Science

Rogue planetary-mass objects, also known as free-floating planets (FFPs) drift through space alone, unbound to any other objects. They’re loosely defined as bodies with masses between stars and planets. There could be billions, even trillions of them, in the Milky Way. Their origins are unclear, but new research says they’re born in young star clusters. Some free-floating planets (FFPs) form the same way stars form by collapsing inside a cloud. The International Astronomical Union calls them sub-brown dwarfs. But that can’t account for all FFPs, or isolated planetary-mass objects (iPMOs) as they’re sometimes called. New research in Science Advances shows how FFPs form in young star clusters where circumstellar disks interact with one another. “This discovery partly reshapes how we view cosmic diversity.” Lucio Mayer, University of Zurich The research is titled “ Formation of free-floating planetary mass objects via circumstellar disk encounters. ” Zhihau Fu from the Departmen...

The effects of Climate Change on Earth’s living systems have led to a shift in biological studies, with attention now being focused on the boundaries within which life can survive. Studying life forms that can thrive in extreme environments (extremophiles) is also fundamental to predicting if humans can live and work in space for extended periods. Last, but not least, these studies help inform astrobiological studies, allowing scientists to predict where (and in what form) life could exist in the Universe. In a recent study , a team of Italian researchers used brine shrimp ( Artemia franciscana ) in the earliest stage of development (nauplii) and subjected them to Mars-like pressure conditions. Their results indicate that while the nauplii experienced physiological changes, their development remained largely unchanged. This not only demonstrates that extremophiles show great adaptability and can survive in Mars-like conditions. It also indicates that similar life forms could be found ...

Our Solar System is in motion and cruises at about 200 kilometres per second relative to the center of the Milky Way. During its long journey, it has passed through different parts of the galaxy. Research shows that the Solar System passed through the Orion star-forming complex about 14 million years ago. The Orion star-forming complex, also known as the Orion molecular cloud complex , is part of a larger structure called the Radcliffe Wave (RW). The RW was discovered very recently, in 2020 . It’s a large, coherent structure that also moves through the galaxy. It’s a wave-like structure of gas and dust that holds many star-forming regions, including the well-known Orion complex and the Perseus and Taurus molecular clouds. It’s almost 9000 light-years long and is within the Milky Way’s Orion arm. The environment in the RW and the Orion complex is more dense, and when the Solar System passed through it, the greater density compressed the Sun’s heliosphere. This allowed more interstell...

By Susanne Rust and Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times When the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus made its first appearance at a U.S. poultry farm in February 2022, roughly 29,000 turkeys at an Indiana facility were sacrificed in an attempt to avert a larger outbreak. Related Articles National News | Texas lottery drawings that paid out big jackpots are the focus of widening investigations National News | Woman with incendiary devices arrested following vandalism at Tesla dealership in Colorado National News | Gene Hackman, wife and their dog found dead in their New Mexico home, authorities say National News | Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman, wife and dog found dead in their New Mexico home National News | Today in History: February 27, the German Reichstag fire It didn’t work. Three years later, highly pathogenic avian influenza has spread to all 50 states. The number of commercial birds that have died or been killed exceeds 166 million and the price of eggs is at an a...

Late is better than never for the ‘Blaze Star’ T Coronae Borealis . It was on track to be the top astronomical event for 2024 … and here we are in 2025 , still waiting. You might remember around this time last year, when a notice went out that T Coronae Borealis (‘T CrB’) might brighten into naked eye visibility . Well, the bad news is, the ‘Flare Star’ is officially late to the celestial sky show… but the good news is, recent research definitely shows us that something is definitely afoot. The outburst occurs once every 80 years. First noticed by astronomer John Birmingham in 1866, T Coronae Borealis last brightened in February 1946 . That’s 80 years ago, this month. Located about 2,000 light-years distant on the Hercules/Corona Borealis/Serpens Caput constellation junction border, the star spends most of its time below +10 th magnitude. Typically during outburst, the star flares and tops out at +2 nd magnitude, rivaling the lucida of its host constellation, Alpha Coronae Borea...

A planet’s history is told in its ancient rock. Earth’s oldest rocks are in the Canadian Shield, Australia’s Jack Hill, the Greenstone Belts in Greenland, and a handful of other locations. These rocks hold powerful clues to our planet’s history. On Mars, the same holds true. That’s why NASA’s Perseverance rover is revisiting some of them. Perseverance is exploring Jezero Crater, an ancient paleolake. Its thick layer of sediments may contain evidence of ancient life on Mars. Every crater has a rim, and Perseverance’s current campaign involves studying the rim. The crater rim is different than the sediments. It’s made of ancient rock uplifted and exposed on the surface by the ancient impact that created Jezero. On Earth, geologists regularly study rock that has made itself easy to examine by coming up from the deeper crust and presenting itself. The same thing happens on Mars, though impacts do the lifting, not plate tectonics. Perseverance is studying the rocks on the crater rim in ...

Data from the Chinese rover Zhurong is adding to the pile of evidence for oceans on ancient Mars. For a year, this little craft traveled over nearly two kilometers of the Martian surface and made radar scans of buried natural structures that look like ocean shorelines. Zhurong’s ground-penetrating radar (GPR) looked under the surface to a depth of 80 meters. There, the radar instrument found thick layers of material similar to beach deposits on Earth. The best way to create such formations is by wave action stirring up and depositing sediments along the shore of an ocean. If these findings stand, they’ll provide a deeper look into Mars’s ancient warm, wet past, and the existence of long-gone seas. Map of Utopia Planitia showing the landing site of the Zhurong rover and four proposed ancient shorelines. The landing site is about 280 kilometers north of and some 500 meters lower in elevation than the northern hypothesized shorelines. In its traverse, Zhurong traveled south from its ...

By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Scientists have finally given the all-clear to Earth from a  newly discovered asteroid . Related Articles Science | Ex-Stanford research coordinator convicted of tampering with cancer study database Science | Does lip balm help chapped lips? Here’s what to know Science | Lawsuit alleges ‘conspiracy’ in Point Reyes farmland deal Science | Safeguards for eggs amid bird flu Science | With avian flu flying around, is it safe to enjoy eggs? After two months of observations, scientists have almost fully ruled out any threat from  the asteroid 2024 YR4,  NASA and the European Space Agency said Tuesday. At one point, the odds of a strike in 2032 were as high as about 3% and topped the world’s asteroid-risk lists. ESA has since lowered the odds to 0.001%. NASA had it down to 0.0027% — meaning the asteroid will safely pass Earth in 2032 and there’s no threat of impact for the next century. Paul...