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The biggest science news stories of 2023 as chosen by �鶹��ý

AI chatbots and a weight-loss drug swept the world, temperature records tumbled and India landed on the moon in a year of astonishing science news

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Wolf-Rayet stars are known to be efficient dust producers, and the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on NASA?s James Webb Space Telescope shows this to great effect. Cooler cosmic dust glows at the longer mid-infrared wavelengths, displaying the structure of WR 124?s nebula. The nebula is made of material cast off from the aging star in random ejections, and from dust produced in the ensuing turbulence. This brilliant stage of mass loss precedes the star?s eventual supernova, when nuclear fusion in its core stops and the pressure of gravity causes it to collapse in on itself, and then explode. As MIRI demonstrates here, Webb will help astronomers to explore questions that were previously only left to theory about how much dust stars like this create before exploding in a supernova, and how much of that dust is large enough to survive the blast and go on to serve as building blocks of future stars and planets.

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Six of the most amazing space pictures from 2023

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High resolution images presents creating planets of the solar system. This image elements furnished by NASA.

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This mathematical trick can help you imagine space-time

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TBTFJA star trail circle-space-night-sunset-blue

Physics

Why I've been somewhat obsessed with space-time this year

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The best new science fiction books of December 2023

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The best new science fiction books of December 2023

Culture

Space

Key molecule for life may have formed on interstellar ice

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Space

Majestic photo shows China's Tiangong space station in all its glory

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Mandatory Credit: Photo by Graeme Whipps/Shutterstock (4301807b) Pic shows the Geminid meteor shower over Pitcaple in Aberdeenshire on Sunday evening Dec 14th. A Scottish photographer has managed to get some pictures of the Geminid meteor shower on its FINAL night above the UK. Amateur astronomer Graeme Whipps picked up 13 meteors on camera in the dramatic display above Pitcaple in Aberdeenshire last night (Sun).

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How to spot this year's Geminid meteor shower

Regulars

Health

Space flight may increase erectile dysfunction among astronauts

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Artist's impression of WASP-107b and its parent star

Space

Fluffy exoplanet blasted by its sun has clouds that rain sand

The James Webb Space Telescope has let us peer into the atmosphere of gas giant planet WASP-107b, and it has clouds made of sand and an atmosphere of sulphur dioxide and water vapour

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Physics

Why the quantum universe is weirder than you think

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Life

Hummingbirds have two amazing ways to fly through tiny gaps

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Astronomers have found the most distant black hole ever confirmed

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Space

Distant Milky Way-like galaxy is older than we thought possible

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