In this article, the authors systematically study whether the type of a star is correlated with the number of planets it can support. Their study shows that medium-sized stars are likely to support more than one planet, just like the case in our solar system. They predict that, of the hundreds of planets beyond our solar system, 6% might be habitable. As humans work to travel further and further into space, some of those might truly be suited for human life.

Using the European Space Agency’s Gaia dataset, the authors analyzed the relationship between white dwarfs’ magnitudes and proper motions. They hypothesized that older white dwarf stars may have different velocities than younger ones, possibly that stars slow down as they age. They found that the white dwarfs in the dataset were substantially redder and higher magnitude (traits traditionally associated with older stars) as compared to their non-fast counterparts.

Life requires many things, including a hospitable temperature, elements, and energy. Here the authors utilize Newton's laws of physics and information relating a star's luminosity and temperature to determine the minimum and maximum masses and luminosities of planets and stars that would support life as we know it. This work can be used to determine the likelihood of a planet being able to support life based on attributes we can measure from here on Earth.

The authors looked at the antibacterial effects of oregano and star anise essential oils against E. coli or S. epidermis. They found that oregano oil showed antibacterial activity against both E. coli or S. epidermis, and that star anise oil had a larger zone of inhibition in E. coli than tetracycline, a conventional antibiotic.

Here, the authors characterize how silver ions nucleate a star-block copolymer to generate nano-sized silver particles.

This assessed the hypothesis that stars in wide binary systems are chemically homogeneous because of their shared origin. Abundances of the HIP 34407/HIP 34426 binary were obtained by analyzing high-resolution spectra of the system. Discrepancies found in the system’s elemental abundances might be an indicator of the presence of rocky planets around this star. Thus, the differences found in chemical composition might demonstrate limitations in the assumptions of chemical tagging.

In this study, the authors study features of exoplanet 189733 b. This exoplanet, or planets that orbit stars other than the Sun, is found in the HD star system. Using a DSLR camera, they constructed a high caliber exoplanet transit detection tracker to study the orbital periods, radial velocity, and photometry of 189733 b. They then compared results from their system to data collected by other high precision studies. What they found was that their system produced results supporting previously published studies. These results are exciting results from the solar system demonstrating the importance of validating radial velocity and photometry data using high-precision studies.

Buildings, which are responsible for the majority of electricity consumption in cities like Dubai, are often exclusively reliant on electrical lighting even in the presence of daylight to meet the illumination requirements of the building. This inefficient use of lighting creates potential to further optimize the energy efficiency of buildings by complementing natural light with electrical lighting. Prior research has mostly used ballasts (variable resistors) to regulate the brightness of bulbs. There has been limited research pertaining to the use of pulse width modulation (PWM) and the use of ‘triodes for alternating current’ (TRIACs). PWM and TRIACs rapidly stop and restart the flow of current to the bulb thus saving energy whilst maintaining a constant illumination level of a space. We conducted experiments to investigate the feasibility of using TRIACs and PWM in regulating the brightness of bulbs. We also established the relationship between power and brightness within the experimental setups. Our results indicate that lighting systems can be regulated through these alternate methods and that there is potential to save up to 16% of energy used without affecting the overall lighting of a given space. Since most energy used in buildings is still produced through fossil fuels, energy savings from lighting systems could contribute towards a lower carbon footprint. Our study provides an innovative solution to conserve light energy in buildings during daytime.

In this study, the authors engineer a cost-effective and bio-friendly water purification system using limestone, denitrifying bacteria, and sulfate-reducing bacteria. They evaluated its efficacy with samples from Eastern PA industrial sites.

Complications of robotic-assisted surgery are on the rise, partly due to surgeons not receiving proper training. Al-Akash and Al-Akash hypothesized Nintendo JoyCon controls would improve surgical performance compared to the FDA-approved Da Vinci Surgical System with two user groups (doctor and gamer). Their results show that implementing a Nintendo JoyCon control system is associated with improved surgical performance and learning rate compared to the Da Vinci Surgical System.