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Venus Is Alive!

Lead Image: Maat Mons is displayed in this computer-generated, three-dimensional perspective of the surface of Venus. The viewpoint is located 634 kilometers (393 miles) north of Maat Mons at an elevation of 3 kilometers (2 miles) above the terrain. Lava flows extend for hundreds of kilometers across the fractured plains shown in the foreground, to the base of Maat Mons. NASA Magellan mission synthetic aperture radar data is combined with radar altimetry to develop a three-dimensional map of the surface. The vertical scale in this perspective has been exaggerated 10 times. Credit: NASA/JPL New Evidence That Venus Is Volcanically Active…

Can AI Help Find Life on Mars or Icy Worlds?

Lead Image: A recent study led by SETI Institute Senior Research Scientist Kim Warren-Rhodes and published in Nature Astronomy brings us closer to discovering extraterrestrial life by mapping scarce life forms in extreme environments. The interdisciplinary research focuses on life hidden within salt domes, rocks, and crystals at Salar de Pajonales, situated at the border of the Chilean Atacama Desert and Altiplano. This study could help pinpoint exact locations to search for life on other planets, despite the limited opportunities to collect samples or access remote sensing instruments. Wouldn’t discovering life on other worlds be made easier if we knew…

Planets Beyond Our Solar System: What Do Exoplanets Look Like?

Artist impression of an exoplanet system. Credit: ESA Imagine a gaseous exoplanet five times the size of Jupiter but much closer to its star as Mercury is to our Sun. This planet orbits its star in just a couple of days and always shows the same face towards it. Now, imagine a tiny rocky planet, only a third of the size of Earth orbiting its star in only 4.5 hours. These kinds of worlds really exist. Exoplanets vary in size, orbit, composition, and more. But how can we know all these aspects? Different characterization techniques have been developed and adopted…

Molecular Teamwork To Boost Performance of Smartwatches and Solar Cells

Lead Image: A method to induce cooperative behavior in organic semiconductors has been discovered by the researchers at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. This energy- and time-saving phenomenon could potentially improve the performance of organic electronics, including smartwatches and solar cells. Cooperativity in organic semiconductors may enhance the performance of smartwatches, solar cells, and other organic electronics. The virus responsible for E. coli infection has a secret weapon: teamwork. Always scrappy in its bid for survival, the virus alights on an unassuming host cell and grips the surface with the business end of its tubular tail. Then,…

How Copper Deposits Turned a Village Into One of the Most Important Trade Hubs of the Late Bronze Age

Lead Image: Copper slag from one of the city’s workshops. Credit: T. Bürge Researchers from the University of Gothenburg have uncovered evidence that highlights the significance of the Cypriot village of Hala Sultan Tekke during the Late Bronze Age. Through excavations, the team has established that the village’s strategic location and its abundant reserves of the coveted metal copper played a crucial role in making it one of the most important trade hubs during the early stages of international trade in the Mediterranean. The findings have been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science. “We have found huge quantities of…