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ALMA Observations show how Double, Triple, Quadruple and Quintuple Star Systems Form Simultaneously in a Molecular Cloud

For humans, the chance of giving birth to multiples is less than 2%. The situation is different with stars, especially with particularly heavy stars. Astronomers observe stars that are many times heavier than the sun in more than 80% of cases in double or multiple systems. The key question is whether they were also born as multiples, or whether stars are born alone and approach each other over time.

Multiple births have long been the norm for massive stars. At least on the computer, because in theoretical simulations huge clouds of gas and dust tend to collapse and form multiple systems of massive stars. These simulations depict a hierarchical process in which larger cloud portions contract to form denser cores, and where smaller regions within those “parent cores” collapse to form the separate stars: massive stars, but also numerous less massive stars.

And astronomers do indeed find a wealth of fully formed multiple star systems, especially stars that weigh many times more than the sun. However, this does not yet prove that multiple systems with massive stars are already forming in the primordial cloud, as predicted by simulations.

CDC warns health care workers to be on alert for measles amid rising number of cases

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is warning clinicians to remain on alert for measles cases due to a growing number of infections.

Between Dec. 1, 2023, and Jan. 23, 2024, there have been 23 confirmed cases of measles including seven cases from international travelers and two outbreaks with five or more infections each, according to an email sent this week.

Cases have been reported in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and the Washington, D.C. area so far.

Cincinnati Museum Center’s partnership with Elevation Science will expand dinosaur fossil collection

“You need to go back hundreds of million years to understand the full picture of life,” he said. “Fossils are the database for deep-time studies.”

Paleontology may be a look back into the deep past, but it also plays a role in our future.

“Paleontology, and dinosaurs in particular, is a fantastic gateway into science, because all kids are interested in dinosaurs,” Storrs said. “It’s great if they go on to become scientists, but at the very least, they can be part of an informed citizenry that has a basic knowledge of the world and how science operates, because there’s always going to be questions about vaccines for example, or evolution, or climate change. Science plays a huge role in our world today.”

Smartphone Spectroscopy Takes the Lab to the People

By 2020, the number of smartphone users in the world is expected to reach almost 2.9 billion — nearly doubling in six years from about 1.6 billion in 2014. Technology companies and researchers have been directly and indirectly imbuing smartphones with additional capabilities, including spectroscopy for biological and medical applications, among other uses (Figure 1).

Figure 1. The Changhong H2 is the first consumer device with an integrated imaging spectrometer. Courtesy of Consumer Physics.