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In solid state systems, exciton-polaritons, half-light half-matter quasiparticles, which result from the hybridization of electronic excitations (excitons) and photons, are an attractive candidate to realize nonlinearities at the quantum limit. “Here we realize these quasiparticles with Rydberg excitons (excited states of excitons) in atomically thin semiconductors (2D materials),” said Menon, chair of physics in City College’s Division of Science. “Excited states of excitons owing to their larger size, show enhanced interactions and therefore hold promise for accessing the quantum domain of single-photon nonlinearities, as demonstrated previously with Rydberg states in atomic systems....

Researchers found, for the first time, that the galactic wind flowing from the center of the Cigar Galaxy (M82) is aligned along a magnetic field and transports a very large mass of gas and dust — the equivalent mass of 50 to 60 million Suns. “The space between galaxies is not empty,” said Enrique Lopez-Rodriguez, a Universities Space Research Association scientist working on the SOFIA team. “It contains gas and dust — which are the seed materials for stars and galaxies....

The dwarf planet is known as Quaoar. The presence of a ring at a distance of almost seven and a half times the radius of Quaoar, opens up a mystery for astronomers to solve: why has this material not coalesced into a small moon? How to observe distant objects in the Solar System The ring was discovered through a series of observations that took place between 2018 to 2021. Using a collection of ground-based telescopes, and the space-based telescope Cheops, astronomers watched as Quaoar crossed in front of a succession of distant stars, briefly blocking out their light as it passed....

Deshmukh, in his recent study, identified state-level incidence patterns, disease frequency, mortality patterns, and associations with HIV/AIDS and smoking, as potential explanations for the increasing incidence of anal cancer and deaths. He recently joined the Medical University of South Carolina as the co-leader of the Cancer Control Program at Hollings. His research is focused on understanding cancer incidence and mortality, estimating the impact of risk factors on cancer, and identifying effective cancer prevention strategies and algorithms....

A study by the Medical University of Vienna and the Complexity Science Hub Vienna shows for the first time a connection between the dosage of cholesterol-lowering drugs and the diagnosis of osteoporosis. Vienna — At low doses, statins could protect against bone resorption. But the higher the dosage of cholesterol-lowering drugs, the greater the probability of osteoporosis, an analysis of millions of patient data by the Complexity Science Hub Vienna shows....

Amateur photographers had captured the new phenomenon, called STEVE, on film for decades. But the scientific community only got wind of STEVE in 2016. When scientists first looked at images of STEVE, they realized the lights were slightly different than light from typical auroras but were not sure what underlying mechanism was causing them. In a new study, researchers analyzed a STEVE event in March 2008 to see whether it was produced in a similar manner as the aurora, which happens when showers of charged rain down into Earth’s upper atmosphere....

This galactic duo is known as UGC 2369. The galaxies are interacting, meaning that their mutual gravitational attraction is pulling them closer and closer together and distorting their shapes in the process. A tenuous bridge of gas, dust, and stars can be seen connecting the two galaxies, during which they pulled material out into space across the diminishing divide between them. Interaction with others is a common event in the history of most galaxies....

Worldwide, an estimated 55 million people live with dementia, a number that’s expected to rise as the global population ages. In the United States alone, there are an estimated 6.5 million people living with Alzheimer’s, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. In order to find treatments that can slow or stop the disease, researchers need to better understand the factors that can cause dementia. Scientists at Tufts University have completed the first study examining levels of vitamin D in brain tissue, specifically in adults who suffered from varying rates of cognitive decline....

The research, reported on May 29, 2020, in the journal Heart Rhythm, found that the drug made it “surprisingly easy” to trigger worrisome arrhythmias in two types of animal hearts by altering the timing of the electrical waves that control heartbeat. While the findings of animal studies can’t necessarily be generalized to humans, the videos created by the research team clearly show how the drug can cause cardiac electrical signals to become dysfunctional....

A newly published study from Yale University suggests that genetics play an important role in whether a person responds to tobacco-control policies, finding that people who are genetically predisposed to tobacco addiction were not dissuaded from smoking despite concerted government efforts to curtail tobacco use. Despite concerted government efforts to curtail tobacco use, the number of smokers in the United States has remained stable in recent years, rather than declining....

For many years scientists have believed that our Galaxy, the Milky Way, is set to crash into its larger neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy, in about 3 billion years’ time and that this will be the first time such a collision has taken place. But now a European team of astronomers led by Hongsheng Zhao of the University of St Andrews propose a very different idea; that the two star systems collided once before, some 10 billion years ago and that our understanding of gravity is fundamentally wrong....

“It’s six feet tall and looks like a big slice of pizza that’s about four feet wide at the top,” said Ben Musci of the supernova machine he built for a study at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The machine is also about as thin as a door and stands vertically with the point of the “slice of pizza” at the bottom. A concise detonation in that tip thrusts a blast wave toward the top, and in the middle of the machine, the wave passes through two layers of gas, making them mix turbulently into swirls like those left by supernovas....

Ultrafast laser spectroscopy allows observing the motion of atoms at their natural time scales in the range of femtoseconds, the millionth of a billionth of a second. Electron microscopy, on the other hand, provides atomic spatial resolution. By combining electrons and photons in one instrument, the group of Professor Peter Baum at the University of Konstanz has developed some of the fastest electron microscopes for obtaining detailed insight into materials and their dynamics at ultimate resolutions in both space and time....

Animals as small and soft as tardigrades seldom have legs and almost never bother walking. For example, round worms of similar size and body type thrash about, slithering their doughy forms over unpredictable substrates. Yet the water bear, a micro-animal so distinct that scientists were forced to assign it to its own phylum, uses eight stubby legs to improbably propel itself through marine and freshwater sediment, across desert dunes, and beneath the soil....

Cities all over the world are expanding. Several studies have already shown that the conversion of natural areas into built land affects insects and, while the diversity and abundance of insects often decreases, some insect species or species groups may benefit. However, little is known about the effects of urbanization on the ecosystem services insects provide, such as plant pollination. A team of scientists led by the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) have now investigated the effect of the urban environment on insect pollinators and pollination....

Researchers have found that focusing powerful non-invasive magnet stimulation on a specific brain area can improve the symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). This opens the way to treat the large minority of sufferers who do not respond to conventional treatment. The work is presented at the ECNP Conference in Copenhagen*. OCD is broadly defined as recurrent thoughts or urges, or excessive repetitive behaviors which an individual feels driven to perform....

Data from 19 observatories released today promise to give unparalleled insight into this black hole and the system it powers, and to improve tests of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. “We knew that the first direct image of a black hole would be groundbreaking,” says Kazuhiro Hada of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, a co-author of a new study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters that describes the large set of data....

The “second wave” of the coronavirus pandemic has placed much blame on a lack of appropriate safety measures. However, due to the impacts of weather, research suggests two outbreaks per year during a pandemic are inevitable. Though face masks, travel restrictions, and social distancing guidelines help slow the number of new infections in the short term, the lack of climate effects incorporated into epidemiological models presents a glaring hole that can cause long-term effects....

Imagine a clock that will keep perfect time forever, even after the heat-death of the universe. This is the “wow” factor behind a device known as a “space-time crystal,” a four-dimensional crystal that has periodic structure in time as well as space. However, there are also practical and important scientific reasons for constructing a space-time crystal. With such a 4D crystal, scientists would have a new and more effective means by which to study how complex physical properties and behaviors emerge from the collective interactions of large numbers of individual particles, the so-called many-body problem of physics....