Space sciences

The University of Hong Kong and collaborators from Nanjing University and the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) unveiled signal pointing to the birth of a “millisecond magnetar”—a rapidly rotating neutron star with an ultra-strong magnetic field.

Fluids may have flowed within the parent body of the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu more than one billion years after it formed, according to research published in Nature.

Using XRISM, JAXA’s new high-precision X-ray spectroscopic satellite, researchers observed a stellar-mass black hole in the Milky Way and detected highly ionized iron absorption lines — clear signatures of hot gas. Remarkably, this detection was achieved at the dimmest X-ray state ever reported for such a system. The results reveal the complex structure and motion of gas around the black hole, offering new insights into the dynamic behavior of black holes.

Echoes of grief, Unexpected mineral, Insulin on edge, Fingerprinting bacteria, Beefing up taste & Power of glass. Read all in the latest Editor's Choice

A group of researchers have observed images from the James Webb Space Telescope. The images were like a time machine, allowing the researchers to understand how these galaxies built their disks over history and compare this to how our own Milky Way formed.

Serendipitous discovery of djerfisherite in Ryugu grain challenges current paradigm of the nature of primitive asteroids.

Using AI image recognition, deep learning model efficiently and accurately finds structures related to star formation

Tohoku University researchers are looking underfoot to uncover the mysterious past of Mars: Martian regoliths in the soil. Their water storage capabilities may help us understand the change in water on Mars over time.

Asteroid contains life’s building blocks, How fish detect color, Eco-friendly artificial muscles, Cell imaging gets a glow-up, Quantum gem, Healing skin with milkfish. Plus the 2025 Magazine is here, Read all in the latest Editor's Choice.

Kavli IPMU researchers are part of an international team that has found dark matter dominating the halos of two supermassive black holes 13 billion light years away.

An astronomer witnesses the gas flowing out from a galaxy 12 billion years ago, shutting down the star formation activity in the early Universe.

Japanese collaborators detected all five nucleobases — building blocks of DNA and RNA — in samples returned from asteroid Bennu by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission.

Astronomer John Silverman works just outside of Tokyo but spends his days with some of the world's biggest telescopes in Hawaii, Chile, and space to study the earliest black holes in the Universe.

This model reveals how vastly different the atmosphere was on ancient Earth, and how life may have first emerged.

Researchers at Tohoku University developed a Martian atmospheric evolution model to propose a new theory about Mars’ past.

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A team including the Kavli IPMU has observed a pair of galaxies merging 12.8 billion years ago, forming one of the brightest objects in the early Universe. These results will help us understand the early evolution of galaxies and black holes.

To understand the mysteries surrounding black holes, researchers at Tohoku University created a simulation of accretion disk turbulence that possesses the highest-resolution currently available.

Our understanding of Venus' water history and the potential that it was once habitable in the past is being challenged by observations made by researchers from Tohoku University.

Sound velocities in lunar mantle aggregates at simultaneous high pressures and temperatures suggests the presence of garnet in the deep lunar interior

Bringing us one step closer to solving the “missing satellites problem,” researchers at Tohoku University and abroad have discovered two new satellite galaxies.

Stars blinking code in Netflix’s “3 Body Problem” may be sci-fi, but by deciphering neutron stars’ erratic flickers, a new study has revealed the twisted origin of their mysterious “heartbeats.”

Experimental investigations on partition coefficients of first-transition row elements between olivine and silicate melt

Lingnan University is proud to announce the appointment of illustrious physicist and Nobel laureate, Prof Samuel C.C. Ting, as Honorary Director of the Lingnan University Institute for Advanced Study (LUIAS). Prof Ting was given an Honorary Doctorate (Doctor of Science, honoris causa) by Lingnan University and visited the campus to host the University Assembly last year, where he lectured on his ongoing space experiments, inspiring the faculty and students alike with his dedication to scientific inquiry and the pursuit of knowledge.

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Samples reveal evidence of changes experienced by the surface of asteroid Ryugu, some probably due to micrometeoroid bombardment.

At least one in a dozen stars show evidence of planetary ingestion according to a paper published in Nature today.

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An international research team have made unprecedentedly detailed observations of the earliest merger of galaxies ever witnessed. They suggest stars developed much faster and more efficiently than we thought. They used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to observe the massive object as it was 510 million years after the Big Bang – i.e. around 13 billion years ago.

Jun’ichi Yokoyama once amused his professors by proposing a far-fetched idea of using neutrinos and gravitational waves to observe the Universe. Decades later, he was proven right and contends young scientists should be nurtured to believe in themselves.