Friday, April 03, 2026

 

Star light, star bright, baby stars blow rings alight



Using ALMA, astronomers observe protostars producing rings of gas and magnetic flux as they grow




Kyushu University

The ring produced by MC 27 

image: 

An artist’s rendering of the molecular cloud core of MC 27 based on observations from the ALMA telescope. The protostar and the disk surrounding it are shown in the lower right, with warm gas extending outward in a ring-like structure, with magnetic field lines penetrating the interior of the ring.

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Credit: Y. Nakamura, K. Tokuda et al.





Fukuoka, Japan—Researchers have uncovered new insights into the early development of baby stars. Publishing in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, a research team from Kyushu University and Kagawa University reports that during the early growth period of a baby star, the protostellar disk—the dense disk of gas and dust that surrounds the star—expels magnetic flux and forms a giant warm ring of gas about 1,000 au (astronomical units) in size. The research team explains that these “sneezes” of matter and magnetic energy help the baby star release excess energy, leading to proper star formation.

One of the many mysteries that the universe holds is how stars like our Sun are born. Stars are born in areas of the cosmos called stellar nurseries, where gas and dust coalesce to form early stars called protostars. The best way to understand star formation is to observe these stellar nurseries; however, this can be difficult due to the aforementioned gas and dust obscuring the baby star.

“Thankfully, one of the most promising ways to get a clear view of protostars is to use the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile,” explains Professor Masahiro N. Machida of Kyushu University’s Faculty of Science, who led the study. “This radio telescope lets us see the different materials that make up stellar nurseries.”

Over the last decade, the team has been using ALMA to study the protostars in the stellar nursery in the Taurus Molecular Cloud. Our Sun is about 4.6 billion years old, and a star is considered a “newborn” if it’s around 100,000 years old. The baby star the team studied is younger than that.

In their previous research, the team found that the protostellar disk of a baby star forms spike-like structures approximately 10 au in size through magnetic activity. These “sneezes,” as the researchers describe them, are critical for ejecting excess energy from the baby star. In their new findings, the team collected data on the molecular cloud core MC 27 and discovered a much larger ring-shaped gas structure 1,000 au in size near the baby star.

“Our data showed that this ring is slightly warmer than its surroundings. We hypothesize that it is produced through a magnetic field threading the protostellar disk. In essence, the “sneezes” we’ve observed in the past, but at a much bigger scale,” explains first author Kazuki Tokuda from Kagawa University. “The warm ring we detected this time strengthens our hypothesis that baby stars undergo dynamic magnetic-gas redistribution shortly after birth, generating shock waves that warm the surrounding gas.”

The team intends to gather more high-resolution images from ALMA to see what is inside these rings and to understand the nature of the phenomenon. Moreover, since this is their first study, they plan to search the ALMA archive for more data on baby stars in different regions of the universe.

“We were very surprised by these results because we didn’t expect to find such a clear ring. I was so excited that I drafted this paper in two to three days,” continues Tokuda.

Machida concludes, “We will keep collecting data to strengthen our hypothesis. In the meantime, we welcome rigorous debate on our results so we can advance our field. The gas motion involved in star formation is generally ordered, yet very chaotic, appearing in different shapes and sizes. It took us a decade to reach these conclusions, and we look forward to doing more work to uncover the mysteries of the universe.”

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For more information about this research, see "ALMA Band 9 CO (6–5) Reveals a Warm Ring Structure Associated with the Embedded Protostar in the Cold Dense Core MC 27/L1521F," Kazuki Tokuda, Mitsuki Omura, Naoto Harada, Ayumu Shoshi, Naofumi Fukaya, Toshikazu Onishi, Kengo Tachihara, Kazuya Saigo, Tomoaki Matsumoto, Yasuo Fukui, Akiko Kawamura, and Masahiro N. Machida The Astrophysical Journal Lettershttps://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ae47ec

About Kyushu University 
Founded in 1911, Kyushu University is one of Japan's leading research-oriented institutions of higher education, consistently ranking as one of the top ten Japanese universities in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and the QS World Rankings. Located in Fukuoka, on the island of Kyushu—the most southwestern of Japan’s four main islands—Kyushu U sits in a coastal metropolis frequently ranked among the world’s most livable cities and historically known as Japan’s gateway to Asia. Its multiple campuses are home to around 19,000 students and 8,000 faculty and staff. Through its VISION 2030, Kyushu U will “drive social change with integrative knowledge.” By fusing the spectrum of knowledge, from the humanities and arts to engineering and medical sciences, Kyushu U will strengthen its research in the key areas of decarbonization, medicine and health, and environment and food, to tackle society’s most pressing issues.

About Kagawa University
Kagawa University is located in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, on the island of Shikoku—Japan’s smallest of the four main islands—and sits in a coastal city known for its mild climate and close connection to the Seto Inland Sea. Kagawa University boasts six faculties and six graduate schools, currently educating about 5,600 undergraduate students and around 900 graduate students. The history of Kagawa University dates back to 1949, when it was founded as a national university with two faculties: the Faculty of Economics, which originated from Takamatsu College of Economics, and the Faculty of Education, which was based on the Kagawa Normal School and Kagawa Normal School for Youth. Subsequent expansions led to the establishment of the Faculty of Agriculture in 1955, the Faculty of Law in 1981, and the Faculty of Engineering in 1987. Furthermore, in 2003, Kagawa University was reborn as the new Kagawa University through a merger with Kagawa Medical University, founded in 1980.

 

 SPACE/COSMOS

 

‘Serendipitous’ discovery of Martian ripple marks reveals an ancient sandstorm



New research in Geology uses images from the Curiosity rover to decode the planet’s atmosphere at a time when the surface was potentially habitable




Geological Society of America

A closer view of the supercritical climbing wind ripples that provide direct evidence of a sandstorm, roughly three and a half billion years ago. 

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Fig 1: A closer view of the supercritical climbing wind ripples that provide direct evidence of a sandstorm, roughly three and a half billion years ago.

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Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS





The search for life on Mars involves the efforts of scientists from many different disciplines. An important aspect of that search is to study Martian sedimentary rocks for information about the planet’s environment when it is likely that the surface environment hosted abundant water and therefore more habitable, around three to four billion years ago. Now, new research published in the journal Geology shows evidence of an intense sandstorm that swept through Mars’ Gale crater over three billion years ago.

“Everybody knows that the wind blew on Mars. There was an atmosphere, so it must have moved, forming breezes and gusts, and so there must have been storms, too. But this is the first definitive evidence that we've found of such a sandstorm,” says Steven Banham, a planetary geologist at Imperial College London and lead author of the new study. “While it does not contribute to proving existence of life on Mars, it helps paint a rich picture of the ancient surface environment.”

The finding comes from the discovery of ripple structures by Banham and a team of scientists working with the Curiosity rover. These windblown sedimentary structures were formed in a desert environment, and resemble millimeter-thick “crinkly” laminations, says Banham. Wind ripple strata like this are rarely found on Earth and have never before been observed on Mars. They can only be formed when sustained winds move large amounts of loose sand. While most sedimentary structures preserved in desert rocks on Earth or Mars record longer-term trends from seasonal winds to several thousands of years, supercritical climbing wind ripples document evidence of storms that lasted only minutes to hours.

“The thing that absolutely amazes me, is you just think that on a Tuesday afternoon, sometime, maybe 3.6 billion or so years ago, there was a sandstorm that rolled into Gale crater,” says Banham. “It would be like one of those scenes in [the movie] Dune where there's a sandstorm happening and these ripple structures would be forming as a result. Then maybe the next day, the wind returns to normal, and it's just another sunny day in Gale crater. But that sandstorm happened, and we have the physical evidence for it here.”

The discovery involved a degree of luck. As the Curiosity rover navigates the Martian surface, a rotating team of scientists monitor its camera and other instruments. Banham and his colleagues, including Linda Kah from the University of Tennessee and Joel Davis from Imperial College London, noticed unusual features in a black and white panorama taken at the end of each drive. The team decided to target them with higher-resolution MASTCAM cameras. Upon closer inspection, they realized they were looking at unique ripples.

“This was very serendipitous. We weren't really looking for these deposits, and then lo and behold, we drove around the corner and found them,” says Banham. “We were lucky that we had just the right people on shift that recognized them.”

Direct evidence of the pressure and composition of the martian atmosphere over 3.5 billion years ago is hard to come by, but scientists know that the current martian atmosphere isn’t dense enough to move sand with wind on this scale. This research provides insight into the ancient conditions and suggests they were much higher and likely closer to that of Earth than they are currently.

“These deposits in themselves indicate that the atmosphere was denser at the time than it is now, to form these structures,” says Banham

Going forward, Banham hopes for similar serendipitous discoveries. One of the most exciting possibilities is to find rain impact marks. “People have been looking for those since Pathfinder and the MER rovers, and nobody's seen them,” says Banham, referring to the first Martian landings in the late 1990s and early 2000s. “It must have rained, as we’ve seen evidence of rivers and lake deposits. But we've not got that definitive evidence of rain until we see rain impacts. That would be magic if we found those.”

Citation: Banham, S., et al., 2026, An ancient sandstorm recorded by supercritical climbing wind ripple strata in Gale crater, Mars; Geology: https://doi.org/10.1130/G54158.1

About the Geological Society of America

The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a global professional society with more than 18,000 members across over 100 countries. As a leading voice for the geosciences, GSA advances the understanding of Earth's dynamic processes and fosters collaboration among scientists, educators, and policymakers. GSA publishes Geology, the top-ranked “geology” journal, along with a diverse portfolio of scholarly journals, books, and conference proceedings—several of which rank among Amazon’s top 100 best-selling geology titles.

 

A wide view of the area where the Mars Science Laboratory science team discovered evidence of an ancient sandstorm. 

A wide view of the area where the Mars Science Laboratory science team discovered evidence of an ancient sandstorm.

Credit

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Providing the Artemis mission with solar radiation forecasts



The University of Michigan will participate in a demonstration of new technologies that could warn NASA of solar particle radiation hazards up to 24 hours in advance



University of Michigan





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Key takeaways

  • NASA will monitor University of Michigan Engineering's solar particle forecasts during the Artemis II mission to maintain situational awareness of impending harmful radiation released during solar flares and eruptions, which could create conditions in which astronauts take safety precautions.

  • The warnings will come from a machine-learning model using satellite images of the sun and corona to forecast solar particle storms up to 24 hours in advance.

  • The researchers also developed a physics-based model that will estimate the severity of hazardous radiation created by solar flares or eruptions, and NASA has devoted high-performance computing resources to run it.

In the Artemis II mission, NASA will test out a pair of new solar radiation forecasts, developed at University of Michigan Engineering, designed to protect astronauts venturing away from Earth. The mission launched Wednesday. 

 

The forecasts will provide warnings of harmful solar radiation released by solar flares and eruptions up to 24 hours in advance. NASA's Space Radiation Analysis Group, or SRAG, is examining how new solar particle forecasting technologies might provide a faster response to changing space weather conditions during the Artemis missions, which will mostly fly outside the natural shielding provided by the Earth's magnetic field. 

 

Artemis II is also launching during the most active period of the sun's 11-year cycle in sunspot count, when eruptions are more common. An energetic solar flare, which is sometimes a precursor to particle storms, occurred just this week.

 

The harmful radiation comes from protons, the positively-charged particles inside the cores of all atoms. Protons freely fly through the solar wind, the stream of electrically conductive gas that emanates from the sun, and they become especially dangerous when accelerated by the shock waves from solar flares and eruptions. The particles can travel near the speed of light and reach Earth minutes after a solar eruption.

 

If they hit an astronaut, their high energies could cause DNA strand breaks or cellular damage that may lead to an increased risk of developing cancer in the long-term. At very high doses, associated with only the very rare top 5% of all solar particle events, effects like nausea might be possible without sufficient shielding. However, the Orion vehicle was built to provide significant shielding for the Artemis astronauts that will keep them well below those harmful dose levels.

 

In the event of bad space weather, the Artemis crew is trained to reconfigure their cabin to reduce radiation exposure, according to a NASA statement. By removing stowed equipment from storage bays and securing it along areas of the cabin, the crew will add a thicker barrier between themselves and the harmful particles. With the extra shielding, the crew can go about their business.
 

Keeping an eye on the sun


SRAG console operators monitoring radiation sensors in the Orion spacecraft will alert Mission Control to let the crew know if they suddenly need to rearrange the cabin. To potentially provide more prep time, Michigan Engineering's machine-learning model forecasts the chance of dangerous solar radiation, similar to the hourly percent chance of rain in a conventional weather forecast. Each day of the mission, it will calculate the probability of harmful radiation in a demonstration of the feasibility of this new technology.

 

The model makes its predictions using satellite images of the sun and corona. Those pictures are snapped by two spacecraft: the Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, which photographs the entire sun and its magnetic field in visible and UV light, and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO, which photographs the sun's corona and takes readings of the corona's particles and chemical elements.


"We are looking at the sun 24/7, specifically the magnetic evolution of the sun and events such as flares and eruptions, to see if any extra energy will be released," said Lulu Zhao, U-M assistant professor of climate and space sciences and engineering and the principal investigator of the CLEAR Center, which NASA funded to develop the forecasting tools.
 

The machine-learning model was trained using a catalog of photos compiled from data collected since the launch of each instrument—2010 for SDO and 1995 for SOHO. From the photos, the model learned to identify what the sun looks like right before a particle storm. But the model only calculates the probability of a dangerous particle storm. It doesn't provide any details on the storm, or how long it will last.

 

To provide those details, the researchers also developed a physics-based model that estimates when solar flares and eruptions will trigger a particle storm at Earth and the moon, and for how long hazardous levels of radiation will stick around. The model's predictions are more sophisticated than existing solar particle storm models because it simulates solar energetic particles in the corona, where particle acceleration starts and is strongest.  

 

The new capability comes from a model of the solar corona, published by U-M scientists in 2014. There is only one reliable alternative to model the sun's corona, but it's too slow for operational forecasts.


The physics-based model will also constantly run throughout the mission, but it needs to be updated by a human whenever the sun erupts. NASA's Moon to Mars office will upload measurements of solar eruption speeds to a database. The U-M model will automatically take the new measurements to estimate radiation exposure.

 

"We asked NASA to reserve 3,000 processing units on their supercomputer for us during the mission, so the model can run as quickly as possible whenever there is an eruption," Zhao said. "We can't afford delays because the harmful particles can reach Earth so quickly."

 

Written by Derek Smith

A fast method for measuring how well air disinfection works: See how it glows


Developed to measure the effectiveness of plasma-based air disinfection, the approach could eventually assess other techniques as well



University of Michigan




Photos

 

Key takeaways

  • Aerosols are major drivers of virus transmission

  • The performance of air disinfection techniques is hard to measure, but a new fluorescence-based method speeds up the process.

  • The researchers aim to use it to improve their air disinfection technology, which can deactivate up to 99.9% of virus particles with plasma.
     

The effectiveness of air disinfection devices may now be measured in minutes, rather than hours, with a new technique from University of Michigan Engineering. This is important for researchers developing better antiviral air purifiers, helping to mitigate outbreaks of viral respiratory diseases and prepare for the next pandemic.

 

The new method harnesses a property known as UV fluorescence, or how molecules absorb UV light, followed shortly thereafter by emission of energy at another wavelength. It turns out viral aerosols shine brighter before disinfection treatment than after. This finding offers the potential to indirectly but rapidly track the performance of air disinfection technologies and more. 

 

"Our findings suggest that it may be possible to detect changes in aerosol infectivity in a rapid, real-time manner without tedious laboratory procedures," said Zhenyu Ma, a U-M postdoctoral research fellow and first author of the study in Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing. "As the field of application for this technology becomes clearer, we could use it to better understand the behavior of pathogenic aerosols and their infectivity, thereby providing essential information for public health guidelines."

 

The speed of the new approach, developed in the lab of Herek Clack, U-M associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, is key. The standard method of evaluating an air disinfection process requires collecting pathogen samples from air before and after treatment. For viruses, it involves exposing host cells to the pathogen sample so that the viruses have something to infect. Then, technicians look for signs of infection through a microscope, a labor-intensive process that yields just a single measurement of air disinfection performance. 

 

In contrast, U-M's approach yields results after several minutes of sampling a small portion of the air stream entering, and then exiting, an air disinfection device or chamber. The sampled air streams flow separately into a device that measures the size of each particle, exposes it to UV light and measures the intensity of its glow. With thousands of these measurements taken over a couple of minutes of sampling, naturally occurring particle-to-particle variations cause the fluorescence intensity measurements to take the shape of a bell curve. 

 

This bell curve shifts to lower intensities as the fraction of viral aerosols inactivated by the disinfection process increases. As a result, researchers can measure the fluorescence intensity of the air sample before and after the disinfection process and compare them to figure out how well disinfection worked. 

 

Once the expected shift in the bell curve is known for a particular pathogen, between treated and untreated viruses, the effectiveness determination takes just a few minutes. For researchers like Clack, who develop disinfection processes, this means faster prototyping and testing at different air flow rates, air temperatures, humidity levels and more.

 

"Even as the paradigm has shifted regarding the significance of airborne disease transmission, air disinfection technologies that do not rely on filtering air suffer slow development cycles because of how tedious it traditionally has been to prove how well the pathogens have been inactivated," Clack said. "Having an indirect indicator, properly calibrated, for pathogen infectivity could speed up that development process tremendously."

 

Fluorescence monitoring could also be effective for disinfection tools such as ozone and chlorine, the researchers suggest. But for techniques that disrupt the virus' genome, such as ultraviolet light, fluorescence will not work. The genome is too deep inside the virus to be reached by these fluorescence detection methods, so their fluorescence signatures don't change in the same way.

 

Clack's group studies interactions between aerosols and strong electric fields. These fields produce nonthermal plasmas, or regions containing charged molecular fragments, which damage viruses and render them harmless. Their group has demonstrated that nonthermal plasmas are capable of reducing the number of infectious viruses in flowing air by 99.9% in lab testing as well as at enclosed livestock operations. 

 

Clack's startup, Taza Aya, has prototyped plasma-based respiratory protective gear, currently being tested in a Michigan turkey processing plant.

 

Study: Using Viral Aerosol Fluorescence for Detection of Virus Infectivity Change Induced by Non-thermal Plasma (DOI: 10.100e7/s11090-026-10648-6)  

 

Story by Jim Lynch, Michigan Engineering

 

Study finds household cleaning products remain a leading source of child injury



Researchers call for comprehensive prevention strategies including safer packaging, public education, and environmental modifications to reduce children's access.




Nationwide Children's Hospital





(COLUMBUS, Ohio) – Researchers from the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital have found more than an estimated 240,800 visits to U.S. emergency departments (EDs) associated with household cleaning product-related injuries from 2007 through 2022 for children aged five years and younger. That’s one injury every 35 minutes. Among all household cleaning products, bleach and detergents were the most common product types associated with these injuries.

In a study published today in Pediatrics, researchers analyzed 16 years of data and called for stronger product packaging standards, with an emphasis on ensuring that spray bottles and other commonly accessible containers meet child-resistant packaging requirements.

Since their previous paper on household cleaning product-related injuries 19 years ago, new cleaning products have entered the consumer market, most notably single-use laundry and dish detergent packets, which were introduced in 2012. These packets were rapidly identified as a primary hazard to children.

Detergent packets were a main source of injury to children in this study, accounting for 33% of injuries. The rate of injuries associated with packets increased rapidly after their introduction in 2012, peaked in 2015, and then declined through 2022. “The post-2015 decline may be due to the implementation of safety measures, including child-resistant and opaque containers and delayed-dissolving, bitter-tasting packet films,” said Rebecca McAdams, MPH, chief research associate in the Center for Injury Research and Policy, and lead author of the study. “Although the rate of injuries associated with packets decreased, they remained the leading cause of overall detergent injury rates in 2022.”

Children aged 1-2 years were at the highest risk for household cleaning product-related injuries. “This heightened vulnerability is likely due to developmental factors,” said McAdams. “Young children explore their world by putting things in their mouth, but they can’t read labels or recognize the potential danger of these products.”

The second change since their previous paper is that we now better understand children’s ability to operate dispensing systems such as spray bottles. “Our previous analysis identified spray bottles as the primary source of household cleaning product-related injuries to young children from 1990-2006, likely due to their availability in homes and ease of use,” said Lara McKenzie, PhD, principal investigator in the Center for Injury Research and Policy and senior author of the study. Over that time, the number of injuries associated with spray bottles remained consistent while the number of injuries associated with other storage sources such as kitchenware or bottles and containers decreased.

In this study, spray bottles remained an important source of injury for children, accounting for 28% of all injuries. Most injuries from products in spray bottles occurred to the eyes. Spray bottle-related injuries often resulted in chemical burns, poisoning, or dermatitis and conjunctivitis. Nearly one-quarter of these injuries occurred when another person sprayed the child with the product.

Among all product types, the most common way children were injured was by ingesting the product. Poisoning was the most common diagnosis, and nearly all poisonings resulted from ingestion of a product. The hospitalization rate was very high: 7%, increased from 5.5% in the previous study.

Overall, bleach and detergents were the most common product types involved in these injuries. The rate of bleach-related injuries remained stable, but high, over time. Bleach was most often packaged in spray bottles, while detergents were frequently dispensed as packets.

Parents and caregivers can help children stay safer by following these tips:

  • Store safely. Store household cleaning products and detergents up, away, and out of sight of young children, preferably in a locked cabinet. Close containers and put all cleaning supplies and any chemicals away immediately after every use.
  • Stay original. Keep all household cleaning products and detergents in their original containers. When buying products, look for child-resistant containers for an extra layer of protection.
  • Save the national Poison Help Line number (1-800-222-1222) in your cellphone and post it near your home phones. Call immediately if you think your child has come into contact with a household cleaning product or other dangerous product. You do not need to wait for symptoms to develop to call.

Data for this study were obtained from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) database, which is maintained by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The NEISS database provides information on consumer product-related and sports- and recreation-related injuries treated in hospital emergency departments across the country.

The Center for Injury Research and Policy (CIRP) of the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital works globally to reduce injury-related pediatric death and disabilities. With innovative research at its core, CIRP works to continually improve the scientific understanding of the epidemiology, biomechanics, prevention, acute treatment, and rehabilitation of injuries. CIRP serves as a pioneer by translating cutting edge injury research into education, policy, and advances in clinical care. For related injury prevention materials or to learn more about CIRP, visit www.injurycenter.org. Follow CIRP on Instagram @CIRPatNCH.

About The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital
Named to the Top 10 Honor Roll on U.S. News & World Report’s 2025-26 list of “Best Children’s Hospitals,” Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of America’s largest not-for-profit free-standing pediatric health care systems providing unique expertise in pediatric population health, behavioral health, genomics and health equity as the next frontiers in pediatric medicine, leading to best outcomes for the health of the whole child.  Integrated clinical and research programs are part of what allows Nationwide Children’s to advance its unique model of care. As home to the Department of Pediatrics of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children’s faculty train the next generation of pediatricians, scientists and pediatric specialists. The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of the Top 10 National Institutes of Health-funded free-standing pediatric research facilities in the U.S., supporting basic, clinical, translational, behavioral and population health research. The AWRI is comprised of multidisciplinary Centers of Emphasis paired with advanced infrastructure supporting capabilities such as technology commercialization for discoveries; gene- and cell-based therapies; and genome sequencing and analysis. More information is available at NationwideChildrens.org/Research.