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A telescope image of the region of sky surrounding ASKAP J1832-0911.
(Image credit: Ziteng (Andy) Wang, ICRAR)
Astronomers have identified a mysterious space object, named ASKAP J1832-0911, that spits out pulses of radio waves and X-rays in two-minute bursts at regular intervals. However, unlike traditional pulsars, which spit out radio signals every few seconds or milliseconds, the newfound object emits its pulses at intervals of 44 minutes — a period that was previously thought to be impossible.
These signals have left scientists scratching their heads, and unraveling this cosmic mystery could reveal previously unknown physics.
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When parrots talk, are they just mimicking what they hear, or do they actually understand the meaning behind their words?
(Image credit: Saurabh Goel / 500px via Getty Images)
In the wild, parrots don't speak in human tongues; they communicate through a complex array of squeaks, squawks and whistles to find food and warn each other of potential dangers. Research has shown that these animals also use "signature contact calls" to refer to one another, similar to how we call each other by name.
Most of Earth's gold and other precious metals are in the core.
(Image credit: Yuri_Arcurs via Getty Images)
At the center of our planet lies a vast reservoir of gold and precious metals, hidden beneath thousands of miles of rock. But new research suggests that, while it's unlikely we will ever be able to mine Earth's core, some of these metals might nonetheless make their way up to the surface.
"Megaconstellations" of private satellites are quickly becoming a reality, and that's a big problem for astronomers.
Satellites release low levels of radiation in the form of radio waves. As the satellites crowd the outer reaches of our atmosphere, the invisible pollution they let off may disrupt signals from ground-based astronomy instruments, thus limiting our ability to read radio signals from the cosmos.
"It would basically mean that no radio astronomy from the ground would be possible anymore," Benjamin Winkel, a radio astronomer at the Max Planck Institute of Radio Astronomy in Germany, told Live Science. "It will eventually reach a point where it is not worthwhile to operate a [radio] telescope anymore."
At the rate that these megaconstellations are growing, this inflection point could be reached in the next 30 years. But what can be done to stop it?
Something for the weekend
If you're looking for something a little longer to read over the weekend, here are some of the best long reads, book excerpts and interviews published this week.
Hawaii's Kilauea volcano, one of the most active in the world, has been erupting since December 2024. However, this week it did something very unusual.
On May 25, the volcano spewed several enormous lava fountains, some shooting more than 1,000 feet (300 meters) into the air. Such "episodic" fountaining has not been seen since the eruption of Pu'u'ō'ō in the 1980s, experts from the U.S. Geological Society (USGS) wrote.
As it erupts, the volcano has also released thousands of tons of toxic sulfur dioxide and strands of windblown volcanic glass, posing a significant threat to human health.
Pandora is the trending news editor at Live Science. She is also a science presenter and previously worked as Senior Science and Health Reporter at Newsweek. Pandora holds a Biological Sciences degree from the University of Oxford, where she specialised in biochemistry and molecular biology.
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