In the vastness of the Universe, any new object with interesting properties can spur the search for similar objects, potentially establishing a new class of stars. In a paper published in Astronomy & Astrophysics and an arXiv preprint, researchers from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) describe two stellar remnants that share five properties, including X-ray emission, despite being isolated objects. According to the team, these two remnants are sufficient to define a new class of stars.

SAN ANTONIO — March 31, 2026 — A Southwest Research Institute-led study found that protons and heavy ions react differently to solar magnetic reconnection events, revealing a more complex magnetic engine powering the solar wind.

Satellite navigation can fail not only during dramatic space weather events, but also when the ionosphere develops sharp regional structures that standard correction models fail to resolve.

Focusing on the engineering challenge of achieving stable, high-strength welding between rough metals surfaces and transparent materials, this work provides an in-depth elucidation of the femtosecond laser welding mechanism for dissimilar materials under non-optical-contact conditions. Through high-speed in situ imaging techniques, it reveals the dynamic coupling between linear absorption in the metal and nonlinear absorption in sapphire during ultrafast laser irradiation. The study further identifies an active interfacial gap filling effect of molten metal, which proactively regulates the free space region at the interface. It clarifies that the welding strength is primarily limited by cracks induced by thermal stress in sapphire, and demonstrates welding performance exceeding 10 MPa between rough Invar alloy and sapphire. These findings offer theoretical guidance and technical support for high-strength, highly stable welding of dissimilar materials.

Dr Gabriela Ligeza is a former PhD student from the University of Basel and now a postdoctoral researcher at the European Space Agency (ESA). With her colleagues, she recently tested a new strategy for semi-autonomous exploration of planets with a legged robot equipped with state-of-the-art measurement tools. The new system was designed to rapidly investigate multiple targets and collect mineralogical data.

The results, published in Frontiers in Space Technologies, showed that semi-autonomous robots can quickly investigate several targets, identify promising rocks, and return scientifically valuable data for astrobiology and in-situ resource utilization (‘living off the land’).

In this guest editorial, Ligeza explains their findings for a wider audience.

Researchers have demonstrated a compact optical wireless transmitter that delivers very high data rates while consuming significantly less energy than conventional WiFi systems. The chip-scale platform integrates a 5 × 5 array of tiny semiconductor lasers with custom beam-shaping optics, enabling parallel data transmission and controlled light distribution for multiuser indoor environments. In experiments, the system achieved an aggregate data rate of more than 360 gigabits per second over a two-meter free-space link, with energy consumption per bit roughly half that of state-of-the-art WiFi. The results highlight the potential of optical wireless communication as an energy-efficient complement to radio-based networks for future high-capacity indoor connectivity.

Understanding how representative currently known proteins are of the overall potential diversity can help inform strategies for a wide range of applications, including therapeutic, biocatalysis, or biomaterials development. Published in PNAS, an OIST-led international team investigated the relationship between protein evolution and sequence space, identifying the limiting factors behind protein diversification. Their findings reinforce theories of DNA recombination as a driving force of ancestral protein formation and highlight the limitations of many cutting-edge AI protein design methods.