The latest scientific breakthroughs

We update you on the latest scientific discoveries in the world of research

Science does not close for vacation and scientists continue to flood the headlines of science websites around the world. It is hard to decide what to highlight in just the 500 words that make up this content, so here are some of the discoveries that for sure will feed your technical curiosity.

Astronomy

It is worth starting with the most prolific and exciting scientific disciplines such as astrophysics and astronomy. In those fields, researchers at the University of Cologne led by Florian Peißker have discovered the star with the shortest orbit around a supermassive black hole to date. This is the star S4617 orbiting Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the center of our galaxy with an estimated mass of four million suns.

Biology

Advances in biology contribute to a complete transformation of our society, enabling progress in relevant areas such as genetics, immunology, disease treatment, the study of cells, etc. In this sense, a surprising nano-robot has been developed at Inserm (CNRS) in cooperation with the Center for Structural Biology (University of Montpellier). From DNA molecules and using the DNA origami method, the research team led by Gaëtan Bellot (Inserm) succeeded in building this nano robot that will allow for the first time to control forces with piconewton precision, as well as the observation and exploration of cellular processes.

Physics and hadrons

One of the main pillars of the basic research revolves around physics, a discipline that helps us understand how our universe works. In this sense, it is worth mentioning the reactivation of the largest experiment on earth that will operate at an energy never reached before. On July 5th, experiments were reactivated at the Large Hadron Collider, the largest particle accelerator in existence, which aims to generate millions of Higgs bosons to study their behavior and thus answer questions about the origin of the universe.

Paleontological discovery

Paleontology is focused in the race to know our origin and also our past. This field has recently enternained the headlines with the discovery in Spain of a jaw fossil that could be the oldest human fossil ever found in Europe. The research group, led by Elena Moreno, found this fossil fragment in Sierra de Atapuerca, which is estimated to be 1.4 million years old.

Do not stay with the desire to go deeper into these topics and check the projects that Kaila has for you related to human fossils or the Large Hadron Collider. With these content you can learn much more about where we came from or who we were, and with the black hole and nano robot projects you can venture into the trends that outline our future scenario.