Fifteen days before impact, the DART spacecraft deployed a small companion satellite to document its historic planetary defense technology demonstration. Provided by the Italian Space Agency, the Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging Asteroids, aka LICIACube, recorded this image of the event’s aftermath. A cloud of ejecta is seen near the right edge of the frame captured only minutes following DART’s impact with target asteroid Dimorphos while LICIACube was about 80 kilometers away. Presently about 11 million kilometers from Earth, 160 meter diameter Dimorphos is a moonlet orbiting 780 meter diameter asteroid Didymos. Didymos is seen off center in the LICIACube image. Over the coming weeks, ground-based telescopic observations will look for a small change in Dimorphos’ orbit around Didymos to evaluate how effectively the DART impact deflected its target.
myfusimotors
Why is a science blog named after a motor neuron? Fair question. If you landed here expecting car parts or motor repairs, I'm sorry...and also, stay. You might find something more interesting. Fusimotor neurons are a type of nerve cell in your body right now, quietly doing one of the most elegant jobs in neuroscience. They don't move your muscles directly. Instead, they adjust the sensitivity of your muscle spindles — the tiny stretch receptors embedded in your muscle fibers. In plain terms: they set the dial on how aware your nervous system is of its own body. They are the hidden calibrators of human movement, and almost nobody knows they exist. That's exactly why I named this blog after them. The best science isn't always the most famous science. Some of the most fascinating things happening inside the human body — inside your body — are invisible, unnamed, and completely overlooked. This blog exists to change that. I am a collection of water, calcium and organic molecules, but not a single one of the cells that compose me knows who I am, or cares...So why should you? Maybe because the story of what we are is more interesting than the story of who we are. That's what this blog is about. New posts go up every Tuesday and Friday. No newsletters, no algorithms — just good science writing, when you come looking for it. If you're curious about a topic, feel free to reach out. Some of my best posts have started with a reader's question. Welcome to myfusimotors. The hidden calibrators sent me. Corina.
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