Here are today’s most important updates from the realm of Science and Space.
Where Stars Begin: Webb Unveils Dazzling Stellar Nursery
In a breathtaking new image, Nasa’s James Webb Space Telescope has unveiled
a glittering nursery of stars, offering one of the most detailed looks yet at how massive suns are born. The scene, resembling a rugged, starlit mountaintop surrounded by wisps of cloud, is in fact a vast cosmic dust-scape under siege from the fierce radiation and stellar winds of infant stars. The image focuses on Pismis 24, a young star cluster at the heart of the Lobster Nebula, situated about 5,500 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius. This stellar nursery is among the closest known regions where massive stars form, making it an extraordinary laboratory for astronomers to study their births and evolution.
Galactic Smash-Up: Webb Reveals Ancient 5-Way Crash
Astronomers have discovered an incredibly rare system in which at least five galaxies from the early universe are merging — just 800 million years after the Big Bang. The remarkable discovery was made using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Hubble Space Telescope. Galaxy mergers play a key role in galaxy formation in the early universe. While not commonly seen, merging systems do occur, typically involving two galaxies. However, the newly identified merger, nicknamed JWST's Quintet, contains at least five galaxies and 17 galaxy clumps. These galaxies are called emission-line galaxies as they have prominent signatures in their light, particularly those emitted by hydrogen and oxygen, which are telltale signs of new stars forming.
Living Technology Could Transform Microplastic Detection
A new study reports the development of a living biosensor that attaches to plastic and produces a green fluorescence signal. Researchers engineered this sensor from Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium commonly found in the environment, to detect microplastics. Microplastics, fragments smaller than five millimetres formed as plastics break down, have already been detected in food, water, and the air, posing a serious environmental and health threat. Although P. aeruginosa can naturally form biofilms on plastic, it is also an opportunistic pathogen capable of causing skin, lung, and blood infections. To address this, the researchers modified a non-infectious laboratory strain of the bacterium. They introduced two genes: one of which produces a green fluorescent protein when microplastics are present.
Biggest No More: Iceberg A23A Breaks and Shrinks
The world’s largest iceberg is splintering into pieces and shrinking fast, scientists revealed. A23A is no longer the biggest iceberg and could collapse entirely within weeks. The giant berg broke off Antarctica’s Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf in 1986. For decades it stayed near the continent, until currents pushed it north toward South Georgia Island, where icebergs typically disintegrate. Earlier this year, A23A was the size of Rhode Island and weighed a trillion tons. Now it is closer to the size of Houston. Scientists stress that icebergs breaking apart do not raise sea levels directly. But shrinking ice shelves can allow land-based glaciers to melt faster into the ocean, which does contribute to rising seas.
