SCIENCE
AI may help find life on Mars, icy worlds
A team of astrobiologists developed an AI model and tested its ability to look out for sparse life hidden away in salt domes, rocks and crystals at Salar de Pajonales at the boundary of the Chilean Atacama Desert and Altiplano -- one of the driest places on the planet, resembling the features of a Martian surface.
NASA's Curiosity spots first 'Sun rays' on Mars
The rays were imaged as the Sun descended over the horizon on February 2, with "rays of light illuminated a bank of clouds". These are also known as crepuscular rays, from the Latin word for "twilight". "It was the first time sun rays have been so clearly viewed on Mars," according to the mission officials. Curiosity captured the scene during the rover's latest twilight cloud survey.
Explained: Sun did not break off its chunk, just a normal solar activity
A solar prominence (also known as a filament when viewed against the solar disk) is a large, bright feature extending outward from the Sun's surface. Prominences are anchored to the Sun's surface in the photosphere, and extend outwards into the Sun's hot outer atmosphere, called the corona. Reports last week surfaced that NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) caught "a piece of Sun being broken off" from its surface.
Has Earth's inner core stopped rotating? Debate rages
The rotation of the Earth's solid inner core may have recently paused and could be reversing, according to a study published in Nature Geoscience. The authors showed evidence that oscillation in the rotation of the inner core coincides with periodic changes in the Earth's surface system and that there is an interaction between different layers of the Earth.
Hubble captures unusual galaxy merger in ancient universe
The Arp-Madore catalog is a collection of particularly peculiar galaxies spread throughout the southern sky, and includes a collection of subtly interacting galaxies as well as more spectacular colliding galaxies. "Arp-Madore 417-391", which lies around 670 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus in the southern celestial hemisphere, is one such galactic collision. The two galaxies were distorted by gravity and twisted into a colossal ring, leaving their cores nestled side by side, said NASA.
Astronomers find supermassive black holes inside dying galaxies
The Milky Way Galaxy where we live includes stars of various ages, including stars still forming. But in some other galaxies, known as elliptical galaxies, all of the stars are old and about the same age. This indicates that early in their histories elliptical galaxies had a period of prolific star formation that suddenly ended.
First image of supermassive black hole in centre of Milky Way revealed
Scientists had previously seen stars orbiting around something invisible, compact, and very massive at the centre of the Milky Way. But the image of Sagittarius A (Sgr A) which is about 27,000 light-years away from Earth, produced by a global research team called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration, provides the first direct visual evidence of it.
India-born scientist elected to US National Academy of Sciences
The election to the 170-year-old Academy is recognition of his significant contributions to science by its members. Bawa, who is also an elected fellow of the Royal Society (London) and the American Philosophical Society, was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences late last night India time.
Asteroids may have brought key building blocks of DNA, RNA: Study
The discovery, made by an international team along with NASA researchers, and described in the paper published in Nature Communications, provides more evidence that chemical reactions in asteroids can make some of life's ingredients, which could have been delivered to ancient Earth by meteorite impacts or perhaps the infall of dust.
Rising infertility in women aged 25-30
The growing problem of low egg reserve is one of the most significant factors contributing to lower fertility rates in urban women. Stress, pollution, pesticide exposure, and smoking and alcohol addiction are all major causes of this condition. A recent study found that one in every two women who were unable to conceive had a low egg reserve. Previously, it was a problem that arose with increasing age; however, this has changed. Low egg reserve is a common concern among today's young girls, with women as young as 27 years old experiencing infertility as a result.
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