Analysis: Ghostly lights paint a new portrait of the Milky Way

There’s no shortage of shimmering images of the Milky Way – but we’ve never seen it from this perspective.

Astronomers used a detector in thick Antarctic ice to track “ghost particles” that created a new portrait of the Milky Way.

These phantom particles, called neutrinos, can pass through any type of matter without changing. By tracing their origins across the galaxy, scientists were able to see our celestial neighborhood in a new way that could reveal answers to the biggest cosmic mysteries.

Another team of scientists has detected new gravitational waves that resonate through the universe and “buzz” in a celestial chorus, like the background noise of the universe.

Long ago

Thinking about ancient hunter-gatherer societies might bring to mind a certain image of men returning from the hunt while. But new research turns these gender stereotypes on their head.

Archaeological evidence shows that women – young and old – hunted large animals with bows and arrows, knives and nets. Hunters sometimes worked alone or alongside children and dogs, and these women even shared their knowledge and strategies with others.

The research began in the Andes Mountains after scientists unearthed a 9,000-year-old set of remains buried with an array of hunting weapons and assumed the skeleton was male. DNA analysis told a different story.

fantastic creatures

Scientists were stunned to discover an active octopus nursery in an underwater mountain nearly 3,218 meters down off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.

The research team believes the area may be just the third known example of an incubation site where large numbers of critters congregate.

The rare sighting in the ocean’s twilight zone was made by an underwater vessel during an expedition by the Schmidt Ocean Institute research vessel Falkor.

The researchers captured images of hundreds of octopuses hatching babies, as well as other life forms in the deep ocean.

More and more mosquitoes

Summer is here – and so are the mosquitoes. As the world warms due to the climate crisis, insects are thriving and even popping up in new places.

Rising temperatures allow mosquitoes to grow faster, live longer and even become more infectious.

Scientists are still trying to understand the specific factors that might attract mosquitoes to certain people, but experts agree on some proven tips for avoiding mosquito bites, like using insect repellent and dumping standing water in your yard.

other worlds

About 520 light-years beyond our solar system, astronomers have found a planet that shouldn’t exist. The exoplanet, called Halla, may have survived a violent explosion by the giant star it orbits, called Baekdu.

As stars age, they burn different elements in their cores and increase in size, which is generally bad news for any world close enough to be engulfed in the transition. It’s a fate Earth will likely experience in 5 billion years.