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Categories: Geoscience: Geology, Space: General
Published Two of the Milky Way's earliest building blocks identified
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Astronomers have identified what could be two of the Milky Way's earliest building blocks: Named 'Shakti' and 'Shiva', these appear to be the remnants of two galaxies that merged between 12 and 13 billion years ago with an early version of the Milky Way, contributing to our home galaxy's initial growth. The new find is the astronomical equivalent of archeologists identifying traces of an initial settlement that grew into a large present-day city.
Published Secrets of the Van Allen belt revealed in new study
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A challenge to space scientists to better understand our hazardous near-Earth space environment has been set in a new study.
Published New geological study: Scandinavia was born in Greenland
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The oldest Scandinavian bedrock was 'born' in Greenland, according to a new geological study. The study helps us understand the origin of continents and why Earth is the only planet in our solar system with life.
Published High school students contribute to exoplanet discovery
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A group of high school students from Oakland, California, made contributions to the field of exoplanet research. Researchers worked with the students to use backpack-sized digital smart telescopes. These young citizen scientists played a role in observing and confirming the nature of a warm and dense sub-Saturn planet, known as TIC 139270665 b, orbiting a metal-rich G2 star.
Published Icy impacts: Planetary scientists use physics and images of impact craters to gauge the thickness of ice on Europa
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New study reveals that Europa's ice shell is at least 20 kilometers thick.
Published Scientists find one of the most ancient stars that formed in another galaxy
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The first generation of stars transformed the universe. Inside their cores, simple hydrogen and helium fused into a rainbow of elements. When these stars died, they exploded and sent these new elements across the universe. The iron running in your veins and the calcium in your teeth and the sodium powering your thoughts were all born in the heart of a long-dead star.
Published Quantum tornado provides gateway to understanding black holes
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have created a giant quantum vortex to mimic a black hole in superfluid helium that has allowed them to see in greater detail how analogue black holes behave and interact with their surroundings.
Published Astrophysicist's research could provide a hint in the search for dark matter
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Dark matter is one of science's greatest mysteries. Although it is believed to make up about 85 percent of the cosmos, scientists know very little about its fundamental nature. Research provides some of the most stringent constraints on the nature of dark matter yet. It also revealed a small hint of a signal that, if real, could be confirmed in the next decade or so.
Published Pioneering muscle monitoring in space to help astronauts stay strong in low-gravity
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Astronauts have been able to track their muscle health in spaceflight for the first time using a handheld device, revealing which muscles are most at risk of weakening in low gravity conditions. Researchers monitored the muscle health of twelve astronauts before, during and after a stay on the International Space Station.
Published From the Mediterranean into the Atlantic: The Gibraltar arc is migrating to the west
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Oceans are subject to continuous change, mostly over extremely vast periods of time running into millions of years. Researchers have now used computer simulations to demonstrate that a subduction zone originating in the Western Mediterranean will propagate into the Atlantic under the Strait of Gibraltar. According to their model, this will create a new Atlantic subduction zone 50 million years into the future, which will then move down into the Earth's mantle. The new geodynamic model explains the evolution of the Gibraltar subduction zone and its likely development, which will contribute to the renewal of the Atlantic Ocean floor.
Published Simulated microgravity effects cause marked changes in gene expression rhythms in humans, study finds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Simulated effects of microgravity, created by 60 days of constant bed rest, severely disrupts rhythmic gene expression in humans, according to a new study.
Published Harnessing hydrogen at life's origin
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new report uncovers how hydrogen gas, the energy of the future, provided energy in the past, at the origin of life 4 billion years ago. Hydrogen gas is clean fuel. It burns with oxygen in the air to provide energy with no CO2. Hydrogen is a key to sustainable energy for the future. Though humans are just now coming to realize the benefits of hydrogen gas (H2 in chemical shorthand), microbes have known that H2 is good fuel for as long as there has been life on Earth. Hydrogen is ancient energy.
Published Largest-ever map of universe's active supermassive black holes released
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Astronomers have charted the largest-ever volume of the universe with a new map of active supermassive black holes living at the centers of galaxies. Called quasars, the gas-gobbling black holes are, ironically, some of the universe's brightest objects. The new map logs the location of about 1.3 million quasars in space and time, the furthest of which shone bright when the universe was only 1.5 billion years old. The work could help scientists better understand the properties of dark matter.
Published Even inactive smokers are densely colonized by microbial communities
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Everything is everywhere -- under certain conditions microbial communities can grow and thrive, even in places that are seemingly uninhabitable. This is the case at inactive hydrothermal vents on the sea floor. An international team is presently working to accurately quantify how much inorganic carbon can be bound in these environments.
Published New research suggests that our universe has no dark matter
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study challenges the current model of the universe by showing that, in fact, it has no room for dark matter.
Published Protein fragments ID two new 'extremophile' microbes--and may help find alien life
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Perfectly adapted microorganisms live in extreme environments from deep-sea trenches to mountaintops. Learning more about how these extremophiles survive in hostile conditions could inform scientists about life on Earth and potential life on other planets.
Published Surprising insights about debris flows on Mars
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The period that liquid water was present on the surface of Mars may have been shorter than previously thought. Channel landforms called gullies, previously thought to be formed exclusively by liquid water, can also be formed by the action of evaporating CO2 ice, according to a new study.
Published Ancient ice may still exist in distant space objects, researchers find
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new paper presents findings about the Kuiper Belt Object 486958 Arrokoth, shedding new light on the preservation of volatile substances like carbon monoxide in such distant celestial bodies. The research uses Arrokoth as a case study to propose that many Kuiper Belt Objects -- remnants from the dawn of our solar system -- could still retain their original volatile ices, challenging previous notions about the evolutionary path of these ancient entities.
Published Sulfur and the origin of life
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study shines a spotlight on sulfur, a chemical element that, while all familiar, has proved surprisingly resistant to scientific efforts in probing its role in the origin of life.
Published AI for astrophysics: Algorithms help chart the origins of heavy elements
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The origin of heavy elements in our universe is theorized to be the result of neutron star collisions, which produce conditions hot and dense enough for free neutrons to merge with atomic nuclei and form new elements in a split-second window of time. Testing this theory and answering other astrophysical questions requires predictions for a vast range of masses of atomic nuclei. Scientists are using machine learning algorithms to successfully model the atomic masses of the entire nuclide chart -- the combination of all possible protons and neutrons that defines elements and their isotopes.