NASA’s MOXIE creates breathable air on Mars The Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover, known as MOXIE, has successfully extracted about 5 grams of breathable oxygen from the atmosphere of Mars, something that could pave the way for future crewed missions to the Red Planet. Meanwhile, the Ingenuity took its second […]
There was no shortage of T. rexes in the Cretaceous Scientists estimate there may have been about 2.5 billion Tyrannosaurus rexes that lived into maturity during the Cretaceous, dominating the landscape for more than 2 million years. The mathematical model researchers used to reach their estimate is described in Science. Gizmodo Sagittarius A* gives up […]
Early Humans Were Walking Around With Ape-Like Brains The brain structure of early humans that lived about 1.8 million years ago were similar to the brains of apes, according to an examination of endocasts of skulls. The casts of skulls found in Georgia more closely resembled those of apes than they did other hominin skulls […]
Artefacts hint at complex culture 105K years ago Archaeologists have found a cache of artefacts in the Kalahari Desert including a set of crystals that appeared to have been part of a collection with no practical purpose, suggesting the beginnings of a complex culture. Other artefacts included items that may have been used for water […]
Trio of atomic clocks compared Light frequencies of three different atomic clocks have been compared, moving physicists a step closer to making the measurement of a unit of time — the second — more precise. One clock is made of ytterbium atoms, another of strontium atoms and the last is made of just one aluminum […]
Oumuamua may be hunk of nitrogen-rich planet The interstellar object Oumuamua is likely a piece of a planet rich in nitrogen that broke off about 500 million years ago and is shaped more like a cookie than a cigar. Researchers used computer models focusing on Oumuamua’s shape, size and shininess to determine the object’s possible […]
Tiny crystals inside white dwarfs may spark supernovas Tiny crystals made from uranium atoms that congregate in the middle of white dwarf stars as they age may spark Type 1a supernovas. Researchers say this could be the case in white dwarfs that have lower mass and aren’t part of a binary star pair, after observing […]
Massive space storm over the North Pole A huge storm in space rained electrons on Earth’s atmosphere above the North Pole in an event scientists are calling a space hurricane. A global team of researchers spotted the space storm while reviewing satellite data from the last six years. NBC Nearby exoplanet may help scientists study […]
Nightside of Venus seen in new Parker Solar Probe image NASA has shared a rare image of the nightside of Venus taken by the Parker Solar Probe as it swung by the planet for a gravity boost on its way to study the sun. The image, which shows a glow around Venus, was taken by […]
New observations of black hole reveal surprises Astronomers have recalculated the mass of the Cygnus X-1 black hole, the first black hole ever found, and they say it’s about one-and-a-half times more massive than once thought, detailing their findings in Science. Using observations by the Very Long Baseline Array, researchers say the Cygnus X-1 system […]