Earth has been hit by a blast from a dead star so energetic that scientists cannot explain it. The burst of gamma rays, originating in a dead star known as a pulsar, is the most high energy of its kind ever seen. It was equivalent about ten trillion times the energy of visible light, or 20 tera-electronvolts. Scientists are unable to explain exactly what kind of a scenario could lead a pulsar to emit such intense energy, and the researchers behind the breakthrough say that it “requires a rethinking of how these natural accelerators work”. Scientists hope that they can find yet more powerful energy blasts from pulsars, with a view to better understanding how they are formed. Pulsars are formed when a star dies, exploding in a supernova and leaving behind a tiny, dead star. They are just 20 kilometres across, and spin extremely fast with a powerful magnetic field. “These dead stars are almost entirely made up of neutrons and are incredibly dense: a teaspoon of their material has a mass of more than five billion tonnes, or about 900 times the mass of the Great Pyramid of Giza,” said Emma de Oña Wilhelmi, a scientist at the High Energy Stereoscopic System observatory in Namibia that detected the blast. As pulsars spin, they throw out beams of electromagnetic radiation, throwing it out like a cosmic lighthouse. That means that someone in one spot – like the Earth – will see the radiation pulses flash in a regular rhythm as they spin past. The radiation is thought to be the result of fast electrons that are produced and thrown out by the the pulsar’s magnetosphere, which is made up of plasma and electromagnetic fields that surround the star and spin with it. Scientists can search the radiation for different energy bands within the electromagnetic spectrum, helping them understand it. When scientists previously did that with the Vela pulsar examined in the new study, they found that it was the brightest everseen in the radio band, and the brightest persistent source in the giga-electronvolts. But the new research found that there is a part of the radiation with even more high energy components. “That is about 200 times more energetic than all radiation ever detected before from this object,” said co-author Christo Venter from the North-West University in South Africa. Scientists don’t know exactly how that could happen. 
“This result challenges our previous knowledge of pulsars and requires a rethinking of how these natural accelerators work,” says Arache Djannati-Atai from the Astroparticle & Cosmology (APC) laboratory in France, who led the research. “The traditional scheme according to which particles are accelerated along magnetic field lines within or slightly outside the magnetosphere cannot sufficiently explain our observations. “Perhaps we are witnessing the acceleration of particles through the so-called magnetic reconnection process beyond the light cylinder, which still somehow preserves the rotational pattern? But even this scenario faces difficulties to explain how such extreme radiation is produced.” An article describing the findings, ‘Discovery of a Radiation Component from the Vela Pulsar Reaching 20 Teraelectronvolts’, is published today in the journal Nature Astronomy. Read More ‘Ring of fire’ solar eclipse this month will be last until 2046 Mystery behind massive star suddenly vanishing decoded New discovery is ‘holy grail’ breakthrough in search for aliens, scientist say ‘Ring of fire’ solar eclipse this month will be last until 2046 Mystery behind massive star suddenly vanishing decoded New discovery is ‘holy grail’ breakthrough in search for aliens, scientist say

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 12, 2023--

Josh Giddey, the second leg of OKC's tall, oddly-paced backcourt, is ready for his leap to proper NBA stardom. He's ranked No. 19 on our list of the best young players in the NBA.

2023 has so far been the year of artificial intelligence and although not all of its uses have been welcome it does appear to have come up with one good thing: celebrity fighting games. In the past few days, AI creations of two of the most popular beat-up franchises, Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter have emerged on social media. However, rather than feature classic characters like Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Scorpion, Sub-Zero and Raiden these iterations feature exaggerated versions of famous faces from the real world. The first of these that went viral was Celebrity Mortal Kombat which was shared by the actual creator of the original game Ed Boon but was created by the YouTube channel Interdimensional TV. The celebrity version features: Joe Biden, Beyonce, Elvis Presley, Pope Francis, Angela Merkel, Donald Trump, LeBron James, Mark Zuckerberg, Kanye West, Xi Jinping, Oprah Winfrey, Albert Einstein, Kim Jung-Un, Jackie Chan, Hillary Clinton, Vladimir Putin, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Stephen Hawking, Mother Teresa, Snoop Dogg, Shaquille O'Neill, Rihanna, William Shakespeare, Marilyn Monroe, George Washington, Gordon Ramsay, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Barack Obama, Tom Cruise, Keanu Reeves, Queen Elizabeth II, Marie Curie, Taylor Swift, Mahatma Gandhi, The Rock and J Robert Oppenheimer. If that wasn't enough a Celebrity Mortal Kombat II video has also been made with an updated roster that Boon also shared. This one stars Will Smith, Greta Thunberg, Winston Churchill, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, Steve Irwin, Mike Tyson, Nicki Minaj, Jimi Hendrix, Steve Jobs, Lionel Messi, Richard Nixon, Narendra Modi, Lizzo, Mr Rogers, Emma Watson, Kim Kardashian, Ellen Degeneres, Sylvester Stallone, Cardi B, Hunter Biden, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Volodymyr Zelensky, Ice Cube, Usain Bolt, Mozart, Nicolas Cage, Katy Perry, Michael Jackson, Bruce Lee, Joe Rogan, Notorious B.I.G, PewDiePie, Leonardo DaVinci, Chris Pratt, Margaret Thatcher, Frida Khalo, Mitch McConnell, Tesla, Justin Trudeau, Manny Pacquiao, Josef Stalin, Morgan Freeman and Chuck Norris. However, if you are more of a Street Fighter player then fear not as your interests have also been catered for. Many of the same faces from the Mortal Kombat game reappear but there are a few new characters such as Peter Dinklage, Miley Cyrus, Chris Farley and Johnny Depp. Sadly it doesn't look like we'll get to play these games anytime soon but we'll be first in line at the arcade should they become available. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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Social media users were shocked to find out that people in Iceland are throwing baby puffins off cliffs – and they have been doing it for decades. Residents of several Icelandic towns traditionally go out looking for baby Atlantic puffins, or pufflings, through late August and September, explained TikTok user Jenn, whose handle is @thatgoodnewsgirl. It isn’t as bad as it sounds though. The practice has become vital to the survival of the species, according to experts, as pufflings have increasingly become confused by the bright lights of towns like Vestmannaeyjabaer in the Westman Islands. Where they would naturally find their way from their hatch site to the sea using the light of the moon, they now often wander into brightly lit towns which are much more dangerous than their natural habitat. As a result, residents now have a yearly tradition of going out to find the pufflings at night, keeping them safe overnight in cardboard boxes before chucking them off the cliffs the next morning. Crucially, the pufflings can already fly, and flap out towards the sea to rejoin their colonies. One commenter said: “I was concerned at first, glad there was a happy explanation.” Another added: “I was about to get super upset and it turned into the most wholesome story.” @thatgoodnewsgirl People are tossing baby puffins off cliffs and shorelines in Iceland - and it’s for their own good! These people are on Puffling Patrol and they’re saving the baby puffins one by one ❤️ I first learned about the Puffling Patrol because many of you tagged me in a video by @Kyana Sue Powers • Iceland, and then I went down a rabbit hole learning more about it! She posts about all things Iceland if you’re interested in more. ?? ? CBC News / Nat Geo TV / @Oda W. Andreasen (TikTok) / CBS / jj.trailwalker (Instagram) / NPR / Sebastien Despres (YouTube) About 700,000 puffin chucks were born in the Westman Islands in 2021, which marks a return to regular numbers after 20 years of declining populations. Rodrigo Martínez Catalán, a research assistant with the South Iceland Nature Research Center, told NPR the tradition has helped maintain populations of the birds, which mate for life and lay just one egg per season. Puffins can live for up to 25 years. “It’s a great feeling because you just rescued this little guy. And when you bring him to the cliff—it’s the first time in his life he’s seeing the ocean," Kyana Sue Powers told NPR. “I’m always, like, ‘Bye, buddy—have a great life; I can’t wait to see you again!” The people catching pufflings are also encouraged to log the weight of each bird on a website that helps researchers to monitor the health of the local puffin population. TikToker Jen said: “The puffling patrol tradition isn’t just great for the puffins. It also brings the community of the Westman Islands together every year, uniting people over a good cause.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

MLB The Show 22 June Monthly Awards include Kyle Schwarber, Jon Berti, Bryan Reynolds, Lightning Yordan Alvarez and more.