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In a new study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, astronomers investigated the effects the activity of the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri might have on the atmosphere of one of its planets, Proxima c. An artist’s impression of the Proxima Centauri system. Image credit: Lorenzo Santinelli. Proxima Centauri, the smallest member of the Alpha Centauri system, is an M5.5-type star located…

The active Martian water cycle, i.e., the presence of shallow water and soluble perchlorate salts in the Martian soil, enables the production of hydrogen fuel and life-support oxygen on Mars through electrolysis of perchlorate brines. A team of scientists at Washington University in St. Louis has demonstrated an approach to produce ultrapure hydrogen and oxygen from liquid Martian brines at minus…

A team of professional and amateur archaeologists from the Temple Mount Sifting Project has found a tiny gold bead from the First Temple period in Jerusalem, Israel. The 3,000-year-old gold bead found in Jerusalem, Israel. Image credit: Temple Mount Sifting Project. “Pieces of gold jewelry are rarely found among archaeological artifacts from the First Temple period,” said Dr. Amir Golani, an…

A giant sauropod dinosaur that lived 85.2 million years ago (Cretaceous period) in what is now Brazil had an aggressive case of osteomyelitis in its leg and soft-bodied parasitical microorganisms in its vascular canals. Life reconstruction of the titanosaur from the Upper Cretaceous Adamantina Formation in São Paulo backcountry, southeastern Brazil. The animal was reconstructed based on associated…

A team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Smithsonian Institution has discovered a dense layer of biogenic high-magnesium calcite in the exoskeletons of major workers of the leaf-cutter ant Acromyrmex echinatior; they’ve also found that this armor accumulates rapidly as ant workers mature and that the biomineral layer is continuously distributed, covering nearly the…

Using the polarization data from ESA’s Planck satellite, a mission that have studied the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the oldest light in the Universe, a duo of astrophysicists has uncovered intriguing signs of new physics beyond the Standard Model of elementary particles and fields. As the CMB light (left image) travels through the Universe until observed on Earth (right image), the direction…

Critical parts of a cell’s energy production machinery, the mitochondria, can be made dysfunctional due to changes in gravity, radiation exposure and other factors, according to new research. Spaceflight is known to impose changes on human physiology with unknown molecular etiologies. To reveal these causes, da Silveira et al. used a multi-omics, systems biology analytical approach using biomedical…

A gene called GATA6 (GATA binding protein 6) regulates aging of human mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs), according to new research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. When mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) age, the transcription factor GATA6 is increasingly produced in the cell to induce aging response; by transcription factor-based cellular reprogramming, aged MSCs are rejuvenated…

A team of researchers in Europe has identified a new high-pressure mineral in a lunar meteorite called Oued Awlitis 001. Fragments of Oued Awlitis 001. Image credit: Ludovic Ferrière, NHM Vienna. Oued Awlitis 001 is a feldspatic lunar meteorite that was found in 2014 in Western Sahara, Africa. The main fragment of the space rock, originally 382 g, was found on January 15, 2014 by a group of eight…

The active Martian water cycle, i.e., the presence of shallow water and soluble perchlorate salts in the Martian soil, enables the production of hydrogen fuel and life-support oxygen on Mars through electrolysis of perchlorate brines. A team of scientists at Washington University in St. Louis has demonstrated an approach to produce ultrapure hydrogen and oxygen from liquid Martian brines at minus…