Giant Zombie Atoms of the Cosmos

In neutron stars, astrophysicists see a form of matter like none other. Plus: behind the scenes with astrophysicist Jillian Scudder; will CRISPR cure cancer?; and more. [View in browser]( | [Become a member]( EDITORS’ CHOICE Newsletter brought to you by: February 26, 2023   Did a friend forward this? [Subscribe here](. Good Morning! Here’s some of the latest and most popular stories from Nautilus—and this week’s Behind the Scenes with astrophysicist [Jillian Scudder]( below [READ NAUTILUS](   [PHYSICS]( [Giant Zombie Atoms of the Cosmos]( In neutron stars, astrophysicists see a form of matter like none other. BY KATIA MOSKVITCH On Aug. 6, 1967, Jocelyn Bell was looking at the squiggles drawn by a red pen on moving rolls of chart paper—the data from a radio telescope she was using to do her Ph.D. research on distant galaxies. [Continue reading →]( Experience the endless possibilities and deep human connections that science offers [SUBSCRIBE TODAY](   [Outpace Your Competition]( Our ancestors ate breakfast to gain a [survival advantage]( over their non-breakfasting peers. Get your competitive edge with [Organifi Green Juice](. Just one scoop resets your body every morning with 11 detoxifying superfoods. Reduce stress, maintain a healthy weight, and outrun the competition with Organifi Green Juice. [Get 20% off plus a free S2S kit]( with the code nautilus20. [Jumpstart Your Day](   Popular This Week [MICROBIOLOGY]( [Will CRISPR Cure Cancer?]( One question for Brad Ringeisen, a chemist and executive director of the Innovative Genomics Institute. BY BRIAN GALLAGHER [Continue reading →]( [HEALTH]( [If Technology Only Had a Heart]( The failure to produce an artificial heart is a testament to the wizardry of nature. BY SIAN E. HARDING [Continue reading →]( [ASTRONOMY]( [Humans Could Go the Way of the Dinosaurs]( The time is now to prepare for the cosmic object that could spell our end. BY PAUL M. SUTTER [Continue reading →]( [HEALTH]( [How Putin’s War Is Sinking Climate Science]( An American journalist leaves Russia as war breaks up the international collaboration key to climate research in the Arctic. BY ANDREA PITZER [Continue reading →](   [BEHIND THE SCENES]( [Jillian Scudder Takes Us Behind “The Moon Smells Like Gunpowder”]( A few years ago, the astrophysicist Jillian Scudder was prepping an illustrated version of her book, Astroquizzical: A Beginner’s Guide to the Cosmos, when she had a whimsical idea. She came upon some “silly footnotes” that she had placed to amuse herself. Then inspiration struck—she’d write a whole book with the tone of her footnotes: “Here’s some goofy sounding things that we happen to know about outer space, how we know them, and why we should care.” That new goofy footnote book is The Milky Way Smells of Rum and Raspberries: ...And Other Amazing Facts. Scudder’s story in Nautilus, “[The Moon Smells Like Gunpowder](,” excerpted from the book, explains one of those amazing facts. “The lunar soil is quite static cling,” she said in [our recent conversation](. “It sticks to the suits. They’d come back inside to the lunar module, and pressurized air would lift the dust off the suit into the air and it would get into everybody’s faces, and everyone reported, ‘This stuff smells like gunpowder.’ It’s just a weird fact that we happen to know because we sent humans there.” The dust’s also dangerously sharp, but no one’s been on the moon long enough to report any serious side effects of breathing it. But future moon missions could have astronauts staying for months or years. In that case, Scudder said, remedies will have to somehow reduce how much the dust clings to spacesuits, so it’s easier to brush or blow off. Or you could take off the spacesuit exterior before going all the way back inside the habitat. “I have seen some prototypes for spacesuits where you leave most of the spacesuit outside and you just crawl out through a hole in the back,” Scudder said. “You don’t ever bring it all the way indoors.” We also discussed, among other things, the apparent demise of Saturn’s rings. The Cassini spacecraft spotted a lot more material in the gap between the gas giant and its rings than scientists expected. That tells them that the inner edge of the ring is falling toward Saturn. “It’s called ring rain, which I think is really fun as a phrase,” Scudder said. Some believe the rings to be just 100 million years old. “They would have been at their most massive,” she said, “when the dinosaurs were around.” Perhaps the most nonsense-sounding chapter is “Some black holes could be necromancers.” But it makes perfect sense when talking about dead stars—stars where nuclear fusion has run its course. For a very brief period, Scudder explained, a black hole’s gravity could raise a star, specifically a white dwarf, from the dead. If you let a white dwarf, which has about the sun’s mass and the Earth’s volume, drift close enough to the black hole, its gravity would compress the side of the white dwarf near the black hole much more strongly than the far side, stretching it out and, as a result, it’s able to fuse new elements inside. “It is resurrected from the stellar dead for about 10 seconds, and then it is completely destroyed, shredded to pieces,” Scudder said. To hear her talk about the cosmos’ variety of stars, how galaxies form them, and what galaxy mergers do for the prospects of life, [watch here](. —Brian Gallagher, associate editor   [“]()[Last week, astronomers were wowed by the symmetry of a neutron star collision.”]( [Theoretical physicist Katia Moskvitch writes about the largest neutron star finding yet, and the strange matter these dense objects contain.](   More in Physics [Lose Weight the Slow and Incredibly Difficult Way]( Trying to answer a silly question can take you through some serious science. BY RANDALL MUNROE [Continue reading →]( [We Might Already Speak the Same Language As ET]( Alien communication could utilize quantum physics, so SETI needs a new way to listen. BY CALEB SCHARF [Continue reading →](   P.S. A new analysis suggests that the first humans to reach Europe [hunted]( with bows and arrows. Sharp stone tips can survive the ravages of time, allowing researchers today to gauge how sophisticated humans were as tool users. But what’s unfortunately left out of the historical record, Alexander Langlands explained, are the creations of wood humans—and perhaps other ancient primates—[innovated](.   Today’s newsletter was written by Brian Gallagher   BECOME A SUBSCRIBER Support Black STEM This February, [Nautilus]( is championing present and future Black scientists. The Nautilus Marketing Team will feature weekly stories on organizations creating more opportunities for young Black innovators in STEM, including Black Girls Do STEM, Jackson State University, and Black Girls Code. We will also donate 10% of all new member subscriptions toward these institutions' initiatives. [Join today]( and support Black scientists and organizations dedicated to actualizing greater diversity in STEM. [Subscribe](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( Copyright © 2023 NautilusNext, All rights reserved. You were subscribed to the newsletter from nautil.us. Our mailing address is: NautilusNext 360 W 36th Street, 7S, New York, NY 10018 Don't want to hear from us anymore? Click here to [unsubscribe](.