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Entertainment

Armie Hammer shows off unusual new tattoos as shocking ‘House of Hammer’ doc accusations surface

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Armie Hammer has been spending time in Southern California following his return from the Cayman Islands. On Tuesday, the disgraced actor was seen with two new tattoos as the shocking accusations from the “House of Hammer” docuseries dropped.

Hammer, who has been at the center of a “cannibal” scandal since January 2021, was seen poolside at a hotel with new ink in the shape of a triangle.

The 35-year-old had a large, upside-down triangle in the middle of his chest with a similar triangle tattoo on his forearm. The forearm tattoo features a line through the triangle. The former is an alchemy symbol for water and the latter is for air.

On Wednesday, discovery+ debuted its first trailer for “House of Hammer,” a special that “chronicles the deeply troubling accusations leveled against critically acclaimed actor Armie Hammer and the dark, twisted legacy of the Hammer dynasty.”

ARMIE HAMMER HAS BEEN ‘CUT OFF’ FROM FAMILY DYNASTY

In the trailer, two of Hammer’s exes, Courtney Vucekovich and Julia Morrison, talk about their experiences with the disgraced star. They also shared troubling messages they alleged are from Hammer.

“In the beginning, I felt like this was all perfect; this was amazing,” Vucekovich says in the trailer. “But then things changed. He pushes your boundaries a little bit at a time. You’re his, completely … I mean, he said, ‘I’m 100% a cannibal.’ I’m freaking out.”

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“It was all he wanted to ever talk about,” Morrison claimed.

Vucekovich alleged that a “mad” Hammer would tie her up until she was “completely immobilized.”

“I was closing my eyes until it ended,” she alleged through tears.

Casey Hammer, the actor’s aunt, also participated in the documentary to discuss the “dark, twisted secrets of the Hammer family.”

Paul Bruinooge/Patrick McMullan” data-src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/p1nURp0H_XbxJcnK412ikA–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtoPTM5Nw–/https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/WhVtTJ4ej4bHWk6t4egkXw–~B/aD03MjA7dz0xMjgwO2FwcGlkPXl0YWNoeW9u/https://media.zenfs.com/en/fox_news_text_979/4c014656f04f91cfca146dfc8432d0ef”/>Paul Bruinooge/Patrick McMullan” src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/p1nURp0H_XbxJcnK412ikA–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtoPTM5Nw–/https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/WhVtTJ4ej4bHWk6t4egkXw–~B/aD03MjA7dz0xMjgwO2FwcGlkPXl0YWNoeW9u/https://media.zenfs.com/en/fox_news_text_979/4c014656f04f91cfca146dfc8432d0ef” class=”caas-img”/>

Elizabeth Chambers filed for divorce from Armie Hammer in 2020. Paul Bruinooge/Patrick McMullan

Hammer’s wife Elizabeth Chambers filed for divorce in 2020, citing irreconcilable differences. Months later, allegations of sexual violence derailed Hammer’s once thriving career in Hollywood. Messages allegedly from Hammer, which detailed violent sexual fantasies, were leaked online. Hammer called them “vicious and spurious online attacks against me.”

Hammer was also accused of rape, an allegation he denied. In 2021, the “Call Me By Your Name” actor spent nine months in a rehabilitation center after being accused of emotional and physical abuse by a number of women.

ARMIE HAMMER RESURFACES WITH ESTRANGED WIFE ELIZABETH CHAMBERS FOLLOWING ACTOR’S JOB CONTROVERSY

“All interactions between Mr. Hammer and his former partners were consensual,” a lawyer for Hammer, Andrew Brettler, previously told Vanity Fair. “They were fully discussed, agreed upon in advance with his partners and mutually participatory. The stories perpetuated on social media were designed to be salacious in an effort to harm Mr. Hammer, but that does not make them true.”

Todd Williamson/E! Entertainment/NBCU Photo Bank” data-src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/qikKVdoBiqC_tTr.V_iPhA–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtoPTM5Nw–/https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/1bjj1PKoqDRmNbTXUsFriA–~B/aD03MjA7dz0xMjgwO2FwcGlkPXl0YWNoeW9u/https://media.zenfs.com/en/fox_news_text_979/f846e27218a83c4988ad6f1a0ee283cd”/>Todd Williamson/E! Entertainment/NBCU Photo Bank” src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/qikKVdoBiqC_tTr.V_iPhA–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtoPTM5Nw–/https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/1bjj1PKoqDRmNbTXUsFriA–~B/aD03MjA7dz0xMjgwO2FwcGlkPXl0YWNoeW9u/https://media.zenfs.com/en/fox_news_text_979/f846e27218a83c4988ad6f1a0ee283cd” class=”caas-img”/>

Hammer has previously denied abuse allegations. Todd Williamson/E! Entertainment/NBCU Photo Bank

Earlier this month, Hammer resurfaced with Chambers and their family in Los Angeles amid scrutiny surrounding his job. The outing marked the first time the family had been photographed together since news broke that Hammer was selling timeshares in the Cayman Islands.

Since divorcing Chambers, Hammer has had added several tattoos to his body, Vanity Fair reported.

The outlet reported that Hammer added “an outline of the Caymans above his knee, a heart that was inked by the in-house tattoo artist at Kaia Gerber’s birthday party to match two teenage boys, the letters ‘EGBA’ for ‘Everything’s gonna be alright’ and the word ‘chaos’ because he wants his life to be chaos.”

Fox News’ Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.

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Science

Scientists Discover New, Unusual Radio Signal from Faraway Galaxy

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Researchers say they have discovered a new, unusual radio signal from a distant galaxy.

The signal is known as a fast radio burst, or FRB. These signals are pulses of radio waves that scientists say can come from places within our own Milky Way galaxy or others.

The first FRB was discovered in 2007. Since then, hundreds of the signals have been observed by large telescopes in different parts of the world.

Astronomers are not sure what causes FRBs. But they have theorized the signals could be produced by neutron stars. A neutron star is thought to form after the gravitational collapse of a larger star that explodes at the end of its life.

The researchers reporting the latest FRB say it was unusual because the signal lasted much longer than others observed. Most FRBs last only a few milliseconds. But the new signal lasted up to three seconds – about 1,000 timer longer – the team explains in a statement.

The new FRB was first observed in December 2019 by a radio telescope called the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment, or CHIME. The telescope sits near the southwestern Canadian city of Kaleden. Several Canadian and American universities support the project.

Artist’s conception of a neutron star with an ultra-strong magnetic field, called a magnetar. (Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF/Handout via REUTERS)

CHIME was designed to observe radio waves given off by hydrogen gas in distant galaxies. But the telescope’s operators say it is also good at picking up signals from FRBs.

The scientists say they think the signal came from a distant galaxy several billion light years from Earth. A light year is the distance light travels in one year, about nine trillion kilometers.

The researchers said the newly observed FRB was also unusual because it appeared to repeat a continuous pattern, “similar to a beating heart.” Most FRBs observed in the past generally lasted for a few milliseconds before disappearing.

Daniele Michilli is a postdoctoral candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He helped lead the research for the university’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. He says there are not many things in the universe that give off the kind of “periodic signals” the telescope observed.

This led the team to believe that the unusual FRB may have come from two kinds of neutron stars, a pulsar or a magnetar. A pulsar is a fast-spinning neutron star. A magnetar is a neutron star with a very strong magnetic field. “We think this new signal could be a magnetar or pulsar on steroids,” Michilli said.

Their conclusion about where the signal came from was based on data collected on pulsars and magnetars observed in our own galaxy. However, the team noted that the unusual FRB appears to be more than a million times brighter than those observed in the Milky Way. The scientists are not sure why the FRB would be so much brighter.

The astronomers said the new signal is the longest lasting and has the clearest periodic pattern than any FRBs observed before. They are hoping to capture additional observations of the signal. This could help them better understand where it came from and learn more about the general nature of neutron stars.

“This detection raises the question of what could cause this extreme signal that we’ve never seen before, and how we can use this signal to study the universe,” Michilli said. “Future telescopes promise to discover thousands of FRBs a month, and at that point we may find many more of these periodic signals.”

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from MIT News, Nature

Quiz – Scientists Discover New, Unusual Radio Signal from Faraway Galaxy


Start the Quiz to find out

_________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

galaxy – n. a very large group of stars held together in the universe

pulse – n. a short increase in an amount of electricity, light or sound

pattern – n. a regular and repeated way in which something happens

conclusion – n. a reasoned judgment

steroid – n. a drug used for treating injuries and that some athletes use illegally to improve their performance in sports

detect – v. to discover or notice something

___________________________________________________________

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Science

MIT researchers detect unusual radio signal from far-off galaxy

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Local

Fast radio bursts typically last a couple milliseconds. Scientists found one that lasted much longer.

Using the CHIME radio telescope, astronomers detected an unusual signal from a far-off galaxy. CHIME, with background edited by MIT News

Astronomers from Canada and MIT have detected an intriguing and unusually persistent radio signal from a galaxy several billion light-years from Earth. 

According to MIT, the signal is what’s known as a fast radio burst, or FRB. These massively strong bursts of radio waves usually last for a few milliseconds. What sets this new signal apart is that it lasts for up to three seconds. Deepening the mystery even further, this FRB was intercut with period bursts of radio waves that repeated every 0.2 seconds in a clear pattern.

The signal, labeled FRB 20191221A, is the longest-lasting FRB ever detected. It also has the clearest periodic pattern ever seen in an FRB, according to MIT. 

While this signal can be pinpointed to a specific distant galaxy, its exact source is not known. Right now, evidence suggests it is coming from a radio pulsar or a magnetar, two types of neutron star, according to the university. These are formed when stars more massive than the sun explode in a supernova. Their outer layers can blow off, leaving a small, incredibly dense core that keeps collapsing. The force of gravity is so strong that protons and electrons combine to make neutrons, hence the name. 

“There are not many things in the universe that emit strictly periodic signals,” said Daniele Michilli, a postdoctoral researcher at MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research in a statement. “Examples that we know of in our own galaxy are radio pulsars and magnetars, which rotate and produce a beamed emission similar to a lighthouse. And we think this new signal could be a magnetar or pulsar on steroids.”

The discovery of this FRB was reported in the journal Nature this week. Calvin Leung, Juan Mena-Parra, Kaitlyn Shin, and Kiyoshi Masui of MIT coauthored the paper with Michilli. 

The signal was detected by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment, or CHIME. This radio telescope, located in British Columbia, continuously watches the sky for radio waves emitted in the early periods of the universe. It is also sensitive to FRBs, and has detected hundreds of these signals since 2018. 

While still working as a researcher at McGill University in December 2019, Michilli was reading incoming CHIME data when he noticed something strange. 

“It was unusual,” he said, according to MIT. “Not only was it very long, lasting about three seconds, but there were periodic peaks that were remarkably precise, emitting every fraction of a second — boom, boom, boom — like a heartbeat. This is the first time the signal itself is periodic.”

Michilli told MIT that the intense flashes detected in this FRB might originate from a neutron star that is normally not very bright as it rotates, but for some reason ejected a large series of bursts in a three-second period that CHIME happened to be able to catch. 

“CHIME has now detected many FRBs with different properties,” Michilli said. “We’ve seen some that live inside clouds that are very turbulent, while others look like they’re in clean environments. From the properties of this new signal, we can say that around this source, there’s a cloud of plasma that must be extremely turbulent.”

Astronomers now hope to pick up more periodic radio signals from this source, according to MIT. If they do, the signals could be used as a way to measure the rate at which the universe is expanding.



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Science

Unusual Fossil Galaxy Discovered on Outskirts of Andromeda – Could Reveal History of the Universe

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An amateur astronomer’s keen eyes led to the discovery of an unusual ultra-faint dwarf galaxy on the outskirts of the Andromeda Galaxy. Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, Acknowledgment: Image processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab) & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab)

Gemini North  telescope reveals a relict of the earliest galaxies.

A unique ultra-faint dwarf galaxy has been discovered on the outer fringes of the Andromeda Galaxy thanks to the discerning eyes of an amateur astronomer examining archival data processed by NSF’s NOIRLab’s Community Science and Data Center. The dwarf galaxy — Pegasus V — was revealed to contain very few heavier elements and is likely to be a fossil of the first galaxies in follow-up observations by professional astronomers using the International Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab.

An unusual ultra-faint dwarf galaxy has been discovered on the edge of the Andromeda Galaxy with the help of several facilities of NSF’s NOIRLab. Called Pegasus V, the galaxy was first detected as part of a systematic search for Andromeda dwarfs coordinated by David Martinez-Delgado from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Spain, when amateur astronomer Giuseppe Donatiello discovered a curious ‘smudge’ in data in a

Faint stars in Pegasus V were revealed in follow-up deeper observations by astronomers using the larger, 8.1-meter Gemini North telescope with the GMOS instrument, confirming that it is an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy on the outskirts of the Andromeda Galaxy. Gemini North in Hawai‘i is one-half of the International Gemini Observatory.

The observations with Gemini showed that the galaxy appears to be extremely deficient in heavier elements compared to similar dwarf galaxies, meaning that it is very old and likely to be a fossil of the first galaxies in the Universe.

“We have found an extremely faint galaxy whose stars formed very early in the history of the Universe,” commented Michelle Collins, an astronomer at the University of Surrey, UK and lead author of the paper announcing this discovery. “This discovery marks the first time a galaxy this faint has been found around the Andromeda Galaxy using an astronomical survey that wasn’t specifically designed for the task.”

A unique ultra-faint dwarf galaxy has been discovered in the outer fringes of the Andromeda Galaxy thanks to the sharp eyes of an amateur astronomer examining archival data from the US Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) and processed by the Community Science and Data Center (CSDC). Follow-up by professional astronomers using the International Gemini Observatory revealed that the dwarf galaxy — Pegasus V — contains very few heavier elements and is likely to be a fossil of the first galaxies. All three facilities involved are Programs of NSF’s NOIRLab. Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, Acknowledgment: Image processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab) & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab)

The faintest galaxies are considered to be fossils of the very first galaxies that formed, and these galactic relics contain clues about the formation of the earliest stars. While astronomers expect the Universe to be teeming with faint galaxies like Pegasus V,[2] they have not yet discovered nearly as many as their theories predict. If there are truly fewer faint galaxies than predicted this would imply a serious problem with astronomers’ understanding of cosmology and dark matter.

Discovering examples of these faint galaxies is therefore an important endeavor, but also a difficult one. Part of the challenge is that these faint galaxies are extremely tricky to spot, appearing as just a few sparse stars hidden in vast images of the sky.

“The trouble with these extremely faint galaxies is that they have very few of the bright stars which we typically use to identify them and measure their distances,” explained Emily Charles, a PhD student at the University of Surrey who was also involved in the study. “Gemini’s 8.1-meter mirror allowed us to find faint, old stars which enabled us both to measure the distance to Pegasus V and to determine that its stellar population is extremely old.”

The strong concentration of old stars that the team found in Pegasus V suggests that the object is likely a fossil of the first galaxies. When compared with the other faint galaxies around Andromeda, Pegasus V seems uniquely old and metal-poor, indicating that its star formation ceased very early indeed.

“We hope that further study of Pegasus V’s chemical properties will provide clues into the earliest periods of star formation in the Universe,” concluded Collins. “This little fossil galaxy from the early Universe may help us understand how galaxies form, and whether our understanding of dark matter is correct.”

“The public-access Gemini North telescope provides an array of capabilities for community astronomers,” said Martin Still, Gemini Program Officer at the National Science Foundation. “In this case, Gemini supported this international team to confirm the presence of the dwarf galaxy, associate it physically with the Andromeda Galaxy, and determine the metal-deficient nature of its evolved stellar population.”

Upcoming astronomical facilities are set to shed more light on faint galaxies. Pegasus V was witness to a time in the history of the Universe known as reionization, and other objects dating back to this time will soon be observed with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Astronomers also hope to discover other such faint galaxies in the future using Vera C. Rubin Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. Rubin Observatory will conduct an unprecedented, decade-long survey of the optical sky called the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST).

Notes

  1. The DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys were conducted to identify targets for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) operations. These surveys comprise a unique blend of three projects that have observed a third of the night sky: the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey (DECaLS), observed by the DOE-built Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile; the Mayall z-band Legacy Survey (MzLS), by the Mosaic3 camera on the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO); and the Beijing-Arizona Sky Survey (BASS) by the 90Prime camera on the Bok 2.3-meter Telescope, which is owned and operated by the University of Arizona and located at KPNO. CTIO and KPNO are Programs of NSF’s NOIRLab.
  2. Pegasus V is so named because it is the fifth dwarf galaxy discovered located in the constellation Pegasus. The on-sky separation between Pegasus V and the Andromeda Galaxy is about 18.5 degrees.

More information

This research was presented in a paper entitled “Pegasus V — a newly discovered ultra-faint dwarf galaxy on the outskirts of Andromeda” to appear in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Reference: “Pegasus V — a newly discovered ultra-faint dwarf galaxy on the outskirts of Andromeda” by Michelle L. M. Collins, Emily J. E. Charles, David Martínez-Delgado, Matteo Monelli, Noushin Karim, Giuseppe Donatiello, Erik J. Tollerud and Walter Boschin, Accepted, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
arXiv:2204.09068

The team is composed of Michelle L. M. Collins (Physics Department, University of Surrey, UK), Emily J. E. Charles (Physics Department, University of Surrey, UK), David Martínez-Delgado (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Spain), Matteo Monelli (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and Universidad de La Laguna, Spain), Noushin Karim (Physics Department, University of Surrey, UK), Giuseppe Donatiello (UAI – Unione Astrofili Italiani, Italy), Erik J. Tollerud (Space Telescope Science Institute, USA), Walter Boschin (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), Universidad de La Laguna, and Fundación G. Galilei – INAF (Telescopio Nazionale Galileo), Spain).



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Health

Monkeypox may present with unusual symptoms, CDC warns

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Doctors diagnosing monkeypox should be on the lookout for symptoms that don’t quite match the typical descriptions of the disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned (opens in new tab) June 14.

The monkeypox virus belongs to the same family and genus as the virus that causes smallpox and triggers similar, but milder, symptoms, according to the CDC (opens in new tab). At the start of the infection, people usually develop fever, headache, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes and fatigue. Then the characteristic rashes associated with monkeypox begin to appear. These rashes typically progress through several stages, initially looking like discolored patches of skin then raised bumps, then blisters and finally large, pus-filled pimples; eventually, these skin lesions scab over and fall off.

Historically, monkeypox rashes tend to erupt around the face and in the oral cavity, first, and then may progress to the extremities, including the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. However, some of the recent monkeypox cases in the U.S. have diverged from this pattern, the CDC reported. 

Many U.S. patients’ rashes have initially appeared around the genitals and anus, as well as the tissues lining the mouth. In some patients, these rashes have caused pain in the anus and rectum, rectal bleeding, painful inflammation of the rectal lining (proctitis) and the sensation of having to pass stool when the bowels are empty (tenesmus). These symptoms are not included in the typical descriptions of monkeypox.

Related: The deadliest viruses in history 

In some cases, patients’ rashes have either been “scattered or localized to a specific body site,” apart from the face and extremities, the CDC noted. Rashes in different stages of progression have sometimes appeared alongside each other at the same body site. And the usual flu-like symptoms of fever, swollen lymph nodes and fatigue “have not always occurred before the rash if they have occurred at all.”

Similarly odd presentations of monkeypox have been seen in other countries impacted by the current outbreak. “It’s now clear that there is an unusual situation, meaning even the virus is behaving unusually from how it used to behave in the past,” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, said at a briefing, according to NBC News (opens in new tab).

In general, symptoms of monkeypox infections can resemble those caused by the Varicella zoster  virus, which causes chickenpox, and they can also look like certain sexually transmitted infections, such as syphilis and herpes, the CDC noted. If a patient appears to have one of these illnesses, clinicians should perform a thorough examination of the skin and mucosal tissues, including the anal, vaginal and oral tissues, to rule out monkeypox as a diagnosis. 

People who develop potential symptoms of monkeypox should contact their healthcare provider, especially if they meet the following criteria:

  • Have traveled to countries where monkeypox cases have been reported 
  • Had recent contact with a person who has a similar rash or received a diagnosis of confirmed or suspected monkeypox 
  • Had close or intimate in-person contact with individuals in a social network experiencing monkeypox infections 

“Any person, irrespective of gender identity or sexual orientation, can acquire and spread monkeypox. In this outbreak, however, many of the reported cases in the United States are among gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men,” the CDC noted. For this reason, the health agency has emphasized that men who have sex with men should be aware that the virus may be spreading within their social networks. 

As of June 24, just over 4,100 monkeypox cases have been detected in 47 countries and territories, according to the CDC (opens in new tab); this global case count, which is subject to change, includes both confirmed monkeypox infections and infections attributed to an Orthopoxvirus — the genus of viruses that includes monkeypox. 

In the U.S., 201 such cases have been identified in 25 states and the District Of Columbia, so far, the CDC reported (opens in new tab). 

Originally published on Live Science. 

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Science

New unusual repeating fast radio burst detected 3 billion light-years away

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The cosmic object is distinctive when compared with other detections of radio bursts in recent years, according to new research.

Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are millisecond-long bursts of radio waves in space. Individual radio bursts emit once and don’t repeat. But repeating fast radio bursts are known to send out short, energetic radio waves multiple times.

Astronomers have been able to trace some radio bursts back to their home galaxies, but they have yet to determine the actual cause of the pulses. Learning more about the origin of these bright, intense radio emissions could help scientists understand what causes them.

Astronomers detected the object, named FRB 190520, when it released a burst of radio waves on May 20, 2019. The researchers used the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope, or FAST, in China, and discovered the burst in the telescope data in November 2019. When they conducted follow-up observations, the astronomers noticed something unusual — the object was releasing frequent, repeating bursts of radio waves.

In 2020, the team used the National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, or VLA, of telescopes to pinpoint the origin of the burst before zeroing in on it using the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii. Subaru’s observations in visible light showed that the burst came from the outskirts of a distant dwarf galaxy.

A study detailing the findings published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.

Two of a kind

The VLA observations also revealed that the celestial object constantly released weaker radio waves between the repeating bursts. That’s very similar to only one other known repeating fast radio burst: FRB 121102, discovered in 2016.

The initial detection and subsequent tracing of FRB 121102 back to its origin point in a small dwarf galaxy more than 3 billion light-years away was a breakthrough in astronomy. It was the first time astronomers were able to learn about the distance and environment of these mysterious objects.

“Now we actually need to explain this double mystery and why FRBs and persistent radio sources are found together sometimes,” said study coauthor Casey Law, staff scientist in radio astronomy at the California Institute of Technology. “Is it common when FRBs are young? Or perhaps the object that makes the bursts is a massive black hole that is messily eating up a neighboring star? Theorists have a lot more detail to work with now and the scope for explanation is shrinking.”

Currently, less than 5% of the hundreds of identified fast radio bursts have been known to repeat and only a few of them are regularly active.

But FRB 190520 is the only persistently active one, meaning that it has never “turned off” since being discovered, said study author Di Li, chief scientist for the radio division of the National Astronomical Observatories of China and the FAST Operation Center. Meanwhile, FRB 121102, “the first known famous repeater, can turn off for months,” Li said.

New questions

The latest findings raise more questions because now astronomers wonder if there might be two kinds of fast radio bursts.

“Are those that repeat different from those that don’t? What about the persistent radio emission — is that common?” said study coauthor Kshitij Aggarwal, who was involved in the study as a doctoral student at West Virginia University, in a statement.

It’s possible that there are different mechanisms that cause the radio bursts, or that whatever produces them is behaving differently during various stages of evolution.

Previously, scientists have hypothesized that fast radio bursts are caused by the dense remnants leftover after a supernova, called a neutron star, or neutron stars with incredibly strong magnetic fields called magnetars.

FRB 190520 is being considered as a possible “newborn” object because it was located in a dense environment, Law said. That environment may be caused by material released by a supernova, which resulted in the creation of a neutron star. As this material scatters over time, the bursts from FRB 190520 may decrease as it ages.

Going forward, Li wants to discover more fast radio bursts.

“A coherent picture of the origin and evolution of FRBs is likely to emerge in just a few years,” Li said.

Law is excited about the implications of having a new class of radio wave sources.

“For decades, astronomers thought there were basically two kinds of radio source that we could see in other galaxies: accreting supermassive black holes and star formation activity,” Law said. “Now we’re saying that it can’t be an either/or categorization any more! There is a new kid in town and we should consider that when studying populations of radio sources in the universe.”

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Science

Mysterious dead beaked whale covered in unusual injuries washes up on California beach

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A dead beaked whale was found on a California beach with mysterious injuries around its jaw and face. (Image credit: Courtesy of Noyo Center for Marine Science)

(opens in new tab)

The corpse of a rarely seen type of beaked whale recently washed up on a California beach with mysterious wounds on its face and scrape marks all over its body. Experts are unsure what caused these injuries, how the whale died or even which species this pointy-nosed cetacean belongs to. 

The unusual dolphin-like whale’s remains, which measured around 16 feet (4.9 meters) long, were found May 15 on a beach at Jug Handle State Natural Reserve near Fort Bragg. A team from the nearby Noyo Center for Marine Science recovered the body with help from researchers at the California Academy of Sciences (CAS) in San Francisco. The group collected samples of the whale’s blubber, organs and skull, and sent them to the National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank in Charleston, South Carolina, for analysis.

Little is known about these mysterious whales, which belong to the family Ziphiidae. Scientists think there are around two dozen species, but of those only a few species, including Baird’s beaked whale (Berardius bairdii) and Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris), have been studied extensively. However, scientists do know that these whales can “dive deeper than any other marine mammal,” according to a Facebook post (opens in new tab) by the Noyo Center, and they can stay underwater for more than three hours. 

This incredible diving ability is one of the main reasons why scientists know so little about beaked whales. “They’re not seen very often, alive or dead,” which makes this stranding “really important,” Moe Flannery, senior collections manager for birds and marine mammals at CAS, told news site SFGate (opens in new tab). 

Related: Nearly 30 pilot whales die after mass stranding in New Zealand 

The recently washed-up specimen is likely a Hubbs’ beaked whale (Mesoplodon carlhubbsi) or a Stejneger’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon stejnegeri), Flannery told SFGate. However, it could also be a ginkgo-toothed beaked whale (Mesoplodon ginkgodens) or a pygmy beaked whale (Mesoplodon peruvianus), Sascha Hooker, a marine mammal biologist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland who was not involved in the recovery process, told Live Science in an email. Sequencing the DNA from the whale’s tissue samples will help determine the exact species. 

The recovery team examines the body. (Image credit: Courtesy of Noyo Center for Marine Science)

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The team from the Noyo Center noted that the whale’s beak had unusual, nasty-looking injuries around it, but the scientists could not tell what had caused the wounds. “There appears to be some trauma near the jaw, but until they look more closely at the skull itself it’s hard to say what that was from,” Trey Petrey, the interpretive facilities manager at the Noyo Center who helped remove the dead whale from the beach, told SFGate.

One possible cause of the whale’s injuries is a vessel strike. Beaked whales and other cetaceans (the group that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises) are among the marine animals that are most at risk of being hit by a boat because they use sound for navigation and noise pollution from boats can disorientate them, according to a 2020 study published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science (opens in new tab).

It will also be challenging to tell if the dead whale’s injuries were caused before or after the body washed up on the beach, Hooker added.

The dead whale’s corpse was also marred by scratches covering its face and body. But most of these scrapes, known as rake marks, were likely inflicted over time by other beaked whales. Most beaked whales are toothless except for a single large pair of tusk-like teeth in their lower jaw; these teeth are typically exclusive to males, who use them to fight off reproductive rivals, Hooker said. It’s possible that the rake marks on the dead cetacean were inflicted during past duels, she added, although it is as yet unknown if the dead whale is male or female. It’s also possible that some of the scratches were caused by past vessel strikes that were non-lethal. 

“It’s hard to tell from the photos, but the body condition looks a little poor,” with the backbone appearing quite pronounced in some of the images, Hooker said. This could suggest that the whale had either been struggling to find food or had potentially ingested plastic, which has become a big problem for beaked whales, she noted. (Whales that swallow plastic may starve if the indigestible material can’t be expelled; plastic that lodges in a whale’s guts prevents the whale from filling its stomach with food and may affect the animal’s digestion.) Analysis of the whale’s stomach contents will determine if this played a part in its death. 

A whale louse was also found on the dead whale. (Image credit: Courtesy of Noyo Center for Marine Science)

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Another noteworthy detail of the beached carcass was the presence of a whale louse on the cetacean’s skin. Whale lice are tiny parasitic shrimp that attach themselves to cetaceans and live their entire lives clinging to the skin of a single individual, where they filter microbes out of the water and occasionally nibble on their host’s skin. In a 2018 study published in the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology (opens in new tab), scientists found that whale lice, which are often specific to a single cetacean species, can be analyzed to track the migration patterns of whales. But it is unknown if the louse on the dead beaked whale has preserved a record of its host’s journeys. 

Nevertheless, the researchers at the Noyo Center hope that much will be learned about beaked whales from this unfortunate event.

“I think it’s sometimes very humbling to see these animals washed ashore and to get a really good look at them so close,” Petrey told SFGate. “It’s kind of heartbreaking to see them dead, but it’s a good experience in terms of anyone interested in marine science to have the opportunity to see a specimen like that.”

Originally published on Live Science.

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Health

Woman’s life is saved after she spotted something unusual in mirror

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A woman has recalled the moment she spotted something unusual in the mirror which ended up saving her life. 

Susan Hunter-Dabson was blowdrying her hair and noticed something odd when she lifted her arm.

The 57-year-old told ITV News: “I was drying my hair and as I lifted my arm, the round, cup part of my breast went flat.

“I was a G-cup so it was difficult to feel anything but I knew the appearance wasn’t right.

“Because my mum had been diagnosed with cancer young and beaten it, I decided to go to the GP.”

Most people associate breast cancer with a lump.

But there are around a dozen symptoms of the disease, some of them less known than others.

This can include a change to breast shape or size, or a flattening or shrinking of the breast. 

Puckering or thickening of the skin, or fluid from the nipple that is bloody, smelly or cloudy can also be key signs. 

It’s important to be “breast aware” — familiar with what you breasts are like normally — so you can spot any changes early. 

Susan, from Bedfordshire, was reassured by her GP that her symptoms were likely nothing to worry about – there could be other medical conditions causing them. 

After Susan Hunter-Dabson’s ordeal, which occurred over a year, she was fortunately told her cancer was in remission.
Cancer Research UK

But he referred her for tests anyway.

Susan said: “Whilst I was worried about the results, I was convinced that it wouldn’t be anything too serious.

“My husband, Simon, came along to my appointment and I’m so glad he was there because out of the blue I was told I had cancer.

Susan Hunter-Dabson was blowdrying her hair and noticed something odd when she lifted her arm.
Cancer Research UK

“It was such a shock as I really couldn’t comprehend me having cancer.

“I was numb after being told I had a 6cm mass in my left breast, then during the course of the investigations, the doctors found another primary cancer in my right breast.”

Susan began a six-month course of chemotherapy before having surgery to remove some breast tissue.

She had four operations followed by four weeks of radiotherapy.

After Susan’s ordeal, which occurred over a year, she was fortunately told her cancer was in remission.

She said she “burst into tears” because it was the “biggest relief”.

“I knew that I had a future,” she said.

After her experience, Susan is now raising money for Cancer Research UK by taking part in the charity’s Cycle 300 campaign. 

Elisa Mitchell, from Cancer Research’s Bedfordshire branch, said: “For the past 20 years, the incredible generosity and commitment of people like Susan has helped Cancer Research UK make discoveries that have saved countless lives and which benefit millions of people around the world.

After her experience with breast cancer, Susan Hunter-Dabson is now raising money for Cancer Research UK by taking part in the charity’s Cycle 300 campaign. 
Cancer Research UK

“But we have so much more to do. That’s why we hope Susan’s story will spark a chain-reaction across Bedfordshire that will help us keep investing in science today to deliver the treatments of tomorrow.”

Some 56,000 people are diagnosed with breast cancer every year in the UK, and there are 11,500 deaths.

This story originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced here with permission.

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Science

Hubble identifies unusual wrinkle in expansion rate of the universe

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Over the past 30 years, the space observatory has helped scientists discover and refine that accelerating rate — as well as uncover a mysterious wrinkle that only brand-new physics may solve.

Hubble has observed more than 40 galaxies that include pulsating stars as well as exploding stars called supernovae to measure even greater cosmic distances. Both of these phenomena help astronomers to mark astronomical distances like mile markers, which have pointed to the expansion rate.

In the quest to understand how quickly our universe expands, astronomers already made one unexpected discovery in 1998: “dark energy.” This phenomenon acts as a mysterious repulsive force that accelerates the expansion rate.

And there is another twist: an unexplained difference between the expansion rate of the local universe versus that of the distant universe right after the big bang.

Scientists don’t understand the discrepancy, but acknowledge that it’s weird and could require new physics.

“You are getting the most precise measure of the expansion rate for the universe from the gold standard of telescopes and cosmic mile markers,” said Nobel Laureate Adam Riess at the Space Telescope Science Institute and a distinguished professor at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, in a statement.

“This is what the Hubble Space Telescope was built to do, using the best techniques we know to do it. This is likely Hubble’s magnum opus, because it would take another 30 years of Hubble’s life to even double this sample size.”

Decades of observation

The telescope was named for pioneering astronomer Edwin Hubble, who discovered in the 1920s that distant clouds in the universe were actually galaxies. (He died in 1953.)

Hubble relied on the work of astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt’s 1912 discovery of the periods of brightness in pulsating stars called Cepheid variables. Cepheids act like cosmic mile markers as they brighten and dim periodically within our galaxy and others.

Hubble’s work led to the revelation that our galaxy was one of many, forever changing our perspective and place in the universe. The astronomer continued his work and discovered that distant galaxies appeared to be moving rapidly, suggesting that we live in an expanding universe that started with a big bang.

The detection of the universe’s expansion rate helped lead to the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics, awarded to Saul Perlmutter, Brian P. Schmidt and Riess “for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe through observations of distant supernovae.”

Riess continues to lead SHOES, short for Supernova, H0, for the Equation of State of Dark Energy, a scientific collaboration investigating the universe’s expansion rate. His team is publishing a paper in The Astrophysical Journal that provides the latest update on the Hubble constant, as the expansion rate is known.

An unresolved discrepancy

Measuring distant objects has created a “cosmic distance ladder” that can help scientists better estimate the age of the universe and understand its foundations.

Multiple teams of astronomers using the Hubble telescope have arrived at a Hubble constant value that equals 73 plus or minus 1 kilometer per second per megaparsec. (A megaparsec is one million parsecs, or 3.26 million light years.)

“The Hubble constant is a very special number. It can be used to thread a needle from the past to the present for an end-to-end test of our understanding of the universe. This took a phenomenal amount of detailed work,” said Licia Verde, a cosmologist at the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies and the Institute of Cosmos Science at the University of Barcelona, in a statement.

But the actual predicted expansion rate of the universe is slower than what the Hubble telescope has observed, according to astronomers utilizing the standard cosmological model of the universe (a theory suggesting the components of the big bang) and measurements taken by the European Space Agency’s Planck mission between 2009 and 2013.

Planck, another space observatory, was used to measure the cosmic microwave background, or the leftover radiation from the big bang 13.8 billion years ago.

Planck mission scientists arrived at a Hubble constant of 67.5 plus or minus 0.5 kilometers per second per megaparsec.

The James Webb Space Telescope, which launched in December, will be able to observe Hubble’s mile markers in sharper resolution and at greater distances, which could contribute to understanding the discrepancy between the two numbers.

It makes for an exciting challenge to cosmologists who were once determined to measure the Hubble constant — and now find themselves questioning what additional physics may help them unlock a new mystery about the universe.

“Actually, I don’t care what the expansion value is specifically, but I like to use it to learn about the universe,” Riess said.

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US

In unusual step, US military aircraft will transport first pallets of baby formula to the US

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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the first flights supporting the newly created Operation Fly Formula program, and they will “depart Ramstein Air Base in Germany over the course of this weekend,” the White House official said.

“Due to the urgency of the situation, these flights will comprise U.S. military aircraft,” the official said.

Using military aircraft for this endeavor is unusual and underscores the urgent nature of the situation.

The administration’s plan going forward is to use commercially contracted aircraft, but none were available this weekend, according to an official. The official promised further updates on the remaining 114 pallets of Gerber Good Start Extensive HA, “which are expected to arrive in the coming days.”

The first flights over the weekend will transport 132 pallets of Nestlé Health Science formula — including Alfamino Infant and Alfamino Junior — to Indianapolis.

The White House has said these specific formulas have been prioritized because they serve a critical medical purpose and are in short supply in the United States because of the Abbott Nutrition plant closure in Michigan. The FDA has reached an agreement with Abbott Nutrition to reopen the plant, which has been shuttered for months because of contamination issues. The agreement lays out steps the manufacturer must take to restart production at its plant.

The baby formula shortage has thrown the White House into crisis mode and opened yet another political wound going into an already challenging midterm election season, frustrating the West Wing and the rest of the administration as they struggle with how little control they have over a situation that is centered at the US Food and Drug Administration, an independent agency that the White House neither controls nor gets direct reports from.

Officials are now confronting criticism that the FDA moved too slowly to address warning signs. At the same time, they’re attempting to learn whether formula companies are actually short on ingredients, while also trying to tackle potential price gouging.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced Operation Fly Formula, which directs the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture to utilize the Defense Department’s commercial planes to import formula from abroad. He also said he would be invoking the Defense Production Act, which allows the government more control over industrial production during emergencies, to direct suppliers of formula ingredients to prioritize delivery to the manufacturers of formula.
Biden’s administration has also taken other steps over the last two weeks to address concerns about a months-long formula shortage, which has parents in different parts of the country scouring stores to feed their children.

The administration established a website last week, HHS.gov/formula, to provide resources to families in need. But when a CNN reporter tested out some of those options, the exercise resulted in apologetic customer service representatives, one hold time that lasted well over an hour and serious challenges in finding baby formula through some of the main suggestions listed on the new HHS website.

This story has been updated with additional details Friday.

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