Infrared

Given their name, black holes aren’t the kind of places you’d expect to see much light. But sometimes flashes of light are seen as the black holes snack on gas and dust. Earlier this year though the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy flared up in an unprecedented light show, and astronomers don’t really know why.

One of the weirdest objects in the asteroid belt just got weirder. Astronomers have spotted 6478 Gault changing from red to blue.

A bright explosion in the sky in 2016 has now been identified as a kilonova, where two neutron stars collide and create gold.

Cancer drugs are getting more effective at killing tumors, but there’s one big problem: many work like a shotgun blast and harm healthy cells as well. Researchers from Georgia Tech have now developed a new way to deliver drugs only to where they need to be, using nanoscale “glass” bottles.

A galaxy seems like a hard thing to miss – let alone 39 of them – but that’s exactly what a team of astronomers has just discovered. So where have these countless stars been hiding? About 11.5 billion light-years away, in a part of the light spectrum that’s invisible to many telescopes.

​There are currently fewer than 80 Southern Resident Killer Whales left in North America's Pacific Northwest, and unfortunately boat collisions with them are on the rise. In order to address the problem, scientists are now looking to artificially-intelligent infrared cameras.

Photographer Paolo Pettigiani has been experimenting with capturing the infrared spectrum for several years, notably turning New York’s Central Park into a psychedelic wonderland. His latest work explores two fascinating contrasts: the concrete jungle of Dubai and the tropics of the Maldives.

The cosmos is full of strange things, like planets made of diamond, mysterious radio bursts and quasars that shine like 600 trillion Suns. Now astronomers have spotted a bizarre star that may prove to be one of the rarest objects ever, with maybe as few as five or six of them in the galaxy.

Astronomers have finally found the very first molecule to ever form in the universe. The helium hydride ion (HeH+) has long been a key theoretical part of how the chemistry of the cosmos kicked off. Now the first unambiguous evidence of the molecule in a planetary nebula has been found​.

The pigment melanin is a natural defense against skin cancer – and now it could help fight other cancers too. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich and Helmholtz Zentrum München have found that melanin-loaded nanoparticles can help diagnose tumors and slow their growth.

Life in Another Light is a photo competition that focuses solely on the spectacular art of infrared photography. The gorgeous spread of winning images recently announced highlights the astonishing beauty of photography that experiments with wavelengths of light our eyes cannot see.

The earlier cancer is detected, the better the odds of treating it, but tumors can be hard to spot until they get to a certain size, at which point it might be too late. Now MIT researchers have developed a new optical imaging system that could be used to spot tiny tumors deep inside the body.