particles from the sun interact with Earth's atmosphere. NASA's Parker Solar Probe aims to fly closer to the sun like never before Skygazers are spotting the lights deeper into the United States and Europe because the sun is going through a major facelift. Every 11 years, its poles swap places, causing magnetic twists and tangles along the way. Severe storms are capable of scrambling radio and GPS communications. The sun’s active spurt is expected to last at least through the end of this year, though when solar activity will peak won’t be known until months after the fact, according to NASA and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. What do solar storms do? Solar storms can bring more than colorful lights to Earth. When fast-moving particles and plasma slam into Earth’s magnetic field, they can temporarily disrupt the power grid. Space weather can also interfere with air traffic control radio and satellites in orbit. In 1859, a severe solar storm triggered auroras as far south as Hawaii and caught telegraph lines on fire in a rare event. And a 1972 solar storm may have detonated magnetic U.S. sea mines off the coast of Vietnam. Space weather experts aren’t able to predict a solar storm months in advance. Instead, they alert relevant parties to prepare in the days before a solar outburst hits Earth. How to see auroras Northern lights forecasts can be found on NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center website or an aurora forecasting app. Consider aurora-watching in a quiet, dark area away from city lights. NASA's Kelly Korreck recommended skygazing from a local or national park. And check the weather forecast because clouds can cover up the spectacle entirely. European satellites launched to create artificial solar eclipses Taking a picture with a smartphone camera may also reveal hints of the aurora that aren’t visible to the naked eye. “Enjoy it,” said Korreck. “It’s this great show ... from the sun to you.”

An ancient jawbone discovered in Taiwan belonged to an enigmatic group of early human ancestors called Denisovans, scientists reported Thursday. Relatively little is known about Denisovans, an extinct group of human cousins that interacted with Neanderthals and our own species, Homo sapiens. “Denisovan fossils are very scarce,” with only a few confirmed finds in East Asia, said study co-author Takumi Tsutaya at the Graduate University for Advanced Studies in Japan. So far, the only known Denisovan fossils include partial jawbones, a few teeth and part of a finger bone found in caves in Siberia and Tibet. Some scientists believe fossils found in a cave in Laos may also belong to Denisovans. The probable identification of the jawbone from Taiwan as Denisovan expands the region where scientists know these ancient people once lived, said Tsutaya. The partial jawbone was first recovered when a fishing operation dredged the seafloor in the Penghu Channel near the Taiwan Strait. After it was sold to an antique shop, a collector spotted it and purchased it in 2008, then later donated it to Taiwan’s National Museum of Natural Science. Scientists map part of a mouse's brain that's so complex it looks like a galaxy Based on the composition of marine invertebrates found attached to it, the fossil was dated to the Pleistocene era. But exactly which species of early human ancestor it belonged to remained a mystery. The condition of the fossil made it impossible to study ancient DNA. But recently, scientists in Taiwan, Japan and Denmark were able to extract some protein sequences from the incomplete jawbone. An analysis showed some protein sequences resembled those contained in the genome of a Denisovan fossil recovered in Siberia. The findings were published in the journal Science. While the new research is promising, Rick Potts, director of the Smithsonian Institution’s Human Origins Project, said he would like to see further data before confirming the Taiwan fossil as Denisovan. Potts, who was not involved in the new research, praised the study for “a fantastic job of recovering some proteins.” But he added, such a small sliver of material may not give a full picture. At one time, at least three human ancestor groups — Denisovans, Neanderthals and Homo sapiens — coexisted in Eurasia and sometimes interbred, researchers say. “We can identity Neanderthal elements and Denisovan elements" in the DNA of some people alive today, said Tsutaya.

Three drug labs in Canada's Pacific coast province of British Columbia have been dismantled, police said Thursday, adding that two of the labs are believed to have been used to produce fentanyl while the purpose of the third remains “undetermined.” The Royal Canadian Mounted Police also arrested two suspects, including someone described as a “chemist,” but no charges have yet been laid as the police investigation continues. The Mounties say they executed “numerous” search warrants in late March and found the three labs, which were equipped with sophisticated equipment that is also used in “academic and professional research facilities.” Chief Supt. Stephen Lee, deputy regional commander of the RCMP federal policing program, said the commercial-grade chemistry equipment underscores “disturbing trends” in the increasing scientific sophistication of drug labs used by transnational organized crime groups. Scientists map part of a mouse's brain that's so complex it looks like a galaxy Assistant Commissioner David Teboul said the drugs produced in the labs were not destined for the United States, but he couldn’t reveal how police came to determine that since the investigation is ongoing. The Mounties say they launched their probe into the importation of precursor chemicals and commercial laboratory equipment used for producing drugs including fentanyl, MDMA and GHB, in the summer of 2023.

Thanks to a mouse watching clips from “The Matrix,” scientists have created the largest functional map of a brain to date – a diagram of the wiring connecting 84,000 neurons as they fire off messages. Using a piece of that mouse’s brain about the size of a poppy seed, the researchers identified those neurons and traced how they communicated via branch-like fibers through a surprising 500 million junctions called synapses. The massive dataset, published Wednesday by the journal Nature, marks a step toward unraveling the mystery of how our brains work. The data, assembled in a 3D reconstruction colored to delineate different brain circuitry, is open to scientists worldwide for additional research – and for the simply curious to take a peek. “It definitely inspires a sense of awe, just like looking at pictures of the galaxies,” said Forrest Collman of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, one of the project’s leading researchers. “You get a sense of how complicated you are. We’re looking at one tiny part ... of a mouse’s brain and the beauty and complexity that you can see in these actual neurons and the hundreds of millions of connections between them.” How we think, feel, see, talk and move are due to neurons, or nerve cells, in the brain – how they’re activated and send messages to each other. Scientists have long known those signals move from one neuron along fibers called axons and dendrites, using synapses to jump to the next neuron. But there’s less known about the networks of neurons that perform certain tasks and how disruptions of that wiring could play a role in Alzheimer's, autism or other disorders. “You can make a thousand hypotheses about how brain cells might do their job but you can’t test those hypotheses unless you know perhaps the most fundamental thing – how are those cells wired together,” said Allen Institute scientist Clay Reid, who helped pioneer electron microscopy to study neural connections. With the new project, a global team of more than 150 researchers mapped neural connections that Collman compares to tangled pieces of spaghetti winding through part of the mouse brain responsible for vision. The first step: Show a mouse video snippets of sci-fi movies, sports, animation and nature. A team at Baylor College of Medicine did just that, using a mouse engineered with a gene that makes its neurons glow when they’re active. The researchers used a laser-powered microscope to record how individual cells in the animal’s visual cortex lit up as they processed the images flashing by. New discoveries in S. Egypt reveals Ramesseum Temple's history Next, scientists at the Allen Institute analyzed that small piece of brain tissue, using a special tool to shave it into more than 25,000 layers, each far thinner than a human hair. With electron microscopes, they took nearly 100 million high-resolution images of those sections, illuminating those spaghetti-like fibers and painstakingly reassembling the data in 3D. Finally, Princeton University scientists used artificial intelligence to trace all that wiring and “paint each of the individual wires a different color so that we can identify them individually,” Collman explained. They estimated that microscopic wiring, if laid out, would measure more than 3 miles (5 kilometers). Importantly, matching up all that anatomy with the activity in the mouse's brain as it watched movies allowed researchers to trace how the circuitry worked. The Princeton researchers also created digital 3D copies of the data that other scientists can use in developing new studies. Could this kind of mapping help scientists eventually find treatments for brain diseases? The researchers call it a foundational step, like how the Human Genome Project that provided the first gene mapping eventually led to gene-based treatments. Mapping a full mouse brain is one next goal. “The technologies developed by this project will give us our first chance to really identify some kind of abnormal pattern of connectivity that gives rise to a disorder,” another of the project's leading researchers, Princeton neuroscientist and computer scientist Sebastian Seung, said in a statement. The work “marks a major leap forwards and offers an invaluable community resource for future discoveries,” wrote Harvard neuroscientists Mariela Petkova and Gregor Schuhknecht, who weren’t involved in the project. The huge and publicly shared data “will help to unravel the complex neural networks underlying cognition and behavior,” they added. The Machine Intelligence from Cortical Networks, or MICrONS, consortium was funded by the National Institutes of Health’s BRAIN Initiative and IARPA, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity.

Billionaire spacewalker Jared Isaacman, nominated for NASA's top position, presented his vision for space exploration, focusing on sending astronauts to Mars.  President Donald Trump nominated Isaacman to be NASA's 15th administrator in late 2024. If confirmed, the 42-year-old tech entrepreneur would become the youngest person to lead NASA, a space agency aiming to return astronauts to the moon. Isaacman would also be one of the few administrators to have personally flown in space. The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee met in Washington for the nomination hearing. Isaacman, in his written testimony, affirmed, “As the president stated, we will prioritise sending American astronauts to Mars. Along the way, we will inevitably have the capabilities to return to the Moon.” Isaacman, who has flown to space twice, funded his trips through SpaceX and made history last September with the first private spacewalk. He built his fortune through Shift4, a payment processing company he started as a high school dropout in his parents' basement. Acknowledging his unconventional candidacy, Isaacman said in his testimony, “I have been relatively apolitical; I am not a scientist, and I never worked at NASA. I do not think these are weaknesses.” The space community, aware of Isaacman’s close ties with SpaceX’s Elon Musk, awaited his stance on lunar and Martian exploration. Among the audience were four astronauts, including three U.S. astronauts and one Canadian, who are set to participate in NASA’s planned moon mission next year. NASA has long considered the moon as the next logical step in human space exploration. The Artemis program aims to send a crew around the moon in 2026 and land astronauts near the moon’s south pole by 2027. Unlike the Apollo missions, Artemis plans to establish lunar bases rather than brief visits. However, the Artemis program has faced slow progress and rising costs, particularly with NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, which has only launched once, in 2022, without a crew. Musk, on the other hand, supports Mars as the ultimate destination and is pushing forward with more test flights for Starship, the world’s largest and most powerful rocket.  By making Starship reusable, Musk intends to dramatically reduce the cost of sending humans and cargo to Mars. NASA has selected Starship for the first two astronaut landings on the moon as part of the Artemis program.

There's a micromoon coming up. The full moon will look slightly smaller and dimmer on Saturday night. But the change may be tricky to spot with the naked eye. “It's a very subtle difference,” said astrophysicist Alain Brizard from Saint Michael's College in Vermont. The phenomenon happens when the moon is at a point farthest away from Earth. It's opposite to a supermoon, where the moon swings closer to Earth and looks a bit larger. Saturn’s moon count soars: 128 new moons discovered To see the micromoon, go outside and look up in an area with a clear view of the moon. Supermoons and micromoons happen a few times a year as the moon's full phase syncs up with its orbit. Another micromoon is on tap for May. Three supermoons will be visible this year in October, November and December. A more colorful lunar event took place in March when a total eclipse turned the moon coppery red. Source: With input from agency