Warwick astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have found four new ‘local’ stars, showing us we can still find surprises in the nearby region of space that we thought we knew so well.

- KAIST and MIT Develop the World’s First Transmissive Mid-Infrared Spatial Light Modulator with Independently Controllable Pixels

- Multiple Sensor Functions on a Single Optical Chip... Laying the Foundation for the Era of “Software-Defined Sensors” and Expected to Bring Innovation to Sensors for Satellites, Launch Vehicles, and Space Stations

An international team led by CAB researcher Izaskun Jiménez-Serra has now identified the first sugar in interstellar space: erythrulose. This molecule is the only possible four-carbon ketose, and on Earth it is commonly found in raspberries and sunless tanning products. Erythrulose was detected toward the molecular cloud G+0.693−0.027, located near the centre of our Galaxy, the Milky Way. The discovery was made possible by ultra-sensitive, broadband spectroscopic surveys carried out with the 40-m Yebes radio telescope and the 30-m telescope of the Institute for Radio Astronomy in the Millimeter Range (IRAM).

A new study published in Big Earth Data proposes a switching-based pervasive augmented reality (AR) framework that integrates location-based AR (LBAR), deep learning (DL), and context-awareness to improve landmark recognition and cultural heritage engagement in smart cities. Through end-to-end implementation and real-world testing in Tehran, the framework significantly enhanced landmark detection accuracy compared with conventional LBAR systems, while demonstrating high user satisfaction and potential for sustainable urban planning. The dataset used in this study is not shared publicly due to copyright restrictions. However, to support reproducibility, all source code developed for data preprocessing, model training, and evaluation has been made openly available at https://github.com/mhvahidnia/tehran-img-classification-webapp/.

A newly developed high-speed clinostat enabled researchers at Okayama University of Science to observe shrimp feeding under simulated microgravity for the first time. The study provides new evidence supporting the feasibility of space aquaculture and advances technologies needed for long-term human exploration of the Moon and Mars.A newly developed high-speed clinostat enabled researchers at Okayama University of Science to observe shrimp feeding under simulated microgravity for the first time. The study provides new evidence supporting the feasibility of space aquaculture and advances technologies needed for long-term human exploration of the Moon and Mars.

A new study published in Big Earth Data  introduces the University of Bonn Soil Moisture Data Catalog (UB-SMDC), a standards-compliant metadata portal that centralizes information on publicly available soil moisture content (SMC) datasets and provides a unified platform for efficient data discovery, comparison, and access. Built on the GeoNetwork platform and supported by a controlled metadata taxonomy, the catalog analyzes 373 SMC datasets, facilitating transparent research, cross-dataset integration, and a comprehensive understanding of the global soil moisture data landscape.The data and materials supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. All metadata records are cataloged and publicly accessible in the UB-SMDC GeoNetwork data portal (https://ubsmdc.sfb1502.de/).

Stars like our Sun are formed from the gravitational collapse of prestellar cores. However, prestellar cores have strong magnetic fields that need to be weakened for gravitational collapse to take over allowing a star to form. By observing two tracer molecules in a prestellar core, researchers have observed ambipolar diffusion, a velocity discrepancy between ions and neutral particles. This process weakens the magnetic field of the core, which eventually collapses to form a protostar.

Researchers utilized 30 years of Landsat satellite imagery to analyze the color and spectral signatures of Adélie penguin guano across Antarctica, marking the first time space-based observations have captured food-web and population dynamics at a continental scale. The study revealed that global warming and shrinking sea ice are altering penguin diets. Adélie penguins rely more heavily on fish in areas with more sea ice but consume more krill where sea ice has decreased. Diets higher in krill correlate with declining penguin populations, as previous research indicates that penguin chicks fed fish grow larger and have significantly better survival prospects than those fed krill.

An international team led by Juan Diego Soler at the University of Vienna used two of the world's most powerful radio telescopes to uncover previously hidden structures within the Orion Nebula. The project produced the sharpest maps ever made of neutral hydrogen in that region of massive star formation. The findings expose the complex relationship of star-forming regions with their environment and suggest that the Orion Nebula has been shaped by multiple episodes of stellar feedback rather than a single expanding bubble. The study has currently been published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.