NASA's latest space telescope has officially taken its first photos of our universe. Launched on Aug. 30, the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope is on its way to Lagrange point L2, a "parking spot" in space about a million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Earth where it will begin scanning deep space.
Using its 300-megapixel camera, Roman captured hundreds of stars as green rings of light. The telescope's Wide Field Instrument hasn't been fully focused yet, which is why these balls of gas appear blurry in the debut test image. But once the instrument is calibrated over the next few months, it should produce images as clear as those taken by the Hubble Space Telescope — but which cover an area 100 times larger. Astronomers hope to use these images to help solve some of the biggest mysteries in our universe, including the possible source of dark energy and the search for alien life.
With Roman's first test images now available, what are you most excited about for the future of this space telescope? Answer in the poll below, and let us know your thoughts in the comments!
'> What are you most excited for NASA's Roman Space Telescope to find?
The current study focused on lab mice, so it remains to be seen how the effects might translate to people. (Image credit: dra_schwartz via Getty Images)Researchers saw clearer differences in the next generation of mice. The offspring of the spacefaring mice had about 15% less muscle strength than the control groups' offspring. Additionally, the female mice in that second generation were more prone to stress than the female offspring in the control groups, based on a behavioral experiment.
"We were pretty surprised that a relatively short period of time, 42 days, was able to induce these striking changes," Christenson said.
The second generation of mice could also get pregnant, but these mice had fewer litters and much smaller litters than the control mice did. Further testing also showed that the offspring of spacefaring mouse mothers had lower levels of anti-müllerian hormone (AMH), a hormone whose levels correlate to overall egg count. Higher AMH means higher egg reserves and vice versa. The subsequent third generation also had lower levels of AMH compared with mice in the control groups.
Christenson theorizes that this pattern may be the result of an "acceleration of aging" caused by the mice's predecessors being exposed to microgravity. Previous mouse and human-tissue studies have suggested that a lack of gravitational force may leave cells more vulnerable to stress. This has been tied to dysfunction in mitochondria, the powerhouses of cells that contain special DNA that's exclusively passed from mother to child.
This theoretical mechanism and its relationship to mice's reproductive capacity still needs to be confirmed, though.
For now, "this study adds to the growing body of literature on the effects of space travel in general on the reproductive system," said Dr. Ulrike Luderer, director of the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of California, Irvine, who was not involved in the research.
Luderer noted that, given that the research was conducted on the ISS, which has less exposure to cosmic radiation than deeper regions of space do, the impacts of traveling in deep space — say, on a journey to Mars — may be even more consequential. Earlier this year, Luderer published research that found that exposing mice to radiation levels similar to the ones an astronaut might experience on a trip to Mars lead to a "very significant decrease in the number of eggs and follicles in the ovaries."
She hopes that further research can focus on additional reproductive markers, such as hormonal levels, to pinpoint the long-term consequences of deep-space travel. Those will be especially relevant if "humans spend long periods of time in [space] or colonize some other planet."
This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice.
How much do you know about the process of pregnancy? Find out with our pregnancy quiz!
'> Spaceflight may harm the reproductive system of astronauts' kids and grandkids, early mouse study suggests
Reza Ghodssi, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Maryland who was not involved in the study. "The battery is one component that takes up most of the space in an ingestible device, so anything that can provide the required power while reducing the size of the capsule is very promising."
Examples of ingestible medical devices include those that detect bleeding, dispense medicines, or stimulate specific tissues or organs.
How does the battery work?
Conventional batteries used in ingestible devices are not only large; they also need to stay sealed to prevent their internal materials from leaking into surrounding tissue and causing damage. The new battery, described Monday (Sept. 21) in the journal Nature Chemical Engineering, is made from materials that gradually dissolve in the acidic gastrointestinal tract and can then be safely absorbed without leaving behind harmful fragments or toxic byproducts.
The battery is built in layers. A magnesium alloy forms the anode (the battery's negative terminal), while the cathode (positive terminal) contains molybdenum trioxide and activated carbon. Between the two sides is a biodegradable electrolyte that allows the battery to generate electric current. These materials have been used in earlier biodegradable battery prototypes for temporary medical and wearable electronics.
The new design adapts them into a thin, porous, paper-like battery using cellulose nanofibrils as a binder, whereas earlier versions used larger binders. "The paper structure improves the battery's strength and control over degradation while still allowing it to produce electricity," study co-author Giovanni Traverso, director of the Laboratory for Translational Engineering at MIT, told Live Science in an email.
To keep the battery from breaking down too quickly in stomach acid, the researchers coated it with beeswax. Some versions also got a layer of candelilla wax — derived from the desert shrub Euphorbia antisyphilitica — for longer protection.
"The wax coating is not simply packaging," Traverso said. "It is a key design element that controls the functional lifetime."
The team made two versions of the battery, including one that was small enough to fit inside a standard gelatin capsule. In lab tests, it produced about 1.77 volts and could store and deliver 2 milliampere-hours per square centimeter, which is enough capacity to power low-power electronics.
A larger version of the battery produced about 1.84 volts and had a maximum capacity of 3.5 milliampere-hours. That could power devices that need a bit more power. However, the battery's capacity is still low, Ghodssi noted. "They need to have an order of magnitude higher capacity for this technology to be even more promising," he said.
Testing the battery inside the body
The researchers placed the battery prototypes inside 3D-printed capsules and administered them to pigs orally using an endoscope — essentially a long tube. Both versions of the battery worked for up to three days, although their voltage and capacity dropped as they gradually degraded. The larger battery's voltage dropped from about 1.8 volts to 1.6 volts after one day and then down to about 1.45 volts by the third day, while the smaller battery fell from 1.7 volts to 1.35 volts over the same period.
A battery-powered RFID tag (shown next to a U.S. quarter) tracked medication intake in pigs and enabled wireless monitoring from 5 feet away. (Image credit: Mehmet Girayhan Say)The team used the batteries to power two types of medical devices inside the pigs. The smaller battery powered a wireless RFID (radio-frequency identification) tag. Similar RFID-based sensors have been tested in people before, but the one used in this study was experimental. Researchers positioned it in the esophagus, where the tag communicated with a receiver up to 5 feet (1.5 meters) away and allowed researchers to detect when the pigs swallowed a medication.
The larger battery powered a swallowable capsule that electrically stimulated the stomach; this increased levels of the hunger-stimulating hormone ghrelin in the blood without causing visible tissue damage at the stimulation site. Gastric electrical stimulation is already used in people with severe gastroparesis, a condition that slows the rate at which the stomach empties; the battery-powered capsule tested in this study is experimental.
"It's quite impressive that the battery can operate in a stable and reliable fashion as the overall device passes through the GI system in a large animal model," said John Rogers, a pioneer in bioelectronics and a materials scientist at Northwestern University who was not involved in the study.
The battery and its biodegradable components broke down, but the electronic circuit board used for the stomach-stimulation experiment did not; instead, the pigs passed it naturally. "Making every part of the device bioresorbable could eliminate the risk of a leftover component becoming lodged in the gastrointestinal tract," Rogers said.
The researchers' biggest remaining challenge is controlling the battery's working lifetime and making its breakdown more predictable, Traverso said.
The researchers also found some variability between the batteries, which they attributed to factors in their construction, including the amount of contact between layers, their electrolyte distribution, and differences in the thickness of the wax coating. The team is now working to standardize manufacturing and adjust the coating so the batteries can be designed to function for specific periods of time, ranging from hours to days.
The team also plans to conduct longer tests under conditions that more closely mimic the human gastrointestinal tract. They are working toward an initial clinical trial of the RFID system that could begin in about two years, Traverso said.
'> Scientists made a paper battery you can swallow to power internal medical devices
Patience is often rewarded with some of the most impressive meteors of the year, partly because the Southern Taurid meteors strike Earth's atmosphere at the relatively leisurely pace of around 17 miles per second (27 kilometers per second), meaning they can be visible longer than most meteors and leave glowing trails.
The Southern Taurids are associated with a trail of rocky debris left in the inner solar system by Comet 2P/Encke, according to NASA, and they form half of the broader Taurid meteor complex. Their companion shower, the Northern Taurids, becomes active later in the fall, creating an extended period when Earth encounters debris associated with the same complex.
Although meteor activity begins this month, you'll have to wait a little longer to see the Southern Taurids at their best. An early increase in activity is expected around Oct. 13-14, with rates of regular shooting stars potentially slightly stronger than usual this year, while the principal peak for fireballs will arrive around the night of Nov. 4-5.
The sky conditions will be ideal for the Southern Taurids, with a moonless night sky on Oct. 13-14 and an 18%-lit waning crescent moon rising in the early morning on Nov. 5, though you will also need a clear night to see any shooting stars or fireballs. However, the rates will be too low for most urbanites to justify a trip to a dark location.
Southern Taurid meteors appear to radiate from the constellation Taurus, which climbs higher as the night progresses, but there's no need to stare directly at it. Meteors can appear anywhere overhead, so a wide, unobstructed view of the sky is more useful. Stargazing binoculars and telescopes will not help you spot meteors — however, they may come in handy for some of fall's other skywatching treats, including some rare planetary appearances.
Because the shower's radiant lies close to the ecliptic (the apparent path of the sun as seen from Earth), the Southern Taurids are observable from both hemispheres. However, Northern Hemisphere observers generally enjoy more favorable viewing conditions.
Don't expect celestial fireworks; the Southern Taurids are a slow burn. But with brilliant fireballs possible, they're worth keeping an eye on whenever you're outside after dark this fall.
'> One of the longest-running meteor showers of the year has begun: How to get the best views of the Southern Taurids This gold mask was made on the Indonesian island of Java around two millennia ago and was likely used to cover the face of a corpse, possibly with the aim of "confusing" the deceased's spirit so that it did not torment the living.
The custom of using gold to cover part or all of the deceased's face has been found in prehistoric India, China and other parts of Southeast Asia, according to Miksic, coinciding with inhumation burials made just before the advent of cremation. But it is unclear whether one culture learned the practice from another or if it was invented independently. Other gold death masks predate the Asian examples, including the famous 3,500-year-old Mask of Agamemnon from Bronze Age Greece.
Scholars have argued about whether Javanese gold death masks were meant to be realistic or idealized versions of the deceased. In a 1990 book on Indonesian traditional masks, archaeologist Wahyono Martowikrido noted that the Javanese mask was unusually naturalistic and was likely created to resemble the deceased.
It is unclear why the ancient Javanese created and used death masks, Miksic wrote, but experts have three main ideas. The ancient Javanese had high regard for the spirits of their ancestors, so they may have used precious gold as the most suitable material for honoring those departed ancestors. Another possibility is that only high-status people merited gold masks, which would have separated the elite from the commoners in the next world.
Miksic also learned from ethnographic accounts of people who lived on eastern Indonesian islands that spirits of the dead could be hostile. To prevent these malevolent spirits from attacking the living, people would turn the corpse around during the funeral procession and even place the corpse's head in a pot to confuse the spirit and make it unable to find its way back. This sort of belief may have led to the use of gold face covers, Miksic wrote.
'> Funeral mask: A 2,000-year-old gold face covering designed to confuse the deceased's spirit so it didn't torment the living