Precise maps of millions of bright quasars show our place in the cosmos as never before

Next week, the European Space Agency star-mapping satellite Gaia will update its map of the Universe, built from 1.6 million quasars and more than 1 billion stars. The Gaia data offer a fixed reference frame against which astronomers can fine-tune their observations to account for the position of Earth and all its celestial neighbours. The Gaia reference frame has already helped the New Horizons probe to snag images of a Kuiper Belt object, Arrokoth, while both were speeding along almost 7 billion kilometres away.

Moths draped in stealth acoustic cloak evade bat sonar

Scales on the wings of moths form acoustic camouflage that hides the insects from the sonar of bats. Researchers examined the Chinese tusar moth (Antheraea pernyi) and Dactyloceras lucina, a large African moth. These species have no ears to hear approaching predators. Instead, they defend themselves using a dense array of tiny, thin scales that each resonate at a particular frequency. Together, the scales absorb at least three octaves of sound — the first known natural acoustic metamaterial. The intricate arrangement and structure of the scales could inspire ultrathin sound-absorbing materials.

Hints of quintessence point at dark energy

Cosmologists say that they have uncovered hints of intriguing twisting in the movement of ancient light across the Universe. The twisting was identified in the polarisation of the cosmic microwave background as observed by the Planck space telescope — but the evidence is still tentative. Some researchers have proposed that the twist is produced by a cosmic ‘quintessence’, an exotic substance that pervades the cosmos. The phenomenon could offer clues about the nature of dark energy — the mysterious force that seems to be pushing the cosmos to expand ever-faster. If dark energy is a quintessence, its push on the expansion could slowly wither or disappear, or could even reverse to become an attractive force, causing the Universe to collapse into a ‘big crunch’.

Trapped ions heat up the quantum computing race

A neglected approach to quantum computing is gaining traction in the quest to build a commercial quantum computer. The technique uses ions trapped in electric fields as the basis of its quantum bits, or ‘qubits’. Trapped-ion computing has long been sidelined by major companies such as IBM and Intel in favour of tiny superconducting loops. Tech-focused conglomerate Honeywell is leading the way, and smaller spin-out firms are making inroads, on a trapped-ion machine.

Prospects for life on Venus fade — but aren’t dead yet

Signs of the gas phosphine in Venus’s atmosphere — which offered the tantalising suggestion of life — have faded, but they’re not gone completely. A new data analysis from the team that made the original exciting announcement confirms the phosphine signal, but it’s fainter than before. Astronomer Jane Greaves said she and her team redid the work because they learnt that some of the original data contained a spurious signal that could have affected the results. A separate analysis of old data from the NASA Pioneer mission also found evidence that could point to phosphine.

2,000-Year-Old Maya Water Filtration System Uncovered

Two thousand years ago, the Maya built the oldest known zeolite water-filtration system in their city Tikal, in what is now Guatemala. Anthropologists have discovered that the Maya filtered reservoir water through a mixture of zeolite — a volcanic rock with a high silicon content used for many similar applications today — and coarse quartz sand.

Fast Radio Burst tracked to Magnetar

The evidence is building that hyper-magnetised stars called magnetars are the source of at least some fast radio bursts (FRBs) — powerful cosmic flashes that flare for just milliseconds. The origin of FRBs is one of astronomy’s biggest puzzles. Simultaneous observations from radio telescopes in Canada, the United States and China spotted an FRB coming from a magnetar called SGR 1935+2154 in our own galaxy. Other FRBs have been tracked back to their host galaxies, but the source of an FRB hasn’t been pinpointed before.

Early pterosaurs were clumsy flyers

Pterosaurs are some of the largest animals ever to have flown, and dominated the skies for more than 150 million years. But new research suggests that the earliest winged reptiles were ungainly aviators. Researchers used the fossilized pterosaur remains to estimate their wing size and body mass, and combined this with information about the metabolic rates of birds to calculate what their flight might have looked like.