Tag Archives: Earth

Beneath the Earth’s surface lies a vast and mysterious ecosystem, home to a staggering number of microorganisms, many of which are newly discovered. A recent study, published by the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), revealed that nearly 70% of all life on Earth exists underground, challenging our understanding of where life can thrive. This hidden world, as uncovered by researchers, opens …

Asteroid Ryugu is proving to be one of the most scientifically valuable time capsules in the solar system. A recent study of microscopic grains collected from Ryugu by Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft found the tiny space rock harbors minerals that formed long before Earth itself — minerals that have been preserved in pristine condition for billions of years. Using cutting-edge X-ray …

QUICK FACTS Where is it? Lake Van, Turkey [38.91395038, 43.12483070] What’s in the photo? Rare plumes of mostly inorganic matter swirling in an alkaline lake Who took the photo? NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, on board the International Space Station When was it taken? Sept. 12, 2016 This stunning astronaut photo shows a series of milky swirls that appeared in the …

A new analysis argues that the Milky Way’s central black hole, Sagittarius A*, spins at maximum velocity with its axis aimed almost directly at Earth. The result emerges from a machine learning read of the Event Horizon Telescope data that pulls out subtle signals from ordinary methods left on the table. Those signals sit on top of a …

Neutrinos are exceedingly common in the Universe, with billions of them zipping around us throughout the day from a variety of sources. Due to their extremely low mass and no electric charge they barely ever interact with other particles, making these so-called ‘ghost particles’ very hard to detect. That said, when they do interact the result is rather spectacular as …

The Permian period, spanning from 299 to 252 million years ago, marked a crucial era in Earth’s history. The end of this period witnessed the most devastating mass extinction, known as the Great Dying, which wiped out nearly 70% of land-dwelling species and a much larger proportion of marine life. Recent findings in southern Africa have started to illuminate the …

A nearby star has a new heavyweight companion, and it swings around on a path that is anything but neat. The world, labeled GJ 2126 b, traces a stretched orbit that pushes close to its star, then races far away again. In new observations, researchers identified a giant world 124 light years away that circles its star every 272.7 days …

A team using MeerKAT in South Africa spotted a new repeating source of short, sharp radio pulses and, within days, tracked it through an intense outburst that produced hundreds of events across multiple frequency bands. These bursts belong to a class known as fast radio burst (FRB) events, which last only milliseconds and come from far beyond our galaxy, with …

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, which is headed toward a big and bizarre metal asteroid, has delivered a stunning perspective of our home planet from deep space. Psyche launched atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in October 2023 with the objective of visiting the metallic asteroid 16 Psyche, which is believed to be the exposed core of a demolished planetesimal, or tiny …

IN A NUTSHELL 🌍 Olivine plays a crucial role in transporting water deep into Earth’s mantle. 🔍 Recent research reveals that infrared transparency of olivine facilitates rapid heating of subducting slabs. 💧 Only oceanic plates older than 60 million years can carry water to significant depths. 📊 The study has significant implications for understanding tectonic processes and seismic activity. Recent …