PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Magnetic field may shape 'blooming' star

2013-09-26
(Press-News.org) A star is "blooming" in the southern sky — and astronomers using a CSIRO telescope are a step closer to knowing why.

An old star, IRAS 15445-5449, has begun to push out a jet of charged particles that glow with radio waves.

A few old stars are known to have jets, "but this is the first one where the radio waves tell us the jet is held together by a strong magnetic field", said Dr Jessica Chapman of CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, a member of the research team.

"That's a clue to what makes these jets switch on."

The finding has been published online in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. IRAS 15445−5449 lies 23 000 light-years away in the southern constellation Triangulum Australe (the Southern Triangle).

The radio waves from the star's jets were detected with CSIRO's Australia Telescope Compact Array, an array of six 22-m diameter radio dishes near Narrabri in New South Wales (eastern Australia).

The flowering star is turning into one of the most beautiful objects in space — a "planetary nebula".

Planetary nebulae are large glowing objects that early astronomers thought looked like planets. In fact they are stars late in their lives that have shed much of their gas into space. The shed gas glows, powered by energy from the old star's tiny core.

Like Spring flowers, planetary nebulae blossom and go. The "jet" phase seems to show the first stages of the star becoming a planetary nebula. This phase is just a "blink of an eye in a star's life," says Dr Chapman, "probably lasting only about a hundred years".

Roughly half the known planetary nebulae are round blobs. The other half are long and symmetrical, often like a Christmas cracker.

"The question is, what makes this symmetry?" Dr Chapman said.

It could be that the outflowing gas is shaped by the presence of a companion to the old star — another star, or a planet.

A second idea, which Dr Chapman favours, is that it's the magnetic field of the old star.

"The magnetic field may get twisted up as the star shrinks, perhaps launching these jets," she said. But more detailed observations are needed to clarify how jets form.

### END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Astronomers find missing link pulsar

2013-09-26
VIDEO: The aging pulsar rotates slower and slower, then matter from its companion spins it up again. As the pulsar is spun up, it alternates between emitting X-rays (white) and radio... Click here for more information. An international team of astronomers has used X-ray telescopes in space and ground-based telescopes, including two of CSIRO's, to identify a pulsar that switches between emitting X-rays and emitting radio waves. This is the first direct evidence of one kind ...

Patient's own cells might be used as treatment for Parkinson's disease

2013-09-26
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) taken from a patient hold great therapeutic potential for many diseases. However, studies in rodents have suggested that the body may mount an immune response and destroy cells derived from iPSCs. New research in monkeys refutes these findings, suggesting that in primates like us, such cells will not be rejected by the immune system. In the paper, publishing September 26 in the ISSCR's journal Stem Cell Reports, published by Cell Press, iPSCs from nonhuman primates successfully developed into the neurons depleted by Parkinson's disease ...

Tick tock: Marine animals with at least 2 clocks

2013-09-26
VIDEO: This is a Eurydice crustacean swimming. Click here for more information. Animals living in marine environments keep to their schedules with the aid of multiple independent—and, in at least some cases, interacting—internal clocks. The findings, presented by two research groups in papers appearing in the Cell Press journals Current Biology and Cell Reports on September 26, suggest that multiple clocks—not just the familiar, 24-hour circadian clock—might even be standard ...

Newly identified antibodies effectively treat Alzheimer's-like disease in mice

2013-09-26
Alzheimer's disease is characterized by the accumulation of particular toxic proteins in the brain that are believed to underlie the cognitive decline in patients. A new study conducted in mice suggests that newly identified antibody treatments can prevent the accumulation of one of these of these toxic components, called tau proteins. The findings, online September 26 in the Cell Press journal Neuron, suggest that these antibodies may provide a basis for a promising therapy for patients with Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. In the brains of ...

Autologous transplantation shows promising results for iPS cell therapy in Parkinson's disease

2013-09-26
A research team led by Professor Jun Takahashi and Assistant Professor Asuka Morizane at the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) at Kyoto University, Japan, has carried out a study to compare the impact of immune response in autologous transplantation (transplantation of cells from the subject's own body) and allogeneic transplantation (transplantation of cells from a different individual of the same species). The researchers used cynomolgus monkeys to carry out transplantation into the brain of neural cells derived from iPS cells. Autologous transplantation ...

Quitting smoking easier for social media users

2013-09-26
Washington, DC (September 23, 2013) – Smoking is a major public health problem, killing approximately 443,000 people every year in the United States. Quitting smoking can have a profound effect on a person's health, but it is also one of the hardest addictions to kick. A recent paper published in the Journal of Communication found that people who engage in health specific social networking sites found it easier to quit smoking. Joe Phua, University of Georgia, examined health-based social networking sites that focus on helping members to quit smoking. He found that as ...

A genetic map for complex diseases

2013-09-26
Although heavily studied, the specific genetic causes of "complex diseases," a category of disorders which includes autism, diabetes and heart disease, are largely unknown due to byzantine genetic and environmental interactions. Now, scientists from the University of Chicago have created one of the most expansive analyses to date of the genetic factors at play in complex diseases—by using diseases with known genetic causes to guide them. Analyzing more than 120 million patient records and identifying trends of co-occurrence among hundreds of diseases, they created a unique ...

Bone hormone influences brain development and cognition

2013-09-26
NEW YORK, NY (September 26, 2013) — Researchers from Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) have found that the skeleton, acting through the bone-derived hormone osteocalcin, exerts a powerful influence on prenatal brain development and cognitive functions such as learning, memory, anxiety, and depression in adult mice. Findings from the mouse study could lead to new approaches to the prevention and treatment of neurologic disorders. The study was published today in the online edition of Cell. "The brain is commonly viewed as an organ that influences other organs ...

Study of 'sister' stem cells uncovers new cancer clue

2013-09-26
Scientists have used a brand new technique for examining individual stem cells to uncover dramatic differences in the gene expression levels – which genes are turned 'up' or 'down'– between apparently identical 'sister' pairs. The research, published today (Thursday) in Stem Cell Reports, was conducted and funded by The Institute of Cancer Research, London. It provides the latest evidence that despite having identical DNA, sister stem cells can display considerable differences in their molecular characteristics. The study showed that DNA methylation, a process that controls ...

Key cellular mechanism in the body's 'battery' can either spur or stop obesity

2013-09-26
Becoming obese or remaining lean can depend on the dynamics of the mitochondria, the body's energy-producing "battery," according to two new studies by Yale School of Medicine researchers featured as the cover story in the Sept. 26 issue of the journal Cell. Mitochondria are vital cellular organelles that generate and maintain proper energy levels in complex organisms. Using animal models, the Yale research team studied mitochondria in different populations of brain cells known to be involved in the regulation of appetite. The team found that during the transition from ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Patients who had cataracts removed or their eyesight corrected with a new type of lens have good vision over all distances without spectacles

AI can spot which patients need treatment to prevent vision loss in young adults

Half of people stop taking popular weight-loss drug within a year, national study finds

Links between diabetes and depression are similar across Europe, study of over-50s in 18 countries finds

Smoking increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, regardless of its characteristics

Scientists trace origins of now extinct plant population from volcanically active Nishinoshima

AI algorithm based on routine mammogram + age can predict women’s major cardiovascular disease risk

New hurdle seen to prostate screening: primary-care docs

MSU researchers explore how virtual sports aid mental health

Working together, cells extend their senses

Cheese fungi help unlock secrets of evolution

Researchers find brain region that fuels compulsive drinking

Mental health effects of exposure to firearm violence persist long after direct exposure

Research identifies immune response that controls Oropouche infection and prevents neurological damage

University of Cincinnati, Kent State University awarded $3M by NSF to share research resources

Ancient DNA reveals deeply complex Mastodon family and repeated migrations driven by climate change

Measuring the quantum W state

Researchers find a way to use antibodies to direct T cells to kill Cytomegalovirus-infected cells

Engineers create mini microscope for real-time brain imaging

Funding for training and research in biological complexity

The Journal of Nuclear Medicine Ahead-of-Print Tip Sheet: September 12, 2025

ISSCR statement on the scientific and therapeutic value of human fetal tissue research

Novel PET tracer detects synaptic changes in spinal cord and brain after spinal cord injury

Wiley advances Knowitall Solutions with new trendfinder application for user-friendly chemometric analysis and additional enhancements to analytical workflows

Benchmark study tracks trends in dog behavior

OpenAI, DeepSeek, and Google vary widely in identifying hate speech

Research spotlight: Study identifies a surprising new treatment target for chronic limb threatening ischemia

Childhood loneliness and cognitive decline and dementia risk in middle-aged and older adults

Parental diseases of despair and suicidal events in their children

Acupuncture for chronic low back pain in older adults

[Press-News.org] Magnetic field may shape 'blooming' star