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☆ Could a $1.4M portrait found in a Maine attic be a long-lost Rembrandt?
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-08 | by ( Oscar Holland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The auction house believes this to be the highest sum ever paid for an artwork at a Maine auction. Thomaston Place Auction GallerieLost from the recordsRembrandt scholar Gary Schwartz said a potential buyer had earlier sought his opinion on the Maine portrait. 03:09 - Source: CNNArt historian Volker Manuth, who authored publisher Taschen’s 2019 monograph “Rembrandt: The Complete Paintings,” told CNN he was also approached by a potential buyer of the Maine portrait. But inclusion in a major catalog, or the backing of a big auction house, can increase a painting’s value manyfold. Schwartz suggested that, should the Maine portrait receive similar endorsement, it might be revalued at up to $5 million.

Persons: Kaja Veilleux, ”, Veilleux, Rembrandt —, Rembrandt, Kaja, Gary Schwartz, “, Schwartz, ” Schwartz, “ Rembrandt, Volker Manuth, Taschen’s, ’, reattributed, Rembrandt ”, Sotheby’s, Winter Organizations: CNN, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Academy of Fine Arts, Radboud University, Research, Christie’s, New York Times Locations: Camden , Maine, Thomaston, Europe, Maine, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Netherlands, Philadelphia , Pennsylvania, Vienna

☆ Combat brain fatigue with these tips from experts
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-05 | by ( Sandee Lamotte | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

“Even though people enjoy the rewards associated with mental tasks, these same people also do not enjoy the mental effort that’s involved. Your brain has no nerve endings, so a pain in the brain is not like having a pain in the neck. But the mental effort it takes to think hard can be so upsetting that some people will choose physical pain instead. However, 28% of the participants still chose physical pain over mental strain, even when the pain was most intense. “Concentrating also means it’s impossible to do other things because the brain really can’t multitask.

Persons: ”, Erik Bijleveld, ” Bijleveld, that’s, “, Vadym, Bijleveld, Michel Notre, doesn’t, It’s, it’s, Kira Schabram, ” Schabram, don’t, Amy Arnsten, Albert E, Kent, Arnsten, Schabram Organizations: CNN, Behavioural Science, Radboud University, Psychological, Amateur, Michel Notre Dame, Research, Foster School of Business, University of Washington, Yale School of Medicine Locations: Nijmegen , Netherlands, Paris

☆ Massive cosmic explosion creates rare elements in space
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —The James Webb Space Telescope and other observatories witnessed a massive explosion in space that created rare chemical elements, some of which are necessary for life. Tracking stellar explosionsAstronomers have long believed that neutron star mergers are the celestial factories that create rare elements heavier than iron. What was unusual about this burst is that it lasted for 200 seconds, making it a long gamma-ray burst. One of the pair exploded as a supernova, leaving behind a neutron star, and then the same thing happened to the other star. Finding cosmic elementsAstronomers have been trying to determine how chemical elements are created in the universe for decades.

Persons: James Webb, ”, Andrew Levan, Levan, Webb, Fermi, Neil Gehrels, “, Dmitri Mendeleev, ” Levan, it’s, supernovas, Eric Burns, Om Sharan Salafia, Nancy Grace, “ Webb, Ben Gompertz, ” Gompertz Organizations: CNN, James Webb Space Telescope, Way Galaxy, Telescope, Radboud University, Observatory, Royal Society of Chemistry, Astronomers, Louisiana State University, National Institute for Astrophysics, Institute, Gravitational, School of Physics, University of Birmingham Locations: Netherlands, Italy, United Kingdom

☆ This AI company wants to help you control your dreams
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

It's a tech startup building what the company calls the "world's first wearable device for stabilizing lucid dreams." Lucid dreams occur when a person sleeping becomes aware they're dreaming and may be able to control parts of the dream. Humane AI, a company founded in 2017 by former Apple employees, debuted its wearable — the AI Pin — on the runway last week at Paris Fashion Week. And famed iPhone designer Jony Ive and OpenAI's Sam Altman are also reportedly discussing an AI hardware project. The co-founders have the type of lofty dreams typical of a modern-era tech startup, with Wollberg comparing the company to OpenAI.

Persons: Eric Wollberg, Wesley Berry, Wollberg, Berry, Grimes, BoxGroup, Card79, Jony, Sam Altman, Prometheus Organizations: a16z's Scout Fund, Plaid, Elon, Apple, Paris Fashion, Donders Institute for Brain, Radboud University Locations: Netherlands

☆ Webb telescope spots water in a nearby planetary system
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Astronomers have detected water vapor swirling close to a nearby star — indicating that the planets forming around it might someday be able to support life. Water vapor mysteryAstronomers were surprised to discover water vapor near the star given its age. The presence of water vapor suggests the planets could contain water in some form. Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument detected emission lines from water vapor in the inner disk around the star. The research team plans to observe the system with Webb more in the future to reveal additional secrets as a planetary system takes shape.

Persons: Olmsted, Webb, “, ”, Giulia Perotti, Max Planck, Rens Waters, Thomas Henning Organizations: CNN —, NASA, ESA, CSA, J, Max, Max Planck Institute, Astronomy, Radboud University Locations: Heidelberg, Germany, Netherlands

☆ NASA's James Webb telescope spotted two stars crashing into each other so violently it could have created gold in space
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The James Webb Space Telescope picked up the blast from two neutron stars colliding. The blast, called a kilonova, created the perfect conditions to make space gold and platinum. The death of two neutron starsAn artist's impressino of a kilonova NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/CI LabA kilonova happens when two neutron stars — collapsed supermassive stars — gravitate around one another and eventually crash. This particular blast, called GRB 230307A, was first detected by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope on March 7, 2023, per Space.com. These only arise in very limited circumstances, like when two neutron stars collide.

Persons: James Webb, JWST, Fermi, Gold, Uli Deck, Andrew Levan Organizations: James Webb Space Telescope, Service, James Webb Space, Space Flight, Getty, Radboud University Locations: Wall, Silicon, Netherlands

☆ Ancient galaxy reveals a surprising way to annihilate a star
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The explosion lasted just over a minute — considered long, like any gamma-ray burst, or GRB, that lasts more than two seconds. These violent, destructive bursts can leave behind dense remnants like neutron stars or result in the creation of black holes. Why ancient galaxies could hide star deathsDuring their search for the origin of the gamma-ray burst, astronomers used the Gemini South telescope located in Chile to observe the afterglow of the cosmic explosion. Compared with younger, more typical galaxies, ancient galaxies can have up to a million or more stars densely packed into their cores. But they had no evidence for any long gamma-ray bursts originating from ancient galaxies — until now.

Persons: NASA’s Neil Gehrels, ”, Wen, fai Fong, Andrew Levan, Albert Einstein, Jillian Rastinejad, Fong Organizations: CNN, fai, Northwestern University’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Radboud University, telltale, Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration, Research, Astrophysics, Northwestern Locations: Nijmegen , Netherlands, Chile, Northwestern

☆ A gamma-ray explosion that was so bright it blinded scientists' equipment is even weirder than first thought
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Scientists marveled at the power of the gamma-ray jet, which likely marked the birth of a black hole. Astronomers have since been trying to work out what could have made the gamma-ray burst so bright, and may finally have an answer. Researchers have discovered that the gamma-ray explosion ejected a jet with an unusual structure which dragged a large amount of stellar material along with it. The analysis demonstrates that the most extreme explosions do not obey the standard physics assumed for normal gamma-ray bursts, he said. Still, according to O'Connor, this finding "a massive step forward in our understanding of gamma-ray bursts," the "equivalent Rosetta stone of long GRBs."

Persons: marveled, —, Brendan O'Connor, Levan, Gladys Kober, O'Connor, NASA’s, Alexander van der Horst, Hendrik Van Eerten, Eleonora Troja, it's, Van Eerten Organizations: Service, George Washington University, Hubble, NASA, ESA, CSA, Radboud University, NASA’s Goddard Space, University of Bath, University of Rome

☆ Stephen Hawking's famous theory of how black holes die could mean our entire universe is doomed to evaporate, a new study found
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Jessica Orwig | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Stephen Hawking famously predicted in 1974 that black holes die by evaporation. A new study suggests this Hawking radiation that kills black holes could also kill everything else. And up to this point, black holes were the only places experts had looked for it. "And, after a very long period, that would lead to everything in the universe eventually evaporating, just like black holes." It takes black holes longer than the age of the universe to evaporate, researchers have estimated.

Persons: Stephen Hawking, —, Stephen Hawking's, Heino Falcke, Walter van Suijlekom Organizations: Service, Radboud University

☆ The solar system was hit with a gamma-ray burst so bright, it blinded scientists' equipment in space
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Chris Panella | Jessica Orwig | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Our solar system was hit by a gamma-ray burst so bright, it blinded space equipment and telescopes. A gamma-ray burst that recently hit our solar system was so bright, it temporarily blinded gamma-ray instruments in space, according to a NASA release. Scientists say the gamma-ray burst (GRB), the most powerful type of explosion in the universe, was 70 times brighter than any previously recorded event. What is a gamma-ray burst? Because it blinded space instruments, they couldn't accurately record it, so scientists weren't sure how bright the burst was when it first reached our planet.

☆ Forget what you learned in school — the brain might not work in 'regions' after all
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

NetflixWhite matter ruling how we think and feelBrains are made up of two types of material: white matter and gray matter. The new model from Forkel and her colleagues changes that, giving white matter a much bigger role. One example of how white matter connects unexpected regions of the brain is the incredible injury of a railway worker 150 years ago. White matter may organize the regionsIt's also possible that it is the white matter that directs which region does what in the gray matter, rather than the other way around. This analysis suggests that these studies will have to be rethought to look at the brain as a whole.

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