Goodable

Brendan Fraser fought back tears on Sunday night as he accepted the award for Best Actor at the Critics' Choice Awards. Fraser won for his performance as Charlie in Darren Aronofsky's The Whale. The role was widely regarded as a triumphant comeback for Fraser. The room responded with a standing ovation for Fraser, and the camera cut to Henry Winkler and Sheryl Lee Ralph showing their support as Fraser left the stage.

<p>Brendan Fraser fought back tears on Sunday night as he accepted the award for Best Actor at the Critics Choice Awards. Fraser won for his performance as Charlie in Darren Aronofsky's The Whale. The role was widely regarded as a triumphant comeback for Fraser. The room responded with a standing ovation for Fraser, and the camera cut to Henry Winkler and Sheryl Lee Ralph showing their support as Fraser left the stage. </p>

Brendan Fraser Just Delivered This Powerful Speech at the Critics' Choice Awards

Talker News

It took six centuries, but one of Britain’s oldest universities has finally handed its top ceremonial post to a woman. Dame Anne Pringle, a veteran diplomat and alumna of the University of St Andrews, has been elected chancellor after a closely watched contest — the first time a woman has held the role since the university was founded in the 15th century.

She defeated fellow candidates Dame Barbara Woodward, Lord Mark Sedwill and Lady Alex Walmsley. Pringle succeeds Lord Campbell of Pittenweem, who died last year.

“It is the honor of my life to be elected Chancellor of St Andrews University,” she said, adding thanks to her supporters and outlining her vision for the institution. “For more than six centuries St Andrews has championed curiosity and courage, tradition and innovation and scholarship in the service of society. As Chancellor, I will be an unwavering advocate for a university that is outward-looking, principled, and bold in its leadership.”

Pringle, born in Glasgow and educated at St Andrews, graduated with an MA in French and German in 1977. She went on to become the UK’s ambassador to Russia from 2008 to 2011 — the first woman to hold that post — and earlier served as ambassador to Czech Republic from 2001 to 2004. Her diplomatic career later expanded into roles across business, culture and academia, including a return to St Andrews as Senior Governor of University Court from 2016 to 2020.

She also funds scholarships for undergraduates and researchers, underscoring her belief in broad access to education.

More than 7,000 graduates and senior staff registered to vote in the election, which used the alternative vote system. Turnout reached 73.63 percent, with all ballots valid. In the final round, Pringle secured 2,643 votes to Lord Mark Sedwill’s 2,215.

Professor Dame Sally Mapstone, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of St Andrews, welcomed the result. She said she was “personally delighted” for Pringle and praised her steady leadership during earlier service to the university. “She will be a brilliant Chancellor, and I am greatly looking forward to working with her again,” she said, extending thanks to all candidates for their “willingness to serve.”

The chancellorship — a role stretching back to the university’s founding — is largely ceremonial but symbolically significant, representing continuity and guiding values for a university that has shaped scholars, leaders and public figures for more than 600 years.

For Dame Anne Pringle, the history is an asset, but not a limit. “St Andrews is defined not only by its history but by its people,” she said. As she steps into the role, her focus is on strengthening the university’s global standing, widening opportunity, and helping the institution adapt to what she describes as an era of rapid change, fierce competition and profound societal challenges.

After six centuries, St Andrews has its first woman chancellor — and she arrives with both deep roots and a clear agenda for the future.

St Andrews Elects Its First Female Chancellor in 600 Years

Science Daily

It turns out your grandmother’s breakfast advice might have been onto something. A new clinical trial from the University of Bonn, published in Nature Communications, suggests that eating mostly oatmeal for just 48 hours can significantly reduce cholesterol — and the effect can linger for weeks.

Researchers focused on people with metabolic syndrome, a condition marked by excess body weight, high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar and abnormal lipid levels. Participants spent two days on a calorie-restricted plan made up almost entirely of oatmeal, about 300 grams per day, divided into three boiled meals with only small amounts of fruit or vegetables allowed.

Compared with a control group that also cut calories but didn’t eat oats, the oatmeal group showed a much stronger drop in cholesterol. The change was still visible six weeks later. Researchers also found meaningful shifts in gut bacteria, suggesting that the microbes themselves may help explain the benefits.

Marie-Christine Simon, a junior professor in the Institute of Nutritional and Food Science at the University of Bonn, said this once-common dietary therapy had largely been forgotten. “Today, effective medications are available to treat patients with diabetes,” she explained, which is why earlier oat-based treatments fell out of use.

The trial revisits that old idea with modern tools. None of the participants had diabetes, but all had metabolic syndrome, which raises the risk of developing the disease. “We wanted to know how a special oat-based diet affects patients,” Simon said.

Thirty-two participants completed the short, intensive oat intervention. Each cut their usual calories roughly in half and consumed 300 grams of oatmeal daily. Both the oat and control groups saw some improvement simply from eating less, but the oat group saw far more dramatic changes.

“The level of particularly harmful LDL cholesterol fell by 10 percent for them — that is a substantial reduction, although not entirely comparable to the effect of modern medications,” Simon said. Participants also lost an average of two kilograms and saw slight decreases in blood pressure.

Lowering LDL is important because when levels rise too high, cholesterol accumulates along artery walls, forming plaques that narrow blood vessels. Plaques can rupture under physical or emotional stress, potentially causing heart attacks or strokes.

To understand the mechanism, the team examined each participant’s gut microbiome.

“We were able to identify that the consumption of oatmeal increased the number of certain bacteria in the gut,” said lead author Linda Klümpen. These microbes produce metabolic byproducts that help nourish intestinal cells and shape how the body handles food.

Some of these bacterial byproducts circulate in the bloodstream. One, ferulic acid, has shown cholesterol-lowering effects in animal studies. “It has already been shown in animal studies that one of them, ferulic acid, has a positive effect on the cholesterol metabolism,” Klümpen said. “This also appears to be the case for some of the other bacterial metabolic products.”

Other microbes help break down histidine, an amino acid that the body can convert into a compound linked to insulin resistance when left unchecked.

The cholesterol reduction persisted for six weeks after the two-day phase, even without continued restriction. “A short-term oat-based diet at regular intervals could be a well-tolerated way to keep the cholesterol level within the normal range and prevent diabetes,” Simon said.

But intensity mattered. A separate six-week test where participants ate 80 grams of oatmeal daily without other dietary limits produced only modest changes. The team now hopes to learn whether repeating the intensive plan every six weeks could create lasting protection.

Sixty-eight people participated across two randomized controlled trials. In the two-day study, 17 people completed the oat diet and 15 completed the control diet. In the six-week trial, 17 people finished in each group. Researchers collected blood and stool samples and measured blood pressure, weight, waist circumference and body fat at baseline, immediately after the oat phase and again at two, four and six weeks.

Full blinding wasn’t possible — participants knew what they were eating — but the lab teams analyzing samples did not know which group each sample belonged to.

Blood was tested for LDL cholesterol and dihydroferulic acid, a phenolic compound thought to be produced by beneficial gut bacteria. Stool samples were analyzed using 16S RNA to identify bacterial species and their metabolic byproducts.

The study received funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the German Diabetes Association, the German Research Foundation, the German Cereal Processing, Milling and Starch Industries’ Association, and RASO Naturprodukte.

The bottom line? Two days of mostly oatmeal won’t replace medication, but it may offer a surprisingly strong metabolic nudge — and a reminder that sometimes old ideas earn a second look.

Two Days of Mostly Oatmeal Cut Cholesterol in a New Clinical Trial

Gizmodo

In the summer of 2024, a research team barreled toward thunderstorms in a Toyota Sienna that had absolutely no business being a storm-chasing vehicle. But after cutting a twelve-inch hole in the roof (“Totally killed the resale value, but that’s fine,” as meteorologist Patrick McFarland put it), the minivan became a rolling lab aimed at solving a century-old mystery: do tiny sparks really flicker at the tops of trees during storms?

As it turns out, they do.

The team parked beside a sweetgum tree in Pembroke and pointed an ultraviolet camera at a cluster of branches while thunder cracked overhead. Later, when they reviewed the footage, they spotted something scientists had never documented in nature before: faint, colorful glows hopping from one leaf to another. These were coronae, electrical discharges so weak they’re normally invisible.

“These things actually happen; we’ve seen them; we know they exist now,” said McFarland of Pennsylvania State University. “To finally have concrete evidence [of] that…is what I think is the most fun.”

Scientists have suspected for nearly a century that thunderstorms produce small charges at treetops. Lab experiments showed that when a storm cloud builds up enormous electrical energy, the ground below responds with an opposite charge. That charge tries to meet the one above by reaching as high as it can—which, in a forest, means the tips of leaves. In darkness, researchers could just barely produce a faint blue glow in controlled settings.

But no one had captured the phenomenon in the wild.

McFarland’s team outfitted the minivan with a weather station, electric-field detector and laser rangefinder. The star of the operation was a roof-mounted periscope, which funneled light into a specialized UV camera capable of spotting emissions invisible to the human eye.

“The most fun part was taking a jigsaw and cutting a twelve-inch hole in the roof,” McFarland said. “Totally killed the resale value, but that’s fine.”

The payoff came fast. In 90 minutes of storm footage, the researchers detected 41 coronae flickering across the sweetgum leaves. Each lasted around three seconds and often seemed to jump from leaf to leaf, almost like a tiny relay race of static electricity.

The team didn’t stop there. They chased four more storms from Florida to Pennsylvania, spotting similar coronae on a loblolly pine and several other species. No matter the tree or the strength of the storm, the electrical glows behaved the same way.

Their findings, published in Geophysical Research Letters, suggest coronae may be far more widespread than once thought—possibly lighting up tens or even hundreds of leaf tips during an ordinary thunderstorm. We just can’t see them. They’re too weak for the naked eye.

But if we could? McFarland imagines something surprisingly beautiful. It “would probably look like a pretty cool light show, as if thousands of UV-flashing fireflies descended on the treetops,” he said.

So the next time a storm rolls in and trees start to hiss and sway, the leaves might be putting on a show — one that science finally found a way to watch, even if it required sacrificing a perfectly good minivan roof.

Researchers Capture First Wild Footage Of Treetop Ultraviolet 'Sparkle' During Thunderstorms

If you ever wondered what joy sounds like in a blizzard, it turns out it’s 20 wood bison charging out of a shipping container while a crowd of elders cheers through the snow.

That was the scene at a Métis-operated ranch in northeastern Alberta, where the first bison stampede on Willow Lake Métis Nation land in roughly 120 years unfolded like a homecoming with hooves. About 30 elders and community leaders gathered as the animals, relocated from Elk Island National Park, thundered into a fenced section of boreal forest near Anzac, around 50 kilometres southeast of Fort McMurray.

Hugs, high-fives and a few tears followed as the herd vanished into the whiteout, a moment many never expected to witness again.

“It’s so nice and humbling … so very beautiful to see. I’m glad I’m part of it,” said Robert Cree, an elder from the nearby Fort McMurray 468 First Nation. “I’m glad they’re back home. There used to be buffalo here years ago. My grandfather used to talk about it. I’m glad they’re back on our traditional lands.”

For the Willow Lake Métis Nation, the return of bison is more than a feel-good moment. It’s a declaration of autonomy and the launch of a sweeping food sustainability plan.

Kyle Whitford, a trapper and Indigenous guardian for the Nation, called the herd a milestone. “It’s bringing the wood bison back to Wood Buffalo,” he said. “I’m very excited and very relieved now that they’re at their home, which they’ll love and enjoy because we built it with love.”

The new arrivals are part of a $50-million, multi-year strategy to reshape how the community feeds itself. The herd now lives on 16 hectares of an 82-hectare ranch that will soon include hens, honey bees, hydroponics, greenhouses and community gardens. The idea is simple: build a system where Indigenous families have reliable access to food raised on their own land.

“It’s a really valuable start to our agriculture and tourism business, as well as helping to achieve sovereignty, which is being able to influence your environment,” said Matthew Michetti, who oversees government and industry relations for Willow Lake.

Plans stretch far beyond farming. Long-term goals include an Indigenous medicine walk, school partnerships and a visitors’ centre to help share the community’s history on its own terms.

For Stella Lavallee, president of Willow Lake Métis Nation, this is also about restoring traditions. She’s eager to see elders pass down harvesting knowledge so younger generations learn not just how to care for the herd, but how to sustain their families.

Feather Bourque-Jenner, a director with the Nation, said the project will ease the rising cost of food and supplies in the north. “A part of that is reintroducing our lifestyle in a more sustainable way back into our day-to-day life,” she said.

The ranch is also getting expert guidance. Nathaniel Ostashewski, who owns Cyrus Bison, sees a bright future for the fledgling herd. The humidity from nearby Gregoire Lake and the long northern summer light make the land ideal for grazing.

And the bison won’t just adapt to the terrain; they’ll reshape it. Their hooves will aerate the muskeg, letting water and nutrients cycle back through the soil. Even their shed hair becomes building material for birds and rodents.

“If bison flourish in Alberta, so be it. That’s much better for all of us,” Ostashewski said.

For now, the herd is settling in. The blizzard has quieted. The snow has swallowed their tracks. But for the Willow Lake Métis Nation, the sound of those hooves still lingers: a reminder that sometimes history doesn’t just return. Sometimes it runs right back to you.

For the First Time in 120 Years, a Bison Herd Returned Home to Métis Land in Northern Alberta

If future missions want the best shot at finding evidence of life on Mars, they may want to aim for ice rather than rock. A new study shows that organic molecules from ancient microbes could survive tens of millions of years when trapped inside Martian ice — far longer than previously believed.

In laboratory simulations, researchers from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Penn State found that amino acids from E. coli endured the equivalent of 50 million years of cosmic radiation when frozen in pure water ice. That survival time dramatically exceeded expectations and outperformed samples mixed with Mars-like soil, where organic material broke down up to 10 times faster.

The findings, published in Astrobiology, suggest a major shift in strategy for life-detection missions on Mars: drill into clean ice, not just sediment or rock.

“Fifty million years is far greater than the expected age for some current surface ice deposits on Mars,” said co-author Christopher House of Penn State. “That means if there are bacteria near the surface of Mars, future missions can find it.”

Led by NASA Goddard space scientist Alexander Pavlov, the team froze E. coli inside test tubes filled either with pure ice or with ice mixed with silicate-rich Martian sediment. The samples were then placed in a gamma radiation chamber at Penn State, cooled to –60°F, and blasted with radiation equal to 20 million years of cosmic exposure. Modeling brought the total to 50 million years.

After testing, the difference was clear:

Pure ice preserved more than 10% of the amino acids after 50 million years.

Soil–ice mixtures preserved almost none, decaying far more quickly.

The likely culprit: a thin film where ice touches minerals, allowing damaging radiation to travel more freely.

“In solid ice, harmful particles created by radiation get frozen in place,” Pavlov explained. “That may prevent them from reaching organic compounds.”

The team also ran simulations at temperatures typical of Europa and Enceladus, where conditions are even colder. Organic decay slowed even further — a hopeful sign for missions probing icy ocean worlds.

The results align with the goals of NASA’s Europa Clipper, launched in 2024 and scheduled to reach Jupiter in 2030. The spacecraft will make 49 flybys to assess whether Europa’s ice shell and subsurface ocean could support life.

Digging into Martian ice won’t be simple. But the precedent exists: NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander in 2008 was the first to excavate and photograph subsurface ice near the Martian Arctic.

“There is a lot of ice on Mars, but most of it is just below the surface,” House said. To access it, future missions will need drills or scoops similar to Phoenix — but bigger and more capable.

With this study, scientists have new confidence that if Mars ever hosted microbial life, chemical traces may still be waiting underground, locked in ice and shielded from cosmic radiation.

Now the challenge is clear: build the tools to reach it.

Are There Living Microbes on Mars? Check The Ice, Researchers Say

You don’t need to know anything about cricket to appreciate what 19-year-old Yuvraj Samra just pulled off. In a global tournament normally dominated by powerhouse nations, a teenager from Canada delivered one of the most remarkable performances the sport has ever seen.

During a World Cup match in Chennai, India, Samra scored 110 runs all by himself — an extraordinary achievement in cricket — becoming the youngest man ever to score a World Cup century (meaning 100 or more runs in a single innings). No one his age had ever done this in either of cricket’s two major World Cup formats.

To put it simply: it’s the equivalent of a teenager dropping 60 points in an NBA Finals game or scoring a hat trick in a World Cup soccer match. It just doesn’t happen.

Samra’s performance was even more impressive because Canada is considered a small, developing team in the cricket world. Until now, no player from an “associate nation” — a country outside the sport’s traditional power circle — had ever scored 100 runs in a T20 World Cup match. He became the first.

His 110 runs came from 65 balls and included a mix of powerful shots: 11 hits that reached the boundary (automatic points) and six towering hits over the field that are the cricket version of a home run.

And it all happened when Canada needed him most.

Facing New Zealand — one of the world’s top teams — Canada needed a standout performance to stay alive in the tournament. Samra delivered immediately. In the sixth round of play, he fired off three straight scoring shots, then launched a massive hit over the field to energize his team.

He passed the 100-run mark in just 58 balls, a blistering pace even for elite players, and lifted Canada to a strong final total before their batting turn ended.

Adding to the charm of the moment: Samra is named after Yuvraj Singh, a legendary Indian cricket star famous for rescuing his team in difficult moments. On Tuesday, the Canadian teenager lived up to that name — and then some.

Whether or not you follow cricket, one thing is clear: this was a breakout moment from a young athlete who just put Canada's Cricket Team on the global sports map.

A Canadian Teen Just Set a Cricket World Record

Sunny Skyz

In the middle of blinding snow, with visibility shrinking by the second, Department of Public Works employee Kenny McGowan spotted something that made him hit the brakes. While plowing near Town Hall in Babylon, he caught a glimpse of movement along Sunrise Highway — two dogs sprinting down the busy roadway through near-whiteout conditions.

“I looked over and I seen something in the corner of my eye … and then I looked in my mirror, and I saw a dog,” McGowan told CBS New York. “I immediately put my sirens on, and stayed right behind them.”

For about a mile, he followed the pair, snow whipping across the pavement as traffic barreled by. Realizing the danger, McGowan swung his plow sideways to block cars and create a protective barrier around the dogs.

“Being an animal lover, being a father, I went right into protection mode,” he said. “I was gonna do whatever I had to do to stop these dogs from getting hurt.”

The dogs — later identified as Lab mix sisters Harper and Heidi — eventually dove into the snowy median. “It was like three feet of snow, and they buried themselves,” McGowan said. One lay down, and the other climbed on top — an instant sign to him that they were family.

McGowan called fellow DPW worker Jason Koza, who arrived with a leash, and together they coaxed the dogs into the truck. Several strangers also jumped in to help: a truck driver supplied rope to secure them, and a mother and daughter wrapped them in a blanket to warm them up.

The dogs weren’t wearing collars, but once they were brought to the Babylon Animal Shelter, staff found a microchip in one of them and quickly located the owners. The sisters were home within a day.

“If nobody would have found them, they could have froze,” kennel attendant Danny Deutsch said.

Thanks to one snowplow driver who refused to look away — and a small crowd of fast-acting Good Samaritans — Harper and Heidi’s whiteout ordeal ended with a warm reunion instead of a tragedy.

Snowplow Driver Stops Highway Traffic to Save Two Lost Dogs in a Long Island Whiteout

Most kids collect toy planes. Five-year-old William Hines from Colorado collects details — the kind most adults overlook. And that’s exactly what launched him into the spotlight at Southwest Airlines.

William has been fascinated by aviation for as long as his mom, Amber, can remember. “I love flying,” he says. “[Airplanes] get you from place to place a lot faster than a car does. I don’t have to walk 7,000 miles.” His curiosity runs deep. As a baby, he studied how toy wheels rotated, took apart his cars and tried to understand how everything worked.

His love for airplanes grew during visits to Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, where he spent hours watching takeoffs and landings. But things really took flight after he met a Southwest pilot named Josh, who spent two hours teaching him how to read aeronautical charts and sharing a Southwest training manual — the kind full of technical diagrams, systems descriptions and safety protocols.

That’s when William noticed something off.

“I discovered that two terrain monitors did not match. They did not match at all,” he said.

Amber shared his discovery online, and it soon reached Southwest CEO Bob Jordan. Instead of brushing it off, the airline invited William and his family to Dallas for a behind-the-scenes visit to its training center.

William met staff members, including a simulator pilot named Chris and a team member named Earl. He even climbed into a flight simulator — a dream for most aviation lovers, let alone a newly minted five-year-old.

Southwest later clarified that the mismatch he spotted wasn’t actually an error, but the company was still impressed by his precision. Amber wasn’t surprised. “What 5-year-old knows that? Newly minted 5-year-old,” she said. “But I also know that he’s a details guy… he really absorbs information.”

And William already knows what comes next.

Asked if he plans to become a pilot, he didn’t hesitate. “Yeah,” he said. “Then, I can transport people to a place and not just myself, like 140 people to a place.”

For now, he’s still a kid with big dreams, a sharp eye and a story that proves curiosity can take you a long way — sometimes all the way to the cockpit.

A Sharp-Eyed Kid Spotted a ‘mistake’ in an Airline Manual — It Landed Him a VIP Trip to Southwest HQ

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame just dropped its list of 2026 nominees, and it's packed with big names across diverse music genres. Phil Collins, Mariah Carey, Lauryn Hill, INXS, and Iron Maiden are a few highlights among the 17 acts up for consideration. This year's nominations sweep through genres like rap, metal, R&B, hip-hop, Britpop, blues rock, and pop.

First-time nominees include Collins and Hill. Collins has racked up eight Grammys over his career with hits like "In the Air Tonight." Meanwhile, Hill made history when her album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" became the first hip-hop album to win a Grammy for Album of the Year in 1999.

Mariah Carey is back on the ballot after previous nods in 2024 and 2025. She boasts a record of 19 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Sade also returns to the nominations; her smooth vocals have given us classics like "Smooth Operator." The Wu-Tang Clan joins them with their innovative sound that first hit airwaves in 1993.

INXS is another band making waves again with songs like "Need You Tonight" that dominated late-1980s charts. Melissa Etheridge returns too; she’s best known for "Come to My Window." Iron Maiden continues to be celebrated for its role in British heavy metal via albums like "The Number of the Beast."

New Edition brings their hits "Cool It Now" into play alongside Shakira; she’s recognized for bridging Latin music with mainstream pop. Pink rounds out this list with her successful tracks and albums such as "The Truth About Love."

This year sees ten newcomers on the ballot: Jeff Buckley, Etheridge, New Edition, Shakira, Luther Vandross, Pink among others join this prestigious lineup for the first time. Vandross sold over 25 million albums during his lifetime with popular tunes like "Here and Now," while Buckley's album "Grace" remains critically acclaimed despite his early passing.

John Sykes of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation emphasizes how this list reflects rock's evolving nature and ongoing impact on youth culture. A panel comprising over 1,200 artists along with historians will vote to decide who makes it in next April.

Last year saw an eclectic mix inducted including Cyndi Lauper and Outkast among others. This time around will surely bring another exciting selection as fans wait eagerly until spring for results that could see some favorites finally taking their place in music history's storied hallways.

Phil Collins, Lauryn Hill, Shakira & More Earn 2026 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Nominations

Space

A new cosmic portrait is giving astronomers their clearest look yet at the Milky Way’s turbulent heart. Using the ALMA telescope network in northern Chile, researchers have released an unprecedented image showing the dense, swirling clouds of gas and dust that cradle newborn stars near the center of our galaxy.

The photo, shared Wednesday by the European Southern Observatory, spans more than 650 light-years across — a stretch of cold, star-forming gases clustered around the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way’s core. One light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles, a scale that makes even this enormous cosmic region difficult to comprehend.

Captured by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in the Atacama Desert, the image is the largest ever produced by the observatory’s 66-antenna system. The Atacama’s extreme dryness makes it one of the best places on Earth for detecting faint millimeter-wavelength signals from deep space.

Astronomers refer to this region as the Central Molecular Zone, a chaotic stretch of cold gas where stars ignite under intense gravitational pressure. Studying it helps scientists understand not only how stars form in extreme environments, but also how galaxies — including our own — evolve across billions of years.

“It’s a place of extremes, invisible to our eyes, but now revealed in extraordinary detail,” said Ashley Barnes of the European Southern Observatory, part of the project’s research team.

Survey leader Steve Longmore of Liverpool John Moores University said the findings will help answer fundamental questions about how galaxies grow and change over time.

The view is stunning, but it’s also scientifically rich — a rare chance to peer into a region so dense and so shrouded in dust that ordinary telescopes can’t see it at all. ALMA’s composite data cuts through that darkness, mapping the movement and composition of the material that eventually becomes stars.

For astronomers, it’s another reminder that even the galaxy we call home still holds enormous mysteries — and that, with the right tools, those mysteries are slowly starting to come into focus.

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