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Most of Titan’s surface is oddly flat and smooth, and it may be because it is coated by as much as a metre of fluffy organic material that snowed down from the icy moon’s thick atmosphere

Researchers have developed a way to flip time to move backward in a quantum system. This level of control could lead to bizarre real-world applications

Astronomers have located the edge of the Milky Way’s star-forming disk for the first time, showing that star formation is focused within 40,000 light-years of our galactic center.

The post Astronomers Find the Edge of the Milky Way appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Some seemingly simple sequences of multiplication and addition grow so quickly that they question the very foundations of mathematics. In doing so, they demand a whole new level of logic

Some seemingly simple sequences of multiplication and addition grow so quickly that they question the very foundations of mathematics. In doing so, they demand a whole new level of logic

Some seemingly simple sequences of multiplication and addition grow so quickly that they question the very foundations of mathematics. In doing so, they demand a whole new level of logic

Some seemingly simple sequences of multiplication and addition grow so quickly that they question the very foundations of mathematics. In doing so, they demand a whole new level of logic

More than 100 NASA astronauts have signed on to a nonpartisan effort to promote “the principles that have propelled our nation for 250 years”

New research examines 10 different types of global technological civilizations, how they govern themselves, how they use resources, and other factors, to determine which types may endure and which may be doomed to collapse. Simulations show that resource use plays the key role. The simulations also show which types of detectable technosignatures each may generate.

The Hubble Space Telescope turns 36 this year. And to celebrate, it released an incredible new image of the Trifid Nebula

This image that NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured of the Crab Nebula, paired with its past observations and those of other telescopes, allows astronomers to study how the supernova remnant is expanding and evolving over time.

This image that NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured of the Crab Nebula, paired with its past observations and those of other telescopes, allows astronomers to study how the supernova remnant is expanding and evolving over time.NASA, ESA, STScI, William Blair (JHU); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

This observation from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, released on March 23, 2026, gives an unparalleled, detailed look at the aftermath of a supernova and how it has evolved over the telescope’s long lifetime.

Hubble captured the nebula’s intricate filamentary structure, as well as the considerable outward movement of those filaments over 25 years, at a pace of 3.4 million miles per hour.

Learn more about the Crab Nebula.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, William Blair (JHU); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover took this selfie on Oct. 25, 2020, after drilling a rock sample from a spot nicknamed “Mary Anning.” After years of extensive analysis, the sample has revealed the greatest diversity of organic molecules ever found on Mars.NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

After years of lab work, the results are in: A rock that NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover drilled and analyzed in 2020 includes the most diverse collection of organic molecules ever found on the Red Planet. Of the 21 carbon-containing molecules identified in the sample, seven of them were detected for the first time on Mars.

Scientists have no way of knowing whether these organic molecules were created by biologic or geologic processes — either path is possible — but their discovery renewed confirmation that ancient Mars had the right chemistry to support life. What’s more, the molecules join a growing list of compounds known to be preserved in rocks even after billions of years of exposure on Mars to radiation, which can break down these molecules over time.

The findings are detailed in a new paper published Tuesday in Nature Communications.

Curiosity’s Mastcam captured this mosaic on Feb. 3, 2019, of a region on Mount Sharp with lots of clay-bearing rocks that formed when lakes and streams were present billions of years ago. The “Mary Anning 3” sample was found in this clay-enriched region.NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

The rock sample, nicknamed “Mary Anning 3” after an English fossil collector and paleontologist, was collected on a part of Mount Sharp covered by lakes and streams billions of years ago. This oasis surged and dried up multiple times in the planet’s ancient past, eventually enriching the area with clay minerals, which are especially good at preserving organic compounds — carbon-containing molecules that are the building blocks of life and are found throughout the solar system.

Among the newly identified molecules is a nitrogen heterocycle, a ring of carbon atoms that includes nitrogen. This kind of molecular structure is considered a predecessor to RNA and DNA, two nucleic acids that are key to genetic information.

“That detection is pretty profound because these structures can be chemical precursors to more complex nitrogen-bearing molecules,” said the paper’s lead author, Amy Williams of the University of Florida in Gainesville. “Nitrogen heterorcycles have never been found before on the Martian surface or confirmed in Martian meteorites.”

This is an annotated close-up of three holes NASA’s Curiosity drilled into Martian rock at a location nicknamed “Mary Anning” in October 2020. The sample where the rover found a diverse number of organic molecules came from “Mary Anning 3.” (A nearby spot nicknamed “Mary Anning 2” went unused.) NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Another exciting discovery was benzothiophene, a carbon- and sulfur-bearing molecule that’s been found in many meteorites. These meteorites, along with the organic molecules within them, are thought by some scientists to have seeded prebiotic chemistry across the early solar system.

Martian chemistry

The new paper complements last year’s finding of the largest organic molecules ever discovered on Mars: long-chain hydrocarbons, including decane, undecane, and dodecane.

“This is Curiosity and our team at their best. It took dozens of scientists and engineers to locate this site, drill the sample, and make these discoveries with our awesome robot,” said the mission’s project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “This collection of organic molecules once again increases the prospect that Mars offered a home for life in the ancient past.”

Both sets of findings were made with a sophisticated minilab called Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM), located in Curiosity’s belly. A drill on the end of the rover’s robotic arm pulverizes a carefully selected rock sample into powder and then trickles it into SAM, where a high-temperature oven heats the material, releasing gases that instruments in the lab analyze to reveal the rock’s composition.

In addition, SAM can perform “wet chemistry,” dropping samples into a small cup of solvent. The resulting reactions can break apart larger molecules that would be difficult to detect and identify otherwise. While the instrument has several such cups, only two contain tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH), a powerful solution reserved for the highest-value samples. The Mary Anning 3 sample was the first to be exposed to TMAH.

To verify TMAH’s reactions with otherworldly materials, the paper’s authors also tested the technique on Earth with a piece of the Murchison meteorite, one of the most studied meteorites of all time. More than 4 billion years old, Murchison contains organic molecules that were seeded throughout the early solar system. A Murchison sample exposed to TMAH was found to break much larger molecules into some of the ones seen in Mary Anning 3, including benzothiophene. That result verifies that the Martian molecules found in Mary Anning 3 could have been generated from the breakdown of even more complex compounds relevant to life.

Curiosity recently used its second and final TMAH cup while exploring weblike boxwork ridges, which were formed by ancient groundwater. The mission team will be analyzing those results for a future peer-reviewed paper.

Trailblazing for future missions

Built by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, SAM is based on larger, commercial-grade lab instruments. Getting such complex equipment into the rover required engineers to dramatically shrink it down and develop a way for it to run on less power. Scientists had to learn how to heat up SAM’s oven more slowly over longer periods in order to conduct some of these experiments.

“It was a feat just figuring out how to conduct this kind of chemistry for the first time on Mars,” said Charles Malespin, the instrument’s principal investigator at NASA Goddard and a study coauthor. “But now that we’ve had some practice, we’re prepared to run similar experiments on future missions.”

In fact, NASA Goddard has provided several components, including the mass spectrometer, for a next-generation version of SAM, called the Mars Organic Molecular Analyzer, for ESA’s (European Space Agency) Rosalind Franklin Mars rover. A similar instrument, the Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer, will explore Saturn’s moon Titan on NASA’s Dragonfly rotorcraft. Both instruments will be able to perform wet chemistry with the TMAH solvent.

More about Curiosity

Curiosity was built by JPL, which is managed by Caltech in Pasadena, California. JPL leads the mission on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington as part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program portfolio.

To learn more about Curiosity, visit:

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/msl-curiosity

News Media Contacts
Andrew Good
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-2433
andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov

Karen Fox / Alana Johnson
NASA Headquarters, Washington
240-285-5155 / 202-672-4780
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov

2026-024

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The ongoing conflict around the Strait of Hormuz has become a situation in game theory known as a war of attrition. The maths behind it can help explain what's going on, says Petros Sekeris

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The Progress 94 cargo spacecraft, loaded with nearly three tons of food, fuel, and supplies, nears the International Space Station ahead of its docking on March 24, 2026. Credit: NASA

NASA will provide live coverage of the launch and docking of a Roscosmos cargo spacecraft carrying about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies for the crew aboard the International Space Station.

The unpiloted Progress 95 resupply spacecraft is scheduled to launch at 6:21 p.m. EDT on Saturday, April 25 (3:21 a.m. Baikonur time on Sunday, April 26), on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Watch NASA’s live coverage beginning at 6 p.m., on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of online platforms, including social media.

After a two-day trip to the space station, Progress will dock autonomously to the aft port of the Zvezda module at 8 p.m., Monday, April 27. NASA’s live rendezvous and docking coverage will begin at 7:15 p.m., on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel.

The Progress 95 spacecraft will remain docked to the orbiting laboratory for about seven months before departing for a re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere to dispose of trash loaded by the crew. Prior to this spacecraft’s arrival, Progress 93 undocked from the space station on April 20, re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and harmlessly burned up over the Pacific Ocean.

For more than 25 years, people have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and making research breakthroughs that aren’t possible on Earth. The space station helps NASA understand and overcome the challenges of human spaceflight, expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit, and build on the foundation for long-duration missions to the Moon, as part of the Artemis program, and to Mars.

Learn more about the International Space Station, its research, and crew, at:

https://www.nasa.gov/station

-end-

Joshua Finch
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov

Sandra Jones
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov

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Details Last Updated Apr 21, 2026 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms

• International Space Station (ISS)
• Humans in Space
• ISS Research
• Space Operations Mission Directorate

This announcement from the FBI came after President Donald Trump highlighted the recent deaths of several scientists and government workers who may have had access to sensitive information

So far, America has remained ahead in the new space race. But its biggest rival is making continual steps to catch up. China announced another step in that direction with the unveiling of its first ever reusable five-meter-wide composite propulsion module, announced in a press release on April 11th.

A comprehensive study found differences in numerous health conditions in firstborn children versus those born second