Science

The oldest green algae preserved in three dimensions may hint that plants originated earlier than previously believed. The fossils are older than 541 million years, putting them in the late Ediacaran period (635 million to 541 million years ago). This was at the cusp of the Cambrian period (541 million to 485.4 million years ago) …

Plants evolved even earlier than we thought, exquisite 3D fossils suggest Read More »

Designers, architects, engineers, scientists, and organizations are working together to design homes for people to live on Mars. Many prototypes that have recently come up are not just Mars-ready, they are ready for Earth as well. A recent Martian house created by the UK designers Ella Good and Nicki Kent exhibits its functionality on Earth …

Martian Home Designs Promote Self-Sufficiency on Earth – TechAcute Read More »

Possible orbits of a planet in an hierarchic triple star system. Note that m1, m2, and m3 do not necessarily agree astro-ph.SR We present a catalog (status July 1, 2022) of triple and higher order systems identified containing exoplanets based on data from the literature, including various analyzes. We explore statistical properties of the systems …

An Early Catalog of Planet Hosting Multiple Star Systems of Order Three and Higher Read More »

Chinese Academy of Sciences A render of the Qitai radio Telescope. China started to build the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope this week in its northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The Qitai radio Telescope (QTT), located in Qitai County in Xinjiang, will have a steerable dish with a diameter of 110 meters – 10 …

China starts building world’s largest steerable telescope Read More »

Way back in 1979, astronomers spotted two nearly identical quasars that seemed close to each other in the sky. These so-called “Twin Quasars” are actually separate images of the same object. Even more intriguing: the light paths that created each image traveled through different parts of the cluster. One path took a little longer than …

Gravity Really Tangled up the Light From a Distant Quasar Read More »

With a surface hot enough to melt lead, crushing atmospheric pressure and clouds of sulfuric acid, Venus might not sound like the most enticing destination for human exploration. But a group of experts are advocating that our other nearest neighbor, rather than Mars, should be the initial target for a crewed mission to another planet. …

Target Venus not Mars for first crewed mission to another planet, experts say | Venus Read More »

Photosynthesis is probably the most important chemical reaction for life on Earth. It is the process plants use to transform sunlight into energy it can use. Through it, plants can produce carbohydrates they can use (and we can eat when we harvest plants), generating oxygen as a by-product. Photosynthesis is why Earth’s atmosphere is about …

Life can Thrive Around Even the Smallest Stars Read More »

Japan’s Hayabusa-2 probe collected rocks and dust from the asteroid Ryugu and returned that sample to Earth. Specks of dust retrieved by a Japanese space probe from an asteroid some 300 million kilometers from Earth have revealed a surprising component: a drop of water, scientists said Friday. The discovery offers new support for the theory …

Water in asteroid dust offers clues to life on Earth Read More »

Details of the orbits of 450 candidate exoplanet targets of the European Space Agency’s Ariel space mission have been presented this week at the Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC) 2022, and submitted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. The study, coordinated by the ExoClock (www.exoclock.space) project, has been co-authored by 217 professional and amateur …

ExoClock Counts Down Ariel Exoplanet Targets – Eurasia Review Read More »