An international team led by the University of Oxford has identified one of the largest rotating structures ever reported: a “razor-thin” string of galaxies embedded in a giant spinning cosmic filament, 140 million light-years away. The findings, published today (4 December) in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, could offer valuable new insights into how galaxies formed in the early Universe.

- University of Leicester and welding specialist TWI Ltd collaborating on a robot-mounted arc-welding system

- Designed to support in-space repair, joining and future orbital manufacturing

Building on decades of effort, Lizhong Zhang, Member (2023–24) in the School of Natural Sciences; James Stone, Professor in the School; and a team of astrophysicists have achieved a major milestone: developing the most comprehensive model to date of luminous black hole accretion. Their breakthrough allows scholars to "observe" such black hole systems not through a telescope, but through a computer.

New simulations created by astrophysicists at the Flatiron Institute and the Institute for Advanced Study reveal how material flowing around and into black holes creates intense light shows. The simulations are the first to fully capture the interplay between light and matter under Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

The largest annual meeting focused on weather, water, and climate sciences, the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) will be held 25–29 January, 2026, in Houston, Texas. 

Strategically coupling nanoparticle hybrids and internal thermosensitive molecular switches establishes an innovative paradigm for constructing micro/nanoscale-reconfigurable robots, facilitating energy-efficient CO₂ management in life-support systems of confined space. Here, a micro/nano-reconfigurable robot is constructed from the CO₂ molecular hunters, temperature-sensitive molecular switch, solar photothermal conversion, and magnetically-driven function engines. The molecular hunters within the molecular extension state can capture 6.19 mmol g⁻¹ of CO₂ to form carbamic acid and ammonium bicarbonate. Interestingly, the molecular switch of the robot activates a molecular curling state that facilitates CO₂ release through nano-reconfiguration, which is mediated by the temperature-sensitive curling of Pluronic F127 molecular chains during the photothermal desorption. Nano-reconfiguration of robot alters the amino microenvironment, including increasing surface electrostatic potential of the amino group and decreasing overall lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy level. This weakened the nucleophilic attack ability of the amino group toward the adsorption product derivatives, thereby inhibiting the side reactions that generate hard-to-decompose urea structures, achieving the lowest regeneration temperature of 55 °C reported to date. The engine of the robot possesses non-contact magnetically-driven micro-reconfiguration capability to achieve efficient photothermal regeneration while avoiding local overheating. Notably, the robot successfully prolonged the survival time of mice in the sealed container by up to 54.61%, effectively addressing the issue of carbon suffocation in confined spaces. This work significantly enhances life-support systems for deep-space exploration, while stimulating innovations in sustainable carbon management technologies for terrestrial extreme environments.

An international team of researchers has used knowledge of historical geography to reexamine the earliest datable total solar eclipse record known to the scientific community, enabling accurate measurements of Earth's variable rotation speed from 709 BCE. The researchers calculated how the Sun would have appeared from Qufu, the ancient Chinese capital of the Lu Duchy, during the total solar eclipse. Using this information, they analyzed the ancient description of what has been considered the solar corona—the dim outer atmosphere of the Sun visible to the naked eye only during total eclipses—and found that its morphology supports recent solar cycle reconstructions for the 8th century BCE.