Relativistic electrons uncovered with NASA's Van Allen Probes

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Earth's radiation belts, two doughnut-shaped regions of charged particles encircling our planet, were discovered more than 50 years ago, but their behavior is still not completely understood. Now, new observations from NASA's Van Allen Probes mission show that the fastest, most energetic electrons in the inner radiation belt are not present as much of the time as previously thought.
via Science Daily
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Quantum movement of electrons in atomic layers shows potential of materials for electronics and photonics

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A research team has observed the counterintuitive motion of electrons during experiments in KU's Ultrafast Laser Lab. Because this sort of 'quantum' transport is very efficient, it could play a key role in a new type of humanmade material that could be used someday in solar cells and electronics.
via Science Daily

Two-dimensional MXene materials get their close-up

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Researchers have long sought electrically conductive materials for economical energy-storage devices. Two-dimensional (2D) ceramics called MXenes are contenders. Unlike most 2D ceramics, MXenes have inherently good conductivity because they are molecular sheets made from the carbides and nitrides of transition metals like titanium.
via Science Daily

JWST: Ghosts and Mirrors

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Ghosts aren't actually hovering over the James Webb Space Telescope. But the lights are out as it stands with gold tinted mirror segments and support structures folded in Goddard Space Flight Center's Spacecraft Systems Development and Integration Facility clean room. Following vibration and acoustic testing, bright flashlights and ultraviolet lights are played over the stationary telescope looking for contamination, easier to spot in a darkened room. In the dimness the camera's long exposure creates the ghostly apparitions, blurring the moving lights and engineers. A scientific successor to Hubble, the James Webb Space Telescope is optimized for the infrared exploration of the early Universe. Its planned launch is in 2018 from French Guiana on a European Space Agency Ariane 5 rocket.

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The rotation axes of stars tell us about how they were born

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Using asteroseismology, an international research team has discovered a surprising alignment of the rotation axes of stars in open clusters, shedding light on the conditions in which stars are formed in our galaxy. Using data from Nasa’s Kepler mission, this result was obtained by studying a group of red giants in two old open clusters in the Milky Way.
via Science Daily
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