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Could JWST solve cosmology’s big mystery? Physicists debate Universe-expansion data

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This image, taken with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows the globular star cluster Terzan 1.

Observations of the current Universe suggest a faster rate of cosmic expansion than predictions based on early-Universe data.Credit: NASA/ESA/Judy Schmidt

Cosmology seems to be heading for a showdown on one of its most basic questions: how fast is the Universe expanding?

For more than a decade, two types of measurement have been in disagreement. Observations of the current Universe typically find the rate of expansion — called the Hubble constant — to be about 9% faster than predictions based on early-Universe data.

Researchers hoped that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which launched in late 2021, would help to settle the question once and for all. But consensus has so far failed to materialise. Instead, two teams of cosmologists have calculated different values for the Hubble constant — despite both observing the recent Universe using the JWST.

Wendy Freedman, an astronomer at the University of Chicago in Illinois, and her collaborators presented preliminary results from their JWST observations today at a conference at the Royal Society in London. The Hubble constant they measured was 69.1 kilometers per second per megaparsec, meaning that galaxies separated by one million parsec (around 3 million light years) are receding from each other at a rate of 69.1 km/s.

This is only slightly larger than the 67 km/s per megaparsec predicted using early-universe data from Europe’s Planck satellite. But it is at odds with recent work by Adam Riess, an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and his collaborators, who calculated a substantially higher Hubble constant, of at least 73 km/s per Mpc1,2,3.

Stars and supernovas

Freedman’s team analyzed three types of star that are used as distance indicators, or ‘standard candles’, in nearby galaxies. Understanding the average brightness of standard candles helps astronomers estimate how far away the same types of star are in more distant galaxies, which appear as they were billions of years ago. Together with observations of supernova explosions in the same galaxies, standard candles can be used to measure the Universe’s current rate of expansion.

Riess, whose observations were based on the same three types of star, warns that it is too early to draw conclusions from any of the JWST data. “The Hubble Space Telescope has collected a mountain of data over several decades, including four separate and direct calibrations of [the Hubble constant],” he says. “Our JWST programme and Wendy’s are tiny by comparison.”

It would be premature to comment on Freedman’s results because they have not yet been published, says Kristin McQuinn, an astronomer at Rutgers University in New Jersey who is leading her own study of standard candles with JWST. “It is hard to evaluate their results without seeing their data.”

Freedman says that multiple techniques will need to agree before the Hubble constant issue is solved. “We need more than one method, and we need more than three if we want to put this issue to rest,” she told delegates at the London meeting.

Cosmologist George Efstathiou, a leading member of the Planck collaboration who is based at the University of Cambridge, UK, sees the glass half full, saying that the latest JWST results are remarkably close to Planck’s. “They are 4 km/s away from each other, which is not a lot,“ he says.

Hiranya Peiris, a cosmologist also at the University of Cambridge, says that she wouldn’t be surprised if the recent-Universe observations were to end up converging towards the Planck early-Universe results. But she agrees that it will be crucial to add a completely new technique to the mix. Observations of gravitational waves could offer a ‘clean’ approach that doesn’t suffer from the confounding factors that are always present when observing stars, she adds.

If the discrepancy is here to stay, it could mean that the current theoretical model of the expansion of the Universe — which relies on Einstein’s general theory of relativity — needs to be amended. Theorists have been busy trying to find explanations for the Hubble-constant discrepancy, but none of them are compatible with every set of observations, says cosmologist Eleonora Di Valentino at the University of Sheffield, UK. “At least 500 models have been proposed, and none of them is satisfactory.”

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‘Dark Matter’ trailer unveils a multiverse mystery

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Dark Matter, one of the best sci-fi novels of the decade, is about to become an Apple TV+ series. It’s a thriller about a man lost in the multiverse trying to find his original universe, and stars Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly.

The trailer released Thursday asks the question “What if the person who abducted me is me?”

Dark Matter brings a bestseller to Apple TV+

Apple TV+ is building a reputation for brilliantly adapting popular sci-fi novels into series. Silo and Foundation are two excellent examples. Which is why there’s so much potential in the upcoming adaptation of Dark Matter, the bestselling novel by Blake Crouch.

For those who haven’t read the book, Apple’s description of its series says,

Dark Matter is a story about the road not taken. The series follows Jason Dessen (played by Edgerton), a physicist, professor and family man who — one night while walking home on the streets of Chicago — is abducted into an alternate version of his life. Wonder quickly turns to nightmare when he tries to return to his reality amid the mind-bending landscape of lives he could have lived. In this labyrinth of realities, he embarks on a harrowing journey to get back to his true family and save them from the most terrifying, unbeatable foe imaginable: himself.”

Watch the trailer to see more:

Top talent matters

The two lead actors in Dark Matter bring plenty of experience.

Joel Edgerton is quite famous in his home country of Australia, and is known around the world for playing Owen Lars in several Star Wars films and series.

Jennifer Connelly has had a long career dating back to Labyrinth in 1986. Other highlights include Mulholland Falls, Dark City and A Beautiful Mind — for which she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

Also staring in the series are Alice Braga, Jimmi Simpson, Dayo Okeniyi and Oakes Fegley.

Coming toApple TV+ in May

Dark Matter will premiere globally on Apple TV+ with the first two episodes on May 8. These will be followed by one new episode every Wednesday through June 26. There’ll be nine in total.

Watch on Apple TV

Watching comes with a subscription to Apple TV+. The service costs $9.99 per month, with a seven-day free trial. You also can watch it via any tier of the Apple One subscription bundle.

The streaming video service also includes much more, of course. Apple produces an array of generally highly rated movies and series.  That includes dramas, comedies, musicals, children’s shows, nature documentaries, etc.

Want more tips on what to watch on Apple TV+? Read our guide to the 15 best shows on Apple TV+.

Source: Apple



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Galaxy Tab S6 Lite (2024) Exynos chip mystery finally unraveled

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Last updated: April 8th, 2024 at 16:02 UTC+02:00

Samsung threw us for a loop when it officially announced the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite (2024) refresh, not just because the company decided to re-release a 2020 tablet a second time but also due to a lack of concrete information in some areas.

As some might know, the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite (2024) showed up in Geekbench a couple of months ago, where it rocked an Exynos 1280 chip with eight CPU cores split into 2+6 core clusters.

All was clear until Samsung officially announced the tablet and mentioned a Quad-core 2.4GHz + Quad-core 2.0GHz CPU configuration, which suggested that the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite (2024) refresh might be powered by the superior Exynos 1380 chip.

Here’s what chip the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite actually has

In case you’re still wondering, the mystery of the unknown Exynos chip has been cleared up by MyNextTablet, who confirmed that the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite (2024) is enabled by the inferior Exynos 1280 chip rather than the Exynos 1380 SoC.

Therefore, the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite (2024) has two Cortex-A78 CPU cores operating at a frequency of up to 2.4GHz and six ARM Cortex-A55 cores @2.0GHz.

Disappointingly, the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite (2024) isn’t as powerful as Samsung made us hope it would be, but on the bright side, it is at least more competent than its 2020 and 2022 predecessors.

Benchmark tests show that the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite (2024) outperforms the 2022 and 2020 models in Geekbench 5 across the board, in Compute, Single-Core, and Multi-Core tests.

Appropriately, the 2024 Lite model is also more powerful than the cheaper Galaxy Tab A9+ (Snapdragon 695) but not as beefy as the Galaxy Tab S9 FE, the latter of which does make use of the newer Exynos 1380 SoC.

All in all, Samsung getting the information wrong on its official spec sheet kind of fits the theme of low effort surrounding this whole Tab S6 Lite (2024) release. Hopefully, nobody bought the Tab S6 Lite based solely on Samsung’s spec sheet and erroneous CPU core information.

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Mystery iPads outed by Indian regulators

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iPad mystery model
Two unknown iPads were just approved for release in India.
Photo: Cult of Mac

A pair of unknown iPads are reportedly listed on the Bureau of Indian Standards certification website. These are almost certainly tablets that have been the topic of many leaks in recent months.

The 2024 iPad Pro and/or iPad Air might have just taken another small step toward release.

Indian regulators keep us guessing about future iPads

India’s BIS certifies products so they can be released in the country. It’s a required step for tablets and many other types of computers.

And it now lists two Apple devices with model numbers A2836 and A2837, according to 91mobiles.

These numbers don’t correspond with any current iPads, though they do follow the same format. The 2022 iPad Pro 12.9-inch is model number A2436, while the version with cellular-wireless capabilities is A2437, for example. And the 2022 iPad Air is A2588 while the cellular version is A2589.

Given the pattern established by Apple’s current tablets, it seems likely the two mystery models just approved by India’s BIS are an iPad plus its cellular version. So these model numbers probably aren’t for an iPad Air and an iPad Pro.

We’ll likely know for sure in May. That’s the month Apple is expected to introduce its next-generation iPadOS products.

What to expect from 2024 iPad Pro and iPad Air

Many leaks indicate that the highlight of the 2024 iPad Pro will be an OLED (short for “organic light-emitting diode“) display in which each pixel glows on its own. This leads to a bright, even image with strong contrast. Leaks indicate these will go into both the 13-inch version and the 11-inch one.

OLED screen panels don’t need backlights, so they’re thinner than traditional LEDs. This supposedly allowed Apple designers to make the upcoming iPad Pro significantly slimmer than its predecessors.

Also supposedly coming soon is the first 12.9-inch iPad Air. The previous largest version includes a 10.9-inch display.

The current fifth-gen iPad Air from 2022 runs an Apple M1 processor that debuted in 2020. The 2024 version reportedly will jump over M2 all the way to an M3.



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‘Morpho’ mystery deepens in The Big Door Prize season 2 trailer

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The citizens of a small town called Deerfield continue to see their lives upended by a fortune-telling machine known as Morpho, according to the season 2 trailer Apple TV+ dropped Wednesday for philosophical comedy series The Big Door Prize.

Starring Emmy Award winner Chris O’Dowd, the well-liked comedy’s 10-episode second season debuts Wednesday, April 24, with three episodes.

The Big Door Prize remains a tantalizing mystery in season 2 trailer

In the first season of The Big Door Prize, a machine called Morpho mysteriously shows up in Deerfield grocery store. It issues cards to users stating their “life’s potential.” The townsfolk soon become obsessed over who they are and who they should be. And that obsession appears to deepen in the season 2 trailer.

Here’s how Apple TV+ describes season 2 of the show from Emmy Award-winning creator David West Read (Schitt’s Creek):

Based on M.O. Walsh’s novel, The Big Door Prize season two follows the residents of Deerfield as the Morpho machine readies them for the mysterious “next stage.” As everyone’s potentials are exchanged for visions, new relationships form and new questions are asked.

Dusty (Chris O’Dowd) and Cass (Gabrielle Dennis) decide to take time apart while Trina (Djouliet Amara) and Jacob (Sammy Fourlas) learn that they can shed their old labels. Giorgio (Josh Segarra) and Izzy (Crystal Fox) each find romance while Hana (Ally Maki) and Father Reuben (Damon Gupton) attempt to discover the purpose of the machine.

Residents of the small town are once again left questioning what they thought they knew about their lives, their relationships, their potential and the Morpho itself.

Cult of Mac’s reviewer seemed to like the first season of the show.

Ensemble cast welcomes newbies

The cast members mentioned above return to the show, produced by Skydance Television and CJ ENM/Studio Dragon, along with some other returning and new faces for season 2.

They include Justine Lupe, Aaron Roman Weiner, Mary Holland, Patrick Kerr, Cocoa Brown, Carrie Barrett, Elizabeth Hunter, Jim Meskimen, Matt Dellapina and Melissa Ponzio.

Showrunner Read serves as executive producer along with David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Matt Thunell, Miky Lee, Jey-hyun Kim and Hyun Park, Bill Bost and Sarah Walker. Series directors are Steven Tsuchida, Heather Jack, Jordan Canning, Satya Bhabha and Declan Lowney.

Watch the season 2 trailer

Watch the first season on Apple TV+

You can watch the whole first season of The Big Door Prize before season 2 premieres on April 24. The service is available by subscription for $9.99 with a seven-day free trial. You can also get it via any tier of the Apple One subscription bundle. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac or iPod touch can enjoy three months of Apple TV+ for free.

After launching in November 2019, “Apple TV+ became the first all-original streaming service to launch around the world, and has premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service. To date, Apple Original films, documentaries and series have been honored with 471 wins and 2,090 award nominations and counting,” the service said.

In addition to award-winning movies and TV shows (including breakout soccer comedy Ted Lasso), Apple TV+ offers a variety of documentaries, dramas, comedies, kids shows and more.

Watch on Apple TV

Source: Apple TV+



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Meningitis could be behind ‘mystery illness’ reports in Nigeria

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General view of a busy road at sunset.

The Nigerian health ministry has been told to investigate reports of deaths in the northeastern state of Gombe (pictured).Credit: Tolu Owoeye/Shutterstock

The World Health Organization has confirmed that reports of an ‘unknown’ disease allegedly responsible for 30 deaths in Gombe State, Nigeria, in mid-February can be linked to 3 cases of meningitis that are part of ongoing seasonal outbreaks.

The agency tells Nature that it is aware of reports of dozens of fatalities, but that on investigation it has found there have in fact been just three, resulting from confirmed cases of meningitis.

Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and the regional Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have not confirmed or denied an unknown-disease outbreak in Gombe State. Neither organization responded to requests for comment from Nature’s news team.

The case highlights the importance of thorough disease-surveillance systems and the need for timely communication, say researchers. West African countries are on high alert for flare-ups of infectious diseases. Nigeria, the most populous African country and the one with the largest economy, is currently struggling with surges of Lassa fever, diphtheria and meningitis. In the past decade, it has also contended with spikes in cholera, mpox (formerly called monkeypox) and Ebola, as well as COVID-19. High mobility between countries in the region makes residents particularly susceptible to the rapid spread of infections, according to a 2022 study published in The Lancet1.

Unknown disease?

On 27 February, Nigeria’s National Assembly instructed the country’s health ministry to investigate a “strange disease” said to have killed more than two dozen people in the northeastern state of Gombe.

News of the deaths had come from an 18 February Facebook post regarding unexplained deaths at the Nafada General Hospital, said to have occurred within 24 hours of the victims contracting an unknown disease that caused abdominal pain, diarrhoea and fever.

But on 28 February, Gombe State commissioner of health Habu Dahiru denied the report of mystery deaths, according to local newspapers. “Formally, we received cases with symptoms suggestive of cerebrospinal meningitis in the Nafada local government area on 18 February and immediately swung into action,” he told media outlet Punch.

“The more specific and plainly described information is given about what is known and not known promotes confidence that the authorities are sincerely trying to give the best-quality information,” says Julii Brainard, who models public-health threats at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK.

“The void created by limiting or not giving the necessary fact-checked information can be filled by mis- or disinformation or rumours,” says Sílvia Majó-Vázquez, a political-communication researcher at the Free University of Amsterdam. It can be difficult to correct the false information once it is circulating, she adds.

Surveillance systems

Public-health bodies in the region are attuned to potential outbreaks, says Robert Garry, a virologist at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, who works with scientists in Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

“People are aware that viruses are of serious concern and need to be dealt with aggressively”, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, he says. The 2014 Ebola outbreak was also a “wake-up call” to West African countries, Garry adds. Between 2013 and 2016, more than 11,000 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone died of this viral haemorrhagic fever. Eight people in Nigeria died of the disease.

In the years since, “the Nigerian CDC put their best foot forward”, says Garry. “They’ve got a lot of good people there. They’re putting the appropriate resources into it.”

Virologist Peter Piot, former director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, agrees that there have been major efforts to improve disease surveillance in West African countries over the past decade. “The Nigerian Centres for Disease Control have done excellent work on Lassa and monkeypox,” he says. But he adds that in such a large country, surveillance can be “uneven”, and the system is constantly being tested. Last week, Yobe State — north of Gombe — quarantined more than 200 people after reports of 20 meningitis-related deaths in the province, Punch reported.

Trust between health authorities and citizens is vital, says Brainard. If people feel that authorities are hiding information or are clueless, “then people try to figure out their own explanations, which may be completely wrong”, she says.

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