January 17, 2024: Vast cosmic voids could be brimming with astronomical discovery, why delaying cord cutting with preemies is ideal and marine biologists find four new species of deep-sea octopuses. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | The distribution of galaxies in the universe is not uniform. In fact, all matter takes the form of a gigantic web of concentrated regions with enormous empty space in between. These huge voids of emptiness can stretch from tens to hundreds of millions of light-years across. Astrophysicists so far have identified about 6,000 of such gigantic empty patches, and expect to discover thousands more in the coming years with the help of machine learning.
Why this matters: Voids are dominated by dark energy, and could help researchers understand what's driving it. Though they are relatively empty, cosmic voids could also be fertile study ground for dark matter–their relatively empty makeup could enable physicists to detect dark matter, perhaps with gamma ray telescopes. Or voids could enable the study of neutrinos; the particles fly through the empty spaces without interacting with other cosmic bodies.
What the experts say: "These underdense regions are much quieter in some ways, more amenable to modeling" than the clusters and filaments that separate them says astrophysicist Benjamin Wandelt of the Lagrange Institute in Paris. | | | For preterm babies (less than 37 weeks' gestation) it's better to delay cutting the umbilical cord after birth, rather than quickly snipping the cord. Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of dozens of randomized controlled trials involving nearly 10,000 premature babies. They found reduced death rates when doctors waited to cut the cord. In a companion study, they found the highest survival rates when the cord was left intact for two minutes.
Why this matters: Research over the last few decades shows that delayed cord clamping can boost a newborn's overall blood volume, red blood cell count and iron stores, and ease the transition to breathing. While the practice with preterm babies is often to cut the cord and administer medical care straight away, delaying that separation is associated with better survival rates.
What the experts say: Some circumstances still warrant rapid clamping, such as when the mother is hemorrhaging or the infant needs immediate resuscitation. But much medical care, like warming and stimulating babies, can be given with the cord intact, says Anna Lene Seidler, a biostatistician at the University of Sydney, who led the research. | | | • The Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted in January 2022 with the force of an atomic weapon, and it may have damaged the ozone layer, according to new studies. | 3 min read | | | A timelapse view of the launch of Astrobotic's Peregrine mission from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, on Jan. 8, 2024. After suffering an anomaly shortly after launch, the Peregrine spacecraft is now bound for a fiery re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, where it will likely burn up. Credit: APFootage/Alamy Stock Photo | | | • Cannibalism, harassment, starvation, strangulation, stripping or suffocation are just a sampling of the words, joined by a long list of foul analogies, entrenched in the lexicon of professional astronomy, writes Juan P. Madrid, assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Not only does this needlessly violent language misrepresent astronomical phenomena, but some words can be offensive and triggering, he says. | 7 min read | | | • Fixing their gut microbiomes could help captive animals survive when they're released to the wild. | The Sierra Club | | | • Lakes in Minnesota are freezing over at the latest dates on record. | Star Tribune | | | The structure of the universe has fascinated me since college when I learned that the cosmic web described above resembles a honeycomb. How wild that a tiny structure on Earth is repeated in the distant reaches of the universe! To help fathom the scale of these galactic clusters, check out one of my favorite Scientific American features of all time, written by the astrophysicists who helped determine just where the Milky Way sits in all the vastness. | Thanks for reading and reach out any time with suggestions or feedback: newsletters@sciam.com. Same time tomorrow. | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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