Science

KEY POINTS Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune each emit more energy than they receive from the Sun, meaning they have comparatively warm interiors. NASA’s Uranus flyby with Voyager 2 in 1986 found the planet colder than expected, which challenged ideas of how planets formed and evolved. However, with advanced computer modeling and a new look at old data, scientists think the …

Soil excavated from the moon could be used to produce oxygen and methane, which could be used by lunar settlers for breathing and for rocket fuel. This is the conclusion of a team of scientists from China who have found a one-step method of doing all this. Whether it is economically viable, however, is up for debate. But the Chinese …

In April, when Yellowstone National Park geologists made their first visit this year to the Norris Geyser Basin, they encountered a new feature they hadn’t seen before. They were checking the area’s temperature logging stations, a routine maintenance job – but since their last visit, something was different. Where previously there had been a rather featureless patch of ground at …

A baby planet is shrinking from the size of Jupiter with a thick atmosphere to a small, barren world, according to a new study from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. This transformation is happening as the host star unleashes a barrage of X-rays that is tearing the young planet’s atmosphere away at an enormous rate. The planet, named TOI 1227 b, …

It takes skill and patience to design a tiny bespoke backpack and fit it onto an Australian bearded dragon. But Kristoffer Wild regularly found himself doing just that during his PhD at the Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary in Queensland. “I became a tailor during my PhD,” the University of Melbourne ecologist joked. He would measure the neck and chest of each …

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Why didn’t the universe annihilate itself moments after the big bang? A new finding at Cern on the French-Swiss border brings us closer to answering this fundamental question about why matter dominates over its opposite – antimatter. Much of what we see in everyday life is made up of matter. But antimatter exists in much smaller quantities. Matter and antimatter …

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen have found decades-old aerial photos that are helping them better understand the collapse of Antarctic ice shelves. The photos offer an unparalleled dataset that could also improve our ability to predict sea level rise and influence how we approach climate action. On November 28, 1966, an American flight crossed the Antarctic Peninsula south of …

China’s Tianwen 2 probe has captured striking pictures of home as it heads out to a near-Earth asteroid to collect samples. Tianwen 2 launched from Xichang on a Long March 3B rocket on May 28 and is en route to the enigmatic asteroid Kamo’oalewa. But shortly after departure, the spacecraft took the opportunity to test out its cameras. The China …

Georgina Rannard Climate and science correspondent Reporting fromBritish Antarctic Survey, Cambridge PNRA/IPEV The end of the ice cores are a 1.5 million year or even older time capsule An ice core that may be older than 1.5 million years has arrived in the UK where scientists will melt it to unlock vital information about Earth’s climate. The glassy cylinder is …