Clay minerals suggest a warm, wet past for Mars
Researchers studied clay deposits on Mars using tools aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and found evidence for a warm and humid past…
Category: Big Questions
Characterizing galaxies at “cosmic noon”
Astronomers studied 3 galaxies that formed 2 to 3 billion years after the Big Bang to calculate how much gas, stars, and dark matter they…
Does the Arctic Ocean regulate or amplify global warming?
Researchers found that interactions between methane gas and seawater affected greenhouse gas emissions from the Arctic Ocean during a past…
Upcycling polystyrene with sunlight and sulfur
Researchers in China developed a rapid, solar-driven process that transforms waste polystyrene and excess sulfur into chemicals used in…
Magma rapidly rises to Earth’s surface as Africa splits in two
Researchers analyzed timescales preserved in crystal growth zones and found that magma beneath Ethiopia rises dozens of miles to the surface…
Searching for planets in a galaxy far away
Researchers surveyed over 20,000 stars thought to come from a nearby galaxy and found that no more than 1% harbored close-orbiting,…
Why the 2023 El Niño broke records
Researchers found that the 2023 El Niño event was fueled primarily by heat stored in the ocean rather than in Pacific winds.
What makes ‘chemically peculiar stars’ peculiar?
Scientists used a network of satellites to measure the rotational characteristics of 85 stars previously thought to have unique chemistries.
Biofertilizers change plants’ natural microbes
Scientists tested how mixtures of plant-growth-promoting bacteria affect the microbial communities of different sunflower varieties for use…
Ants struggle to protect host plants under rising temperatures
Scientists found that ants under heat stress were less active, which left their host acacia plants vulnerable to herbivores and other…