The Milky Way may have undergone a drastic transformation in its orientation due to a significant collision that occurred approximately ten to eleven billion years ago. This hypothesis was recently proposed by astronomers from the University of Durham during the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting, held in Birmingham.
The conclusion was reached through the analysis of cosmological simulations involving galaxies similar to ours, which were compared with data obtained by the Gaia mission, belonging to the European Space Agency. The main objective of this study is to elucidate why the stellar halo of the Milky Way exhibits a rotation rate considerably slower than predicted by researchers.
If this interpretation is validated, it will add a new segment to the narrative of galaxy formation and may provide clues about the evolution of dark matter. Furthermore, it suggests that the location of the Solar System within the Milky Way has not maintained a constant orientation over time.
To investigate the cause of the slow rotation of the stellar halo, scientists monitored the evolution of twenty-five galaxies with characteristics similar to the Milky Way using supercomputers over billions of years. The goal was to determine which events could result in a configuration similar to what is currently observed.
The comparison showed that galaxies whose stellar halos rotate more slowly possessed two notable characteristics: they had suffered a head-on impact with another galaxy and subsequently experienced an orientation change greater than 90 degrees in their disks, an event termed by astronomers as a 'disc flip.'
Kirill Batrakov, the researcher responsible for the study, pointed out that the history of the Milky Way itself points to the possibility of this process having occurred in our galaxy. He stated during the presentation at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting: 'We already know that the Milky Way underwent a massive head-on collision with a galaxy known as Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus. Therefore, we believe that the Milky Way's disk probably also changed orientation in the past.'
The researchers recall that Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus, nicknamed the 'Sausage Galaxy,' was a dwarf galaxy incorporated into the Milky Way between ten and eleven billion years ago. This encounter is considered the largest merger event in the early phase of our galaxy, leaving behind billions of stars in extremely elongated orbits.
According to the authors, identifying this ancient disk inversion expands the possibilities for understanding the behavior of the dark matter halo, as the findings indicate a strong correlation between the rotation of this invisible structure and that of the stellar halo.
Batrakov emphasizes that a modification of this magnitude would have altered the path of most stars in the Milky Way. He stated: 'A disk flip means that most stars in the Milky Way have traveled very different paths than those currently observed, possibly even our Sun, which indicates that our seemingly stable position in the galaxy may not have been the case throughout the entire existence of the Solar System.'
The astronomer also emphasizes that reconstructing such remote episodes aids in comparing the evolution of the Milky Way with that of other galaxies. Batrakov concluded during the dissemination of the study: 'Since we live inside the Milky Way, we can study it with a level of detail impossible in any other galaxy. Discovering that its disk changed orientation adds a new chapter to its history and shows that it is possible to reconstruct this complex past from current observations.'
A new fossil analysis indicates that the first living beings to exhibit laterality, such as Spriggina floundersi, were marine animals resembling leeches and did not possess hands.
Approximately 550 million years ago, during the Ediacaran period, a marine organism known as Spriggina floundersi, which was finger-sized, crawled on the ocean floor. A recent study of its fossils revealed that although it was an animal without upper limbs, it showed a strong inclination to move to the right, making it the oldest documented example of a right-handed animal.
Researchers from the United States examined a set of exceptionally well-preserved fossils located in the Nilpena Ediacara National Park, in South Australia. Many of these specimens were folded, and most showed a tendency to lean to the right side. The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports, by Nature, on July 9th.
Paleontologist Scott Evans, who led the research, explained that, unlike what is imagined when thinking about human dexterity (such as holding a pencil), this discovery points out that animals without hands or feet could develop their own form of laterality. The research suggests that the preference for one side of the body arose much earlier than previously thought, shortly after organisms began to exhibit bilateral symmetry.
Spriggina was one of the first animals to display this symmetry during the Ediacaran, a period between 635 and 538 million years ago, when microscopic beings evolved into larger multicellular organisms. This organism, measuring only a few centimeters, had an elongated and segmented body, with a larger front end that resembled a crescent moon-shaped helmet. The fossils from Nilpena Ediacara National Park, along with the Flinders Ranges region and South Australia, provide a detailed record of this moment.
By analyzing over one hundred specimens, scientists photographed the rock relief to observe the final posture of the animals and then created three-dimensional models to measure the deviation of each Spriggina's curvature relative to a straight line. The results indicated that these animals were more mobile than previously thought, capable of wriggling similarly to modern earthworms. More significantly, the data showed a clear preference for the right side when turning, almost twice as often as the left side. Since the fossils are mirrored images, this inclination confirms that the population preference was for the right side.
Additionally, the new findings may offer clues about how these animals perceived their environment. Scott Evans commented that, given that current animals with laterality (such as insects, octopuses, birds, and mammals) possess complex sensory systems, this suggests that Spriggina's nervous system was relatively sophisticated, comparable to that of currently known animals.
A recent study published in the journal PNAS demonstrated that geometric intuition and the ability to recognize abstract shapes are not exclusive to the human species, but rather a cognitive trait shared with other primates. Researchers found that both monkeys and humans use analogous mental processes to classify and process geometric figures.
To map how each group perceives spatial patterns, scientists examined the behavior of monkeys, preschool children, and adults in visual matching tests. The collected data indicated that the brains of non-human primates can integrate complex visual representations with abstract symbolic properties.
Previously, the theory of symbolic singularity maintained that only humans possessed the aptitude to encode geometric relationships through specific rules, such as identifying right angles, parallel sides, or symmetry. The assumption was that animals were limited to using superficial and continuous perceptual characteristics to differentiate figures in the environment.
To test this theoretical distinction, scientists applied visual matching tasks to participants, requiring them to identify geometric figures even when presented in different orientations. By analyzing the choices using statistical and computational models, the team noted that monkeys favored abstract structural concepts, rather than just simple perceptual details.
The crucial point of the experiment was observed when analyzing the animals' response to rotated figures. When exposed to objects rotated in space, monkeys showed a dependence on structural and symbolic cues even more pronounced than preschool children when viewing static images. The results suggest that geometric representation derives from the visual system's capacity to process rotational invariance, establishing a neurological basis for the development of geometric intuition in primates. This discovery refutes the notion of an exclusive evolutionary leap in the human mind, indicating that basic geometric concepts have shared biological origins and that spatial abstraction is a gradual process among species.
Nvidia formalized a deal worth over $500 billion, equivalent to about R$ 2.5 trillion, with SK Hynix, a South Korean company. The objective of this long-term partnership is to secure the supply of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and accelerate the development of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.
This pact was signed on Friday, the 24th, during a technology event held in San Francisco. The initiative aims to protect the manufacturer against the global shortage of essential components for its Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). The contract stipulates the priority supply of advanced semiconductors and the joint development of new memory technologies for the next generation, in addition to the creation of large data centers.
The new computing facilities, scheduled to become operational in 2027, will be dedicated to providing cloud processing capacity for governments, corporations, and AI model developers. At the core of this project, SK Telecom, a subsidiary of the same business group, will build an AI data center with a projected energy capacity of 2 gigawatts. This structure will utilize Nvidia's Vera Rubin processor architecture combined with SK Hynix's HBM4 memories, requiring hundreds of thousands of GPUs to support heavy generative AI applications and autonomous systems.
The collaboration establishes a guarantee of stability for Nvidia, especially since HBM memory has become the main production bottleneck in the sector. Due to the need for extremely high data transfer speeds to power deep learning chips, these components face demand far exceeding current manufacturing capacity. Through the engineering collaboration outlined in the agreement, both companies plan to synchronize the memory development cycle with future Nvidia hardware releases.
In addition to the main contract, Nvidia confirmed an investment of $1 billion (R$ 5 billion) in Naver, a South Korean cloud company, aiming to expand computing complexes in the Asian country. This announcement was made in the presence of representatives from the South Korean government. This move occurs amid a broad restructuring of the semiconductor market to meet the growing demand for intensive computing. In response to this competition, Samsung Electronics also closed a $200 billion (R$ 1 trillion) deal with Broadcom to expand cooperation in chip and memory foundry services.
