Astronomy

Lunar Dust and Duct Tape

Data from 300,000 births reveal how essential biological measurements are altered by carrying and delivering a baby

A bioengineer highlights the potential of low-intensity ultrasound for multiple uses, from enhanced drug delivery to the brain to combating cancer

The outer planets remain somewhat of a mystery and Neptune is no exception. Voyager 2 has been the only probe that has visited the outermost planet but thankfully the James Webb Space Telescope is powerful enough to reveal it in all its glory. With its cameras regularly fixed on Neptune it has even picked up auroral activity in some of its latest images. The data was gathered back in 2023 using Webb’s Near-Infrared spectrograph which detected the tell tale sign of auroral activity, an emission line of trihydrogen cation. The element appears on other giant planets too when aurora are present.

Some researchers propose that countries should start to rack up a carbon debt once they exceed their carbon budget, obliging them to do more to draw down carbon dioxide, but the idea is unlikely to form part of international climate agreements

Some researchers propose that countries should start to rack up a carbon debt once they exceed their carbon budget, obliging them to do more to draw down carbon dioxide, but the idea is unlikely to form part of international climate agreements

By going after Social Security, Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Education, Donald Trump is signaling his belief that having “good genes” means not having a disability

The first image from a new Italian Earth observation satellite mission was published today: a high-resolution image of a strip of the Italian peninsular showing the city of Rome at a resolution of 2.66 metres. This is three times higher than the resolution currently available for systematic acquisition over Italy.

Evidence of alien worlds goes back farther than you think

NASA and Boeing are still working on the thruster issues that Starliner experienced on its first crewed flight last year, so the capsule's next liftoff is a ways off yet.

We’re taking you inside MIT.nano, a clean laboratory facility that is critical to nanoscale research, from microelectronics to medical nanotechnology.

As fires burned in Los Angeles this year, newer toxin monitors found contaminants that aren’t measured by standard methods. Now scientists and officials are pushing for better detection

Image: The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission captures the striking landscape surrounding the Waza National Park in Cameroon.

Can the cosmic rays bombarding the lunar surface be used to identify subsurface water ice deposits? This is what a recent study and iposter presented at the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) hopes to address as a team of researchers developed a novel method called the Cosmic Ray Lunar Sounder (CoRaLS) capable of detecting subsurface lunar water ice deposits that are elusive to current radar systems. This study has the potential to help expand the human presence on the Moon since water ice deposits are currently being focused on the permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) of the Moon for the upcoming Artemis missions.

When researchers asked people to work on a computer with their phones 1.5 metres away, the amount of time they spent on their phone went down – but they just scrolled social media on their laptop instead

When researchers asked people to work on a computer with their phones 1.5 metres away, the amount of time they spent on their phone went down – but they just scrolled social media on their laptop instead

What can Venus-like exoplanets, also known as exoVenuses, teach us about our own solar system and potentially finding life beyond Earth, and how can the planned Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) provide these insights? This is what a recent study presented at the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) hopes to address as a team of scientists discussed the difficulties of studying exoVenuses and how HWO can help alleviate these challenges by directly imaging them. This study has the potential to help astronomers develop advanced methods for better identifying and understanding potentially life-harboring exoplanets throughout the cosmos.

Way back in 2006, the Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) took an infrared look at a strange object called Herbig-Haro 49/50. It's a jet flowing away from a hot young star. The Spitzer image showed a fuzzy blob at the end of the jet. Was it part of the jet, or something more distant? Recently, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) focused its infrared eye on the same object and sent home a fantastic snapshot of this cosmic tornado. It also answered the question about the blob: it turns out to be a distant galaxy, itself bursting with hot young stars.

The U.S. Space Force has certified ULA's new Vulcan Centaur rocket to launch national security missions, doubling the number of providers for such flights.

Mars is cold and dry, but long ago, it was warmer and wetter. Today, its geology is driven by wind and sand, but it was also shaped by water and maybe even glaciers. Glacial activity on Mars was long assumed to be dry, with glaciers frozen right to their beds, scouring the landscape of the Red Planet. But now, researchers think they've found evidence of subglacial melting, where a layer of water forms under the glacier, helping to form various features on Mars.