Monday, March 02, 2026

SPACE/COSMOS

Largest image of its kind shows hidden chemistry at the heart of the Milky Way

ESO

Largest ALMA image ever shows the molecular gas in the centre of the Milky Way — image:
This image shows the complex distribution of molecular gas in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) of the Milky Way. It was obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner. This map is as long as three full Moons side-by-side in the sky, and it is in fact the largest ALMA image ever obtained.
This map is part of ACES — the ALMA CMZ Exploration Survey — a project designed to understand how gas condenses into stars in the extreme and chaotic environment at the heart of our galaxy. The survey has charted the distribution of dozens of different molecules, five of which are shown here in different colours: sulphur monoxide (cyan), silicon monoxide (green), isocyanic acid (red), cyanoacetylene (blue), and carbon monosulphide (magenta).
The stars in the foreground of this image were observed at infrared wavelengths (Y, Z and J filters) with ESO’s VISTA telescope as part of a different project. The actual density of stars in the CMZ is much higher than what is shown here, where we have opted to highlight the details in the molecular cloud. Note that the edges of the ALMA map appear somewhat sharp because the ALMA observations do not cover the entire rectangular area here.
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Credit: ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/S. Longmore et al. Background: ESO/D. Minniti et al.

Astronomers have captured the central region of our Milky Way in a striking new image, unveiling a complex network of filaments of cosmic gas in unprecedented detail. Obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), this rich dataset — the largest ALMA image to date — will allow astronomers to probe the lives of stars in the most extreme region of our galaxy, next to the supermassive black hole at its centre.

“It’s a place of extremes, invisible to our eyes, but now revealed in extraordinary detail,” says Ashley Barnes, an astronomer at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Germany who is part of the team that obtained the new data. The observations provide a unique view of the cold gas — the raw material from which stars form — within the so-called Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) of our galaxy. It is the first time the cold gas across this whole region has been explored in such detail.

The region featured in the new image spans more than 650 light-years. It harbours dense clouds of gas and dust, surrounding the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy. “It is the only galactic nucleus close enough to Earth for us to study in such fine detail,” says Barnes. The dataset reveals the CMZ like never before, from gas structures dozens of light-years across all the way down to small gas clouds around individual stars.

The gas that ACES — the ALMA CMZ Exploration Survey — specifically explores is cold molecular gas. The survey unpacks the intricate chemistry of the CMZ, detecting dozens of different molecules, from simple ones such as silicon monoxide to more complex organic ones like methanol, acetone or ethanol.

Cold molecular gas flows along filaments feeding into clumps of matter out of which stars can grow. In the outskirts of the Milky Way we know how this process happens, but within the central region the events are much more extreme. “The CMZ hosts some of the most massive stars known in our galaxy, many of which live fast and die young, ending their lives in powerful supernova explosions, and even hypernovae,” says ACES leader Steve Longmore, a professor of astrophysics at Liverpool John Moores University, UK. With ACES, astronomers hope to better understand how these phenomena influence the birth of stars and whether our theories of star formation hold in extreme environments.

“By studying how stars are born in the CMZ, we can also gain a clearer picture of how galaxies grew and evolved,” Longmore adds. “We believe the region shares many features with galaxies in the early Universe, where stars were forming in chaotic, extreme environments.”

To collect this new dataset, astronomers used ALMA, which is operated by ESO and partners in Chile’s Atacama Desert. In fact, this is the first time such a large area has been scanned with this facility, making this the largest ALMA image ever. Seen in the sky, the mosaic — obtained by stitching together many individual observations like putting puzzle pieces together — is as long as three full Moons side-by-side.

“We anticipated a high level of detail when designing the survey, but we were genuinely surprised by the complexity and richness revealed in the final mosaic," says Katharina Immer, an ALMA astronomer at ESO who is also part of the project. The data from ACES are presented in five papers accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, with a sixth in the final review stages.

“The upcoming ALMA Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade, along with ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope, will soon allow us to push even deeper into this region — resolving finer structures, tracing more complex chemistry, and exploring the interplay between stars, gas and black holes with unprecedented clarity,” says Barnes. “In many ways, this is just the beginning.”

More information

This research was presented in a series of papers presenting the ACES data, to appear in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society:

Paper I - ALMA Central molecular zone Exploration Survey (ACES) I: Overview paper
Paper II - ALMA Central molecular zone Exploration Survey (ACES) II: Continuum imaging
Paper III - ALMA Central molecular zone Exploration Survey (ACES) III: Molecular line data reduction and HNCO & HCO+ data
Paper IV - ALMA Central molecular zone Exploration Survey (ACES) IV: Data of the two intermediate-width spectral windows
Paper V - ALMA Central molecular zone Exploration Survey (ACES) V: CS(2-1), SO 2_3-1_2, CH3CHO 5_(1,4)-4_(1,3), HC3N(11-10) and H40A lines data
Paper VI - ALMA Central molecular zone Exploration Survey (ACES) VI: ALMA Large Program Reveals a Highly Filamentary Central Molecular Zone (undergoing minor revision)

The data itself will be available from the ALMA Science Portal at https://almascience.org/alma-data/lp/aces.

The international ACES team is composed of over 160 scientists ranging from Master’s students to retirees, working at more than 70 institutions across Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Australia. The project was instigated and led by Principal Investigator Steven Longmore (Liverpool John Moores University, UK), together with co-PIs Ashley Barnes (European Southern Observatory, Germany), Cara Battersby (University of Connecticut, USA [Connecticut]), John Bally (University of Colorado Boulder, USA), Laura Colzi (Centro de Astrobiología, Madrid, Spain [CdA]), Adam Ginsburg (University of Florida, USA [Florida]), Jonathan Henshaw (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany), Paul Ho (Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Taiwan), Izaskun Jiménez-Serra (CdA), J. M. Diederik Kruijssen (COOL Research DAO), Elisabeth Mills (University of Kansas, USA), Maya Petkova (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden), Mattia Sormani (Dipartimento di Scienza e Alta Tecnologia (DiSAT), University of Insubria, Italy), Robin Tress (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland & Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik, Universität Heidelberg, Germany), Daniel Walker (UK ALMA Regional Centre Node, University of Manchester, UK), and Jennifer Wallace (Connecticut).

Within ACES, the ALMA data reduction working group is coordinated by Adam Ginsburg, Daniel Walker, and Ashley Barnes, and includes Nazar Budaiev (Florida), Laura Colzi (CdA), Savannah Gramze (Florida), Pei-Ying Hsieh (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan), Desmond Jeff (Florida), Xing Lu (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China), Jaime Pineda (Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Germany), Marc Pound (University of Maryland, USA), and Álvaro Sánchez-Monge (Institut de Ciències de l’Espai, CSIC, Bellaterra, Spain; Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya, Castelldefels, Spain), together with more than 30 additional team members who contributed to the data reduction effort.

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of ESO, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) of Japan in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA is funded by ESO on behalf of its Member States, by NSF in cooperation with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) in Taiwan and by NINS in cooperation with the Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI). ALMA construction and operations are led by ESO on behalf of its Member States; by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), managed by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), on behalf of North America; and by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) on behalf of East Asia. The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) enables scientists worldwide to discover the secrets of the Universe for the benefit of all. We design, build and operate world-class observatories on the ground — which astronomers use to tackle exciting questions and spread the fascination of astronomy — and promote international collaboration for astronomy. Established as an intergovernmental organisation in 1962, today ESO is supported by 16 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom), along with the host state of Chile and with Australia as a Strategic Partner. ESO’s headquarters and its visitor centre and planetarium, the ESO Supernova, are located close to Munich in Germany, while the Chilean Atacama Desert, a marvellous place with unique conditions to observe the sky, hosts our telescopes. ESO operates three observing sites: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope and its Very Large Telescope Interferometer, as well as survey telescopes such as VISTA. Also at Paranal, ESO will host and operate the south array of the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory, the world’s largest and most sensitive gamma-ray observatory. Together with international partners, ESO operates ALMA on Chajnantor, a facility that observes the skies in the millimetre and submillimetre range. At Cerro Armazones, near Paranal, we are building “the world’s biggest eye on the sky” — ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope. From our offices in Santiago, Chile we support our operations in the country and engage with Chilean partners and society.

Women more likely to choose wine from female winemakers

Washington State University

PULLMAN, Wash. — Promoting women’s ownership in wineries can boost sales among the largest group of U.S. wine consumers, who happen to be women.

Messages like “proudly made by a woman winemaker” increased women’s intentions of purchasing wines, particularly when the label’s artwork reinforced the point with feminine gender cues such as flowers. Women were also willing to pay higher prices for those wines, according to the research from Washington State University and Auburn University.

The findings are noteworthy because 59% of all wine purchases in the United States are made by women, said Christina Chi, coauthor of the research and professor of hospitality business management at WSU’s Carson College of Business.

Wine is often considered a cultural product, where the winemaker’s identity plays a role in shaping the brand’s image, she said.

Women winemakers, however, are less likely than their male counterparts to include their names on bottle labels or draw attention to their gender. Their reluctance may stem from concerns about prejudice toward their products in the male-dominated wine industry, Chi said.

“Our findings suggest that women winemakers and winery owners can benefit by being more visible,” she said. “The research shows that they can disclose their ownership with confidence and leverage it as a marketing strategy.”

The possibilities include putting “women-made wine” statements on labels or packaging, and retail store displays featuring women-made wines.

Demi Deng, an assistant professor at Auburn who earned her doctorate at WSU, is the first author on the research published in International Journal of Hospitality Management. Ruiying Cai, an assistant professor of hospitality business management at WSU, also contributed.

The new findings build on earlier studies showing that women are more inclined to buy wine with feminine gender cues on the labels. The 2024 research – by Cai, Chi, Deng, and WSU Emeritus Professor Robert Harrington – received widespread publicity. Beverage trade journals carried the story, and women winemakers were enthusiastic about the findings.

“As researchers, we want our work not only to have societal impact, but to have practical significance for the wine industry,” Chi said. “From the response, we saw that women winemakers were following our research and were eager for additional studies about women wine consumers.”

More than 1,000 U.S. women participated in the most recent research, which involved a three-part study.

First, the researchers replicated the 2024 findings about feminine cues on wine labels. Using a fictitious Columbia Valley red table wine, the women surveyed expressed higher intentions of purchasing the wine when the label’s artwork featured a bouquet of flowers versus a masculine portrait. They were also willing to pay $3.50 more per bottle – about $17.75 for wines with feminine labels compared to $14.25 for wines with masculine cues.

In the second phase of the study, a “woman-made wine” statement was added to marketing materials. Women consumers had even stronger purchase intentions for wines with both the statement and feminine artwork on labels, the research found.

In the final phase, photos of women winemakers were further added to the marketing materials. But women were less likely to buy feminine-label wines when the female winemakers were pictured. Rather than focusing on the “woman-made” messaging, consumers’ decisions may have been swayed by whether they related to the individual women portrayed in the photographs, researchers said.

The studies also tested the marketing strategies on wines with masculine labels. Adding a “woman-made” statement significantly increased their appeal to women consumers. And when female winemakers were pictured in the marketing materials, women were willing to pay $3 more per bottle for wines with masculine labels.

Besides helping women winemakers market their products, Deng said she hopes the research will draw attention to women’s contributions to the industry. In the United States, about 18% of winemakers are women.

Deng worked as a sommelier in New Zealand before she earned her doctorate. “I actually encountered a lot of women winemakers, but their names aren’t visible in the wine market,” she said.

Journal

International Journal of Hospitality Management

DOI

10.1016/j.ijhm.2026.104596

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Her wine, her way: How women’s ownership disclosure in wine marketing shapes women consumers’ choices

Article Publication Date

26-Feb-2026

All-fluorinated electrolyte unlocks the potential of high-voltage lithium metal batteries

Tsinghua University Press

High-Voltage Stability LNMO Batteries Enabled by All-Fluorinated Electrolyte — image:
The cycle performance of Li//LNMO cells at 1 C rate. The red line represents the new All-Fluorinated Electrolyte (AFE), which maintains significantly higher capacity and stability over 250 cycles compared to the standard carbonate electrolyte (blue line), enabling long-lasting high-voltage operation.
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Credit: Energy Materials and Devices, Tsinghua University Press

As the global demand for electric vehicles (EVs) accelerates, the race is on to develop batteries that offer higher energy density, lower costs and reduced reliance on scarce resources like cobalt. Spinel LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 (LNMO) has emerged as a top contender for next-generation cathodes due to its high operating voltage (4.7 V vs. Li+/Li) and cobalt-free composition. However, its commercial adoption has been stalled by a critical flaw: electrochemical instability. Standard carbonate-based electrolytes break down under the high-voltage conditions required by LNMO, leading to rapid performance fading.

Now, a team of researchers led by Huolin Xin from University of California, Irvine has developed a solution: an all-fluorinated electrolyte (AFE) that acts as a stabilizer for these high-voltage systems. Their findings were published in the journal Energy Materials and Devices on December 1, 2025.

"To boost the energy density of batteries, we need to push the voltage limits. But conventional electrolytes are like using an oil that burns off when the engine gets too hot—they simply oxidize and decompose at voltages above 4.2 V," said Peichao Zou, a former postdoctoral researcher in the research group. "Our goal was to design an electrolyte that could withstand the aggressive 4.7 V environment of LNMO cathodes."

The team’s solution involves replacing traditional solvents with fluorinated counterparts combined with a boron-containing additive (TMSB). Fluorinated solvents have special chemical properties that make them resistant to oxidation. In testing, the new AFE demonstrated an impressive stability window, enduring voltages up to 6.5 V without decomposing.

The secret to this enhanced performance lies in the interface. The study reveals that the AFE promotes the formation of a robust Cathode-Electrolyte Interphase (CEI) layer rich in fluorine and boron.

"Think of the CEI layer as a protective skin that forms on the cathode," explained Peichao Zou. "With standard electrolytes, this skin is weak and keeps breaking, consuming the battery's fluid. Our fluorinated electrolyte builds a tough, stable armor that stops side reactions and prevents the metal structure of the cathode from dissolving."

The results are significant for the future of battery longevity. In comparative tests, Li//LNMO cells using the new AFE retained 84.1% of their capacity after 250 cycles at a high cut-off voltage of 4.9 V, significantly outperforming cells with standard electrolytes. Furthermore, the battery showed remarkable resilience at elevated temperatures (50°C), a common condition in real-world EV usage, where standard batteries typically degrade fastest.

While the study marks a major step forward, the team acknowledges that challenges remain, particularly regarding operation in freezing conditions. The fluorinated electrolyte currently exhibits higher viscosity, which can slow down ion movement at temperatures like -10°C.

"This study presents a facile and effective approach to promoting the commercialization of high-voltage LNMO cathodes," said Lulu Ren, a former postdoctoral researcher in the research group. "Our next steps involve optimizing the formula to improve low-temperature conductivity and fast-charging capabilities, ensuring these batteries are ready for all-climate applications."

Journal

Energy Materials and Devices

DOI

10.26599/EMD.2025.9370079

Article Title

Boosting the high voltage performance of spinel LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 cathode through an all-fluorinated electrolyte

As health care goes digital, patients are being left behind

University of California - San Francisco

Patients are now expected to navigate much of their care online — from seeing their doctor on a screen to booking appointments, refilling prescriptions, and checking test results through health care portals. 

Yet, according to a new study by UC San Francisco, most health systems are skipping a crucial step: asking whether their patients have the access and skills to use these digital tools. 

The researchers surveyed nearly 150 clinicians and informatics leaders from health care systems across the country during the first half of 2024. Just 44% said they asked their patients if they could use digital devices. Among the institutions that serve uninsured patients, just one-third asked.

“Not everyone can access all these new digital health tools we’re rolling out, and the people who are excluded are often those who experience worse health outcomes and limited access to care,” said Elaine C. Khoong, MD, associate professor of medicine at UCSF and a faculty member with the UCSF Action Research Center for Health. 

Khoong is the senior author of the paper, which appeared Feb. 25 in the journal JMIR Formative Research. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

As a general internist and clinical informaticist, Khoong has seen patients miss critical messages sent through the hospital’s online app because they didn’t know they had an account. Others were sent text or email links but didn’t understand how to open them.

She and her co-authors say health care organizations should train their health workers to screen for digital readiness using standardized tools, and policy makers should create stronger incentives for health systems to do this type of assessment. They recommended that it should be incorporated into other routine screenings for things like housing instability, food insecurity, and domestic abuse. 

Those who responded to the survey said the lack of time and resources were their biggest barriers to screening. And among those who did screen, nearly half said they did not have the resources to help their patients access or learn to use the organization’s online tools. 

Since the survey, Congress made cuts to federal digital access programs. In June of 2024, the Affordable Connectivity Program, which is the nation’s largest internet subsidy for low-income households, shut down after Congress failed to renew its funding.

Authors: Jonathan J. Shih and Andersen Yang, MPH, of UCSF, are co-first authors of the study. Other UCSF co-authors include Vivian E. Kwok, MPH, Emilia H. De Marchis, MD, Marika Dy, MPH, Carmen Ma, Nilpa D. Shah, MPH, Kelsey H. Natsuhara, MD, Urmimala Sarkar, MD, MPH, and Anjana E. Sharma, MD. For all authors, see the paper. 

Funding:  This study was supported by the NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UCSF-CTSI UL1 TR001872), National Institute on Aging (P30AG015272), National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (K23HL1577500), and National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (K23MD016439). Additional funders include the UCSF Population Health and Health Equity Funding and the California Health Care Foundation. 

Conflicts: None declared. 

About UCSF: The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is exclusively focused on the health sciences and is dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. UCSF Health, which serves as UCSF’s primary academic medical center, includes among the nation's top specialty hospitals and other clinical programs, and has affiliations throughout the Bay Area. UCSF School of Medicine also has a regional campus in Fresno. Learn more at ucsf.edu or see our Fact Sheet.

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Journal

JMIR Formative Research

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Monday, March 02, 2026

Largest image of its kind shows hidden chemistry at the heart of the Milky Way

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Women more likely to choose wine from female winemakers

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All-fluorinated electrolyte unlocks the potential of high-voltage lithium metal batteries

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As health care goes digital, patients are being left behind

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