Mi weekly selection #381
Green glow detected in Mars atmosphere for first time
A green glow similar to the one around Earth, caused by sunlight and oxygen mixing in the upper atmosphere, has been detected for the first time around Mars. The orientation of the MArs Discovery (NOMAD) instrument was manipulated to look across the Martian atmosphere rather than straight down on it, leading to the discovery.
Neanderthal tissue from human cells grown in lab
Human cells with Neanderthal DNA have been used to grow tissue in a lab as a proof of concept. “By selecting cell lines with Neanderthal DNA of interest one can test for effects that can be linked to that Neanderthal DNA, because it can be associated with the particular cell line,” said J. Gray Camp, the study’s senior author.
Plasma jets from black holes shift shapes
High-energy jets of plasma coming from supermassive black holes are narrow where they start, blossoming out with a flare, then revert to cone-shaped. “From studying this region where the geometric transition happens, we can understand the black hole better,” says study author Yuri Kovalev.
Underwater rivers encircle Australian coast
A massive network of underwater rivers has been detected around the coast of Australia. The phenomenon is called Dense Shelf Water Cascades and was tracked using data collected by Integrated Marine Observing System submersibles over several years.
Patchy spots on Titan may be dry lake beds
Unusual patches seen on Saturn’s moon Titan are most likely dried up beds that once held hydrocarbon lakes or seas, a study in Nature Communications suggests. Researchers reexamined data collected by the Cassini spacecraft to figure out what the bright spots in the southern tropics region of the moon might be.