'Nuclear pasta' lets pulsars twirl

摘要

Pasta helps marathon runners keep the pace - and maybe some spinning stars too. Rapidly rotating neutron stars called pulsars should slow down over time as they radiate energy. But lone pulsars appear to settle at a rate of about 12 seconds per spin. Jose Pons at the University of Alicante in Spain and colleagues ran simulations of pulsars with different crust configurations. 18-18 Prehistoric flier had gravelly guts If you're flying, it's normally best to travel light, but one prehistoric flying reptile didn't get the memo. It took to the skies with a cargo of gravel in its guts. The gravel-muncher in question is Pterodaustro guinazui, and it lived towards the end of the dinosaur era. While examining a new fossil of the species, Luis Chiappe of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and colleagues discovered that its abdomen contained 29 stones (see photo below), ranging from 1.5 to 8.4 millimetres across.