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When it comes to dramatic and awe-inspiring pictures of space, few can contend with what appears to be a pic of, well, nothing at all: a fascinating image of what seems to be a hole in the fabric of space, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Described as a "cosmic keyhole" by experts, the phenomenon caught by the telescope is what's known as a reflection nebula – part of the debris left behind by the formation of a newborn star, or in this case, a small, multiple star system known as V380 Orionis in the constellation Orion. The ghostly celestial object you see here, named NGC 1999, is around 1,350 light-years from our planet; not far from the Orion Nebula – a star factory of significant size that happens to be the closest of its kind to Earth. (ESA/Hubble & NASA, ESO, K. Noll) That gap in the middle of the reflection nebula really is an empty part of space, though astronomers initially thought it might be a Bok globule : a dense and cold cloud, made up of g

A new validation study published this month puts the blood oxygen feature of the Apple Watch to the test. According to the results of the study, the Apple Watch Series 6 is able to “reliably detect states of reduced blood oxygen saturation” in comparison to medical-grade pulse oximeters. Here’s how the study came to determine this… How reliable is the Apple Watch’s blood oxygen sensor? As spotted by MyHealthyApple , the study was published this month in the Digital Health open access journal. The objective of the study was to investigate “how a commercially available smartwatch that measures peripheral blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) can detect hypoxemia compared to a medical-grade pulse oximeter.” For the study, researchers recruited 24 healthy participants. Each person wore an Apple Watch Series 6 on their left wrist and a pulse oximeter sensor on their left middle finger (the Masimo Radical-7). The participants breathed via a breathing circuit with a three-way non-rebreathing valve

The Louisiana Supreme Court has suspended a Baton Rouge judge without pay for 180 days for abusing her power to hold people in contempt. East Baton Rouge Parish Family Court Judge Charlene Charlet Day, who has held the seat since 2011, violated the law when she issued a bench warrant that resulted in a teacher being arrested at the school where she works, the high court ruled Friday. The Louisiana Judiciary Commission, which investigates complaints of judicial conduct, recommended the six-month suspension in July, finding that Day violated rules of conduct and committed “willful misconduct” when she locked up litigants for contempt of court. Day was directed to pay the commission a $6,260 fine. The justices unanimously agreed that a suspension was warranted, though one thought a less-severe penalty was required, The Advocate reported. “Judge Day’s conduct harmed the integrity of and respect for the judiciary,” Justice William Crain wrote in the prevailing opinion. “When a judge abuses

A supermassive black hole was observed belching up a star it gobbled up three years earlier — leaving astronomers puzzled by the delayed intergalactic indigestion. “This caught us completely by surprise — no one has ever seen anything like this before,” Yvette Cendes, the lead author of a new study analyzing the unprecedented phenomenon, said . In October 2018, astronomers witnessed a small star being ripped to shreds and swallowed when it wandered too close to a black hole in a galaxy located 665 million light years away from Earth, according to the study published last week in Astrophysical Journal. The violent feast itself isn’t unusual, however, when the black hole started mysteriously regurgitating stellar matter in June 2021, scientists were left scratching their heads — because there was no evidence it had eaten another star, the study found. “It’s as if this black hole has started abruptly burping out a bunch of material from the star it ate years ago,” Cendes, a research ass

VISALIA, Calif. (KFSN) -- "With a case like this, it's a case that sticks with you." Four years ago, Angelica Castro was a 21-year-old mom who faced murder charges for the death of her baby girl, who was less than six months old. Sean Sangree, Supervising Deputy District Attorney, had the case since day one. He says Castro initially denied knowing what happened to her baby, but later claimed she might have accidentally hit the infant while they were napping together. Medical experts testified about about the young victim's extensive injuries. "Abusive head trauma, and she had a number of injuries she had throughout her body that indicated they have inflicted injuries, not accidental," Sangree said. Back in April, Castro pleaded guilty to second degree murder. Shortly after, she tried withdrawing her plea and fired her attorney. "A new attorney was appointed to her, and that was litigated over the last few months," Sangree said. "Today, the cou

A homeless woman has been charged with the murder, rape and torture of a 12-year-old Paris girl, who was found stuffed inside a suitcase with her throat slashed – and the numerals 1 and 0 bizarrely placed on her chest. Dahbia B., 24, originally from Algeria, was indicted Monday in connection with the grisly killing of Lola Daviet, 12, whose mutilated body was found with her hands and feet bound with tape, the Mirror reported. “The alleged murderer somehow earned her victim’s confidence and led her into a cellar below the building, where the attack happened,” a law enforcement source said, according to Metro UK. “The attacker had been talking about selling organs and body parts, but none of this makes sense,” the official said, adding that “the suspect is believed to suffer with serious psychological problems. She was living on the street, but had friends and family in the Paris area.” Chilling surveillance video from Friday shows the alleged killer and Lola near the building where the

A Houston-area woman has been arrested after authorities say she fatally stabbed her daughter in the neck at a park and wrapped her in plastic and mesh bags. Melissa White Towne, 37, has been charged with capital murder, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez. Gonzalez Tweeted that the incident happened around noon Sunday at Spring Creek Park in Tomball, a city about 40 minutes northwest of Houston. It’s unknown how the incident unfolded, but Gonzalez said Towne allegedly cut or stabbed her child at the park and drove her to the hospital. She requested a wheelchair because “her daughter’s body was hurting,” HCSO told KPRC, KSAT’s sister station in Houston. Hospital staff found Towne’s 5-year-old daughter in her Jeep Cherokee, partially wrapped in plastic and mesh bags, Gonzalez said. “The child had what appeared to be a laceration and possible ligature marks on the child’s neck,” he said. The girl, who has not been identified, was pronounced dead. Gonzalez said Monday that Town