Historical record in La Palma: the most distant radiation in the universe detected, at 8,000 million light-years
Meteored Portugal27 August 2026 at 17:05
Telescopes installed at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, in La Palma, detected very high energy radiation coming from a blazar called OP 313, located about 8 billion light-years away, making it the most distant object of this type ever observed at these energies. The signal, captured by the LST-1 and MAGIC telescopes, comes from an active galaxy with a supermassive black hole at its center, which generates enormous jets of particles and radiation. This historic detection allows scientists to go back billions of years in time and constitutes a valuable clue to reconstructing the history of stars and galaxies.
Portuguese researchers from the GeoBioTec center at Nova University of Lisbon and the Dom Luiz Institute concluded, through theoretical models, that energy storage in underground porous rocks can reach capacities sufficient to supply electricity to a small city. The technique involves storing energy at depth through pressurized fluids in porous rock formations, functioning as a sort of geological battery. This underground storage method represents a potential solution for the growing need for renewable energy storage systems at grid scale.
Dentist Andréa Melo explains a groundbreaking Brazilian research conducted by the Headache Center Brasil, presented at the 22nd Congress of the International Headache Society, which identified a high prevalence of awake bruxism in patients with chronic migraine. The study, conducted using surface electromyography, showed that both conditions share the same neurological mechanism: hyperactivation of the trigeminal nerve, which runs through the facial muscles. Melo's clinical observation, which she has noted for years in patients referred by neurologists, now has scientific backing.
Portuguese researchers from the GeoBioTec (FCT-NOVA) and Dom Luiz Institute (FCUL) centers discovered that underground porous rock formations can function as a "giant battery" to store renewable energy on a large scale, powerful enough to supply an entire city.
Portugal may observe in the early morning of this Friday, August 28, the last partial lunar eclipse of the year. The phenomenon, which occurs when the Moon partially crosses the shadow projected by Earth, will begin at 2:23 AM with the entry into Earth's penumbra, and the most visible partial phase will begin at 4:12 AM. Earth's shadow will cover part of the lunar surface, altering the appearance of the lunar disk, with the peak of the eclipse occurring near sunrise.
