NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured its first image of an exoplanet since beginning operations in July 2022. The planet, named TWA 7 b, orbits a young star about 110 light-years from Earth in the constellation Antlia. The discovery, published in Nature, was made using a coronagraph on the telescope’s Mid-Infrared Instrument, which blocks starlight to reveal fainter nearby objects. Scientists believe TWA 7 b, with a mass similar to Saturn, is responsible for shaping the three distinct rings in its star’s debris disk.
Detailed simulations confirmed that the planet’s gravitational influence matches the observed gaps and thin rings. “The planet’s position perfectly corresponds to the structures observed with Webb,” researchers said. TWA 7 b is significantly smaller than exoplanets previously imaged, but its youth and residual heat made it visible in the mid-infrared. NASA hopes to capture even smaller, Earth-like planets in the future. The Webb discovery marks a major advance in directly imaging smaller, colder planets and offers new insight into how planetary systems, including our own, form.
Glastonbury festival opened today in high spirits as early campers gathered, including Nicholas Beard who claimed the front of the queue for the third time. Beard’s camping chair was broken by a lively group of Italian festivalgoers who arrived drunk but cheerful. “They fell on my chair and broke it because they were a bit drunk,” Beard said, still smiling. Michael and Emily Eavis officially opened the gates as a brass band played The Final Countdown.
Emily called it “very emotional” to open the festival alongside her father. She confirmed Neil Young’s Saturday headline set will not be televised but declined to explain why. Controversy surrounds Belfast rap group Kneecap, whose member faces terror charges. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said the group should not perform. Emily Eavis declined to comment directly, saying, “Everyone is welcome here.” This year’s headliners include The 1975, Neil Young, and Olivia Rodrigo, with Rod Stewart set for the iconic Sunday legends slot. (The Times)
In an amusing think piece by Finn McRedmond in The New Statesman, the author wryly dissects the protests against Jeff Bezos’s Venetian wedding to Lauren Sánchez, while gently mocking both the protestors and the spectacle itself. “This wedding is the symbol of all that is wrong with Venice,” declared civic activist Marta Sottoriva—though McRedmond dryly notes that such “hyperbole [is] only appropriate for someone from a city that calls itself La Serenissima.” Protesters unfurled a giant “No to Bezos” banner from the campanile of San Giorgio Maggiore and threatened to blockade the venue and fill the canals with inflatable crocodiles. Still, McRedmond is sceptical: “You cannot really denigrate Venice… with something as silly as an A-list wedding,” pointing out that the city has long been “a kind of kitsch adult theme park with 70 per cent better art and 100 per cent worse food.”
Mocking those who insist weddings “aren’t about love any more,” McRedmond drily retorts: “Any more?” and argues that “these emotional demands… are a new and mawkish development.” Instead, she suggests, such weddings are “a consolidation of aesthetic power and imperial ambition.” Reflecting on weddings in general, McRedmond concludes: “If I have to suffer all of that… it might as well happen in view of a Veronese.”
Daisy Edgar-Jones will star as Elinor Dashwood in a new remake of Sense and Sensibility, directed by Georgia Oakley and adapted by Diana Reid. The film, produced by Working Title’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, alongside India Flint and Jo Wallett, will revisit Jane Austen’s classic 1811 novel about sisters navigating love, heartbreak, and financial hardship after losing their family estate. The role of Marianne Dashwood has yet to be announced. Edgar-Jones, who rose to fame in Normal People and starred in Where the Crawdads Sing and Twisters, shared the news with a photo of herself holding the novel. (Variety)
Heart attack deaths in the US have dropped by nearly 90 per cent since 1970, but deaths from chronic heart conditions like heart failure and arrhythmia have sharply risen, according to new research. Sara King at Stanford University said the fall in heart attack deaths reflects major advances like heart stents, bypass surgery, cholesterol-lowering drugs, CPR training, and smoking reduction. However, the study, which used CDC data, found deaths from chronic heart diseases have risen 81 per cent over the same period, with some conditions increasing by over 400 per cent. King suggests that as people survive heart attacks, they live longer and develop chronic heart issues later. “The next frontier in cardiology will be finding ways to age healthily,” she said. Researchers caution that cause-of-death data may oversimplify the shift, since heart attacks often lead to later chronic heart problems. (News Scientist)