The leaking star cluster
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 9-Dec-2025 20:11 ET (10-Dec-2025 01:11 GMT/UTC)
Astronomers combined data from two major gamma-ray observatories with further multi-wavelength information to reveal a “nascent outflow” from the most massive young star cluster in the Milky Way, Westerlund 1.
The observations indicate that charged particles – “cosmic rays” – are accelerated in the vicinity of the star cluster and subsequently transported along the outflow.
The nascent outflow is expected to eventually develop into a channel for the transport of cosmic rays into the Galactic halo – a process widely assumed of great importance for galaxy evolution, but with scarce observational support so far.
Researchers have discovered that not all atoms in a liquid are in motion and that some remain stationary regardless of the temperature, significantly impacting the solidification process, including the formation of an unusual state of matter—a corralled supercooled liquid.
A team led by Pei-Yi Wu and Sheng-Tong Sun at Donghua University reported a strong hydrogel fiber material with water-induced adhesion properties that resolves the structural contradiction of simultaneously achieving mechanical strength and self-adhesion. The fiber exhibits reversible humidity-responsive characteristics, maintaining high strength in a dry state and rapidly transforming into a highly adhesive state upon contact with water. This water-activated self-adhesive behavior is completely reversible, providing new insights for the design of high-performance adhesive materials in fields such as intelligent capture and micro-soft robots. The article was was recently published as an open access research article in CCS Chemistry, the flagship journal of the Chinese Chemical Society.