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Categories: Anthropology: General, Space: The Solar System
Published Better tools needed to determine ancient life on Mars


Current state-of-the-art instrumentation being sent to Mars to collect and analyze evidence of life might not be sensitive enough to make accurate assessments, according to new research.
Published Researchers discover mysterious source of 'heartbeat-like' radio bursts in a solar fare


A solar radio burst with a signal pattern, akin to that of a heartbeat, has been pinpointed in the Sun's atmosphere, according to a new study. An international team of researchers has reported uncovering the source location of a radio signal coming from within a C-class solar flare more than 5,000 kilometers above the Sun's surface.
Published Improving the performance of satellites in low Earth orbit


On-chip distributed radiation sensors and current-sharing techniques can be used to reduce the impact of radiation on the radio and power consumption of small satellites, respectively. New findings can be used to make small satellites more robust, which can increase the connectivity of networks across the globe.
Published Gene variations for immune and metabolic conditions have persisted in humans for more than 700,000 years


A new study explores 'balancing selection' by analyzing thousands of modern human genomes alongside ancient hominin groups, such as Neanderthal and Denisovan genomes. The research has 'implications for understanding human diversity, the origin of diseases, and biological trade-offs that may have shaped our evolution,' says evolutionary biologists.
Published Newly discovered form of salty ice could exist on surface of extraterrestrial moons



An international team has found two new crystal structures for salty ice, or solid hydrate made from water and sodium chloride. The newly discovered material's properties match those of the substance seen on the surface of icy moons, like Europa and Ganymede, and may offer clues to their icy oceans.
Published Space travel influences the way the brain works



Scientists have found how the human brain changes and adapts to weightlessness, after being in space for 6 months. Some of the changes turned out to be lasting -- even after 8 months back on Earth.
Published Tadpole playing around black hole



A peculiar cloud of gas, nicknamed the Tadpole due to its shape, appears to be revolving around a space devoid of any bright objects. This suggests that the Tadpole is orbiting a dark object, most likely a black hole 100,000 times more massive than the Sun. Future observations will help determine what is responsible for the shape and motion of the Tadpole.
Published Study quantifies global impact of electricity in dust storms on Mars


Mars is infamous for its intense dust storms, some of which kick up enough dust to be seen by telescopes on Earth. When dust particles rub against each other, as they do in Martian dust storms, they can become electrified. New research shows that one particularly efficient way to move chlorine from the ground to the air on Mars is by way of reactions set off by electrical discharge generated in dust activities.
Published Four classes of planetary systems


Astronomers have long been aware that planetary systems are not necessarily structured like our solar system. Researchers have now shown that there are in fact four types of planetary systems.
Published Upsurge in rocket launches could impact the ozone layer


Researchers have summarized the threats that future rocket launches would pose to Earth's protective ozone layer.
Published 2.9-million-year-old butchery site reopens case of who made first stone tools


Along the shores of Africa's Lake Victoria in Kenya roughly 2.9 million years ago, early human ancestors used some of the oldest stone tools ever found to butcher hippos and pound plant material, according to new research. The study presents what are likely to be the oldest examples of a hugely important stone-age innovation known to scientists as the Oldowan toolkit, as well as the oldest evidence of hominins consuming very large animals. Excavations at the site, named Nyayanga and located on the Homa Peninsula in western Kenya, also produced a pair of massive molars belonging to the human species' close evolutionary relative Paranthropus. The teeth are the oldest fossilized Paranthropus remains yet found, and their presence at a site loaded with stone tools raises intriguing questions about which human ancestor made those tools.
Published Hubble captures the start of a new spoke season at Saturn


Since their discovery by NASA's Voyager mission in the 1980s, temporary 'spoke' features across Saturn's rings have fascinated scientists, yet eluded explanation. They have been observed in the years preceding and following the planet's equinox, becoming more prominent as the date approaches. Saturn's upcoming autumnal equinox of the northern hemisphere on May 6, 2025, means that spoke season has come again. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope will be on the job studying the spokes, thanks to time dedicated to Saturn in the mission's ongoing Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program. Are the smudgy features related to Saturn's magnetic field and its interaction with the solar wind, as prevailing theory suggests? Confirmation could come in this spoke season, as scientists combine archival data from NASA's Cassini mission with new Hubble observations.
Published Space dust as Earth's sun shield


Dust launched from the moon's surface or from a space station positioned between Earth and the sun could reduce enough solar radiation to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Published Spanish lagoon used to better understand wet-to-dry transition of Mars


In the ongoing search for signs of life on Mars, a new study proposes focusing on 'time-resolved analogs' -- dynamic and similar Earth environments where changes can be analyzed over many years.
Published A new ring system discovered in our Solar System


Scientists have discovered a new ring system around a dwarf planet on the edge of the Solar System. The ring system orbits much further out than is typical for other ring systems, calling into question current theories of how ring systems are formed.
Published New models explain canyons on Pluto moon


In 2015, when NASA's New Horizons spacecraft encountered the Pluto-Charon system, scientists discovered interesting, geologically active objects instead of the inert icy orbs previously envisioned. Scientists have revisited the data to explore the source of cryovolcanic flows and an obvious belt of fractures on Pluto's large moon Charon. These new models suggest that when the moon's internal ocean froze, it may have formed the deep, elongated depressions along its girth but was less likely to lead to cryovolcanoes erupting with ice, water and other materials in its northern hemisphere.
Published Changing climate conditions likely facilitated early human migration to the Americas at key intervals, research suggests



Researchers have pinpointed two intervals when ice and ocean conditions would have been favorable to support early human migration from Asia to North America late in the last ice age, a new paper shows.
Published Prehistoric human migration in Southeast Asia driven by sea-level rise


An interdisciplinary team of scientistshas found that rapid sea-level rise drove early settlers in Southeast Asia to migrate during the prehistoric period, increasing the genetic diversity of the region today.
Published Remapping the superhighways travelled by the first Australians reveals a 10,000-year journey through the continent


New research has revealed that the process of 'peopling' the entire continent of Sahul -- the combined mega continent that joined Australia with New Guinea when sea levels were much lower than today -- took 10,000 years. Sophisticated models show the scale of the challenges faced by the ancestors of Indigenous people making their mass migration across the supercontinent more than 60,000 years ago. This pattern led to a rapid expansion both southward toward the Great Australian Bight, and northward from the Kimberley region to settle all parts of New Guinea and, later, the southwest and southeast of Australia.
Published Evolution of wheat spikes since the Neolithic revolution



Around 12,000 years ago, the Neolithic revolution radically changed the economy, diet and structure of the first human societies in the Fertile Crescent of the Near East. With the beginning of the cultivation of cereals -- such as wheat and barley -- and the domestication of animals, the first cities emerged in a new social context marked by a productive economy. Now, a study analyses the evolution of wheat spikes since its cultivation began by the inhabitants of ancient Mesopotamia -- the cradle of agriculture -- between the Tigris and the Euphrates.