☕️ A supernova first seen in 1181 is releasing glowing filaments

Good morning. Depending on how much of a nerd you are this will either be good or bad news: We’ve decided to leave y’all alone on weekends. See you bright and early Monday.

—Dylan J. Dance

SCIENCE

🌌 Dandelion Supernova Reveals Its Secrets. Astronomers have mapped the glowing filaments from the remnants of a supernova first seen in 1181 using the Keck Cosmic Web Imager at the W. M. Keck Observatory. The filaments resemble a dandelion flower and provide new insights into the structure of the supernova remnant. This discovery helps scientists understand how the explosion’s remnants radiate from a "zombie star," the result of a failed explosion known as a Type Iax supernova. The filaments move at 2.2 million miles per hour, pointing to the precise year of the explosion as 1181.

🧪 Chemists Break 100-Year Rule, Urge Textbook Rewrite. A team of chemists at UCLA has overturned a long-standing rule in organic chemistry, known as Bredt's rule, that has stood for 100 years. The rule claims that double bonds cannot exist at the ring junction of a bridged bicyclic molecule. The researchers showed how to create "anti-Bredt olefins" that defy this rule, opening up new possibilities for synthetic chemistry in drug discovery and other fields. "We shouldn't have rules like this... It destroys creativity when we have rules that supposedly can't be overcome," said Neil Garg, the lead author of the study.

🦇 Bats Use 'Acoustic Cognitive Maps' to Navigate. Echolocating bats have been found to use an "acoustic cognitive map" to navigate their environment, even when displaced up to three kilometers from home. Researchers tracked 76 Kuhl's pipistrelle bats, demonstrating that they can perform kilometer-scale navigation using echolocation alone, although their performance improves when vision is available. This indicates that bats have a detailed mental map of their home range based on acoustic cues. "It was incredible to see that, even with such small eyes, they can rely on vision under these conditions," said Aya Goldshtein, the study’s lead researcher.

🛰️ Voyager 1 Loses Contact, Uses Retro Transmitter From 1981. NASA's Voyager 1 lost contact with Earth from October 19 to 24 after a technical malfunction triggered the shutdown of its main transmitter. Communication was restored using a backup transmitter, one that hadn’t been used since 1981, while engineers assess the issue. Voyager 1 is the most distant human-made object, currently over 15 billion miles from Earth, making troubleshooting complex and time-consuming.

TECH

🖥️ OpenAI Launches Search Feature in ChatGPT. OpenAI officially launched its ChatGPT search feature, competing directly with established search engines like Google and Microsoft’s Bing. The feature integrates real-time web search capabilities, allowing users to obtain up-to-the-minute information, such as news, stock quotes, and weather. This new move strengthens OpenAI's position as a direct competitor to its investor Microsoft, despite using Bing as part of its search backend.

🛠️ Boston Dynamics’ Atlas Humanoid Goes Autonomous. Boston Dynamics’ electric humanoid robot, Atlas, demonstrated its ability to autonomously pick automotive parts, moving engine components between bins without any pre-programmed movements. This highlights Atlas's adaptability using a combination of sensors to detect and react to environmental changes. The collaboration with Toyota Research Institute boosts Atlas's potential for industrial applications, especially in the automotive sector.

🚁 AI Drones Over Tanks: Schmidt's Vision for Future Warfare. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt suggests that the U.S. Army should replace its tanks with AI-powered drones. Citing the effectiveness of low-cost drones in modern conflicts like the Ukraine war, Schmidt, who founded White Stork—a startup focused on AI-driven attack drones—argues that autonomy and cost-effectiveness make drones a better fit for future conflicts than tanks.

MEDICAL

💊 New Approach to Medication During Pregnancy. Physicians and researchers are calling for an ethics-based, evidence-backed approach to prescribing medication during pregnancy, as detailed in a recent Lancet article. Pregnant women are often excluded from clinical trials, leading to limited data on medication safety. The proposed approach includes shared decision-making between clinicians and pregnant women, considering ethical principles and individual patient values. This model aims to promote the active participation of pregnant women in treatment decisions, addressing the gap in evidence for pregnancy-safe dosages.

💊 Vitamin K₂: A Relief for Nighttime Leg Cramps. A clinical trial conducted by researchers in China found that Vitamin K₂ supplementation significantly reduces the frequency, intensity, and duration of nighttime leg cramps in older adults. The study, involving 199 participants aged 65 and older, showed that Vitamin K₂ not only lowered the occurrence of cramps by over two cramps per week compared to placebo but also reduced severity and duration, with no adverse side effects reported.

🧠 Deep Sleep Aids Recovery After Heart Attack. A recent study has shown that after a heart attack, immune cells trigger deep sleep to help the heart recover. This "restorative slumber" dampens inflammation in the heart, promoting healing. The findings underscore the importance of getting ample rest after a cardiovascular event to optimize recovery. "Getting sufficient sleep and rest after a heart attack is important for long-term healing of the heart," explained co-author Cameron McAlpine from the Icahn School of Medicine.

SPACE

🌌 Uranus' Moon Miranda Could Harbor an Ocean. A study suggests that Uranus' moon Miranda might have a subsurface ocean, putting it among a select few solar system bodies with the potential for habitability. Researchers used a computer model to analyze the moon's enigmatic geology, finding that tidal forces may have kept its interior warm enough to sustain an ocean, which could still exist today. "To find evidence of an ocean inside a small object like Miranda is incredibly surprising," noted Tom Nordheim, co-author of the study.

💫 One of the Fastest-Spinning Stars in the Universe Discovered. Researchers have identified a neutron star in the Milky Way that spins 716 times per second, making it one of the fastest-spinning objects ever observed. This remarkable finding was made using NASA's NICER X-ray telescope on the International Space Station, highlighting the ongoing mysteries our galaxy holds. "The 4U 1820-30 neutron star would be one of the fastest-spinning objects ever observed in the universe," said Dr. Gaurava K. Jaisawal.

CLIMATE

⛄ Newly Discovered Mayan City Hints at Widespread Ancient Urbanism. Using lidar technology, researchers have uncovered a major Mayan city complete with pyramids and ball courts in the Yucatan Peninsula, challenging the idea that the lowland Maya were sparsely populated. The researchers argue that the Maya established a sophisticated urban environment across the tropical landscape, reshaping our understanding of ancient civilizations. According to researcher Luke Auld-Thomas, "The government never knew about it; the scientific community never knew about it."

WORLD

🎶 Lost Chopin Waltz Unearthed After 200 Years. A previously unknown waltz by composer Frédéric Chopin has been discovered in the Morgan Library's Satz Collection. This discovery marks the first time since the 1930s that new Chopin sheet music has been unearthed, offering a rare glimpse into his compositional style. The piece, described as "showing the kind of ‘tightness’ we expect from a finished work," presents unique dissonant measures followed by a melancholy melody.

🌍 China Develops AI Model for Military Use. Chinese researchers have developed an AI model for military use based on Meta's Llama. The AI tool, named "ChatBIT," was fine-tuned for military applications such as intelligence gathering and operational decision-making. Despite restrictions imposed by Meta, the use of publicly available AI models for military purposes raises concerns about their enforcement.

🎬 Squid Game Season 2: Player 456 Returns. The first trailer for Squid Game Season 2 has been released, featuring Player 456, Seong Gi-hun, returning to the deadly games in his iconic green tracksuit. The new season promises more intriguing games and a larger cast, as Gi-hun tries to guide new competitors to safety amidst familiar but deadly challenges. The show's creator, Hwang Dong-hyuk, mentions that Gi-hun's search for answers about the people behind the games is the core storyline for the new season.

Thanks for reading!