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A new study on a 7,100-year-old skeleton from China has revealed a “ghost” lineage that only existed in theories until now. Skeleton of the early Neolithic woman, known as Xingyi_EN, unearthed at the Xingyi archaeological site in southwestern China’s Yunnan province. Her DNA links her to a deeply divergent human population that may have contributed to the ancestry of modern Tibetans. This study also reveals a distinct Central Yunnan ancestry connected to early Austroasiatic-speaking groups. This discovery makes Yunnan as a key region to understand the ancient genetic history of East and Southeast Asia. The detailed analysis of 127 human genomes from southwestern China is published in a study in the journal Science.

According to the study, radiocarbon dating indicates Xingyi_EN lived around 7,100 years ago and isotope analysis suggests she lived as a hunter-gatherer. Genetic sequencing revealed her ancestry from a deeply diverged human lineage—now named the Basal Asian Xingyi lineage. This lineage diverged from other modern human groups over 40,000 years ago and remained isolated for thousands of years without mixing with other populations.

This “ghost” lineage does not match DNA from Neanderthals or Denisovans but appears to have later contributed to the ancestry of some modern Tibetans. Xingyi_EN represents the first physical evidence of this previously unknown population.

Yunnan’s significance as a reservoir of deep human diversity

Most of the skeletons that the researchers sampled were dated between 1,400 and 7,150 years ago and came from Yunnan province, which today has the highest ethnic and linguistic diversity in all of China.

“Ancient humans that lived in this region may be key to addressing several remaining questions on the prehistoric populations of East and Southeast Asia,” the researchers wrote in the study. Those unanswered questions include the origins of people who live on the Tibetan Plateau, as previous studies have shown that Tibetans have northern East Asian ancestry.

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New Inelastic Dark Matter Model Could Bypass Current Limits of Particle Detection

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August 2, 2025

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New Inelastic Dark Matter Model Could Bypass Current Limits of Particle Detection

A group of physicists at the University of São Paulo’s Institute of Physics has proposed a model of the behaviour of dark matter (DM) in the presence of dark energy (DE) that is compatible with current astronomical observations. A model of inelastic DM can be realised from light-weight particles, which are collectively interacting through the massive vector mediator, and the model is an alternative explanation for DM relics in the universe. Importantly, this framework may have the potential to circumvent the experimental hurdles for the detection of DM that have thus far kept it in the dark. The findings are published in the Journal of High Energy Physics, and its authors believe it has the potential to “revolutionise” how particle physics analyses are conducted in the future.

Light Mediator ZQ Offers New Clues to Elusive Dark Matter and Its Cosmic Origins

As per the users’ report, they have developed the following new model: a heavy, stable DM from a light, unstable one. This can be expressed as a heavy stable DM due to a heavy unstable one, which may give rise to the “thermal freeze-out” in the universe. It doesn’t just interact with visible matter but with dark matter as well, and that’s how you get the new observational windows.

To explain why the dark matter has not been observed until now, the model further involves a decay of the unstable dark matter χ2 to some species not disturbing the CBR, and thus also not presenting a visible/observable decay signal. The picture is consistent with current astrophysical and experimental constraints, avoiding simpler `vanilla’ DM scenarios.

ZQ-induced vector mediators are light portals connecting the two sectors and may mediate the direct interactions between the dark sector and the SM particles. The black line indicates the region in the parameter space where dark matter can be hiding unobserved — this is to be addressed in future experiments.

The study suggests the search for dark matter should pivot from the “discovery frontier”, in which exquisitely sensitive instruments scan for signals, to the “intensity frontier”, which seeks ever-finer measurements to tease out anomalies. Future experiments will seek to dig more deeply into these unexplained corners of particle physics with a new online tool.

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Massive 200-Light-Year Cloud May Be Channeling Matter to the Milky Way’s Core

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August 2, 2025

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Massive 200-Light-Year Cloud May Be Channeling Matter to the Milky Way's Core

Astronomers have found a vast, never-before-noticed reservoir of stellar material, hundreds of light-years across, lurking in a cold, dark, starless swath of our galaxy. It’s dubbed the Midpoint Cloud and was identified using the Green Bank Telescope; it appears to channel dense clouds of material into the heart of our galaxy. It harbours active regions filled with dense dust lanes and star formation possibilities. These lanes could be bringing twisted matter into the galaxy’s central bar, shaping how stars form in this extreme environment and offering a rare snapshot of the first stages of a galaxy’s evolution.

Newly Found Midpoint Cloud May Be Key to Star Formation in the Milky Way’s Core

As per the study, researchers at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and Green Bank Observatory confirmed the size and shape of the GMC based on mass, density, and movement. The gassy chaos in the cloud mirrors the caustic turmoil at the galactic centre, yielding measurements from a faint object that says something about an energetic event 200 light-years distant. That could be a link from the field-like tranquillity of our own Milky Way’s disk to the mayhem of its core.

Perhaps analogously to gas channels, a thick dust lane in the Midpoint cloud could supply the central stellar bar fragment with fresh gas, again supporting an interpretation that star formation is inhibited in this region by the strong gravitational potential. But regions like the Midpoint could collect such thick gas, spurring the birth of new stars.

The team classified Knot E as a compact gas clump whose material has been eroded by both star radiation and a maser, or microwave emission, within a cloud. A shell-like feature suggests earlier supernova explosions, like those the deaths of massive stars in the region might have initiated.

The Midpoint cloud Larry Morgan, of the Green Bank Observatory, discovered is a valuable clue in our knowledge of how galaxies evolve and form stars near their centers. The finding could give scientists a way to learn how matter flows inward across the cosmos, one hidden cloud at a time.

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Supergiant Star Wd1-9 Investigated: Know Everything about New Findings and Insights from Supergiant

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August 2, 2025

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Supergiant Star Wd1-9 Investigated: Know Everything about New Findings and Insights from Supergiant

In the latest edition of the scientific investigations, it has come to light that the Chandra X-Ray Observatory of NASA has been employed by an international team of astronomers to investigate a supergiant star called Wd1-9. It has certainly performed a detailed investigation, which was accompanied by in-depth analysis and offered essential insights. Considering the supergiant B Stars, these are quite rare in the Milky Way. As these stars grow, they undergo continuous changes. These stars also exhibit strong Balmore emission lines, forbidden lines, and infrared excess.

Wd1-9: What is this Supergiant B Star?

Wd1-9 is a supergiant B (e) star in Westerlund 1. It is located at a distance of 13,800 light years from Earth. This star is the brightest radio source present within the cluster. Likewise, the recent findings presented in the paper published on July 23rd, 2025, suggest that this star displays a rich emission-line spectrum. Significantly, no photospheric features were detected.

Although Wd1-9 has been studied multiple times at different wavelengths, its true nature is still unknown due to it being covered by a cloud of dust. As the previous research suggests, this star may be a cool hypergiant or an interacting binary system. Now, to overcome these suspicions, Konstantina Anastasopolou led a team of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), Cambridge, employed Chandra to dig deeper.

What did the Astronomers Find?

As per the observations offered by Chandra, it was witnessed that Wd1-9 exhibits long-term X-ray variability. The team further identified an orbital period that comprised a 14-day periodic signal. According to the astronomers, this is the first period determination for the Wd1-9.

Significantly, the astronomers found that strong emission lines were detected that surfaced from elements like silicon, sulfur, and argon. Similarly, the iron emission line at 6.7 keV was identified for the first time ever. These identifications have become a part of the new findings.

To Conclude

According to the astronomers, the above-specified findings directly relate to binarity. The spectrum of Wd1-9 resembles the Wolf-Rayet (WR) binaries in Westerlund 1. Also, when the astronomers examined the X-Ray color-color diagrams, they identified that Wd1-9 showcased variations in thermal temperatures. After analysing the findings and putting all the examinations together, the scientists concluded that Wd1-9 is a part of the binary system.

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