NASA hopes James Webb Space Telescope will unlock secrets of ‘super-Earths’ and hot rocky worlds

Some of the first James Webb Space Telescope investigations will focus on a variety of planet very different from what’s found in our cosmic neighborhood. Once Webb finishes its six-month commissioning period around June, it is scheduled to start a series of studies in exoplanets. One such project will study 11 “super-Earths,” which are worlds … Read more

Covid-19 news: Results from world’s first human challenge trial

By Michael Le Page, Clare Wilson, Jessica Hamzelou, Sam Wong, Graham Lawton, Adam Vaughan, Conrad Quilty-Harper, Jason Arunn Murugesu, Layal Liverpool and Alex Wilkins A student takes a lateral flow test in London PA Images / Alamy Latest coronavirus news as of 12.30pm on 2 February Study that infected young adults with the coronavirus finds … Read more

5,000 possible alien worlds in less than 4 years for NASA planet-hunting mission

It’s been a busy four years for NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the scientists who seek planets in its data. The mission just hit a major discovery milestone, passing 5,000 of what the team calls TESS Objects of Interest, or TOIs, which include exoplanet candidates and other intriguing signals. Astronomers select objects from … Read more

Bioengineers Have Modeled The Workings of The World’s Most Basic Synthetic Life Form

Life is complicated. Even the smallest cells contain a mind-blowing assortment of chemical reactions that allow them to thrive in a chaotic landscape. If we want to know where to draw the line between life and bubbles of stale old organic soup, it helps to strip away the non-essential extras to expose the core components, … Read more

‘Star Trek: Picard’ new trailer, ‘Discovery’ renewed, plus ‘Strange New Worlds’ premiere date

In a single “Star Trek“-tastic announcement, streaming service Paramount Plus provided updates on every incarnation of sci-fi’s favorite franchise, including a new trailer for “Star Trek: Picard” Season 2. The second season of “Picard” will premiere on Thursday, March 3 (moved from Feb. 17) for 10 episodes, while Season 3 was due to start principal … Read more

The World’s Massive Need For More Solar Panels Has One Shiny Catch

There’s a major catch to the world’s need for solar panels, a new analysis suggests. The booming solar panel market – which is critical for a clean energy future – could demand close to half the world’s aluminum by 2050. Thankfully, there are ways we can mitigate this.    Unlike more precious metals, such as … Read more

World’s Deepest Squid Discovered at Staggering Depth Under The Sea

A team of researchers hunting for the wreck of a lost WWII destroyer ship in the Philippine Sea returned to land with another, perhaps even more exciting discovery: video evidence of the deepest-swimming squid ever recorded.   Cruising just above the floor of the Philippine Trench at a staggering 20,300 feet (6,200 meters) below the … Read more

3 newly discovered worlds risk doom orbiting too close to dying stars

Astronomers have spotted three new exoplanets orbiting dangerously close to their parent stars, on the brink of extinction.  The three exoplanets, named TOI-2337b, TOI-4329b and TOI-2669b, were discovered using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the W. M. Keck Observatory’s High-Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) in Hawaiʻi. “These planets are in such extreme places that … Read more

Super-Earths: Long-lasting radiation shields may make for life-friendly worlds

Life on Earth is made possible by our planet’s magnetosphere – an invisible radiation shield that protects the surface – now it turns out that super-Earths could have magnetospheres too Space 13 January 2022 By Alex Wilkins The laser system at the National Ignition Facility in California used to study iron’s properties Damien Jemison The … Read more

News at a glance: Warmest oceans yet, a pig-to-human heart transplant, and the world’s largest breeding colony of fish | Science

ECOLOGY Huge icefish colony found Scientists aboard an Antarctic research cruise have discovered the most extensive breeding colony of fish anywhere. In February 2021, while towing video cameras and other instruments close to the sea floor in the Weddell Sea, the RV Polarstern came upon thousands of 75-centimeter-wide nests, each occupied by a single adult … Read more