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<![CDATA[ Latest from Live Science ]]>
https://www.livescience.com
- Fri, 23 Jan 2026 13:00:00 +0000
+ Fri, 23 Jan 2026 19:25:37 +0000en
- <![CDATA[ 'Earthquake on a chip' uses 'phonon' lasers to make mobile devices more efficient ]]>
- Engineers have created a device that produces tiny, earthquake-like vibrations on the surface of a chip. They say it could one day be harnessed for signal processing inside everyday electronics, potentially paving the way to smaller, faster and more efficient wireless devices.
In a new study published Jan. 14 in the journal Nature, the scientists described their device as a surface acoustic wave (SAW) phonon laser that generates very small, rapid vibrations.
"Think of it almost like the waves from an earthquake, only on the surface of a small chip," lead study author Alexander Wendt, a graduate student at the University of Arizona Wyant College of Optical Sciences, said in a statement.
In nature, SAWs are produced on a massive scale when tectonic plates slide against each other and cause earthquakes.
SAWs are also used as filters in smartphones to help clean up wireless signals. A phone's radio receives radio waves from a cell tower and then converts them into tiny mechanical vibrations, making it easier for chips to remove unwanted noise.
Multiple chips convert radio waves into SAWs and back again every time you send a text, make a call or access the internet.
SAWs in modern technology
Although they're conceptually similar to seismic surface waves released by earthquakes, SAWs are far too small to be measured on any scale like the moment magnitude scale, which is used to estimate the energy released by movement in Earth's crust.
SAW devices are essential to many of the world's most important technologies, senior study author Matt Eichenfield, a professor of quantum engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, said in the statement. This includes cell phones, key fobs, garage door openers, most GPS receivers, and radar systems.
The scientists said a completely solid-state, single chip that generates coherent SAWs at very high frequencies, without needing an external radio-frequency source, has never been achieved before.
Traditional SAW components typically require two separate chips plus a power source. The team's design aimed to deliver similar functionality using a single chip — potentially enabling much higher frequencies to be powered by a typical smartphonebattery.
The researchers built the device by stacking ultrathin layers of different chip materials into a tiny "bar" about 0.02 inches (0.5 millimeters) long.
This included a silicon base; a thin layer of lithium niobate, a type of piezoelectric crystal that converts electrical signals into mechanical vibrations; and a final layer of indium gallium arsenide, a semiconductor material that can accelerate electrons to extremely high speeds when exposed to an electric field.
The system works by repeatedly amplifying vibrations as they bounce back and forth inside the structure, similar to how light intensifies in a diode laser between two mirrors. Surface vibrations in the lithium niobate interact with electrons in the indium gallium arsenide, boosting the energy of the waves as they move forward.
"It loses almost 99% of its power when it's moving backward, so we designed it to get a substantial amount of gain moving forward to beat that," Wendt said in the statement.
The team generated surface waves at around 1 gigahertz — equal to billions of vibrations per second — and believes the design could be pushed into the tens or hundreds of gigahertz. That's well beyond the capabilities of typical SAW devices, which often top out around 4 GHz, the researchers said.
The long-term goal is to simplify how phones handle wireless signals — namely, by designing a single chip that can convert radio waves into SAWs and back again, using surface waves for much of the signal processing. Doing so could potentially enable future wireless devices to filter and route signals on smaller chips, using less power.
"This phonon laser was the last domino standing that we needed to knock down," Wendt added. "Now we can literally make every component that you need for a radio on one chip using the same kind of technology."
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- https://www.livescience.com/technology/electronics/earthquake-on-a-chip-could-speed-up-smartphones-thanks-to-phonon-laser-invention
+ <![CDATA[ People, not glaciers, transported rocks to Stonehenge, study confirms ]]>
+ Humans — not glaciers — transported Stonehenge's megaliths across Great Britain to their current location in southern England, a new study confirms.
Scientists have believed for decades that the 5,000-year-old monument's iconic stones came from what is now Wales and even as far as Scotland, but there is still debate as to how the stones arrived at Salisbury Plain in southern England.
Now, an analysis of microscopic mineral grains from rivers around Stonehenge has revealed that glaciers didn't reach into the region during the last ice age (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago), refuting an idea known as the "glacial transport theory" that suggests Stonehenge's bluestones and 6.6-ton (6 metric tons) Altar Stone were delivered by ice sheets to Salisbury Plain. The new study was published Jan. 21 in the journal Communications Earth and Environment.
"While previous research had cast doubt on the glacial transport theory, our study goes further and applies cutting-edge mineral fingerprinting to trace the stones' true origins," study authors Anthony Clarke, a research geologist at Curtin University in Australia, and Christopher Kirkland, a professor of geology also at Curtin University, wrote in The Conversation.
Stonehenge's bluestones, so called because they acquire a bluish tinge when wet or freshly broken, are from the Preseli Hills in western Wales, meaning people likely dragged them 140 miles (225 kilometers) to the site of the prehistoric monument. More remarkable still, researchers think the Altar Stone inside Stonehenge's middle circle came from northern England or Scotland, which is much farther away — at least 300 miles (500 km) — from Salisbury Plain and may have required boats.
The glacial transport theory is a counterproposal to the idea that people moved the stones from elsewhere in the U.K. to build the monument on Salisbury Plain, instead using stones that had already been transported there by natural means. However, as Stonehenge’s rocks show no signs of glacial transport, and the southern extent of Great Britain’s former ice sheets remain unclear, archaeologists have disputed the idea.
To investigate further, the researchers behind the new study used known radioactive decay rates to date tiny specks of zircon and apatite minerals left over from ancient rocks in river sediments around Stonehenge. The age of these specks reveals the age of rocks that once existed in the region, which, in turn, can provide information about where these rocks came from.
Different rock formations have different ages, so if the rocks that became parts of Stonehenge were dragged across the land by glaciers, they would have left these tiny traces around Salisbury Plain that could then be matched with rocks in their original locations.
The researchers analyzed more than 700 zircon and apatite grains but found no significant match for rocks in either western Wales or Scotland. Instead, most of the zircon grains studied showed dates between 1.7 billion and 1.1 billion years ago, coinciding with a time when much of what is now southern England was covered in compacted sand, the researchers wrote in The Conversation. On the other hand, the ages of apatite grains converged around 60 million years ago, when southern England was a shallow, subtropical sea. This means the minerals in rivers around Stonehenge are the remnants of rocks from the local area, and hadn’t been swept in from other places.
The results suggest glaciers didn't extend as far south as Salisbury Plain during the last ice age, excluding the possibility that ice sheets dropped off the megaliths of Stonehenge for ancient builders to subsequently use.
"This gives us further evidence the monument's most exotic stones did not arrive by chance but were instead deliberately selected and transported," the researchers wrote.
Stonehenge quiz: What do you know about the ancient monument?
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+ https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/people-not-glaciers-transported-rocks-to-stonehenge-study-confirms
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+ <![CDATA[ Astronomers discover a gigantic, wobbling black hole jet that 'changes the way we think about the galaxy' ]]>
+ It's a well-known fact that supermassive black holes (SMBH) play a vital role in the evolution of galaxies.
Their powerful gravity and the way it accelerates matter in its vicinity causes so much radiation to be released from the core region — aka. an active galactic nucleus (AGN) — that it will periodically outshine all the stars in the disk combined.
In addition, some SMBHs accelerate infalling dust and gas into jets that emanate from the poles, sending streams of super-heated material millions of light-years at close to the speed of light.
Since the first of these "relativistic jets" was observed, scientists have been eager to learn more about them and their role in galaxy evolution. In a surprising first, a team of astronomers led by researchers at the University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine) and the Caltech Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) recently uncovered the largest and most extended jet ever observed in a nearby galaxy.
Their observations also revealed vast "wobbly" structures, the clearest evidence to date that SMBHs can dramatically reshape their host galaxies far beyond their cores.
Their findings, published in the journal Science, were also the subject of a presentation made at the 247th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Phoenix, Arizona.
The team observed the galaxy VV340a using the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaii, and identified a jet extending up to 20,000 light-years from its center. Thanks to the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI) on the Observatory's Keck II telescope, they discerned a spear-like structure aligned with the galactic nucleus.
The data obtained from KCWI allowed the team to model the amount of material being expelled and determine whether the outflow could be affecting the galaxy's evolution. Said Justin Kader, a UC Irvine postdoctoral researcher and the lead author on the study, in a W.M. Keck Observatory press release:
The Keck Observatory data is what allowed us to understand the true scale of this phenomenon. The gas we see with Keck Observatory reaches the farthest distances from the black hole, which means it also traces the longest timescales. Without these observations, we wouldn't know how powerful — or how persistent — this outflow really is.
The team combined the Keck data with infrared observations made with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and radio images from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). While Webb's infrared data revealed the energetic heart of the galaxy, Keck's optical data showed how that energy propagates outward. The VLA radio data, meanwhile, revealed a pair of plasma jets twisted into a helical pattern as they move outward. The combined data presented a compelling picture, with a few surprises along the way.
For instance, the Webb data identified intensely energized "coronal" gas, the superheated plasma erupting from either side of the black hole, measuring several thousand parsecs across. Most observed coronae measure in the hundreds of parsecs, making this the most extended coronal gas structure ever observed. Meanwhile, the VLA radio data revealed a pair of plasma jets twisted into a helical pattern as they moved outward, evidence of a rare phenomenon in which a jet's direction slowly wobbles over time (known as jet precession).
In addition, the KCWI data showed that the jet arrests star formation by stripping the galaxy of gas at a rate of about 20 Solar masses a year. But what was most surprising was the fact that these jets were observed in a relatively young galaxy like VV340a, which is still in the early stages of a galactic merger. Typically, such jets are observed in older elliptical galaxies that have long since ceased star formation. This discovery challenges established theories of how galaxies and their SMBHs co-evolve and could provide new insights into how the Milky Way came to be. Said Kader:
This is the first time we've seen a precessing, kiloparsec-scale radio jet driving such a massive outflow in a disk galaxy. There's no clear fossil record of something like this happening in our galaxy, but this discovery suggests we can't rule it out. It changes the way we think about the galaxy we live in.
The next step for the team will involve higher-resolution radio observations to determine whether a second SMBH could be at the center of VV340a, which could be causing the jets' wobble. "We're only beginning to understand how common this kind of activity may be," said Vivian U, an associate scientist at Caltech/IPAC and the second and senior author of the study. "With Keck Observatory and these other powerful observatories working together, we're opening a new window into how galaxies change over time."
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+ https://www.livescience.com/space/black-holes/astronomers-discover-a-gigantic-wobbling-black-hole-jet-that-changes-the-way-we-think-about-the-galaxy
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+ <![CDATA[ Some of the oldest harpoons ever found reveal Indigenous people in Brazil were hunting whales 5,000 years ago ]]>
+ Harpoons crafted from the bones of humpback and southern right whales show Indigenous groups in what is now Brazil were hunting whales 5,000 years ago.
The discovery, which included 118 whale bones and crafted artifacts, reveal that prehistoric whaling was not confined to people in temperate and polar climates in the Northern Hemisphere, according to a study published Jan. 9 in the journal Nature Communications.
"Whaling has always been enigmatic," because it's difficult to distinguish bone tools made from actively hunted and stranded animals in the archaeological record, study co-author André Carlo Colonese, a research director at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, told Live Science.
So the new tools are significant because their discovery alongside multiple bone remains from members of the same species represents some of the oldest evidence of active whale hunting in the world, the authors wrote in the study.
Prehistoric whaling
For prehistoric people, whales provided huge feasts, oil for warmth, and bones for tools and cultural ornaments and accessories. Although coastal communities have opportunistically salvaged these resources from beached whales for at least 20,000 years, the evidence of active hunting is much younger. For example, people hunted large whales with deer bone harpoons 6,000 years ago in what is now South Korea, and harpoons from around 3,500 to 2,500 years ago have been uncovered in the Arctic and sub-Arctic.
Colonese and his team did not originally set out to investigate early whaling. Instead, they were trying to document the marine species that were used by Indigenous Sambaqui populations in southern Brazil. To do so, they analyzed the molecular signature of precolonial cetacean (whale, dolphin and porpoise) bones at the Joinville Sambaqui Archaeological Museum in Brazil. Of the 118 bone remains with an identifiable cetacean species, most were from southern right whales, but many bones were from humpback whales. Only 37 had been crafted into items such as pendants.
It was "completely random" that one of the museum's curators brought out a box of what were believed to be sticks, Colonese said. But based on their design, such as hollow centers for a wooden shaft and carved tips, he immediately recognized them as harpoons. The team identified 15 harpoon elements, including heads and shaft components, made from either southern right whale or humpback whale rib bones.
The researchers took tiny samples from two harpoon foreshafts to determine their age, which revealed that the tools were between 4,710 and 4,970 years old. Colonese said he jumped for joy when he saw the results because these are some of the oldest harpoons found anywhere in the world — over 1,000 years older than the Arctic and sub-Arctic examples.
Harpoon socket pieces crafted from southern right whale bones.
Image 2 of 2
(Image credit: McGrath et al, Nature Communications (2026) CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Harpoon shaft components crafted from southern right whale and humpback whale bones.
The discovery also showed that these Indigenous populations in Brazil were not simply gathering mollusks and catching fish. "The conventional idea was that the Sambaquisdidn't have the technology" for whaling, Colonese said. "This is telling us that they were actually hunting."
"It's a very spectacular, informative discovery," Jean-Marc Pétillon, an archaeologist at the University of Toulouse in France who was not involved in the research, told Live Science.
Although it's not clear that these particular harpoons were used to hunt whales — as opposed to other marine animals, such as seals — this new evidence helps to contradict the assumption that whaling was practiced only in the Northern Hemisphere, according to Pétillon.
"Having these people living in southern Brazil in tropical conditions that also did whaling is also a way to change our perspective on these maritime exploitation systems," he said.
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+ https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/some-of-the-oldest-harpoons-ever-found-reveal-indigenous-people-in-brazil-were-hunting-whales-5-000-years-ago
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+ Fri, 23 Jan 2026 16:16:56 +0000Fri, 23 Jan 2026 16:16:57 +0000
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+ <![CDATA[ 'A real revolution': The James Webb telescope is upending our understanding of the biggest, oldest black holes in the universe ]]>
+ Colossal monsters lurk in the centers of all galaxies. Known as supermassive black holes, these gravitational beasts can have millions to billions of times more mass than the sun.
For decades, astronomers have wondered where these behemoths came from and how they got so huge. Early on, physicists thought that supermassive black holes formed like other, smaller black holes do — with large stars collapsing and becoming sun-size black holes that slowly devoured surrounding matter and merged with one another over billions of years.
But it has become increasingly clear this model is broken.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has peered back to some of the earliest epochs in cosmic history to spot gigantic black holes that are too big, too early to be explained by traditional models. Researchers are beginning to piece together a story of how they originated, which likely involved strange and exotic processes.
Emerging research suggests enormous black holes could have existed since the universe's earliest days, perhaps even before stars and galaxies, and that they came about in multiple ways. While future discoveries will help narrow down the predominance of each formation mechanism, many in the field are already thrilled to be chipping away at a long-standing cosmic mystery.
"This is one of the most exciting phases of my career," Roberto Maiolino, an astrophysicist at the University of Cambridge, told Live Science. "I'm tempted to call it a real revolution in our understanding of the formation of these objects."
Mystery giants
Hints of the cosmic size discrepancy arose in the early 2000s, when instruments like the Sloan Digital Sky Survey helped capture data on tens of thousands of extremely bright objects called quasars in the faroff universe. These luminous entities are thought to be gargantuan black holes in the centers of galaxies. They feed on vast amounts of gas and dust, and then spew powerful radiation. The Sloan survey showed that many quasars existed when the universe was just 800 million years old — a fraction of its current 13.8 billion-year age. The existence of these behemoths, which have millions to billions of times the sun's mass, was a head-scratcher for cosmologists.
That's because a typical black hole arises when a huge star nears the end of its life and explodes as a fiery supernova. The core of the titanic star collapses into a superdense point from which nothing, including light, can escape. Such stellar-size black holes are generally around 10 to 100 times as massive as the sun. While these objects can become gravitationally attracted to one another and merge into ever larger black holes, there didn't appear to be enough time for such processes to build them up into quasar-scale territory at the earliest points in cosmic history.
Quasars are some of the brightest objects in the universe. Their early appearance in the universe's history raised questions about how black holes formed. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI))
"We knew that either they grow very fast or there had to be some other ways of forming them," astrophysicist Ignas Juodzbalis, also of the University of Cambridge, told Live Science.
The question was how. One leading theory posits that, in the past, ginormous clumps of gas and dust could collapse under their own weight, rapidly forming a black hole with perhaps 1,000 to 1 million times the sun's mass. These direct-collapse black holes, as they're called, would then grow by feeding on gas and dust and merging into the supermassive black holes seen in today's galactic centers.
Models predicted that as such black holes gorged, they would become extremely bright compared with their host galaxies, either matching or topping surrounding stars' luminosities. In other words, they would become quasars.
X-ray emissions, seen in both JWST and Chandra X-ray Observatory data from a galaxy 13.2 billion light-years away, suggest that a supermassive black hole was already forming early in the universe's history. (Image credit: Chandra/JWST)
In 2023, JWST spotted a distant galaxy, dubbed UHZ1, that seemed to align neatly with the direct-collapse black hole model. The galaxy existed when the universe was a mere 470 million years old and contains a black hole with an estimated mass of 40 million suns.
Astronomers lucked out because UHZ1 was spotted both by JWST, which sees in the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum, and by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which sees in X-ray light. Infrared light mostly comes from stars and warm dust heated by starlight, whereas the more powerful X-rays blast out from the devouring black hole.
And UHZ1's infrared and X-ray brightness are quite similar to one another, which suggests a black hole so large that it rivals the mass of all the stars in its galaxy. (For comparison, a modern galaxy like our Milky Way has around 20,000 times more mass in its stars, gas and dust than in its central black hole.) No one had ever seen anything like this before.
But researchers had predicted exactly how the colors emitted by a direct-collapse black hole would appear in JWST's instruments, along with several other key properties that could identify such an object .
"It turns out that UHZ1 remarkably satisfies all these properties," Priyamvada Natarajan, an astrophysicist at Yale University and lead author of the paper making those predictions, told Live Science.
Little red dots
UHZ1 is not alone. From almost the moment it turned on, JWST has been detecting extremely compact red entities that existed mainly when the cosmos was between half a billion and 1.5 billion years old. Known as "little red dots," they were originally thought to be galaxies far too big to have formed in the early universe, leading some scientists to call them "universe breakers" for upending models of cosmic history. The prevailing consensus is now moving toward the possibility that, rather than unusually large galaxies, these are bizarre, humongous black holes.
Data from James Webb's Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science survey (CEERS), JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) and Next Generation Deep Extragalactic Exploratory Public (NGDEEP) survey have revealed extremely dense, compact entities from between 600 million and 1.5-billion years after the Big Bang that seem to defy traditional cosmological explanations. Dubbed "little red dots," these objects may be black holes, data suggests. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Dale Kocevski (Colby College))
For instance, an object called QSO1 that existed when the universe was around 700 million years old has been studied intensely since it was discovered in 2023. A recent investigation looked at gas swirling around QSO1's center to try to pin down its mass with high precision. Swirling gas travels at a certain speed depending on the gravitational force tugging it as it spins. Using this technique, astronomers have shown that QSO1's mass is around that of 50 million suns. Moreover, all of the mass appears to be in a compact region around the black hole, with very little evidence of a large stellar population.
"We still don't see where the host galaxy is," Lukas Furtak, an astronomer at the University of Texas at Austin, told Live Science. "There doesn't really seem to be one."
This prospect — a gigantic black hole with no visible host galaxy — has been conjectured but never previously observed. Yet that appears to be what many of these little red dots are. Another recent study analyzed an object named "The Cliff," which likely weighs billions of times as much as the sun and is from about 1.8 billion years after the Big Bang. JWST's data showed a very sharp jump in The Cliff's light at a narrow wavelength that usually arises from dense hydrogen gas at a specific temperature. The findings indicate that The Cliff might be a long-hypothesized object called a quasi-star or a black hole star.
JWST may have found a new type of object known as a black hole star. (Image credit: MPIA/HdA/T. Müller/A. de Graaff)
A quasi-star would be a potential stage in the evolution of a direct-collapse black hole. After the central huge chunk of gas crumpled to form a black hole, an outer sphere of gas and dust would remain, get heated by the black hole's emissions and glow in red wavelengths. This entity would look somewhat like a giant red star but would in fact be an envelope of hot hydrogen gas cocooned around a supermassive black hole.
In the very beginning
While direct-collapse models can explain a lot of what JWST is seeing, there remain a few other possibilities for supermassive black hole formation.
First proposed by Stephen Hawking in the 1970s, primordial black holes are a class of objects that could have arisen in the first few moments after the Big Bang, when dense regions collapsed under their own weight. Such black holes could come in a wide range of sizes, including ones large enough to act as the initial seeds for later supermassive black holes. One study has shown that mergers of primordial black holes could explain GN-z11, a galaxy from when the universe was a mere 400 million years old that contains a black hole with an estimated mass of 2 million suns.
A million-solar-mass black hole seems to be lurking within the ionized gas (shown in green) in the Infinity galaxy, and new images from the JWST suggest it may have formed via a process known as direct collapse. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, P. van Dokkum (Yale University))
Another theory has posited the existence of "not-quite-primordial black holes ." These would have come about within the first few million years after the Big Bang — later than primordial black holes but still long before any stars — when large clouds of hydrogen and helium collapsed under their own weight.
"For primordial black holes, you need these really extremely dense regions in the very early universe," Wenzer Qin, a theoretical physicist at New York University, told Live Science. That generally requires a lot of fine-tuning of parameters in a cosmological model, she added. When you relax such tight constraints a bit, dense regions appear at slightly later times in cosmic history, creating direct-collapse black holes that can go on to merge and end up as supermassive black holes.
Astronomers think that almost all elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were created in the nuclear bellies of giant stars and were then strewn about the universe when those stars went supernova. Many of the early black holes and young galaxies that JWST is seeing contain low amounts of these heavy elements. That could suggest that at least some of these objects formed from either primordial or not-quite-primordial black holes, given that both would have arisen long before any stars existed.
Researchers are still debating which of these models might be dominant for monster-black-hole formation, but most favor a blended view.
"I think, in the end, it will be some combination of all these mechanisms that gives rise to the entire population of supermassive black holes," Qin said.
Other missions such as the European Space Agency's Euclid observatory, launched in 2023, and NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, expected to launch in 2027, will team up with JWST to discover and study more early supermassive black holes. That should help researchers differentiate between these formation mechanisms and determine which, if any, is more common.
An illustration of the Nancy Grace Roman telescope, which will launch in 2027 and should shed further light on how some of the earliest black holes formed. (Image credit: GSFC/SVS)
One thing that appears to be growing clearer to many astronomers is that supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies probably didn't come from stellar-size ones.
Thanks to its unparalleled abilities, JWST has upended our understanding of early cosmic history and is helping to rewrite the story of how gigantic black holes may have developed.
"The universe is littered with supermassive black holes that form extremely early," Natarajan said. "I can't tell you how exciting that is."
]]>
+ https://www.livescience.com/space/black-holes/a-real-revolution-the-james-webb-telescope-is-upending-our-understanding-of-the-biggest-oldest-black-holes-in-the-universe
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+ <![CDATA[ Chocolate Hills: The color-changing mounds in the Philippines that inspired legends of mud-slinging giants ]]>
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+ <![CDATA[ 'Earthquake on a chip' uses 'phonon' lasers to make mobile devices more efficient ]]>
+ Engineers have created a device that produces tiny, earthquake-like vibrations on the surface of a chip. They say it could one day be harnessed for signal processing inside everyday electronics, potentially paving the way to smaller, faster and more efficient wireless devices.
In a new study published Jan. 14 in the journal Nature, the scientists described their device as a surface acoustic wave (SAW) phonon laser that generates very small, rapid vibrations.
"Think of it almost like the waves from an earthquake, only on the surface of a small chip," lead study author Alexander Wendt, a graduate student at the University of Arizona Wyant College of Optical Sciences, said in a statement.
In nature, SAWs are produced on a massive scale when tectonic plates slide against each other and cause earthquakes.
SAWs are also used as filters in smartphones to help clean up wireless signals. A phone's radio receives radio waves from a cell tower and then converts them into tiny mechanical vibrations, making it easier for chips to remove unwanted noise.
Multiple chips convert radio waves into SAWs and back again every time you send a text, make a call or access the internet.
SAWs in modern technology
Although they're conceptually similar to seismic surface waves released by earthquakes, SAWs are far too small to be measured on any scale like the moment magnitude scale, which is used to estimate the energy released by movement in Earth's crust.
SAW devices are essential to many of the world's most important technologies, senior study author Matt Eichenfield, a professor of quantum engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, said in the statement. This includes cell phones, key fobs, garage door openers, most GPS receivers, and radar systems.
The scientists said a completely solid-state, single chip that generates coherent SAWs at very high frequencies, without needing an external radio-frequency source, has never been achieved before.
Traditional SAW components typically require two separate chips plus a power source. The team's design aimed to deliver similar functionality using a single chip — potentially enabling much higher frequencies to be powered by a typical smartphonebattery.
The researchers built the device by stacking ultrathin layers of different chip materials into a tiny "bar" about 0.02 inches (0.5 millimeters) long.
This included a silicon base; a thin layer of lithium niobate, a type of piezoelectric crystal that converts electrical signals into mechanical vibrations; and a final layer of indium gallium arsenide, a semiconductor material that can accelerate electrons to extremely high speeds when exposed to an electric field.
The system works by repeatedly amplifying vibrations as they bounce back and forth inside the structure, similar to how light intensifies in a diode laser between two mirrors. Surface vibrations in the lithium niobate interact with electrons in the indium gallium arsenide, boosting the energy of the waves as they move forward.
"It loses almost 99% of its power when it's moving backward, so we designed it to get a substantial amount of gain moving forward to beat that," Wendt said in the statement.
The team generated surface waves at around 1 gigahertz — equal to billions of vibrations per second — and believes the design could be pushed into the tens or hundreds of gigahertz. That's well beyond the capabilities of typical SAW devices, which often top out around 4 GHz, the researchers said.
The long-term goal is to simplify how phones handle wireless signals — namely, by designing a single chip that can convert radio waves into SAWs and back again, using surface waves for much of the signal processing. Doing so could potentially enable future wireless devices to filter and route signals on smaller chips, using less power.
"This phonon laser was the last domino standing that we needed to knock down," Wendt added. "Now we can literally make every component that you need for a radio on one chip using the same kind of technology."
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+ https://www.livescience.com/technology/electronics/earthquake-on-a-chip-could-speed-up-smartphones-thanks-to-phonon-laser-invention
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+ Fri, 23 Jan 2026 13:00:00 +0000Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:29:37 +0000
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+ <![CDATA[ How to choose the best dehumidifier for your home this season ]]>
The main purpose of a dehumidifier is to draw in damp air, remove excess moisture and release drier air into the room. Sounds simple enough, so surely you just go for the one that removes the most water per day according to the label, right?
Well, unfortunately, as with most things, it's not quite that simple. Several factors will come into play that will vary from house to house — there isn't a one-size-fits-all solution.
Houses, workplaces, basements, studios or anywhere else you might want to use a dehumidifier are all unique environments. The size of the room will vary, as will the existing levels of damp or condensation, the room temperature and the climate. A dehumidifier that performs well in a warm living room might struggle in a cold underground basement, for example.
So, what should you look for when buying a dehumidifier? It's difficult to say without knowing your exact circumstances and reason for buying, but hopefully this guide will help you choose.
Here at Live Science, we have tried and tested a plethora of dehumidifiers and have identified which models are best for which purpose.
Reason for purchase
The Honeywell TP50WKN dehumidifier is our top pick: it ticks a lot of boxes. (Image credit: Alyssa Mercante)
It might sound silly, but why are you looking to purchase a dehumidifier? Common reasons people consider a dehumidifier include condensation on windows, mold growth, a damp or musty smell, damp patches on walls, or difficulty drying clothes inside during the winter.
Do you just need to manage air moisture, or do you need to dry a room that's been damaged by flooding or damp? Are you looking for a way to dry your laundry faster, or do you need to prevent condensation from forming to prevent damage to your loft or conservatory? The answers will help narrow down your choices.
The two main types of dehumidifier
The LG UD501KOG5 is ideal for large rooms but is overkill for small spaces. (Image credit: Alyssa Mercante)
Consider which environment your dehumidifier will be put to work in, as it will help you decide which type of dehumidifier to buy. There are two main types:
For warmer environments, a refrigerant dehumidifier (or compressor dehumidifier) would be most appropriate. These use a fan to draw in moist air and pass it over coolant-cooled coils. The air is warmed, dried, and recirculated back into your home.
A desiccant dehumidifier, on the other hand, uses a heated, absorbent material to draw moisture from the air, which collects in a water tank that you need to empty periodically. These perform better in cold environments such as garages and conservatories.
In short, if your dehumidifier is in a fully heated room, a refrigerant is appropriate; in a cooler space, a desiccant is better and more efficient.
Understanding the labels
The GE Dehumidifier APER50LZ removes 28 liters of moisture per day, ideal for very wet rooms. It has a built-in pump and a long hose, too. (Image credit: Future)
As we mentioned earlier, dehumidifiers are often labeled by how much water they can remove in 24 hours. For example, the GE APER50LZ, which we reviewed back in 2022, claims to remove 50 pints (28L) per day.
As a rough guide, a 8-12L model would be best suited to a 1-2 bedroom apartment, a 12-20L model would be ideal for a 2-3 bedroom home, and a 20+L model would suit large homes or very damp spaces. The example given above is therefore best suited to a large home or a very wet space. In a smaller room, this large unit might be unnecessarily costly to buy and run.
This statistic is therefore only really useful for an apples-to-apples comparison. Also, be mindful that these stats are often collected under lab conditions, not in real-world environments. They should be used as an indicator and not as gospel.
Pick the right design
Make sure all of the controls are accessible, especially if it is going to stay in one place. (Image credit: Alyssa Mercante)
Aside from the amount of moisture the dehumidifier can remove, other design factors are important. It's no good having a dehumidifier that does its job perfectly but causes other nuisances.
Noise
Noise is a key factor we consider when reviewing each model, and is acknowledged throughout our buying guides. The Honeywell TP50WKN is described as having inoffensive noise levels, whereas the GE Dehumidifier APER50LZ, a larger unit, is described as having moderate noise levels. It goes without saying that if you don't want to be distracted while working, sleeping or entertaining, you'll want a quieter model, whereas this might not be as important if the unit is somewhere with hardly any footfall.
Tank size/drainage
The larger the tank, the less frequently it needs to be emptied, but a smaller tank size will typically be found in a more portable and compact machine. Again, your decision will depend on the dehumidifier's location, ease of access, and how far you need to walk to the drain/sink to empty it.
Continuous drainage, if the dehumidifier supports it (as opposed to a tank you empty), works in one of two ways. Gravity drainage, as in the Honeywell TP50WKN,means water flows downward through the hose. The hose must discharge to a drain/sink/bucket that is lower than the dehumidifier's outlet. The alternative is pump-assisted drainage, which does the opposite. Water is pumped upward through the hose, as found in the GE Dehumidifier APER50LZ. Handy if you want to run the pipe out the window or into a standard sink.
In short, if you can empty the tank regularly and don't need to run the dehumidifier continuously, you can likely make do with a model that has only a water tank. If you have very damp rooms or require 24/7 hands-off operation, and have a suitable location for the drainage pipe, continuous drainage may require less maintenance and make more sense.
Portability
As you've probably established by now, some units are designed to be left in one place (typically the larger ones with continuous drainage). Some are more suitable for moving from room to room. Some units have handles and/or wheels, like the LG UD501KOG5, which can make even heavier units easier to move from A to B. Check these things before making a purchase.
Features
We recommend that if you have a unit with a water tank that needs to be emptied, you purchase a unit with an auto-shutdown feature, which stops the machine from running once the water tank is full. Otherwise, you can end up with a bigger mess on your hands than you started with!
Some dehumidifiers have "smart" features. For example, the Honeywell white TP50WK Energy Star actively monitors your space, adjusting modes based on the moisture level it detects.
Some models have auto-start, which means that if there is a power cut, they will automatically resume when power returns, without requiring manual intervention. Other models will have dedicated modes, like laundry mode; some will come with apps that alert you when the water tank is full or let you set schedules and control the unit remotely.
As we continue reviewing dehumidifiers, we will update our best dehumidifiers guide to include the models we recommend. No doubt we will start to see more features cropping up on newer units.
Consider the maintenance costs
The LG UD501KOG5 is a pricey bit of kit, but it is Energy Star-certified so has been tested for efficiency. (Image credit: Alyssa Mercante)
The initial investment of buying a dehumidifier isn't the only cost: you will also need to account for the price of energy to run the appliance.
While it may cost more up front, you'll likely save more over time by buying an Energy Star-certified model. These models have undergone testing to ensure they meet strict energy-efficiency criteria set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the Department of Energy. In our best dehumidifiers guide, you can clearly see which models have an Energy Star rating.
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+ <![CDATA[ Sega Toys Homestar Classic star projector review ]]>
+ When you hear the name "Sega," you probably think of Sonic The Hedgehog. But it turns out the Japanese entertainment company does a lot more than create video games: it’s also one of the leading manufacturers of realistic star projectors.
The Sega Toys Homestar Classic is one of three in Sega Toys’ lineup, sitting alongside the Homestar Flux and the Homestar Matataki. All three models are similar, but this is the least expensive of the trio. The Flux offers a more powerful projector, and the Matataki has a built-in speaker. The Homestar Classic is a little more barebones, but it’s still one of the most powerful projectors on the market, particularly if you’re looking for a realistic projection of the night sky.
This is a quality product, delivered in attractive packaging that feels every bit as premium as its price tag suggests. It ships with two discs: the Northern Hemisphere and the Northern Hemisphere with constellations, but more discs are available (costing around $20 each), making this one of the most versatile projectors on the market, provided you don’t mind spending a little more.
The other Sega Toys Homestar projectors have earned themselves a place on our guide to the best star projectors, and we think the Homestar Classic deserves a place right alongside them. Read on to our full review to find out why.
We love the space-age design of the Sega Toys Homestar Classic (Image credit: Future)
Sega Toys Homestar Classic: Design
Easy to use
Premium build quality
Uses mains power
There’s something wonderful about the design of the Sega Toys Homestar Classic. It feels suitably space-age, thanks to its orb-like shape. It’s not over the top or too flashy, either. Compared to some star projectors, it feels minimalist and understated — particularly if you opt for the black or white colorway. The Homestar Classic is also available in red or blue, which we think are perhaps more suited to a kid’s bedroom, though perhaps you just prefer bolder colors.
Whichever color you opt for, the Sega Toys Homestar Classic of course functions exactly the same. There is no remote control, with all actions taking place on the unit itself. There’s an on/off switch, and three buttons which turn on or off shooting stars, movement and a sleep timer.
The projector ships with an AC adapter, which means you’ll need to place it near a power outlet. It’s something to bear in mind, especially considering many other projectors are USB-C powered or even have a rechargeable battery.
The Homestar Classic has a great build quality that doesn’t feel cheap or plasticky. Thanks to a metal stand, it feels very sturdy and it’s easy to adjust. No matter what position you have the projector in, you should feel confident that it isn’t going to move.
All controls for the projector can be found on the unit itself. (Image credit: Future)
Sega Toys Homestar Classic: Performance
Whisper-quiet
Projections are beautiful and realistic
Requires total darkness to really shine
If you appreciate silence, the Sega Toys Homestar Classic is a great choice. It’s whisper-quiet in operation, which is a boon to those who are looking for a projector to fall asleep to. That’s largely because, unlike some other projectors, the Homestar Classic doesn’t have a noisy rotation motor inside. Instead, projections can gently and slowly pan. Personally, we prefer this: it’s subtle, calming and more realistic.
The projections provided here are simply stunning. According to the official Sega Toys website, you’re seeing up to 60,000 twinkling stars when the projector is turned on. We have of course not counted, but we can believe it: you’ll want to project the Homestar Classic onto a large wall or ceiling to really get the most out of it. It’s immersive and striking, thanks to how sharp and detailed it is.
Perhaps the only downside is that you’ll want your room to be fully dark to truly appreciate the Sega Toys Homestar Classic’s projections. With only 3 watts of power (compared to the Flux’s 5 watts), it’s a little dull if you still have a light source in your room. Wait until dark, pull the curtains, and you’ll truly appreciate how gorgeous the projections are. If it’s still light, it can be a little underwhelming.
The projections from the Sega Toys Homestar Classic are simply stunning. (Image credit: Future)
Sega Toys Homestar Classic: Functionality
A variety of discs are available
Has a built-in sleep timer
Focus wheel can be a little fiddly
Since this is the cheapest projector offered by Sega Toys, it doesn’t have quite the full suite of bells and whistles you’ll find on the company’s other projectors. The Flux boasts improved visual quality, for example, and a brighter projector. And the Matataki has a built-in speaker with a built-in library of natural sounds. Those features come with a higher price tag, though, and if you’re just wanting a realistic projector, the Sega Toys Homestar Classic packs in all the features you’ll want or need.
While it doesn’t have full rotation, you can turn on a gentle movement, which some users will prefer. You can also enable or disable shooting stars, which add a welcome sense of motion to projections. Finally, there’s a sleep timer, which can be set to 15, 30 or 60 minutes, after which time the projector will power itself off. It’s ideal if you’d like to use it to fall asleep to, so you can be confident it won’t stay on all night.
To focus the Sega Toys Homestar Classic, you’ll need to turn the focus wheel manually, which is located around the outside of the projector lens itself. We initially had a little difficulty in getting the projector clearly in focus; the focus wheel feels a little loose, and you may need to turn it for a long time before you notice any difference. Once it’s in focus, however, it should stay there — so as long as you keep the projector in the same position, you should not need to refocus.
Placing the projector somewhere between 59 and 90 inches (150 and 230 centimeters) away from the flat surface you’re projecting onto is the ideal distance. If you’re struggling to find a clear focus point, it may be that the projector is too close or too far away, so try placing it elsewhere.
Numerous interchangeable discs are available for the Sega Toys Homestar Classic, but it only ships with two. (Image credit: Future)
Should I buy the Sega Toys Homestar Classic?
The short answer is yes, you should buy the Sega Toys Homestar Classic. The long answer ultimately depends on your budget. At $150, this is among the most expensive star projectors on the market, despite being the cheapest model offered by Sega Toys. But if you’re looking for a realistic, believable projection, you won’t find much better than this.
If you’re simply looking for a pretty light show to help you relax before bed, we’d recommend finding a cheaper projector elsewhere. But for an accurate, scientific display of the night sky, this really is one of the best star projectors on the market.
If the Sega Toys Homestar Classic isn’t for you
If you want the very best, we’d recommend taking a look at the Sega Toys Homestar Flux. This offers similar functionality to the Classic, but with even better projection quality, a brighter bulb, and a larger choice of projection discs available. It carries a higher price tag, of course, but that’s to be expected given its additional features.
There are, of course, cheaper projectors that offer similar functionality. We’ve previously called the Orzorz Galaxy Lite the best star projector on the market: it has a lower price tag and still offers realistic displays with interchangeable discs.
And if you’re really on a budget, the Blisslights Sky Lite Evolve is worth considering: it doesn’t offer scientific projections, but it’s an impressive display nonetheless, and thanks to app functionality, there’s plenty you can do with it.
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+ https://www.livescience.com/technology/sega-toys-homestar-classic-star-projector-review
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+ Thu, 22 Jan 2026 12:00:00 +0000Wed, 21 Jan 2026 10:43:33 +0000
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+ <![CDATA[ 6 tips to kickstart your exercise routine and actually stick to it, according to science ]]>
It is an all-too-familiar cycle: As the New Year starts, we are brimming with motivation, promising ourselves that this is the year we finally get fit. We go to the gym regularly, diligently track our workouts and fill our schedules with fitness classes two weeks in advance. But then reality sets in. Life gets busy, motivation drops, and our fitness goals start fading into the background. For many, that ultimate surrender comes around 'Blue Monday' — the third Monday in January. This is when we tend to crumble under the weight of unrealistic expectations and fading motivation, and finally consign our fitness goals to history.
The good news is that this vicious cycle can be broken. Behavioral science is getting ever closer to understanding what makes us kickstart and maintain an exercise routine, and what derails or slows down our efforts to form new habits — and we can use that knowledge to our advantage.
With that in mind, we asked experts in psychology, physiology and fitness coaching for their advice on how to successfully establish an active lifestyle in 2026. Here are six simple, science-backed tips that can help you finally get fit.
This is the most important one. If you want to succeed with your New Year's fitness resolutions, do not overload yourself from the get-go. When you set a lofty goal like "work out every day," you are more likely to get anxious about it, procrastinate and, ultimately, abandon it altogether.
Instead, focus on tiny habits, a concept popularized by the Stanford behavioral scientist B.J. Fogg — scale the behavior down to something so small it feels almost effortless.
"Psychologically, starting small works because it avoids triggering the brain’s threat response, which is activated when the perceived cost of a change is high. Tiny, manageable goals create early mastery experiences that boost dopamine and strengthen self-efficacy: the belief that ‘I can do this,’ Dr. Michael Swift, a British Psychological Society media spokesperson and clinical director at Swift Psychology, a counselling service in Birmingham, U.K., told Live Science by email. "Even a few minutes of movement is enough to begin building the neural pathways that underpin habit formation."
Top tip: Forget the marathon: start with a stroll or a 15-minute bodyweight workout in your living room. The goal here is not to train like an athlete from day one, but to successfully repeat a new behavior. Consistency beats intensity every time in the habit-formation phase.
"People tend to set the bar really high when they are starting a new exercise routine. It is important to choose a program that you will enjoy, and that is going to fit into your lifestyle and be sustainable long term," Michelle D’Onofrio, a Pilates instructor and co-founder of Yatta Studios, a chain of boutique exercise studios in the U.K., told Live Science by email.
It is also worth noting that this slow-burn approach has tangible benefits for your muscular health and general well-being. "Your body adapts to new physical stress through progressive overload — gradually increasing intensity, duration, or frequency so muscles and cardiovascular system can adapt safely," D'Onofrio said.
If you do too much exercise too soon, you are more likely to struggle with brutal bouts of DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) and even painful injuries.
Motivation is a fickle fuel source — it starts bright and intense, but fizzles out quickly. Scientists know that our actions are heavily automated, with most of our behaviors being cued by time, location or preceding events.
Exercise is no different. If you plan and schedule your workouts in advance, you give yourself a powerful cue and a direct call to action that helps when your motivation inevitably runs low. This is why people who create and follow a specific plan detailing when, where and how they would exercise are more likely to follow through than those who do not plan their workouts at all, according to a 2013 meta-analysis published in the journal Health Psychology Review. This phenomenon is called "implementation intention."
Top tip: Move exercise from a vague "I should" to a non-negotiable appointment. Use time blocking — put your exercise session in your daily calendar, just like a meeting with your boss or a school class, then set a reminder. Simple yet effective.
“Too often people think a gym session has to be a massive time commitment, or that they need to overhaul their lives completely to exercise. That’s rarely realistic and often backfires," Steve Chambers, a senior personal trainer and gym manager at Ultimate Performance in Manchester, U.K., told Live Science by email.
"Start by mapping out your real-world schedule (work hours, family, social commitments, sleep, stress etc), then build a custom plan that fits around your life, not the other way around," Chambers advised.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
When planning a new activity, use habit stacking. In essence, this is the practice of piggybacking a new exercise routine onto an existing habit. For example, "After I get home from work and put my keys down, I will immediately change into my workout clothes." This method uses the established neural pattern of the old habit as a runway for the new one.
"Habits form through the cue-routine-reward loop. You are more consistent when exercise is tied to a stable anchor such as 'after breakfast' or 'after work'," D'Onofrio said.
Also, tie in temptation bundling — combine doing something you ought to do with doing something you love. "This could mean that you only listen to your favourite playlist or podcast whilst doing your workout," Rex Fan, a lead behavioural insights advisor at Bupa Health Clinics in the U.K., told Live Science by email.
This also means that you should remember to reward yourself. "When you structure in your workout, why not also structure in something nice to look forward to afterwards? It could be anything from a nice coffee to a phone call with a friend," Fan said.
If you frame exercise purely as a punitive tool for weight loss, or penance for all the hours spent watching your favorite TV show, your brain will subconsciously resist it. Doing something because it feels good is far more sustainable than doing something out of guilt or peer pressure. If you want to increase your chance of succeeding with your New Year's fitness resolutions, make exercise as fun and engaging as possible.
"From a neuroscience perspective, the brain repeats what it finds rewarding, and attaching positive emotion to movement accelerates habit consolidation. Pairing activity with something enjoyable, such as music, a favourite podcast or the satisfying tick of crossing off a plan, enhances the brain’s reward circuitry and reinforces the behaviour," Swift said.
Top tip: This one is simple — do what makes you happy. If you are not a fan of gym workouts or the thought of going for a run makes you queasy, consider dancing, martial arts or some of the more atypical sports, such as frisbee, futsal, Quidditch or trampoline. Every movement counts.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
As Dr. Nicolas Berger, a senior lecturer in exercise physiology at Teesside University in the U.K., told Live Science by email: "Dancing on your own, with your friends, or partner is a brilliant way to improve coordination and cardiovascular fitness, which is low impact but good for your joints and bones. It also brings massive social benefits, improving mental health as well as self-confidence. It’s one of the best ways to do exercise without feeling like it is."
If going to a Zumba class or hopping on a trampoline does not appeal to you, consider some of the less strenuous activities you can do in the great outdoors. “Is there a sea or lake nearby? Rent a kayak or rowing boat, even a pedalo. This all helps with upper body, lower back and core strength," Berger said. “Any outing where you have to walk a lot and maybe carry a backpack is beneficial. If it is interesting, you will not notice it is exercise.”
All in all, by making exercise easy, accessible and rewarding, we work with the brain rather than against it, giving new routines the best possible chance to take root, Swift concluded.
Human behavior is often governed by "friction costs" — the more steps, decisions or effort required to start a task, the less likely we are to do it. Our brains naturally gravitate toward the path of least resistance, and exercise is no different. If you want to increase your chance of succeeding with your New Year's resolutions, identify and remove or minimise any potential barriers and hurdles that can slow you down on your fitness journey.
"One of the strongest findings in behavioural science is that motivation is unstable, so the goal is to design the behaviour to require as little activation energy as possible," Swift explained. "Reducing friction by laying out clothes the night before, choosing an activity with minimal setup, or linking movement to an existing cue engages the brain’s habit system, which favours predictability and ease. When a task feels simple, the prefrontal cortex does not have to work as hard to overcome resistance, making follow-through far more likely."
Top tip: Identify your potential barriers and challenges (lack of time? no access to exercise equipment? poor sleep?), then make a plan to remove or minimize them as much as possible. In simpler terms, make starting your workout as easy and frictionless as possible. For example, the night before your scheduled exercise session, place your workout clothes by the bedside and your water bottle by the door. Have your workout video bookmarked or your podcast playlist ready. If morning gym travel is the hurdle, join an online fitness class from the comfort of your living room.
The hurdle is almost always in the starting, not the continuing. Getting over that initial friction is half the battle.
All-or-nothing thinking is a major hurdle to succeeding on your fitness journey. You miss one day of training, convince yourself you have failed and abandon the entire effort. However, getting fit is a marathon, not a sprint. Sometimes a little self-compassion goes further than bashing yourself for not living up to your expectations.
"When people interpret lapses as normal variability rather than personal failure, they are far more likely to resume," Swift said.
Top tip: Try the "two-day rule." It is simple: never let yourself skip your planned exercise for two days in a row. Life happens. You’ll get sick, work will run late, or motivation will dip. Permission to miss one day is crucial to prevent shame and the subsequent spiral. But by committing to not missing a second day, you build resilience and prevent a lapse from becoming a collapse. This builds self-compassion and a flexible, sustainable mindset, which is far more durable than rigid perfectionism.
“In practice, that means: Accept that progress won’t always be linear. There will be plateaus or regressions. That doesn’t mean failure. Be forgiving of slip-ups, but don’t give up! If you fall off the wagon, then get on again next session." Chambers said.
6. Involve others
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Last, but not least: involve other people. According to a 2017 systematic review published in the journal International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, social support can have a small but significant impact on helping you stick to your new exercise routine long-term. Whether it is the local running club, a guided Pilates session or working out with your gym buddies, having someone to check in with you on a regular basis can be a huge motivator. It does not even have to be someone you are particularly close to.
"Sharing your intentions with someone you trust, like a fitness coach or health adviser, can help you to stay closer to your goals. Speaking to a health adviser may also help you to prepare for the physical demands of a new workout, depending on your individual health," Fan said.
Top tip: Train with a partner (friend, spouse) or have a regular “gym buddy.” Join a fitness class, whether in your local leisure center or online. Start a fitness blog. The options are endless!
"If you know someone’s counting on you, you are more likely to show up. Having a system of external accountability dramatically raises the odds that you won’t just ‘fall off the wagon," Chambers concluded.
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- <![CDATA[ Sega Toys Homestar Classic star projector review ]]>
- When you hear the name "Sega," you probably think of Sonic The Hedgehog. But it turns out the Japanese entertainment company does a lot more than create video games: it’s also one of the leading manufacturers of realistic star projectors.
The Sega Toys Homestar Classic is one of three in Sega Toys’ lineup, sitting alongside the Homestar Flux and the Homestar Matataki. All three models are similar, but this is the least expensive of the trio. The Flux offers a more powerful projector, and the Matataki has a built-in speaker. The Homestar Classic is a little more barebones, but it’s still one of the most powerful projectors on the market, particularly if you’re looking for a realistic projection of the night sky.
This is a quality product, delivered in attractive packaging that feels every bit as premium as its price tag suggests. It ships with two discs: the Northern Hemisphere and the Northern Hemisphere with constellations, but more discs are available (costing around $20 each), making this one of the most versatile projectors on the market, provided you don’t mind spending a little more.
The other Sega Toys Homestar projectors have earned themselves a place on our guide to the best star projectors, and we think the Homestar Classic deserves a place right alongside them. Read on to our full review to find out why.
We love the space-age design of the Sega Toys Homestar Classic (Image credit: Future)
Sega Toys Homestar Classic: Design
Easy to use
Premium build quality
Uses mains power
There’s something wonderful about the design of the Sega Toys Homestar Classic. It feels suitably space-age, thanks to its orb-like shape. It’s not over the top or too flashy, either. Compared to some star projectors, it feels minimalist and understated — particularly if you opt for the black or white colorway. The Homestar Classic is also available in red or blue, which we think are perhaps more suited to a kid’s bedroom, though perhaps you just prefer bolder colors.
Whichever color you opt for, the Sega Toys Homestar Classic of course functions exactly the same. There is no remote control, with all actions taking place on the unit itself. There’s an on/off switch, and three buttons which turn on or off shooting stars, movement and a sleep timer.
The projector ships with an AC adapter, which means you’ll need to place it near a power outlet. It’s something to bear in mind, especially considering many other projectors are USB-C powered or even have a rechargeable battery.
The Homestar Classic has a great build quality that doesn’t feel cheap or plasticky. Thanks to a metal stand, it feels very sturdy and it’s easy to adjust. No matter what position you have the projector in, you should feel confident that it isn’t going to move.
All controls for the projector can be found on the unit itself. (Image credit: Future)
Sega Toys Homestar Classic: Performance
Whisper-quiet
Projections are beautiful and realistic
Requires total darkness to really shine
If you appreciate silence, the Sega Toys Homestar Classic is a great choice. It’s whisper-quiet in operation, which is a boon to those who are looking for a projector to fall asleep to. That’s largely because, unlike some other projectors, the Homestar Classic doesn’t have a noisy rotation motor inside. Instead, projections can gently and slowly pan. Personally, we prefer this: it’s subtle, calming and more realistic.
The projections provided here are simply stunning. According to the official Sega Toys website, you’re seeing up to 60,000 twinkling stars when the projector is turned on. We have of course not counted, but we can believe it: you’ll want to project the Homestar Classic onto a large wall or ceiling to really get the most out of it. It’s immersive and striking, thanks to how sharp and detailed it is.
Perhaps the only downside is that you’ll want your room to be fully dark to truly appreciate the Sega Toys Homestar Classic’s projections. With only 3 watts of power (compared to the Flux’s 5 watts), it’s a little dull if you still have a light source in your room. Wait until dark, pull the curtains, and you’ll truly appreciate how gorgeous the projections are. If it’s still light, it can be a little underwhelming.
The projections from the Sega Toys Homestar Classic are simply stunning. (Image credit: Future)
Sega Toys Homestar Classic: Functionality
A variety of discs are available
Has a built-in sleep timer
Focus wheel can be a little fiddly
Since this is the cheapest projector offered by Sega Toys, it doesn’t have quite the full suite of bells and whistles you’ll find on the company’s other projectors. The Flux boasts improved visual quality, for example, and a brighter projector. And the Matataki has a built-in speaker with a built-in library of natural sounds. Those features come with a higher price tag, though, and if you’re just wanting a realistic projector, the Sega Toys Homestar Classic packs in all the features you’ll want or need.
While it doesn’t have full rotation, you can turn on a gentle movement, which some users will prefer. You can also enable or disable shooting stars, which add a welcome sense of motion to projections. Finally, there’s a sleep timer, which can be set to 15, 30 or 60 minutes, after which time the projector will power itself off. It’s ideal if you’d like to use it to fall asleep to, so you can be confident it won’t stay on all night.
To focus the Sega Toys Homestar Classic, you’ll need to turn the focus wheel manually, which is located around the outside of the projector lens itself. We initially had a little difficulty in getting the projector clearly in focus; the focus wheel feels a little loose, and you may need to turn it for a long time before you notice any difference. Once it’s in focus, however, it should stay there — so as long as you keep the projector in the same position, you should not need to refocus.
Placing the projector somewhere between 59 and 90 inches (150 and 230 centimeters) away from the flat surface you’re projecting onto is the ideal distance. If you’re struggling to find a clear focus point, it may be that the projector is too close or too far away, so try placing it elsewhere.
Numerous interchangeable discs are available for the Sega Toys Homestar Classic, but it only ships with two. (Image credit: Future)
Should I buy the Sega Toys Homestar Classic?
The short answer is yes, you should buy the Sega Toys Homestar Classic. The long answer ultimately depends on your budget. At $150, this is among the most expensive star projectors on the market, despite being the cheapest model offered by Sega Toys. But if you’re looking for a realistic, believable projection, you won’t find much better than this.
If you’re simply looking for a pretty light show to help you relax before bed, we’d recommend finding a cheaper projector elsewhere. But for an accurate, scientific display of the night sky, this really is one of the best star projectors on the market.
If the Sega Toys Homestar Classic isn’t for you
If you want the very best, we’d recommend taking a look at the Sega Toys Homestar Flux. This offers similar functionality to the Classic, but with even better projection quality, a brighter bulb, and a larger choice of projection discs available. It carries a higher price tag, of course, but that’s to be expected given its additional features.
There are, of course, cheaper projectors that offer similar functionality. We’ve previously called the Orzorz Galaxy Lite the best star projector on the market: it has a lower price tag and still offers realistic displays with interchangeable discs.
And if you’re really on a budget, the Blisslights Sky Lite Evolve is worth considering: it doesn’t offer scientific projections, but it’s an impressive display nonetheless, and thanks to app functionality, there’s plenty you can do with it.
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- https://www.livescience.com/technology/sega-toys-homestar-classic-star-projector-review
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- Thu, 22 Jan 2026 12:00:00 +0000Wed, 21 Jan 2026 10:43:33 +0000
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- <![CDATA[ Californians have been using far less water than suppliers estimated — what does this mean for the state? ]]>Water use in California was lower than officials estimated it would be between 2000 and 2020, according to a new report.
The findings raise questions about the accuracy of long-term water-demand projections, which could have knock-on effects on costs borne by consumers, but overall the news that water demand is lower than projected is positive for the state and its regular battles against drought, experts told Live Science.
"Overall, I think this is a good news story," Heather Cooley, director of research at the Pacific Institute water think tank in California, told Live Science. "It shows that there are things we can do to ensure we have enough water for people and for nature."
Water management has long been a key issue in California, which has about8.5 million acres (3.4 million hectares) of irrigated cropland. Crops likegrapes,almonds and pistachios anchor the state's economy, creatinghundreds of thousands of jobs. Agriculture makes up about 40% of California's annual water use, on average, with another 10% being used by communities and the other 50% being put back into the environment.
But the supplies of this precious resource are often at risk in the state, thanks to lengthy droughts, long-term depletion of groundwater supplies and population growth.
Projections of water use generally assume it will go up as the population increases, but California has introduced many water-saving measures. So to investigate how projections compare with actual usage, Johanna Capone, a graduate student at Virginia Tech, and Landon Marston, an associate professor in the Virginia Tech Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, assessed the state's Urban Water Management Plans, which were prepared every five years by 61 California urban water suppliers from 2000 to 2020.
They found that water suppliers consistently overestimated future demand by an average of 25% for five-year projections, and 74% for 20-year projections.
This overestimation stems primarily from predictions of how much water each person would use, rather than from assumptions about population growth, Capone and Marston reported in a study published Nov. 21, 2025, in the journalWater Resources Research. While suppliers generally projected stable or increasing per-capita demand, actual water demand per capita declined by 1.9% annually between 2000 and 2020, meaning water demand no longer neatly correlates with population growth.
"I think the overall takeaway is that California has been doing a great job in reducing demand," Capone told Live Science. "The state is clearly on the right path."
The findings match those from other similar research.
"This trend is consistent with what I have seen not only in California but also in other regions,"Cooley said. She is an author of a2020 study that also saw a decline in per capita water use in 10 of California's water suppliers between 2000 and 2015.
She said there has been a gradual decoupling of water use and population growth, so we can no longer assume that the two are linked.
"This study has shown, what other studies have shown, that we can grow and support economic development, using less water," Cooley said, "and efficiency is a key strategy for helping us do that."
These regulations require that new developments use water-efficient versions of devices like toilets, shower heads, sprinklers and washing machines, Cooley said. It also helps when older versions of these devices are replaced by newer, more efficient models. The new initiatives also address outdoor water use by limiting the amount of grass and other plants that require a lot of water, she said.
"The denser these communities become and the smaller the lawns, naturally water demand is going to drop in much the same way water demand is going to drop as buildings become more efficient," Capone said.
Workers with the Marin Municipal Water District (MMWD) hand out a bucket filled with information on the drought and water saving tools during a "Drought Drive Up" event at the MMWD headquarters on June 12, 2021 in Corte Madera, California. (Image credit: Getty Images/Justin Sullivan)
Yet water suppliers should make their forecasts more accurate to account for changes in water efficiency incentives, she said.
"It's a difficult balance, because people may see that water demand is getting lower, and hopefully they wouldn't take advantage of the situation and start watering lawns more," Capone said. "But it's important to try to be as accurate and realistic as possible, because if water demand is over-projected, the water suppliers might get hit by extra costs that would get passed on to customers."
This might require buying in extra water supplies or building new water supply and treatment infrastructure, she said.
The study findings don't mean California's water supply challenges are over. "Even as we've seen declining water use, we still have water supply issues in California as droughts become more intense and more frequent, thanks to climate change," Cooley said.
Wet years help replenish stocks of groundwater that California relies on, but it's the water demand management that ensures enough water remains in reservoirs and in aquifers over the longer term so that when drought returns, the state doesn't have to apply the strictest water-use restrictions, Cooley said.
An analysis from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which serves roughly 19 million people, found that without the district's water efficiency initiatives over the past 30 years, stores of water in that area would have been depleted three times during that period.
"The important thing about water demand management is just to be resilient overall, and to be prepared for all that the environment has to throw at you," Capone said.
One of the biggest challenges is to keep reducing water use as buildings become more efficient and lawns become smaller.
Although water demand per capita declined by 1.9%, on average, annually between 2000 and 2020, a more detailed look at Capone and Marston's paper shows that per-capita water demand dropped around 2.6% per year from 2000 to 2015 but increased by an average of 0.29% per year from 2015 to 2020. These numbers raise questions about whether water demand management efforts have plateaued.
If so, continued cuts in water use might require a different focus. "When you think of water conservation, you think about the advertising, 'Brush your teeth without the water on' and 'If it's yellow, let it mellow,' but it goes so much farther than just the household," Capone said.
It's important to look at where else water is being used and see if building codes and landscaping could reduce that usage, she said.
The potential across the U.S. for making water savings is huge. ANovember study from the Pacific Institute, which Cooley co-authored, found that improving water efficiency in U.S. homes and businesses, and reducing leakage in distribution systems could save between 14.0 and 34.1 million acre-feet of water per year, or between 12.5 and 30.4 billion gallons (115 billion liters) per day, and that even basic upgrades to meet existing standards could cut water use by one-quarter nationwide.
"There are lots of opportunities for us to reduce water use and make our communities more sustainable and resilient," said Cooley.
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- <![CDATA[ Eerie 'sand burials' of elite Anglo-Saxons and their 'sacrificed' horse discovered near UK nuclear power plant ]]>
- Archaeologists in the U.K. have discovered a 1,400-year-old burial ground that contains "sand burials" of two elite people and a horse dating to Anglo-Saxon times.
The archaeological team fromOxford Cotswold Archaeology found "at least 11 burial mounds, known as barrows, along with cremation and inhumation burials," they wrote in astatement. The researchers found the burial ground ahead of the construction of a nuclear power plant near the village of Sizewell, which is in the eastern English district of Suffolk.
The site has acidic soil, which tends to degrade bone, but in two graves the outlines of skeletons were found. One grave had the outline of a horse while the other had the outlines of two people. These remnants are known as sand burials, as it looks like the individuals were made out of sand.
The burials, even the horse's, contained grave goods.
"The horse was buried with its tack [riding gear] still on its head and shoulders that comprised [pieces] of copper alloy decoration and a probable iron bit in its mouth," Maria Bellissimo, a spokesperson at Oxford Cotswold Archaeology, told Live Science in an email. The two people "were buried with a sword, a spear, two shields, an iron banded bucket, along with a copper and a silver vessel."
Although the sand burials hold important clues, they don't impart as much information as a preserved skeleton would.
"We cannot tell their age as accurately" from their sandy silhouettes as experts could from a skeleton, Bellissimo said, "but it looks like they were both probably full-grown adults." The sex of the two people is unknown, but "our evidence indicates that the two individuals were buried at the same time and so it's very likely they died at the same time," Bellissimo said.
A shield boss was found with the two buried people. It would have been attached to the center of a shield. (Image credit: Copyright Oxford Cotswold Archaeology)
Their cause of death is also a mystery. "We can postulate that the horse was probably sacrificed to be interred with its owners, who we assume to be the two individuals in the adjacent grave," she said.
They appear to date to the sixth or seventh century A.D., a time when England was divided into several kingdoms. It's not clear who these people were, but the "weaponry, the horse and the copper and silver items within the grave as well as them being buried in a burial mound [suggest] that these were elite individuals," Bellissimo said.
Howard Williams, a professor of archaeology at the University of Chester in the U.K. who was not involved with the excavations, said that the burials are located on a ridge that is "prominent in the local landscape for those travelling inland" after landing at sea. At the time there "were maritime communities connected by trade and kinship along England's east coast as well as connections inland across south-east Britain."
This coin hoard consists of more than 300 coins and was found near the nuclear power plant site. It dates to several centuries after the sand burials. (Image credit: Copyright Oxford Cotswold Archaeology)
The new discovery promises "to add important information to our understanding of the practices and beliefs of these people who [were] part of the emerging East Anglian kingdom in the centuries after the collapse of the Roman province of Britannia," Williams told Live Science in an email.
Archaeologists made additional discoveries during the excavation. One of them was a hoard of more than 300 silver coins that dates to the 11th century.
Found bundled in lead and cloth, the "hoard is believed to have been a savings pot buried by a local figure as a precaution during a time of significant social and political unrest" in the 11th century, the team wrote in the statement.
What's more, experts identified a pottery kiln dating to the Roman period (A.D. 43 to 410), an oak ladder dating to the Iron Age (800 B.C. to A.D. 50), the remains of settlements from the Bronze Age (2300 to 800 B.C.), as well as numerous ovens from medieval times (600 to 1500). Research into the discoveries is ongoing.
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- https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/eerie-sand-burials-of-elite-anglo-saxons-and-their-sacrificed-horse-discovered-near-uk-nuclear-power-plant
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- Mon, 19 Jan 2026 14:00:00 +0000Tue, 20 Jan 2026 20:14:46 +0000
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- <![CDATA[ HP Omen Max 16 (2025) review: This heavyweight pushes everything to the max ]]>
Specifications
CPU: AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (12 cores)
RAM: 32 GB DDR5 SDRAM
GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080
Storage: 1 TB SSD
Display: 16-inch IPS HDR
Weight: 5.38 lbs (2.44 kg)
Dimensions (in): 14.07 x 10.59 x 1
Dimensions (mm): 357.5 x 269 x 25.4)
The HP Omen Max 16 is last year's follow-up to 2023's Omen, packing in more powerful parts to turn this machine into a true heavyweight. It really is heavy, tipping the pre-fight scales at 5.4 pounds (2.4 kilograms), while the price has also climbed a few bands, now coming in at around $2,500 thanks to the inclusion of an Nvidia GeForce RTX 50 series GPU. But do these changes pack a big enough punch to knock out its competitors?
While it has some quirks, the Omen Max overall offers premium performance and excels in tasks that give its high-end components a workout. In particular, the machine is built for gaming and can handle the latest AAA titles with ease — with its lightning-fast screen helping competitive players gain an edge. That means it's also primed to handle photo and video editing, and could potentially be a useful fixture on your desk at home.
HP Omen Max 16 (2025): Design
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The HP Omen Max 16 leans into a typical "gamer" aesthetic, with RGB lighting underneath and the keyboard glowing vibrantly in a range of colors. The software lets you customize colors, patterns and transitions, which is a neat touch — though it's probably expected at this price point. The machine's looks are likely to be divisive, however, and it's definitely not a "professional" machine — but if lights and colors are your thing, the overall design is neat if unremarkable.
The layout and looks have been tweaked since the 2023 model, expanding the keyboard to include a number pad and adding more lighting. The keys are all backlit and look excellent in dimly lit rooms, although the touchpad isn't lit and is positioned slightly left-of-center, which can make reaching for it a bit awkward at first.
The matte black adds a stylish, understated finish to the chassis, and the Omen logo on the outside and "016" written on the inside are subtle enough to not disrupt the appearance. The screen has some flex, which is a bit disconcerting and adds to a slightly less-than-premium feel to the Omen Max 16. It is also easy to leave fingerprints and marks around the case, due to the color and material — but these are easy to wipe away.
We found the lights and overall aesthetic struck a good balance between fun and understated, with the RGB lighting tasteful and not too over the top. They can, however, be deactivated if you find them more garish than appealing.
HP Omen Max 16 (2025): Display
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The display is generally good on the Omen Max 16, partly thanks to its 400-nit brightness that we verified in testing with a display calibrator. This is not market-leading but is still brighter than average, making it clear even in well-lit rooms. The 97.4% coverage of the sRGB gamut is also perfectly acceptable for most use cases. Additional testing rendered 71.8% and 76.7% coverage of the Adobe and DCI P3 spectra, respectively; the results aren't bad, and just shy of what you need for professional usage — but these days, you tend to find many laptops with displays that can hit above 90%.
For a non-OLED screen, and to a casual eye, the colors generally pack a punch, except for a slightly washed-out black level, which scored an underwhelming 0.5 nits in our tests. This also feeds into a contrast ratio of 797:1:1, which is relatively disappointing.
Where this screen really excels is its lightning-fast refresh rate of 250 Hz — making using it a pleasure. Movement across the screen is fluid and silky, while it is also quick to respond to inputs. The machine is first-and-foremost designed with gamers in mind, so this is evidently what HP has put its efforts into when it comes to the screen — and in this area, it doesn't disappoint.
HP Omen Max 16 (2025): Keyboard and touchpad
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The keyboard layout is good overall, although the small Enter key and the slender up and down arrows take a bit of getting used to. In a departure from the 2023 model, the design is gapless, although the keys have enough space between them for comfortable touch typing. Each keystroke is springy with a pleasing level of key travel and haptic feedback, while not requiring too much effort to push down, striking a perfect balance.
The backlighting on the keys is customizable, with several fun presets ranging from a pulsing glow to a rippling effect from each keystroke, like a stone dropped in a pool of water. A number pad adds more functionality over the previous Omen Max.
We do, however, question how durable this keyboard is. During testing, a cat decided to try the keys and managed to prise several out — something she has not been able to do with other keyboards, notably the surprisingly tough MacBook Air 2022. The keys, which are slim and a little flimsy, quickly click back into place (at least on this occasion), but it raises doubts over how much casual wear and tear it can stand.
The touchpad is large, smooth and responsive. But it's positioned awkwardly and we often activate the right-click by accident; any left clicks require an irritating amount of leaning over to activate. This is something frequent use will fix, as you adjust to the machine, but it initially feels unnatural.
HP Omen Max 16 (2025): Performance and Battery
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Let's start with the good — performance is excellent. The HP Omen Max 16 is built with power in mind, especially when it comes to gaming, and it performed excellently, handling the latest AAA titles, such as Black Ops 7, with ease on Ultra settings. Our review unit boasted an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 GPU paired with an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (12 cores) CPU, 32 GB DDR5 SDRAM, and a 1TB SSD. And these mostly top-tier components duly stand and deliver.
Some games put up a fight, however, with the frames per second (FPS) on "Senua's Saga: Hellblade II" dropping into the 40s and occasionally even the 30s on maximum settings (although the game looks incredible).
A propensity to handle high-end gaming meant we were excited for what it meant for users looking to work with graphics-based tasks. The machine excelled when performing other video and photo editing, with its superior performance also playing out across benchmark tests — with the GPU registering an eye-watering score of 181,959 in our OpenCL test with Geekbench 6. This blows anything else we've tested completely out of the atmosphere.
The CPU was also excellent in benchmarking. It registered a fantastic 2,967 for single-core and 15,420 for multi-core performance, putting it far ahead of the 2023 model and plenty of other recent Windows machines.
One drawback of this power is how noisy the fans are in order to keep the machine cool. When pushing the Omen Max to its limits, they run so loudly to blast out hot air in various directions that you'll probably need to wear headphones to hear any sound. It's enough to annoy anybody unfortunate enough to be near you, let alone yourself.
Meanwhile, as we all know by now, with great power usually comes terrible battery life, and the Omen Max 16 is no exception. In our standard looped video playback battery test, the Omen Max 16 lasted for just 7 hours and 31 minutes. The only thing we've ever tested that performed worse was the 2023 HP Omen 16, which survived for a pitiful 4 hours and 53 minutes. So while the 2025 model shows an improvement, it's still not good when you consider that plenty of high-end and premium Windows machines can last well above 10 hours. But poor battery performance is typical for gaming machines like this.
HP Omen Max 16 (2025): Ports and Features
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The HP Omen Max 16 is quite chunky — standing 1 inch (25.4 millimeters) tall — but chunkiness means room for plenty of ports. The machine therefore has space to fit in two USB-A ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, a headphone jack,an Ethernet port and two USB-C ports. They are laid out logically and are easy to reach.
Feature-wise, it comes with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 wireless connectivity, and a 1080p webcam that captures you well enough. The machine also comes with HP's Omen Gaming Hub software, which lets you better monitor and manage gaming performance.
HP Omen Max 16 (2025): Should I buy it?
The HP Omen Max 16 is really quite excellent at handling graphics-heavy workloads, such as video editing or gaming. However, its screen isn't quite accurate enough for most photographers and videographers, and its noise and weight are also offputting for those tasks if you need to be using it out and about — not to mention the lacklustre battery life. Ultimately, this machine is built for gamers and gaming, and that is who it should primarily appeal to.
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+ <![CDATA[ Eerie 'sand burials' of elite Anglo-Saxons and their 'sacrificed' horse discovered near UK nuclear power plant ]]>
+ Archaeologists in the U.K. have discovered a 1,400-year-old burial ground that contains "sand burials" of two elite people and a horse dating to Anglo-Saxon times.
The archaeological team fromOxford Cotswold Archaeology found "at least 11 burial mounds, known as barrows, along with cremation and inhumation burials," they wrote in astatement. The researchers found the burial ground ahead of the construction of a nuclear power plant near the village of Sizewell, which is in the eastern English district of Suffolk.
The site has acidic soil, which tends to degrade bone, but in two graves the outlines of skeletons were found. One grave had the outline of a horse while the other had the outlines of two people. These remnants are known as sand burials, as it looks like the individuals were made out of sand.
The burials, even the horse's, contained grave goods.
"The horse was buried with its tack [riding gear] still on its head and shoulders that comprised [pieces] of copper alloy decoration and a probable iron bit in its mouth," Maria Bellissimo, a spokesperson at Oxford Cotswold Archaeology, told Live Science in an email. The two people "were buried with a sword, a spear, two shields, an iron banded bucket, along with a copper and a silver vessel."
Although the sand burials hold important clues, they don't impart as much information as a preserved skeleton would.
"We cannot tell their age as accurately" from their sandy silhouettes as experts could from a skeleton, Bellissimo said, "but it looks like they were both probably full-grown adults." The sex of the two people is unknown, but "our evidence indicates that the two individuals were buried at the same time and so it's very likely they died at the same time," Bellissimo said.
A shield boss was found with the two buried people. It would have been attached to the center of a shield. (Image credit: Copyright Oxford Cotswold Archaeology)
Their cause of death is also a mystery. "We can postulate that the horse was probably sacrificed to be interred with its owners, who we assume to be the two individuals in the adjacent grave," she said.
They appear to date to the sixth or seventh century A.D., a time when England was divided into several kingdoms. It's not clear who these people were, but the "weaponry, the horse and the copper and silver items within the grave as well as them being buried in a burial mound [suggest] that these were elite individuals," Bellissimo said.
Howard Williams, a professor of archaeology at the University of Chester in the U.K. who was not involved with the excavations, said that the burials are located on a ridge that is "prominent in the local landscape for those travelling inland" after landing at sea. At the time there "were maritime communities connected by trade and kinship along England's east coast as well as connections inland across south-east Britain."
This coin hoard consists of more than 300 coins and was found near the nuclear power plant site. It dates to several centuries after the sand burials. (Image credit: Copyright Oxford Cotswold Archaeology)
The new discovery promises "to add important information to our understanding of the practices and beliefs of these people who [were] part of the emerging East Anglian kingdom in the centuries after the collapse of the Roman province of Britannia," Williams told Live Science in an email.
Archaeologists made additional discoveries during the excavation. One of them was a hoard of more than 300 silver coins that dates to the 11th century.
Found bundled in lead and cloth, the "hoard is believed to have been a savings pot buried by a local figure as a precaution during a time of significant social and political unrest" in the 11th century, the team wrote in the statement.
What's more, experts identified a pottery kiln dating to the Roman period (A.D. 43 to 410), an oak ladder dating to the Iron Age (800 B.C. to A.D. 50), the remains of settlements from the Bronze Age (2300 to 800 B.C.), as well as numerous ovens from medieval times (600 to 1500). Research into the discoveries is ongoing.
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+ https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/eerie-sand-burials-of-elite-anglo-saxons-and-their-sacrificed-horse-discovered-near-uk-nuclear-power-plant
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+ Mon, 19 Jan 2026 14:00:00 +0000Tue, 20 Jan 2026 20:14:46 +0000
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+ <![CDATA[ Last year, the oceans absorbed a record-breaking amount of heat — equivalent to 12 Hiroshima bombs exploding every second ]]>The ocean soaked up more heat last year than in any year since modern measurements began around 1960, according to a new analysis published in Advances in Atmospheric Science.
The world's oceans absorb more than 90% of excess heat trapped in Earth's atmosphere by greenhouse gas emissions. As heat in the atmosphere accumulates, heat stored in the ocean increases, too, making ocean heat a reliable indicator of long-term climate change.
Ocean temperatures influence the frequency and intensity of marine heatwaves, change atmospheric circulation, and govern global precipitation patterns.
Scientists measure the ocean's heat in different ways. One common metric is global annual mean sea surface temperature, the average temperature in the top few meters of ocean waters. Global sea surface temperature in 2025 was the third warmest ever recorded, at about 0.5°C (0.9°F) above the 1981-2010 average.
Another metric is ocean heat content, which measures the total heat energy stored in the world's oceans. It's measured in zettajoules: One zettajoule is equivalent to 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 joules. To measure heat content in 2025, the study's authors assessed ocean observational data from the upper 2,000 meters of the ocean, where most of the heat is absorbed, from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
They found that in total, the ocean absorbed an additional 23 zettajoules of heat energy in 2025, breaking the ocean heat content record for the ninth consecutive year and marking the longest sequence of consecutive ocean heat content records ever recorded.
"Last year was a bonkers, crazy warming year," John Abraham, a mechanical engineer at the University of St. Thomas and a co-author of the new study, told Wired.
Twenty-three zettajoules in one year is equivalent to the energy of 12 Hiroshima bombs exploding in the ocean every second. It's also a large increase over the 16 zettajoules of heat the ocean absorbed in 2024. The hottest areas of the ocean observed in 2025 were the tropical and South Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, North Indian Ocean, and Southern Ocean.
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- <![CDATA[ Why is flu season so bad this year? ]]>
- If it feels like everyone around you has come down with the flu, you're not imagining it.
As of Jan. 9, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that at least 15 million people have gotten sick with the flu this season. Of those, 180,000 have been hospitalized, and 7,400 people have died from flu so far, including 17 children.
These numbers make the current flu season one of the worst the U.S. has seen in decades. According to Syra Madad, an epidemiologist at the Harvard Belfer Center and chief biopreparedness officer at NYC Health + Hospitals, who publishes a weekly analysis of respiratory virus trends in her newsletter Critical Health Voices, the country is experiencing the highest number of flu cases in nearly 30 years.
At Phoenix Children's Hospital, flu cases have been high since mid-December 2025, said pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Monica Abdelnour.
"Although the CDC [currently] estimates this flu season to be of moderate severity, the rates we are seeing are similar to, and in some cases slightly higher than, those observed in the 2024-2025 season, which was deemed high-severity," she told Live Science in an email. "It remains possible this flu season may ultimately be categorized as high severity as well."
While the CDC reported a slight dip in the number of lab-confirmed flu cases in the first week of 2026, compared to the last week of 2025, Madad told Live Science that it's "too early to declare we are past the peak." Flu activity in the U.S. usually peaks sometime between December and February. The CDC also noted that the small drop in confirmed cases could be linked to expected decreases in doctor visits and testing during the holidays, not an actual drop in flu spread.
What is subclade K?
A lot of the talk about this year's flu season has centered on something called "subclade K."
To understand what this is, it's important to know that flu viruses are constantly evolving, gaining small genetic mutations as they spread. Scientists keep track of how flu viruses change using a system similar to a family tree, Madad said.
The big branches of this tree are called "types." This includes influenza A and B, which are broad groups of flu viruses. These big branches sprout off into smaller branches called subtypes, such as A(H3N2) or B/Victoria lineage.
The letters H and N, which are used to differentiate influenza A subtypes, stand for two proteins on the virus's surface: hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). There are many possible versions of each protein — 18 and 11 versions, respectively — which consequently gives rise to a large variety of flu viruses, of which only a few routinely infect humans.
Going even further down a branch, scientists identify "clades," which are groups of viruses that came from a common ancestor and share similar genetic traits. A subclade is an even smaller group within a clade — a newer "twig" on the tree — that shares recent mutations.
Subclade K carries distinct mutations in parts of the virus that our immune systems usually recognize, Madad said. Because of this, our immunity from past flu infections or vaccinations is lower than it might be if the subclade looked more "familiar." This enables the virus to spread more easily, resulting in more cases and, as a result, more hospitalizations.
However, that does not automatically mean subclade K is more deadly or causes more severe illness than other circulating flu viruses, Madad said. Current epidemiologic data show that subclade K does not lead to more severe disease than other seasonal flu strains than are spreading now, she noted.
"Flu symptoms this year are similar to those seen in previous seasons," Abdelnour added.
People with the flu commonly experience fever or chills, cough, nasal congestion, muscle and/or body aches, headaches and fatigue. In severe cases, flu infections can lead to complications such as sepsis and pneumonia. Adults 65 and up; young children, especially those under 2; pregnant people; and people with chronic conditions like asthma, diabetes or heart disease are at highest risk for severe flu complications.
Is this year's flu vaccine working, and is it too late to get it?
The flu vaccine "may be a less perfect match for subclade K" than it could be, Madad said, but she stressed that vaccination still plays a critical role in preventing serious illness. Abdelnour said that the annual flu vaccine reduces the risk of serious complications, such as sepsis, pneumonia and significant neurologic symptoms, such as seizures.
Data from the Southern Hemisphere, which experiences flu season before the Northern Hemisphere, suggests that this year's flu vaccine works just as well as past vaccines at lowering the risk of being hospitalized with the flu, Abdelnour said. This past flu season, the flu vaccine reduced flu-related doctor visits and hospitalizations by 50% in the Southern Hemisphere, according to a CDC report published in September 2025.
"This is within the typical range, and it's anticipated we should experience similar levels of protection in the United States," Abdelnour said.
Unfortunately, fewer people are getting vaccinated against the flu this year, and that's especially true of children, Madad said. "Only about 42% of U.S. children have received the flu vaccine so far this season, down from roughly 53% at the same point in 2019–2020." As of Jan. 3, about 44.1% of adults reported having received a flu vaccination.
Poor vaccination rates can have real consequences, Madad said. During the 2024-2025 flu season, 280 children in the U.S. died of flu-related illness, and of those, about 9 in 10 had not been vaccinated against the virus. Madad, who is also a mother of four, noted that all of her children receive the flu shot every year.
Even though flu season started in the fall, "it is not too late to get the flu shot," Abdelnour emphasized. "Given the current surge in cases, getting vaccinated now is strongly recommended to protect yourself and those around you."
Madad echoed that advice, urging anyone who hasn't yet received a flu shot this season to do so, especially adults ages 65 and older, pregnant people, those with weakened immune systems, and people living with chronic health conditions, who are at higher risk of severe cases.
How else can you protect yourself from flu?
Vaccination is just one layer of protection. Madad emphasized wearing a well-fitting mask in crowded indoor spaces and improving ventilation for indoor gatherings. Additionally, people should stay home when sick to avoid the risk of spreading flu to others. These steps help limit the spread not only of flu, but of other respiratory viruses like COVID-19 and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), as well.
Abdelnour also noted the importance of practicing proper hand hygiene. "Special attention should be given to childcare environments such as schools and daycare centers," she said. "This includes recommending children get their flu shot, encouraging handwashing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds and keeping children home when they are ill to prevent the spread of infection to others."
The CDC recommends prompt treatment for people with suspected flu symptoms who are at increased risk of serious flu complications, including pregnant women and people with chronic health conditions, such as asthma, lung disease, diabetes, or heart disease.
Madad said that flu antivirals are "underused" and reminds people at high risk of severe flu or who are caring for someone who is high risk to ask their doctors about antivirals shortly after they suspect an infection. The good news is that current data show subclade K is still responsive to the standard antiviral medications doctors use for influenza, she said.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice.
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- https://www.livescience.com/health/flu/why-is-flu-season-so-bad-this-year
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- <![CDATA[ How the ancient Romans managed their wealth (it wasn't just by hiding hoards) ]]>
- "All I want is an income of 20,000 sesterces from secure investments", proclaims a character in a poem by Juvenal (first to second century A.D.), the Roman poet.
Today, 20,000 sesterces would be equivalent to about [Australian] $300,000 in interest from investments. Anyone would be very happy with this much passive annual income.
Like today, people in ancient times understood that investing money could help them consolidate and grow their wealth.
As the Roman novelist Petronius (first century A.D.) once wrote,
Whoever has money sails with a fair breeze, and governs his fortune as he wishes.
So, how exactly did ancient people invest their money?
A lofty house with hidden silver
In ancient Greek and Roman times, there was no stock market where you could buy and trade shares in a company.
If you wanted to invest your cash, one of the more popular options was to obtain gold or silver.
People did this to protect against currency fluctuations and inflation. They usually kept the metals either in bullion form or in the form of ware like jewelry. Storing these items could be risky and prone to theft.
The Roman poet Virgil (70 to 19 B.C.) describes the estate of a wealthy person that included "a lofty house, where talents of silver lie deeply hidden" alongside "weights of gold in bullion and in ware".
A talent was the largest unit of currency measurement in ancient Greece and Rome, equivalent to about 25 kg [55 pounds] of weighed silver.
A detail from a mosaic of Virgil Writing the Aeneid, held in the Bardo Museum in Tunis, Tunisia. (Image credit: Roger Wood/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)
Usually the metals were stored in a special vault or security cupboard.
The Roman writer Cicero (106 to 43 B.C.) recalls how a wealthy lady named Clodia would take gold (perhaps bars or ingots or plates) out of a security cupboard when she wished to lend money to someone. The gold could then be exchanged for coinage.
Market booms — and busts
The price of these metals could, however, occasionally be subject to unpredictable fluctuations and crashes in price, though less often than currency.
The Greek historian Polybius (c. 200 to 118 B.C.) says that when a new gold vein was discovered in Aquileia, Italy, only two feet deep, it caused a gold rush. The new material flooded the market too quickly and "the price of gold throughout Italy at once fell by one-third" after only two months. To stabilize the gold price, mining in the area was quickly monopolized and regulated.
When people wanted to trade precious metals, they would sell them by weight. If the gold or silver or bronze had been worked into jewelry or other objects, this could be melted down and turned into bullion.
People must have delighted in owning these precious metals.
The Athenian writer Xenophon (c. 430 to 350 B.C.) gives a clue about the mindset of ancient silver investors:
Silver is not like furniture, of which a man never buys more once he has got enough for his house. No one ever yet possessed so much silver as to want no more; if a man finds himself with a huge amount of it, he takes as much pleasure in burying the surplus as in using it.
A number of Roman wills reveal people leaving their heirs silver and gold in the form of bars, plates or ingots.
Roman gold ingot, dating to circa 375 A.D., in the Bank of England Museum collection. (Image credit: Joyofmuseums, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Commodities that could not be 'ruined by Jupiter'
Aside from metals, agricultural commodities were also very popular, especially grain, olive oil, and wine.
To profit from agricultural commodities, people bought farmland and traded the commodities on the market.
The Roman statesman Cato thought putting money into the production of essential goods was the safest investment. He said these things "could not be ruined by Jupiter" – in other words, they were resistant to unpredictable movements in the economy.
A bust of Emperor Caligula in the Louvre museum (Image credit: anonymous, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Whereas precious metals were a store of wealth, they generated no income unless they were sold. But a diversified portfolio of agricultural commodities guaranteed a permanent income.
People also invested and traded in precious goods, like artworks.
When the Romans sacked the city of Corinth in 146 B.C., they stole the city's collection of famous artwork, and later sold the masterpieces for huge sums of money at auction in order to bring profit for the Roman state.
At this auction, the King of Pergamon, Attalus II (220 to 138 B.C.), bought one of the paintings, by the master artist Aristeides of Thebes (fourth century B.C.), for the incredible sum of 100 talents (about 2,500 kg [5,500 pounds] of silver).
Eccentric emperors
Political instability or uncertainty sometimes raised the price of these metals.
The Greek historian Appian (secondnd century A.D.) records how during the Roman civil war in 32. to 30 B.C.:
the price of all commodities had risen, and the Romans ascribed the cause of this to the quarreling of the leaders whom they cursed.
Eccentric emperors might also impose new taxes or charges on commodities, or try to manipulate the market.
The Roman historian Suetonius (c. A.D. 69 to 122 ) tells us the emperor Caligula (A.D. 12 to 41) "levied new and unheard of taxes […] and there was no class of commodities or men on which he did not impose some form of tariff."
Another emperor, Vespasian (A.D. 17 to 79), went so far as to "buy up certain commodities merely in order to distribute them at profit", says Suetonius.
Clearly, investing in commodities 2,000 years ago could help build personal wealth — but also involved some risk, just like today.
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- https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/how-the-ancient-romans-managed-their-wealth-it-wasnt-just-by-hiding-hoards
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- Sun, 18 Jan 2026 14:00:00 +0000Mon, 12 Jan 2026 22:48:50 +0000
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- <![CDATA[ NASA launches Pandora telescope, taking JWST's search for habitable worlds to a new level ]]>
- On Jan. 11, 2026, I watched anxiously at the tightly controlled Vandenberg Space Force Base in California as an awe-inspiring SpaceXFalcon 9 rocket carriedNASA's new exoplanet telescope, Pandora, into orbit.
Exoplanets are worlds that orbit other stars. They are very difficult to observe because — seen from Earth — they appear as extremely faint dots right next to their host stars, which are millions to billions of times brighter and drown out the light reflected by the planets. The Pandora telescope will join and complement NASA's James Webb Space Telescope in studying these faraway planets and the stars they orbit.
I am an astronomy professor at the University of Arizona who specializes in studies of planets around other stars and astrobiology. I am a co-investigator of Pandora and leading its exoplanet science working group. We built Pandora to shatter a barrier — to understand and remove a source of noise in the data — that limits our ability to study small exoplanets in detail and search for life on them.
Observing exoplanets
Astronomers have a trick to study exoplanet atmospheres. By observing the planets as they orbit in front of their host stars, we can study starlight that filters through their atmospheres.
These planetary transit observations are similar to holding a glass of red wine up to a candle: The light filtering through will show fine details that reveal the quality of the wine. By analyzing starlight filtered through the planets' atmospheres, astronomers can find evidence for water vapor, hydrogen, clouds and even search for evidence of life. Researchers improved transit observations in 2002, opening an exciting window to new worlds.
For a while, it seemed to work perfectly. But, starting from 2007, astronomers noted that starspots — cooler, active regions on the stars — may disturb the transit measurements.
In 2018 and 2019, then-Ph.D. student Benjamin V. Rackham, astrophysicist Mark Giampapa and I published a series of studies showing how darker starspots and brighter, magnetically active stellar regions can seriously mislead exoplanets measurements. We dubbed this problem "the transit light source effect."
Most stars are spotted, active and change continuously. Ben, Mark and I showed that these changes alter the signals from exoplanets. To make things worse, some stars also have water vapor in their upper layers — often more prominent in starspots than outside of them. That and other gases can confuse astronomers, who may think that they found water vapor in the planet.
In our papers — published three years before the 2021 launch of the James Webb Space Telescope — we predicted that the Webb cannot reach its full potential. We sounded the alarm bell. Astronomers realized that we were trying to judge our wine in light of flickering, unstable candles.
Members of the Pandora SmallSat team with the completed satellite in Blue Canyon Technologies’ cleanroom in Boulder, Colorado, before Pandora was shipped to California for integration into the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. (Image credit: Blue Canyon Technologies)
The birth of Pandora
For me, Pandora began with an intriguing email from NASA in 2018. Two prominent scientists from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Elisa Quintana and Tom Barclay, asked to chat. They had an unusual plan: They wanted to build a space telescope very quickly to help tackle stellar contamination — in time to assist Webb. This was an exciting idea, but also very challenging. Space telescopes are very complex, and not something that you would normally want to put together in a rush.
Pandora breaks with NASA's conventional model. We proposed and built Pandora faster and at a significantly lower cost than is typical for NASA missions. Our approach meant keeping the mission simple and accepting somewhat higher risks.
What makes Pandora special?
Pandora is smaller and cannot collect as much light as its bigger brother Webb. But Pandora will do what Webb cannot: It will be able to patiently observe stars to understand how their complex atmospheres change.
By staring at a star for 24 hours with visible and infrared cameras, it will measure subtle changes in the star's brightness and colors. When active regions in the star rotate in and out of view, and starspots form, evolve and dissipate, Pandora will record them. While Webb very rarely returns to the same planet in the same instrument configuration and almost never monitors their host stars, Pandora will revisit its target stars 10 times over a year, spending over 200 hours on each of them.
With that information, our Pandora team will be able to figure out how the changes in the stars affect the observed planetary transits. Like Webb, Pandora will observe the planetary transit events, too. By combining data from Pandora and Webb, our team will be able to understand what exoplanet atmospheres are made of in more detail than ever before.
After the successful launch, Pandora is now circling Earth about every 90 minutes. Pandora's systems and functions are now being tested thoroughly by Blue Canyon Technologies, Pandora's primary builder.
About a week after launch, control of the spacecraft will transition to the University of Arizona'sMulti-Mission Operation Center in Tucson, Arizona. Then the work of our science teams begins in earnest and we will begin capturing starlight filtered through the atmospheres of other worlds — and see them with a new, steady eye.
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- https://www.livescience.com/space/nasa-launches-pandora-telescope-taking-jwsts-search-for-habitable-worlds-to-a-new-level
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- Sun, 18 Jan 2026 13:00:00 +0000Mon, 19 Jan 2026 13:56:04 +0000
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- <![CDATA[ Strange 'missing link' star system 'fundamentally changes' our understanding of planet formation ]]>
- Astronomers have gotten a rare glimpse at four baby planets as they're growing up, and it reveals something surprising: These toddler worlds are getting lighter as they age.
The quadruplet worlds orbit in tightly packed paths around the star V1298 Tau, a young system that's just 20 million years old (compared with our sun's 4.5 billion years) located about 350 light-years from Earth. A new analysis, which drew on a decade of observations, shows that the planets are surprisingly lightweight, with low densities — so puffed up, in fact, that researchers likened them to Styrofoam.
The findings offer a rare snapshot of planetary architecture just after formation, the researchers said — a long-sought-for "missing link" between newborn disks of gas and dust and the mature planetary systems astronomers commonly observe across the Milky Way.
Those older systems are often crowded with planets between the sizes of Earth and Neptune on tight, Mercury-like orbits. The origins of such worlds have remained one of astronomy's enduring mysteries.
"What's so exciting is that we're seeing a preview of what will become a very normal planetary system," study lead author John Livingston, an assistant professor at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, said in a statement. "We've never had such a clear picture of them in their formative years."
Over time, the bloated worlds around V1298 Tau are expected to shrink as they shed their thick atmospheres, eventually becoming super-Earths and sub-Neptunes — planetary types that are absent from our own solar system but ubiquitous throughout the galaxy.
By capturing the planets at such a pivotal stage of development, the study, published Jan. 7 in the journal Nature, enables astronomers to trace the chaotic processes that sculpt planetary systems over billions of years.
'I couldn't believe it!'
The four planets orbiting V1298 Tau were first identified in 2019 in data from NASA's Kepler space telescope. One is roughly Jupiter-size, while the other three fall between the sizes of Neptune and Saturn.
What immediately set the system apart was its crowded layout of multiple oversized planets packed into relatively tight orbits — a configuration known in only one other system, Kepler-51, among more than 500 known multi-planet systems.
A collage of planet-forming discs seen in 32 infant star systems. The new research offers insights into how and when baby planets form. (Image credit: ESO, ESA/Gaia/DPAC, M. Vioque et al.)
While the planets' existence was clear, their fundamental properties remained elusive. To pin them down, Livingston and his team embarked on a nearly decade-long observation campaign using half a dozen telescopes in space and on the ground. They tracked the planets as they passed in front of their star — events known as transits, which cause tiny dips in starlight that reveal a planet's size and orbital period.
Crucially, small variations in the timing of the transits, caused by the planets tugging gravitationally on one another, enabled the team to measure their masses. The technique is especially powerful because it is largely immune to interference from stellar flares common around young stars, the study noted.
But the method only works if astronomers know each planet's orbital period precisely — and for the outermost planet, V1298 Tau e, that information was missing. Only two of its transits had ever been observed, separated by 6.5 years across observations from Kepler and NASA's exoplanet-hunting Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) telescope, leaving astronomers unsure how many transits had gone unseen in between, according to the study.
A stroke of good luck came when the ground-based Las Cumbres Observatory network — which operates telescopes in the United States, Chile and South Africa — spotted a third transit, enabling the researchers to finally lock down the planet's orbit and model the system's full gravitational choreography.
"I couldn't believe it!" study co-author Erik Petigura, an assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UCLA, said in the statement. "The timing was so uncertain that I thought we would have to try half a dozen times at least. It was like getting a hole-in-one in golf."
The results showed that despite being five to 10 times Earth's radius, the planets have masses only five to 15 times greater than Earth's, making them among the least dense planets ever discovered, Livingston said.
"By weighing these planets for the first time, we have provided the first observational proof," study co-author Trevor David, an astrophysicist formerly at the Flatiron Institute in New York, who led the system's discovery in 2019, said in the statement. "They are indeed exceptionally 'puffy,' which gives us a crucial, long-awaited benchmark for theories of planet evolution."
The team then simulated the planets' evolution and found that they have already lost much of their original atmospheres and cooled faster than predicted by standard models.
"But they're still evolving," study co-author James Owen, an associate professor of astrophysics at Imperial College London, said in the statement. The planets are expected to continue shedding gas and contracting into super-Earths and sub-Neptunes, he said.
"Over the next few billion years, they will continue to lose their atmosphere and shrink significantly, transforming into the compact systems of super-Earths and sub-Neptunes we see throughout the galaxy," Owen added.
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- https://www.livescience.com/space/exoplanets/strange-discovery-offers-missing-link-in-planet-formation-this-fundamentally-changes-how-we-think-about-planetary-systems
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