A team of researchers led by Emory’s Chunhui Xu recently found that heart muscle cells can grow -and survive in the microgravity environment of space. Her findings, published in Biomaterials, show promise for developing hardier heart cells that could effectively repair damaged hearts in cell therapy –  the process of transplanting millions of heart cells to repair damaged hearts – on earth.

Astronomers previously thought all FRBs were generated by magnetars formed through the explosions of very young, massive stars. But new FRB is pinpointed to the outskirts of 11.3-billion-year-old galaxy without young, active stars — calling those assumptions into question. “Just when you think you understand an astrophysical phenomenon, the universe turns around and surprises us," researcher says.

Astronomers have discovered extremely powerful winds pummeling the equator of WASP-127b, a giant exoplanet. Reaching speeds up to 33 000 km/h, the winds make up the fastest jetstream of its kind ever measured on a planet. The discovery was made using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in Chile and provides unique insights into the weather patterns of a distant world.

The authors explored the recombination dynamics and defect concentration of a mixed cation mixed halide perovskite Cs_0.17FA_0.83PbI_1.8Br_1.2 with 1.75 eV bandgap after exposure to a gamma-ray source (2.5 Gy/min). The manuscript shed light on the use of the wide bandgap perovskite Cs_0.17FA_0.83PbI_1.8Br_1.2 as a material for tandem solar cells with potential applications in a space environment.

Using publicly available genome sequence data generated over the past three decades, an analysis from researchers at the DOE Joint Genome Institute assesses what fraction of the microbial diversity we know about, and proposes a path forward to curate and cultivate what is still unknown.

The Hubble Space Telescope has generated the most comprehensive survey yet of the Andromeda galaxy, the nearest galactic neighbor to the Milky Way. The new mosaic of about 2.5 billion pixels yields new clues to the galaxy's history. UW astronomers presented the findings Jan. 16 at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.