Mars’ atmosphere may have once been far thicker, providing a protective layer against the frequent asteroid impacts that destroyed other celestial bodies.
Our solar system began forming around 4 billion years ago, and by that time, Mars was nearly fully developed. The planet existed within a vast reservoir of hot gas and dust swirling around a youthful sun, known as the solar nebula, which some planets absorbed into their atmosphere. However, it was believed that as the solar nebula dissipated, Mars would lose this gas, resulting in a thinner atmosphere.
Recently, Sarah Jollett from Paris’ Collège de France and her team propose that Mars retained this gas for a longer period, forming a primordial atmosphere akin to a sustained soup.
Shortly after the nebula receded, it was believed that the orbits of significant planets like Jupiter and Saturn influenced each other, subsequently disturbing the paths of comets and asteroids that headed towards the inner solar system, impacting rocky planets. While chemical signatures of these impacts can be found on Earth, evidence on Mars remains limited.
“All terrestrial planets faced bombardments from comets during this time, and Mars was no exception, so we should observe remnants of this cometary assault on Mars,” Jollett stated at the Europlanet Science Congress held on September 11th in Helsinki, Finland.
Jollett and her colleagues suggest that the dense, hydrogen-rich atmosphere during this era may have diluted comet material that was available for absorption by Mars. By running simulations of the early solar system, they estimated the potential amount of material impacting Mars and compared it to the detectable quantity. They deduced that the original Martian atmosphere had a mass equivalent to 2.9 bars, around three times the atmospheric pressure we experience on the surface today.
However, this atmosphere dissipated relatively swiftly over about a million years, according to Raymond Pierre Hambart from Oxford University, who was not involved in the study. This loss primarily occurred before liquid water could come to the surface of Mars. The necessary clear atmospheric conditions, rich in carbon dioxide, were likely not present in that thick primordial atmosphere.
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Large dinosaurs such as Titanosaurus significantly influenced their ecosystems
Christian Jegou/Science Photography Library
The extinction of dinosaurs had profound consequences for Earth, leading to significant alterations in the planet’s landscapes, including shifts in river systems.
There is a clear distinction between various rock formations in North America before and after the end of the dinosaurs during the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-PG) extinction event approximately 66 million years ago, triggered by the Chicxulub asteroid impact in the Yucatan Peninsula.
For example, the Green Gray Mudstone, recognized as the Hell Creek Formation from the dinosaur period, transitions into the more vivid pajama-striped layers of the Fort Union Formation, which hosts many lignite-rich charcoals from plant material that surfaced with the rise of mammals.
This transition was initially attributed to the direct impacts of asteroid strikes, such as increased rainfall. However, Luke Weaver from the University of Michigan and his team propose another explanation.
They examined floodplain areas in the western United States, revealing abrupt geological changes around the K-PG boundary, particularly in the Williston Basin, stretching across parts of Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas.
The multifaceted colorful layers from the Post-dinosaur period are believed to be deposits formed by rising water levels, creating temporary ponds. However, Weaver and his colleagues did not find supporting literature on water level changes during this era.
“There’s no evidence of extremely high water tables or particularly wet conditions,” he says. While there was an intrusion of seawater inland, the nearest instance occurred at least 300,000 years after the K-PG boundary.
Weaver’s team argues that significant sandstone layers formed post-K-PG boundary are indicative of large, stable rivers, known as Point Bar deposits, instead of temporary pond deposits. These layers can exceed 10 meters in thickness, reflecting the stability of these rivers.
Researchers attribute these findings to the extinction of dinosaurs. They propose that, like today’s large herbivores, dinosaurs were ecological engineers, disrupting vegetation, trampling, and grazing seedlings, inhibiting new plant growth.
“These creatures were colossal compared to modern fauna,” Weaver notes. For instance, while a contemporary elephant weighs around 5,000 kilograms, a Triceratops could weigh at least double that.
As they moved through and destroyed vegetation, the rivers would have flooded periodically instead of winding through forests. This change ultimately led to the expansion of marshy mudstone, according to Weaver. Once the dinosaurs vanished, tree roots stabilized the sediments, allowing water to flow through a meandering riverbed, thus creating point bars.
“This illustrates a landscape where biology plays a crucial role,” Weaver observes. Animals, he argues, significantly modify their environments, much like humans have drastically altered Earth’s landscapes.
Christopher Doughty from Northern Arizona University believes this perspective better explains the observed geological transformations than earlier theories. “In contemporary studies where large animals are removed from ecosystems, tree cover significantly increases,” he mentions. “With the extinction of dinosaurs, there were no longer large animals capable of uprooting trees. This led to a decrease in herbivory and reduced the disturbance of seedlings giving rise to robust tree growth.”
However, Cat Schroder from the University of New Mexico remains skeptical. “While there seems to be a correlation between large dinosaurs and open nutritional landscapes, causality hasn’t been established yet,” she says. “Forests thrived before, during, and after the age of dinosaurs.”
Doughty is using isotopic analysis of fossil leaves to investigate how forest structures have shifted since the dinosaurs went extinct.
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The narrative of Earth is one of transformation. Over 4.5 billion years, our planet has evolved from a scorching mass of molten rock and poisonous gases into a temperate and vibrant habitat teeming with diverse life forms. This evolution was punctuated by pauses, restarts, and cataclysmic events, as the intricate biogeochemical processes shaped the most extraordinary phases in Earth’s history.
Our understanding of this vast tale is largely thanks to rocks. They preserve the chronology of events that contributed to the surface’s stratification through various deposits. This intricate ordering is understood through hierarchies, and the scientific discipline dedicated to interpreting them is known as stratigraphy.
In Strata: A Story from Deep Time, journalist Laura Poppick delves into this nuanced science of rock interpretation, offering insights on how planets respond to and recover from periods of upheaval. “Through these layers, we glimpse ancient versions of our planet, gaining contextual awareness as we traverse through the present,” she observes.
Poppick highlights several transformative periods in Earth’s history, selecting four key episodes. The first examines the development of oxygen-rich atmospheres, tracking the evolution of photosynthesizing microorganisms and significant oxidative events that led to mass extinctions around 2.4 billion years ago.
The second segment discusses “Snowball Earth,” a period approximately 720 million years ago when many regions are believed to have frozen over. Following this, she explores the advent of mud and the subsequent rise of vegetation. Finally, the Mesozoic era, dominated by dinosaurs, records atmospheric carbon dioxide levels much higher than today’s due to volcanic activity, offering a framework to understand planetary responses to climate shifts.
“
Sedimentary rocks maintain a distinct layer system that clearly records the events that have shaped our planet’s surface. “
Throughout each episode, Poppick introduces geologists working to unravel the numerous unanswered questions regarding the timing and causes of these changes. She visits significant geological sites, from Newfoundland to the Australian Outback, where one can observe the strata that articulate these narratives.
The recurring theme emphasizes the importance of paying attention to rocks. To an untrained observer, they may appear ordinary; however, Poppick reminds us that “a trained eye discerns physical and chemical indicators—proxies—that reveal the characteristics of our planet during the formation of these rocks.” She underscores the value of geologists’ expertise.
This book is a remarkable attempt to make stratigraphy engaging. At times, it falters, and Poppick’s fragmented writing style led me to lose the thread of the narrative.
Her comparisons of geological transformations to human-centric changes sometimes felt uneasy. For instance, she likens the Mesozoic greenhouse climate to modern carbon emissions, though the historical era’s temperatures were so extreme that such analogies may be misleading, even at optimistic emission projections.
Another limitation lies in the currently incomplete nature of geoscience. Some of the pivotal questions raised by Poppick—including the true cause of Snowball Earth—remain unresolved or are subject to debate among different factions. By the end, I was left with a sense of uncertainty about what can be definitively stated. Yet, that unpredictability might be intrinsic to geology itself. “Nothing is immutable in stone as our understanding of geology continues to evolve, just like the rocks,” Poppick states.
Nevertheless, the book effectively captures the grandeur of the story embedded in rocks. It does so particularly well by showing how seemingly mundane observations about rocks can lead directly to profound insights into Earth’s history. Such revelations illuminate the stratigraphic process as Poppick examines overlooked outcrops, encouraging us to perceive the rocks in our surroundings with renewed appreciation.
“Hierarchies are, in many ways, love letters from a maturing Earth,” she argues. This book abundantly reveals the reasons to uncover the secrets they hold.
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Wildfires in Greece are diminishing the Earth’s natural carbon sink
Thanassis Stavrakis/AP Photo/Alamy
Climate change is increasingly compromising the ability of the Earth’s natural carbon sinks to absorb excess carbon dioxide. This results in greenhouse gases emitted by human activity lingering in the atmosphere, contributing to further warming.
These feedback loops account for roughly 15% of the rise in CO2 levels since 1960, according to Pierre Friedlingstein from the University of Exeter, UK.
The land and oceans serve as carbon sinks, absorbing nearly half of the extra CO2 produced by humans. While higher CO2 levels can enhance plant growth, leading to greater CO2 uptake by vegetation, extreme temperatures, droughts, and wildfires associated with global warming can counteract this CO2 fertilization effect.
Friedlingstein is part of the Global Carbon Project, which aims to clarify the amounts of CO2 being emitted, how it is absorbed by different sources, and how this process evolves over time. Previously, his research team used climate models to project a 27% increase in land sinks in the absence of drought or other feedbacks.
His latest estimates have adjusted this figure to 30%, as he shared at the Exeter Climate Conference last month. He mentioned that ocean sinks also increase CO2 by 6% without feedback effects.
Together, land and oceans contribute over 15% of atmospheric CO2. Since 1960, CO2 levels have surged to around 100 parts per million (ppm), indicating that 15 ppm can be traced back to the feedback effects impacting the sinks. “The sink hasn’t collapsed, but its recovery is slow,” Friedlingstein noted.
There remains uncertainty regarding the sink’s capacity, as David Armstrong McKay from the University of Sussex has observed. “It aligns with expectations, but it’s not encouraging news that we’re marginally off what we projected,” McKay stated. “As warming intensifies, it will challenge land sinks’ adaptability to increased CO2, with extreme events like the recent El Niño-enhanced drought hampering the positive effects on vegetation growth.”
The pressing question is what will unfold next. With the rise in warming, droughts, and fires, research has indicated that land sinks have made minimal net CO2 contributions in the past two years.
This has raised concerns that the effectiveness of land sinks might significantly decrease in the near future, opposing the gradual decline most climate scientists anticipate.
Nonetheless, Friedlingstein referred to these short-term fluctuations as “blips” that may not accurately predict future trends. “What we should focus on is the long term,” he emphasized.
Dakar, Senegal – the largest meteorite discovered on Earth – a 54-pound (25 kilograms) rock that fetched over $5 million at a New York auction last month, setting a world record.
However, in a West African nation where rusty red rocks have been excavated from the Sahara desert, authorities have initiated an investigation into what they describe as “illegal international trafficking,” suggesting it may have been smuggled from the country.
Here’s what you should know about meteorites and legal controversies:
How was it discovered
According to Sotheby’s, the rock, designated NWA 16788, was dislodged from the surface of Mars by a massive asteroid collision and journeyed 140 million miles (225 million kilometers) to Earth.
It was uncovered in the Sahara, northwest Niger by an unnamed meteorite hunter in November 2023, as per the auction house’s report. The identities of buyers remain undisclosed.
In the arid regions of the Sahara like Niger, meteorite hunting is on the rise. While meteorites can fall anywhere on Earth, the Sahara has emerged as a prime location for their discovery due to its climate, which is conducive to conservation.
Hunters often seek space rocks to sell to collectors and scientists. The most coveted and valuable meteorites are from Mars and the Moon.
As reported by the Heritage Academic Journal, the rock was sold to international dealers and eventually made it to a private gallery in Italy. Last year, a team of scientists from the University of Florence examined the rock to determine its structure and origins before it fell to Earth.
The meteorite was briefly showcased in Rome before appearing at the New York auction last month.
Why Niger is investigating
Following the sale, Niger raised concerns about how the meteorite was made available for auction.
Last month, the Niger government launched an inquiry into the discovery and sale of meteorites, stating that it resembles “illegal international trafficking.”
Last week, President Abdullah Hamanetiani halted the export of precious stones, semi-precious stones, and meteorites to ensure proper traceability.
In a statement to the Associated Press, Sotheby’s maintained that the meteorite was exported from Niger and transported in line with all applicable international regulations.
“In selling this item, all necessary documentation was obtained at each stage of the journey, consistent with best practices and the requirements of the involved countries,” the statement indicated.
Niger authorities did not respond to inquiries from the Associated Press.
What international law says
Patti Garstenblis, a cultural heritage attorney and expert on illegal trade, noted that rare minerals like meteorites are recognized as cultural property under the UNESCO Cultural Property Treaty, which both Niger and the United States have ratified.
However, Garstenbliss pointed out that Niger needs to establish ownership and that the meteorite was stolen.
“I doubt Niger could reclaim the meteorite if it wasn’t stolen and was properly declared upon entering the U.S.,” she stated to the Associated Press.
Paleontologist Paul Sereno, who has spent years uncovering dinosaur fossils in Niger’s Sahara, is advocating for the return of the nation’s cultural and natural heritage, including meteorites.
“When laws clearly state that rare minerals like meteorites are cultural artifacts, unique and valuable items cannot just be claimed without consideration for the country,” he told the AP.
“We are no longer in a colonial era,” he added.
In certain countries, including Morocco, a major source of meteoritic specimens for international markets, if an object is found on their territory, compensation is required. Nonetheless, due to the expansive desert regions and the informal trading networks, enforcement remains challenging.
While many shelves are filled with titles about forests, oceans, and deserts, the deep biosphere, an important and intriguing habitat beneath our feet, is often overlooked. Despite a few notable exceptions, literature on ecosystems ranging from the Amazon to Antarctica largely ignores this underground world.
Not anymore. Within the Earth: Discover the Strangest Life on Earth by Karen G. Lloyd serves as a crucial field guide to the underground life we’ve started to uncover. “In fact, we have yet to find the limits of where life ceases to exist,” she states.
The general unawareness of the deep biosphere’s existence reflects our surface-centric worldview. However, Lloyd, a microbial biogeochemist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, argues that learning about this life can profoundly change our understanding of existence itself.
She defines the deep biosphere as areas below the seafloor or beneath land where life thrives without sunlight, the primary energy source for most surface organisms. These environments encompass a variety of metabolic processes, from methane production arising from decomposed plants beneath a few centimeters of marsh mud to chemical processes with microbes three kilometers underground.
Discussing these microorganisms, she notes, “It’s as if there are millions of small, low-energy suns scattered throughout the Earth’s crust, each supporting its own underground ecosystem.”
How much life is present? It’s difficult to say. However, Lloyd contends that all estimates are likely underestimated. One claim suggests that marine sediments alone could hold 2.9 x 1029 cells, potentially twice as many as those in continental fractures and pores, presenting astonishing figures.
Advances in genetic sequencing and field research are illuminating these rich ecosystems. Lloyd helps researchers differentiate between microbial species and deduce metabolic functions through DNA alone. This is especially helpful since many deep-dwelling bacteria and archaea have proven impossible to cultivate in surface laboratories.
It’s like a movie. Be careful not to slip on the volcanic glass shards. Don’t fall into the acid lake!
The fieldwork section discusses how scientists obtain new DNA samples—whether from hydrothermal vents, excavated continental rocks, or dripping water in deep mines. “To understand limits, one sometimes must become the explorer,” Lloyd notes.
Through engaging prose, she recounts her adventures tracking microorganisms from the high deserts of the Andes to the perilous peaks of Costa Rican volcanoes. These stories resemble scenes from action films—caution is essential to avoid slipping on volcanic glass fragments or falling into acid lakes!
Fortunately, this book transcends a mere expedition narrative. It features an extensive and approachable explanation of the chemistry that enables a deep biosphere. Although the equations involved can be complex, Lloyd adeptly guides readers to grasp the chemical frameworks that support these creatures living on the “edge of energy.”
To facilitate this challenging learning curve, she draws parallels between surface ecosystems and our dietary habits to illuminate the underground world. For instance, bacteria that metabolize sulfides are likened to “couch potatoes,” competing with methane-producing “freeloaders” by preserving hydrogen, a universal nutrient—a dramatic ecological narrative reminiscent of the Serengeti. Sulfate-reducing agents in Svalbard’s fjords “have access to a permanently stocked refrigerator.” Engaging and thrilling, her exploration of biogeochemistry is no small feat.
However, the highlight of Lloyd’s book is her assertion that certain forms of deep life may possess a sluggish metabolism, allowing individuals to survive for thousands, or even millions of years. These “eonophiles” (once confirmed to have extraordinarily long life spans) “redefine our preconceived notions about the nature of life,” she asserts. Truly, these lifestyles are alien, and how fortunate we are to uncover more about them right here on Earth!
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The deep-sea environment is largely dominated by marine tube worms
Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering, CAS
Over 9,500 meters of ecosystems fueled by chemicals from tectonic plate interactions have been uncovered beneath the northwest Pacific Ocean.
“Their resilience and beauty captivated me,” says Mengrand Du from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Sanya. “The striking crimson tentacles unfurl like delicate blossoms of the trench.”
Du and her team undertook 24 dives between July 8 and August 17, 2024, exploring 2,500 kilometers west of the Krill Kamchatka trench and Aleutian trench, at depths ranging from 5,800 to 9,533 meters. In a frozen section beyond 6,000 meters deep, the Hadal zone experiences crushing pressure and is devoid of light.
This region is referred to as the Hadal biosphere, which derives energy from nutrients descending from surface photosynthesis or exists via chemical bonds relying on chemicals as energy sources.
Taxonomic and genetic data gathered during the dives indicated that many organisms in the Hadal zone utilize compounds such as hydrogen sulfide and methane, which are released through fault lines formed as tectonic plates slide against each other.
“We have discovered a chemically-synthesized community thriving at an astonishing depth of 9,533 meters,” Du states. These findings, made during 19 dives, illustrate their extensive distribution.
The chemically-driven community was primarily composed of bivalve mollusks and marine tube worms known as ciboglinid polychaetes. Some populations consisted of thousands of individuals, sprawling for kilometers.
Numerous bivalve mollusks are also present.
Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering, CAS
A notable characteristic of many of these organisms is their dependence on chemical energy rather than sunlight, according to Du. “While other organisms, such as sea cucumbers and amphipods, might inhabit greater depths, they cannot harness chemicals like hydrogen sulfide for energy and must rely on organic matter instead.”
This finding indicates “the deepest and most extensive known chemical synthesis community on our planet.”
The Pilbara Craton in Western Australia features rocks that date back 3.5 billion years.
Elizabeth Czitronyi / Alamy
Rocks from Australia reveal that tectonic plates were shifting as far back as 3.5 billion years ago, a breakthrough that alters our understanding of the onset of plate tectonics over subsequent hundreds of millions of years.
Currently, along with roughly eight major hard rock plates on Earth’s surface, several smaller plates are interacting with the softer rock layer beneath. When these plates’ edges grind against one another, it can lead to sudden geological upheavals, such as earthquakes, and gradual processes like mountain range formation.
However, there is disagreement among geologists regarding the configurations of these ancient plates and their movements. Some researchers claim to have found indications of tectonic activity as far back as 4 billion years ago when the planet was significantly hotter; others argue that more compelling evidence is noted after 3.2 billion years ago.
Much of this data derives from the chemical compositions of rocks, which suggest past movements. Despite this, records detailing the interactions of early plates remain scarce, which is regarded as critical evidence supporting plate tectonics.
Recently, Alec Brenner and his team from Yale University claim to have uncovered substantial evidence of relative plate movement dating back 3.5 billion years in the eastern Pilbara Craton of Western Australia. They traced the magnetic orientation of rocks aligned with Earth’s magnetic field, observing shifts similar to how a compass needle changes direction when the ground moves.
Brenner and colleagues initially dated the rock using radioisotope analysis, establishing that at certain times, the rock’s magnetism remained unchanged. By observing this magnetization shift, they demonstrated that the rock mass progressively moved at a rate of several centimeters each year. They compared these findings to similarly examined rocks in the Barberton Greenstone Belt in South Africa, which exhibited no such movement.
“This suggests that some type of plate boundary must exist between these two regions to accommodate that relative movement,” remarked Brenner during his presentation at the Goldschmidt Geochemical Conference in Prague, Czech Republic, on July 9.
“Approximately 3.8 billion years ago, the Pilbara plate transitioned from medium to high latitudes, eventually reaching proximity to Earth’s magnetic poles and, possibly millions of years later, to the latitude of Svalbard.”
“If two plates are moving relative to one another, there must be various dynamic interactions happening between them,” noted Robert Hazen from the Carnegie Institute of Science in Washington, DC. “It cannot be an isolated event.”
Nonetheless, multiple interpretations exist regarding the underlying causes of this movement, according to Hazen. The variability in plate movement rates adds to the confusion, and existing data could align with various theories regarding Earth’s interior structure at that time.
At the very least, this discovery indicates the presence of structural boundaries, according to Michael Brown from the University of Maryland. However, he argues that the nature of rock movement appears dissimilar to contemporary understanding of plate tectonics. “Essentially, the Pilbara plate moved to higher latitudes to prevent stagnation, which is atypical within any current plate structural model.”
Brown posits that this aligns with the theory suggesting the Earth’s crust consisted of numerous smaller plates propelled by a thermal mantle plume during that period. He believes the remnants of these small plates examined by Brenner and his team provide evidence of movement; however, due to their limited representation of the crust, they may not accurately reflect broader Earth movements.
Brenner’s team also discovered indications that the Earth’s magnetic field underwent reversals around 3.46 billion years ago. Unlike today’s magnetic field reversals, which occur every million years, these ancient magnetic shifts seemed to happen much more frequently, over spans of tens of millions of years. This could imply a fundamentally different set of energies and mechanisms at play, as noted by Brenner.
Hazen emphasized that the scarcity of magnetic data leads to ongoing debates about the state of Earth’s magnetic field during that era of its evolution. “I believe this discovery raises the bar significantly,” he asserts. “It represents a vital breakthrough in understanding early magnetic reversals, shedding light on the core’s geomechanics in ways previously unexplored.”
The peculiar plants that existed since the dawn of terrestrial animals can process water to remarkable extremes, resembling water from metstones more than typical groundwater. Not only do they play a crucial role in today’s ecosystems, but their fossilized remnants also provide insights into Earth’s ancient climate and hydrological systems during the age of dinosaurs.
Almost every oxygen atom in water contains eight neutrons, though some rare heavy isotopes possess nine or ten neutrons. When water evaporates, lighter isotopes do so more readily than their heavier counterparts, leading to predictable shifts in their ratios. Researchers can utilize this information to trace the origin of a specific water sample, determining whether it originated from groundwater, fog, or the rate at which it traversed through plants and the humidity levels experienced by those plants in the past.
Nevertheless, due to the minimal presence of heavier isotopes, acquiring reliable data on how these ratios fluctuate can be quite challenging, making it hard for scientists to draw definitive conclusions.
During examinations of water samples from desert flora and fauna, Zachary Sharp from the University of New Mexico and his colleagues discovered discrepancies between the observed data and the anticipated outcomes based on laboratory models.
Sharp and his team believe they have addressed the issue through a remarkable plant known as horsetail, which has been on Earth since the Devonian period approximately 400 million years ago and features segmented, hollow stems. “It’s a tall cylinder with countless holes, evenly spaced, a marvel of engineering,” states Sharp. “We couldn’t replicate this design in our lab.”
As water flows through each segment of the horsetail stem, it undergoes a process of repeated distillation. Sharp and his colleagues collected water samples at various points along the smooth idiot stem (Equisetum) cultivated near the Rio Grande in New Mexico.
By the time the water reaches the top of the stem, its isotopic composition markedly differs from other terrestrial waters. “If you encounter this sample, I suspect it originates from metstone, as it doesn’t come from Earth. [The oxygen isotope ratios],” Sharp remarked during a presentation at the Goldschmidt Geochemical Conference in Prague, Czech Republic, on July 7.
These horsetail analyses enable Sharp and his team to ascertain the variations in the water’s isotopic ratios under near-ideal conditions, allowing them to enhance model accuracy with these values.
By reassessing desert plant data with these refined models, previously inexplicable observations suddenly made sense. Sharp posits that these findings could illuminate other challenging observations, especially in arid regions.
Reaching heights of 30 meters, far surpassing today’s descendants, ancient horsetails provide even more extreme isotopic ratios and could serve as a key to understanding ancient water systems and climates, according to Sharp. Small, sand-like grains known as plant stone threads within horsetail stems can endure to the present day and may feature unique isotopic signatures influenced by atmospheric humidity. This factor affects the evaporation rate. “This could serve as a paleofat meter [humidity indicator]—how fascinating,” Sharp concludes.
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Current forest die-offs due to global warming resemble those from the Permian and Triassic extinction events.
Ina Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images
Following a dramatic increase in carbon dioxide levels 252 million years ago, the death of forests resulted in enduring climate alterations, with the greenhouse effect persisting for millions of years.
Researchers striving to comprehend this phenomenon, which triggered the largest mass extinction in Earth’s history, caution that ongoing greenhouse gas emissions may lead to similar outcomes.
The extinction events of the Permian and Triassic are believed to have been triggered by extensive volcanic activity in what is now Siberia, elevating atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
The planet’s surface temperature soared by as much as 10°C, with average temperatures in the equatorial regions climbing to 34°C (93°F)—a rise of 8°C above the current average.
Although some scientists have recently posited that these mass extinction events may have limited effects on terrestrial ecosystems, Andrew Meldis from the University of Adelaide expresses confidence that life was nearly extinguished 252 million years ago.
“Small pockets of life might survive mass extinctions in isolated enclaves, but many areas within the Permian-Triassic fossil record reveal a complete ecosystem collapse,” notes Meldis.
He and his team scrutinized the fossil record to investigate why the Super Greenhouse event, which drives mass extinction, lasted five million years—far longer than the 100,000 years predicted by climate models.
The findings revealed that vast expanses of forests, originally with canopies of around 50 meters, were supplanted by resilient underground flora, typically ranging from 5 cm to 2 meters in height. Additionally, peat marshes, significant carbon storage ecosystems, vanished from tropical areas.
Employing computer models of Earth’s climatic and geochemical systems, researchers indicated that the depletion of these ecosystems contributes to elevated CO2 levels persisting for millions of years. This predominantly occurs because vegetation plays a crucial role in weathering, the mechanism that extracts carbon from the atmosphere and sequesters it in rocks and soil over extensive timescales.
With atmospheric CO2 levels rising rapidly, the parallels to the present are striking, asserts Meldis. As temperatures escalate, tropical and subtropical forests may find it increasingly challenging to adapt, potentially surpassing thresholds where vegetation ceases to maintain climate equilibrium.
Meldis explains that simply restoring former ecosystems will not lead to a “ping-pong effect.” He emphasizes that the atmosphere cannot be swiftly rejuvenated after the loss of the equatorial forest.
“You’re not transitioning from an ice house to a greenhouse and then back; the Earth will find a new equilibrium, which may differ significantly from prior states,” he elaborates.
Catlin Maisner, a researcher at the University of New South Wales—who was not involved in the study—describes reconstructing these events as analogous to “trying to assemble a jigsaw puzzle with many missing pieces,” yet acknowledges the team’s arguments as “plausible.”
However, she notes considerable uncertainty regarding oceanic processes during this period. “The ocean harbors far more carbon than land and atmosphere combined, and we still lack a comprehensive understanding of how marine biology, chemistry, and physical circulation were affected during that event,” cautions Meissner.
Geologists have found significant evidence indicating the preservation of Hadean Rocks, with an age of 4.16 billion years. The Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt offers a rare glimpse into the early Earth.
Canadian Nuvvuagittuq Green Stone Belt. Image credit: Jonathan O’Neill.
The earliest geological history of Earth remains largely unclear due to the scarcity of rocks and minerals from the Hadean period (over 4.3 billion years ago).
These ancient materials are often altered or destroyed as the planet’s crust undergoes continual recycling through various geological processes.
“One potential survivor of the Hadean era crustal rock is the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt,” stated Dr. Christian Saul, a senior author from the University of Ottawa and his colleagues.
“However, this perspective is contentious. Some researchers argue that the isotopic data backing these estimates might instead reflect later geological mixing rather than the true age of the layers.”
“If proven to be of Hadean origin, the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt would represent the oldest known preserved rock sequence on Earth.”
“This could yield critical insights into early geology and possible environments for the emergence of life.”
To refine the age of the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt, researchers concentrated on specific types of ancient rock intrusions known as metagabbro within the belt.
These intrusions intersect with ancient basaltic rocks, enabling the authors to utilize combined uranium-lead (U-Pb) dating to determine the minimum age limits of older layers, along with both short and long-lived samarium-neodymium (Sm-Nd) isotopic analysis.
Sm-Nd data yielded a consistent age of approximately 4.16 billion years, irrespective of the sample location or mineral composition.
The convergence of both isotope systems producing the same age in rocks with clear evidence of magma differentiation strongly supports their Hadean era crystallization.
This is in accordance with the Hadean Eon surviving within the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt.
“Studying these rocks allows us to trace back to the origins of our planet,” noted Dr. Jonathan O’Neill, a researcher at the University of Ottawa.
“This will enable us to gain a better understanding of how the first continent formed and help reconstruct the environment in which life emerged.”
C. Sole et al. 2025. Evidence of Hadean Mafic invasion in the Canadian Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt. Science 388 (6754): 1431-1435; doi: 10.1126/science.ads8461
Canadian Nuvvuagittuq Green Stone Belt may contain the world’s oldest rock
Jonathan O’Neill
About four billion years ago, magma from Earth’s mantle intruded the primitive crust of a nascent planet. Over the next period, nearly all of the planet’s early crust melted back into the mantle, leaving behind a small remnant near the site of this intrusion that still exists today.
This remnant is part of the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt along Hudson Bay’s coast in Canada. Recent analyses of the rock’s radioisotope signatures have sparked debates among geologists about whether it is indeed the oldest rock on Earth or simply very ancient.
In a study published in 2008, Jonathan O’Neill from the University of Ottawa and his team posited that the surrounding rocks could be as old as 4.3 billion years, dating back to the Hadean eon—just a few hundred million years after Earth’s formation.
While there have been discoveries of older mineral grains, these ancient Hadean rocks provide critical insights into Earth’s formative years, possibly shedding light on geological enigmas like the onset of plate tectonics and early ocean compositions.
The method used for dating the rocks has drawn controversy, particularly regarding the claimed age of 4.3 billion years. Traditionally, old rocks are dated utilizing a robust mineral known as zircon, but these volcanic rocks lack zircon. “No one can date these rocks using the popular techniques,” O’Neill remarks.
Instead, researchers analyzed the isotopes of neodymium and samarium within the rock. As samarium decays, it generates different isotopes of neodymium at predictable rates, allowing the ratio of isotopes to serve as a “clock” marking the time since the rock crystallized from magma. Interestingly, two isotopes of samarium can decay at differing rates, acting as two parallel chronometers. Disagreement arose among researchers about whether the rock was genuinely Hadean, as the two clocks provided inconsistent age estimates.
“I’m not convinced that most of the early Earth research community agrees,” states Richard Walker at the University of Maryland.
Currently, O’Neill’s team is assessing the neodymium and samarium isotopes in the rock formations dating back 4.3 billion years. By definition, such intrusions are younger than the surrounding rock layers, implying that dating an intrusion yields the minimum age for the enclosing rocks.
Detailed view of the Canada Nuvvuagittuq Green Stone Belt
David Hutt/Alamy
In the findings, the two chronological indicators tell the same tale, indicating the rocks’ age to be approximately 4.16 billion years. “Both clocks yield identical results,” O’Neill states. This consistency bolsters the theory that the surrounding rocks were indeed solidified during the Hadean eon, making them potentially the only known remnants of Earth’s ancient crust.
“I believe they present the strongest argument possible,” asserts Graham Pierson from the University of Alberta, Canada.
“The simplest interpretation of this data is that these represent the oldest rocks on Earth,” says Jesse Reimink at Pennsylvania State University. Nevertheless, he cautions that this may not be the final word on the subject, stating, “When it comes to the oldest rocks and minerals, absolute certainty is hard to come by.”
Climate change might be even more severe than previously estimated
kapook2981/getty images
The Earth’s climate appears to be more responsive to the pollution caused by greenhouse gases than previously assumed, making it harder to keep global temperature increases below 2°C.
This is concerning news for global efforts to combat climate change, according to Gunnar Myhre from Cicero International Climate Research Centre in Norway.
Researchers have long been aware that releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere can lead to climate warming with widespread consequences. However, the extent of potential warming due to these emissions remains uncertain. Specifically, how sensitive is the Earth’s climate to this pollution?
The primary uncertainty arises from how clouds react to warming atmospheres, as shifts in cloud systems could exacerbate warming through feedback loops.
Most predictions regarding warming by the century’s end are derived from climate models that incorporate various sensitivity assumptions. The model utilized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change indicates that if atmospheric concentrations double compared to pre-industrial levels, warming could range between 2°C and 5°C, prompting organizations to adopt a median estimate of 3°C.
Myhre and his team sought to align climate model predictions with satellite data showing the Earth’s energy imbalance—a measure of excess heat within our climate system, reflecting its sensitivity levels.
They discovered that less sensitive climate models, which suggest that the Earth’s climate is more resistant to greenhouse gas emissions, did not align with satellite data collected since the turn of the millennium. According to Myhre, models asserting that the Earth’s climate is less resistant to these gases are “more common.” He added, “Models predicting minimal warming are increasingly rare.”
The findings challenge the reliability of climate models forecasting warming below 2.9°C with doubled greenhouse gas concentrations. Instead, the data imply that warming beyond this threshold is more probable for the same level of pollution.
This has been corroborated by recent record-high temperatures observed both on land and in the sea since 2023, described as “strong climate feedback” in the atmosphere by Myhre.
A more sensitive climate necessitates a quicker reduction in emissions to maintain the same temperature trajectory. In essence, the world must accelerate decarbonization efforts to meet its climate commitments.
Johannes Kuas from the University of Leipzig in Germany argues that the study presents a “very plausible contention” that the Earth is indeed more sensitive to global warming than some models suggest, stating it “reduces the margin” for model estimations that scientists should follow. “It highlights the urgent need for political action against climate change,” he emphasized.
Richard Allen from the University of Reading in the UK notes that “natural climate change” could also be part of the narrative, by pointing out that satellite records date back only to 2001. Nevertheless, he describes the study as “rigorous” and adds, “there is further evidence that simulations predicting less warming are increasingly unrealistic in the long-term.”
Researchers have discovered the first known “ghost plume” beneath Oman, suggesting a column of hot rock rising from the lower mantle with no visible volcanic activity on the surface.
The mantle plume is a mysterious intrusion of molten rock believed to transfer heat from the core-mantle boundary to the Earth’s surface, sometimes occurring beneath the heart of continental plates, as seen in regions like Yellowstone and East Africa. Notably, “these scenarios typically feature surface volcanoes,” states Simone Pilia from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia. Oman lacks such volcanic indicators.
Pilia first hypothesized the existence of this “accidental” plume while examining new seismic data from Oman. The analysis revealed that seismic waves from distant earthquakes travel more slowly through a cylindrical region beneath eastern Oman, indicating it is less dense than surrounding materials due to elevated temperatures.
Additional independent seismic assessments identified critical boundaries where Earth’s deep minerals undergo changes that align with the hot plume’s characteristics. This evidence suggests the plume extends over 660 km from the surface.
The presence of these plumes also explains why the region continues to elevate despite geological compression, a process where the crust is squeezed together. This discovery fits models that explain alterations in Indian tectonic plate movements.
“The more evidence we collected, the more convinced we became it was a plume,” remarks Pilia, who has named this geological feature the “Dinni plume” after her son.
“It’s plausible that this plume exists,” agrees Saskia Goes at Imperial College London, adding that this study is “thorough.” Nevertheless, she emphasizes that identifying narrow plumes is notoriously challenging.
If verified, the existence of a “ghost plume” trapped within Oman’s relatively thick rocky layers suggests there might be others. “We are confident that the Dinni plume is not alone,” says Pilia.
If multiple hidden plumes exist, it could indicate that heat from the core is transferring more readily through the mantle in these regions, influencing our understanding of Earth’s evolutionary history.
Recent data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at the University of California, San Diego, indicates that the Earth’s atmosphere contains millions, and potentially tens of millions, of carbon dioxide molecules.
For the first time ever, the global average concentration of carbon dioxide—a greenhouse gas emitted from burning fossil fuels—surpassed 430 parts per million (ppm) in May. These measurements represent a record high, with an increase of over 3 ppm from last year.
The findings suggest that efforts to curtail greenhouse gas emissions and reverse the growing accumulation of CO2 are insufficient.
“Another year, another record,” stated Ralph Keeling, a professor of climate science, marine chemistry, and geochemistry at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, California; he commented. “I am saddened.”
Carbon dioxide, like other greenhouse gases, traps heat from the sun and can persist in the atmosphere for centuries. High levels of these gases contribute to rising global temperatures and other adverse effects of climate change, including increased sea levels, polar ice melt, and more frequent extreme weather events.
Since the pre-industrial era, CO2 levels in the atmosphere have sharply risen, primarily due to human activities that release greenhouse gases.
Just a few decades ago, crossing the 400 ppm threshold seemed unimaginable. This means that for every million molecules of gas in the atmosphere, over 400 would be carbon dioxide. The planet reached this daunting milestone in 2013. Current warnings suggest that CO2 levels could approach 500 ppm within the next 30 years.
Human society is now in uncharted territory.
According to Keeling, the planet likely experienced such high atmospheric CO2 levels over 30 million years ago, during a time with very different climatic conditions.
He noted the remarkable speed at which CO2 levels are rising.
“It’s changing very quickly,” he told NBC News. “If humans had evolved in an environment with high CO2 levels, the absence of suitable habitats would have likely shaped our evolution. We could have adapted to that world, but instead, we’ve constructed society and civilization based on the climate of the past.”
CO2 levels are typically illustrated using the Keeling Curve, named in honor of Keeling’s father, Charles David Keeling, who began daily atmospheric CO2 measurements in 1958 from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii.
The Keeling Curve prominently displays the steep rise in CO2 since the Industrial Revolution, attributed to human-induced climate change.
Ralph Keeling and his colleagues at the Scripps Oceanographic Institute reported that the average atmospheric CO2 concentration for May was 430.2 ppm, while NOAA’s Global Monitoring Institute, which has been conducting separate daily measurements since 1974, noted an average of 430.5 ppm for the same month.
Monitoring atmospheric carbon dioxide levels is crucial for understanding how human activities impact the Earth’s climate. These measurements also serve as key indicators of the planet’s overall health.
“These measurements provide insight into the health of the entire system with just one data point,” Keeling explained. “We achieve a comprehensive view of the atmosphere through relatively simple measurement techniques.”
Panda Keeper assesses health of giant panda Xi May’s turnips at Wolong Nature Reserve
Ami Vitale
These photographs from the Earth Photo 2025 competition convey a vivid, thrilling, and surprising narrative about our planet’s climate and biodiversity.
In photographer Ami Vitale’s image Pandamonium, we see a giant panda keeper examining the health of panda cubs in Ulong National Nature Reserve, Sichuan Province, China. The keeper’s attire is designed to minimize human impact on these bears. Following this, there’s another captivating shot by Sue Flood titled Craveter sticker, captured on a glacial ice floe in the waters south of the Antarctic Peninsula. Such images can unveil the area’s grandeur to those unable to visit.
Crabeater Seals in the Southern Ocean near the Antarctic Peninsula
Sue Flood
From Paradise, La Palma – The photo below depicts the aftermath of the 2021 Cumbre Vieja volcanic eruption on this Spanish Canary island. A resident is seen redoing their garden, clearing away lava that destroyed mature palm trees and replacing them with new plants.
La Palma, Canary Islands. Two Years Post-Cumbre Vieja Eruption
Jonathan Browning
The concluding image below features Vincenzo Montefinese’s Lost Oasis, taken in Tinzouline, Draa Valley, Morocco. Here, an individual is seen adjusting solar panels that operate the water pump for irrigating nearby palm trees. Due to climate change and water scarcity, the valley’s oases have diminished by two-thirds over the past century, prompting farmers to illegally dig wells to access groundwater.
Tinzouline, Draa Valley, Morocco
Vincenzo Montefinese
The featured images were curated by New Scientist photo editor Tim Bodhis and David Stock, the director of editorial videos. The winners will be announced on June 16th, and the Earth Photo 2025 exhibition will take place at the Royal Geographical Society in London from June 17 to August 20, followed by a tour across the UK.
For the past two decades, the rotation of the Earth has shown unusual behavior. Scientists have now identified a surprising cause for this phenomenon: the loss of water from the land.
A recent study published in Science reveals that significant changes in the Earth’s axis since the early 2000s, resulting in a wobble of about 45 cm, were not due to changes in the core, ice loss, or glacial rebound. Instead, they were caused by underestimated changes in soil moisture across the planet.
Between 2000 and 2002, over 1,600 Gigatonnes of water were lost from the soil worldwide. This water, when discharged into the ocean, impacted the Earth’s balance and influenced its rotation.
According to Professor Clark Wilson, a geophysicist at the University of Texas at Austin and co-author of the study, there was a period in the early 2000s when significant water losses occurred from the continents, aligning with certain climate models’ predictions.
Research led by Professor Ki-Weon Seo from Seoul National University in Korea used satellite radar data and soil moisture models to track changes in Earth’s water reservoirs from the late 20th to early 21st centuries. They discovered a sudden drop in soil moisture between 2000 and 2002, contributing to a yearly rise in the global sea level.
This decrease in soil moisture continued from 2003 to 2016, with an additional loss of 1,000 Gigatonnes of water. By 2021, soil moisture levels had still not recovered, indicating a significant and lasting shift in Earth’s land water storage.
The study emphasizes how changes in terrestrial water, particularly soil moisture, can influence Earth’s axis and rotation, leading to observable effects on the planet’s vital signs. The researchers suggest that this trend of drying soil is likely irreversible and could have far-reaching consequences on global water security, agriculture, ecosystems, and climate patterns.
Experts Involved
Clark Wilson: Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in Earth and Planetary Sciences.
Ki-Weon SEO: Associate Professor at Seoul National University with a focus on ice mass losses and sea level rise.
Jay Famiglietty: Global Futures Professor at ASU’s School of Sustainability, specializing in water innovation and sustainable food systems.
This study highlights the importance of improving climate models to better understand and predict future climate conditions in the face of changing water dynamics on Earth.
Xavier Le Pichon, a French geophysicist who revolutionized the way in which a pioneering model of the Earth’s tectonic plates was able to understand the movement of the Earth’s crust, and died on March 22 at his sister’s home in southern France. He was 87 years old.
His death was announced in a statement from Collegie de France, France’s premier educational institution. There, Dr. Le Picon was Professor Emeritus and Chairman of Geodynamics.
Dr. Le Picheon, who internized in Japanese concentration camps as a child, continued to build a second career as a deep sea explorer, working with Mother Teresa of India for a while. However, it was in the field of geodynamics that he made his biggest contribution. Use a computer to create a model of the Earth plate.
His formulation has six such plates, as he said when he won in 2002, “for what is essential to the structural symptoms of the Earth’s surface.” Balzan PrizeAwarded in science fields not covered by Nobel.
Plate tectonics with Earth’s surface studies is a “framework” for understanding earthquakes, volcanoes, and the Earth’s long-term “climate stability.” David BelkovichYale geophysicist. He added that Dr. Le Picon was one of the architects of the framework.
Professor Bercovici emailed him “one of the giants of the plate structure revolution, especially when practicing its mathematical theory.”
His work was built on the theory of plate tectonics developed by Princeton scientist W. Jason Morgan in 1967. “Now we are entering an age of quantification for tectonics,” wrote Dr. Le Picon.
“The University of Rochester has a great opportunity to develop a new world of geophysics,” said John Taldono, professor of geophysics at the University of Rochester.
Dr. Pichon came to view the Earth as “an extraordinary creature with ocean and continental movement.”
After years of studying the ocean and its floors, including Columbia University, Dr. Lupicheon achieved a breakthrough in the mid-1960s. He called the “incredibly unpleasant” months of cruise hosted by Columbia, and observed a 37,000-mile-long ridge in the South Atlantic and Southwest Indian oceans.
The object was to detect seismic activity along the coat of arms of the ridge and test predictions made in the 1950s by Jean Pierre Rothet, another French scientist. “We went zigzag on this famous earthquake line for nine months,” Dr. Le Picon wrote in his 2003 book, Plate Tectonics: The Insider’s History of Modern Theory of the Earth.
The trip confirmed it and he continued to earn his Ph.D. Based on that study, at the University of Strasbourg in 1966.
“As such, the central ridge has achieved a victory over tectonics, becoming the most important structure in the world due to stroke,” he wrote.
But this was in the early 1960s, and he ran “in what we call “fixed mentors,” things weren’t moving.” Like he put it down On the 2009 episode of the podcast “Being With Krista Tippett.”
“The Earth was considered everything to be a static place,” he said. “Things were moving up and down, but never sideways. The continent was always there. The ocean was always there.”
Dr. Le Picon initially defended these concepts, but he realized they were wrong. He returned from the lab one day and told his wife, “My paper’s conclusions are wrong.”
Rather, I felt that he was an American geologist. Harry Hess The assumption in 1962 that the seabed had continued expansion was correct. After all, there was seismic activity along the top of the ridge. Measuring magnetic anomalies along the ridge is important in proofing Dr. Hess’s hypothesis.
Dr. Le Pichon recalled his Eureka moment in an episode of the podcast. “I worked all night on a computer, and one night I put it all together and found out that Hawaii approaches Tokyo at 8 centimeters each year.”
He recalls what he told her: “I discovered how the Earth works. I really know that now.” And I was so excited. ”
His passion for what was happening under the ocean developed quickly. After growing up in what was a French protectorate in Vietnam at the time, he was interrupted by his family during World War II when Japan invaded.
“When I was in the concentration camp, we were on the Pacific coast, and I was wondering what was under the water, and I was on the beach,” Dr. Le Picon said in 2009.
After publishing his groundbreaking paper in 1968, Columbia and Massachusetts Institute of Technology presented the first quantitative global model of plate boundaries and movement, offering him a teaching position. However, he instead led the Institute of Oceanography in Brittany, France, where he began his second career as an underwater ocean explorer, advancing into the depths of small submarines on joint Franco-American expeditions.
In 1973, he said he had taken such a ship 3,000 meters below him while exploring the ridges in the Mid-Atlantic Ocean.
“I had the impression that I was a religious man and had the return to Genesis,” he added. Other sea floor trips in Greece and Japan followed.
Dr. Lupichon, a Roman Catholic who attended Mass every day since childhood, experienced what was called a “great crisis in my life” in 1973 and worked for Mother Teresa in the city of Calcutta, India.
“I was very immersed in my research. I wasn’t looking at anyone else anymore,” he said. “In particular, I didn’t see people suffering and difficulties. It was a very strong crisis.”
His experience in Calcutta changed him by his account, and then he, his wife and his children engaged in charity and charity in the French Lach community for people with intellectual disabilities. They lived there for nearly 30 years. He and his family then find a similar community and help them live there.
Xavier Thaddée Le Pichon was born on June 18, 1937 in Quy Nhon, Vietnam, France, to Jean Louis Le Pichon and Helene Pauline (Tyl) Le Pichon, rubber plantation managers.
The family moved to France in 1945, with Xavier attending the Institute of Cherbourg Saint Paul and the Lyce Sainte Geneviève in Versailles. In 1960 he received his Bachelor of Engineering from the Institut de Physique Du GlobeHe received a Fulbright Fellowship in Strasbourg to study at Columbia University’s Lamont Daughertier Observatory.
His original works will be carried out over the next decade, and in 1973 he wrote with Jean Bonnin and Jean Franciteau.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Dr. Le Picheon taught at the Sorbonne and Ecole Normal Superfoil. He became a professor at the French Collège de France in 1986 and remained there until his retirement in 2008. Besides Balzan, he won many awards and was a member of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States.
He was survived by his wife Bridget Suzanne (Barselmee) le Pichon, a pianist. His children, Jean Baptist, Marie, Emmanuel, Raffaère, Jean Marie and Pierre Guien. 14 grandchildren; 5 great grandchildren.
In lectures and interviews, Dr. Le Picon linked his discoveries to his Catholic faith as a scientist and the prayer work it stimulated. The bridge between them was his concept of “vulnerability,” and he said, “is the essence of men and women, at the heart of humanity.”
The earth is also vulnerable. “I have a very close relationship with the Earth, so I think a little like a mother,” he said in 2009.
Sheila McNeill and Daphne Angles Contributed research.
Deep Soils – Depending on the type and area of soil, ranges from less than 30 cm (12 inches) to several hundred meters are neglected ecosystems within important zones of the Earth. Biologists have now discovered a wide and relatively abundant bacterial phyla, named CSP1-3, in deep soils, and evaluated its phylogenetic, ecology, metabolism, and evolutionary history.
A diagram showing the history of evolution from aquatic organisms and adaptive characteristics of CSP1-3 phylums in each habitat. Image credit: Michigan State University.
“The key zone extends from above the trees through the soil to a maximum of 213 m (700 feet),” said Professor James Tiedee of Michigan State University.
“This zone supports most life on the planet as it regulates critical processes such as soil formation, water circulation and nutrition cycling, which are essential for food production, water quality, and ecosystem health.”
“Despite its importance, the deep critical zone is a new frontier, as it is a relatively unexplored part of the Earth.”
Professor Tiedje and his colleagues discovered a completely different microbial phylum called CSP1-3 in this huge, unexplored world of microorganisms.
This new gate was identified in soil samples ranging from both Iowa and China up to 70 feet (21 m) deep.
“Why Iowa and China? Because these two regions have very deep and similar soils and I want to know if their occurrence is more common than just one region,” Professor Tiedje said.
Researchers extracted DNA from these deep soils and discovered that CSP1-3 ancestors lived in water millions of years ago.
They undergo at least one major habitat transition to colonize the soil environment. It is in the first topsoil and the deep soil that followed, within its evolutionary history.
Scientists also discovered that CSP1-3 microorganisms are active.
“Most people think that these organisms are like spores and dormant,” Professor Thiedeye said.
“But one of the important findings we found by examining DNA is that these microorganisms are growing actively and slowly.”
The authors were also surprised that these microorganisms were not unusual members of the community, but dominated. In some cases, they made up more than 50% of the community, but this is by no means the case in surface soils.
“I think this happened because deep soils are very different environments and this group of organisms evolved over a long period of time to adapt to this poor soil environment,” Professor Tiedje said.
a paper The explanation of the survey results was published on March 18th. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Wenlu Feng et al. 2025. Diversification, niche adaptation, and evolution of candidate phylums that thrive in deep critical zones. pnas 122 (12): E2424463122; doi: 10.1073/pnas.2424463122
Ship cemetery in the desert of the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan
s@owwl / alamy
Unsustainable irrigation and drought have caused changes that have empty almost all of the waters of the Aral Sea since the 1960s, extending all the way to the Earth’s upper mantle, the layer below the Earth’s crust. This is perhaps the deepest recorded example of human activity that will change the solid inner earth.
“To do something that will affect us [upper mantle] It’s like whoa.” Sylvain Barbott At the University of Southern California. “It shows how powerful it is to change the environment.”
The Aral Sea in Central Asia was once one of the largest waters in the world, covering almost 70,000 square kilometers. However, Soviet irrigation programs that began in the 1960s and later droughts empty the oceans. By 2018, it had shrunk by almost 90% and lost about 1,000 cubic kilometres of water.
Wang Ten At Peking University in China, I was interested in the Aral Sea after reading a book about the consequences of this environmental disaster on the surface of the earth. “We’ve noticed that these huge mass changes stimulate the deep Earth’s response,” he says.
He and his colleagues, including Barbot, used satellite measurements to track subtle changes in the elevation of the oceans that were empty between 2016 and 2020. Much of the ocean water disappeared decades ago, but it was found that the uplifts were underway, with on average rising surfaces about 7 millimeters a year.
Next, we used a model of the crust and mantle beneath the Aral Sea to test the mantle beneath the Aral Sea when it came to leading to the uplift of this observed pattern. “We found that the observations were perfectly compatible with a deep response to this change,” says Barbot.
When the weight of the water was removed, the shallow crust first responded, according to the model. This prompted a response at a depth of 190 km from the surface as the viscous rocks in the upper mantle creeped up to fill the blanks. “The uncurved things create space and the rocks want to flow into it,” Barbot says. This delayed reaction in hot, weak areas of the mantle, called the athenosphere, is why the uplift is ongoing, even decades after the water is removed, he says.
The upper mantle rebound is known to occur after other major changes in surface mass, such as glacier advancement and retreat, says Roland Bürgmann At the University of California, Berkeley. But the response to drainage in the Aral Sea may be the deepest example of human-caused changes on solid earth.
Other human-induced changes, such as filling large reservoirs and pumping groundwater, are said to have also caused rebounds. Manoochehr Shirzaei At Virginia Tech. But the wider range of the Aral Sea means the impact of emptying it is likely to run deeper, he says.
In addition to explaining the enormous scale of human activity, the uplift below the Aral Sea offers an extraordinary opportunity to estimate small differences in viscosity of the mantle, particularly under the interior of the continent, Bürgmann says. “It’s really important for people trying to understand plate tectonics to know how that layer behaves under the continent.”
By chemically analyzing ancient rock crystals, scientists at Curtin University, Portsmouth University and St. Francis Xavier University discovered that glaciers were carved to mark the landscape after the events of the neoplasm of the Snowman Earth, releasing the main minerals that transformed the sea shells. This process has had a major impact on the composition of the planet, creating conditions that allow complex life to evolve.
Impressions of the artist “Snowman Earth.” Image credit: NASA.
“Our research provides valuable insight into how the natural systems of the Earth are deeply interconnected,” says Chris Kirkland, professor of Curtin University, the study's lead author.
“When these huge ice sheets melted, they caused a huge flood that washed out mineral and uranium-containing chemicals into the ocean.”
“This influx of elements changed marine chemistry as more complex lives began to evolve.”
“This study highlights how Earth's land, oceans, atmosphere and climate are closely connected. Even ancient glacial activity triggers the chemical chain reaction that formed the planet.”
This study also offers a new perspective on modern climate change.
It shows how past changes in the global climate have caused large-scale environmental transformations.
“This research is a clear reminder that while the Earth itself can withstand, the conditions that make it habitable can change dramatically,” Professor Kirkland said.
“These ancient climate changes demonstrate the profound and lasting impact of changes in the natural and human-driven environment.
“Understanding these past events will help us to better predict how today's climate change will reconstruct our world.”
In the quest for clean energy and a shift away from fossil fuels, scientists may have uncovered new sources of power, potentially hidden in our mountains. A team of researchers from Germany has identified a vast reservoir of hydrogen gas, generated by rocks formed millions of years ago, through advanced simulations.
This discovery is significant as hydrogen (H2) as a power source does not emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, making it a more sustainable alternative to fossil fuels that contribute to climate change. Additionally, the production of hydrogen results in water instead of harmful emissions. However, the challenge lies in the fact that natural hydrogen production is rare, with the current synthetic production relying on fossil fuels.
The main hurdle in hydrogen production is sourcing it naturally. While geological processes can generate natural hydrogen without the need for fossil fuels, the availability of large accessible reserves remains uncertain. The recent study conducted by German researchers could potentially address this issue.
“We may be on the brink of a new era in natural hydrogen exploration,” said Dr. Frank Zworn, the lead author of the study published in the journal Advances in Science. “This could pave the way for a new natural hydrogen industry.”
Researchers at the GFZ Helmholtz Center for Geosciences in Germany utilized simulations of plate tectonic processes to identify a substantial reserve of natural hydrogen.
Natural hydrogen can be generated through various methods, such as bacterial transformation of organic matter or the splitting of water molecules due to radioactivity in the Earth’s crust. However, one of the most promising natural methods involves a geological process known as “serpentinization,” where rocks from the Earth’s mantle react with water to release H2 gas.
According to researchers, when these hydrogen-rich rocks are situated near the Earth’s surface, they can create potential zones for large-scale hydrogen production via excavation. These rocks are brought closer to the surface through processes such as continental rifting and mountain formation over millions of years.
As the crustal plates collide and create mountains, deep mantle rocks push up to the surface of the Earth. ‘Hot spots’ of hydrogen gas were identified where these rocks surfaced. – Image credit: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 USGS/ESEU Frankswaan edition, GFZ
By analyzing two processes, researchers determined that mountain formation offers ideal conditions for hydrogen generation. The combination of cold environments in mountains and increased water circulation could enhance hydrogen levels significantly. Simulations showed that rocks emerging through mountain formations have 20 times the hydrogen capacity compared to those brought to the surface via continental rifting.
Signs of natural hydrogen production have already been observed in mountainous regions such as the Pyrenees, European Alps, and Balkans. The research team anticipates that their findings will inspire further exploration of natural hydrogen in these areas and other mountainous regions.
Professor Sasha Brune, the head of the geodynamic modeling section at GFZ, emphasized the economic prospects tied to natural hydrogen. He stated, “It is now crucial to delve deeper into the migration pathways of microbial ecosystems that consume hydrogen, both shallow and deep, and to gain a better understanding of where potential hydrogen reservoirs can be formed.”
It is not unusual for the Earth’s core to experience changes in its rotational speed and shape over time. However, recent research has revealed some unexpected developments.
Scientists have been debating the reasons behind peculiar alterations in seismic waves caused by earthquakes. One side argues that changes in the rotational speed affect the travel time of the waves, while the other side suggests that alterations in the shape of the inner core are responsible. A new study published in Natural Earth Science by Chinese and US scientists indicates that it could be a combination of both factors.
The study reveals that in 2010, the Earth’s inner core started to rotate faster than other planets, potentially impacting seismic waves with changes near the surface of the core. These waves, similar to X-rays, provide insights into the planet’s interior. The findings are expected to provide more information about the core’s properties and structure.
“These findings present observable changes that offer a clearer understanding of how the inner core evolves over a few years. There could be more surprises in store,” said Professor John Emilio Vidale, the lead author of the study, to BBC Science Focus.
The Earth’s core is almost as hot as the sun’s surface and is located approximately 6,500 km (4,000 miles) below the Earth’s surface, with pressure exceeding that of the deepest ocean depths. Due to these extreme conditions, direct exploration of the core is not feasible.
Scientists rely on seismic waves generated by earthquakes to study the core. By analyzing how these waves travel through different layers of the Earth, including the core, scientists can gain a better understanding of its structure and movement.
In this recent research, the team focused on seismic waves from 121 repeat earthquake pairs in the South Sandwich Islands between 1991 and 2023. By examining changes in the arrival times and waveforms of these signals over decades, the team identified minor shifts in core movement.
These findings revealed interesting trends in the Earth’s inner core. It rotated faster than the mantle and crust for decades before slowing down around 2010. However, some earthquakes showed no significant time shifts, indicating occasional pauses or reversals in rotations.
The study also made secondary findings, suggesting that factors other than rotation might be affecting the inner core. The team believes that viscous transformations near the inner core’s boundary could be influencing its behavior.
While this behavior may appear unstable, further data is needed to confirm its normality and deepen our understanding of how the Earth’s core functions.
According to Vidale, the simplest explanation is that the movement of the outer core initiates rotations in the inner core, readjusting its position over decades. However, the exact mechanisms behind these adjustments remain uncertain.
“The inner core’s movements may not follow a harmonious pattern, as they seem to align with the outer core’s movements,” he explained.
While this study presents intriguing insights into the Earth’s core behavior, it could pave the way for more discoveries in the future. Vidale suggests that further analysis may reveal more about the core’s activity and its potential impact on Earth’s magnetic field and other phenomena.
This could help researchers understand unpredictable occurrences that may affect satellite operations and compass readings, although they may not have a direct impact on daily life.
About our experts
John Vidale is a professor of Earth Sciences and Dean at the University of Southern California. His research focuses on earthquakes, the Earth’s structure, volcanoes, and seismic hazards. Vidale has held various roles in earthquake research institutions and warning systems, contributing significantly to our understanding of seismic events.
The inner core of Earth’s solids appears to have changed shape over the last 20 years or so, according to seismic wave measurements, but the behavior of these waves can also be explained by other shifts at the center of the planet.
Since the 1990s, models and earthquake measurements have shown that the inner core of Earth’s iron nickel moves at its own pace. Over decades, the inner core rotation is faster, slower than other planets, affecting the length of the day and more.
These rotational changes are primarily due to magnetic forces produced by convection in the Earth’s liquid outer core, they say. John Vidale At the University of Southern California. “That flow constantly torques the inner core.”
These magnetic forces, or related processes, can change the shape of the inner core and its rotation. In fact, previous measurements of seismic waves passing through the center of the planet seem to show just that. However, uncertainty regarding the rotation of the core made it impossible to distinguish between rotational changes and shape changes.
Now, Vidale and his colleagues are analyzing seismic waves generated by 128 earthquakes off the coast of South America between 1991 and 2023. All waves were measured by Alaskan instruments after passing through the planet.
From these, researchers have identified 168 sets of seismic waves that have passed through or near the same area of the inner core, but have been away for years. It was only possible to identify these matches Recent work Vidale says it will better constrain the variation in rotation of the inner core.
Both waves of each pair that did not pass through the inner core shared a similar pattern, suggesting that in the region within the planet nothing had changed between the first and second earthquakes. Masu. However, the waves of the pair crossed with the inner core did not match.
Researchers say this suggests that the inner core not only slows down and speeds up rotation for decades but also changes shape. They say that these changes are magnetically pulled at the less viscous edge of the inner core of the solid or interaction between the inner core and the structure of the planetary core and the lower mantle. They say it is likely caused by interactions between the layers. The crust.
hrvojetkalčić At Australian National University, which was not involved in the study, this is a “step” to resolve changes in the internal core beyond rotation. However, he says that the shape change is not the only explanation for the seismic waves of incongruity.
As Vidale and his colleagues acknowledge, these differences can also be caused by unrelated changes in the outer core, convection within the inner core itself, or by eruption of melted material from the inner core. There is. “It’s really hard to tell,” Bidal says. He suggests that studying more repeated earthquakes in the future will help identify changes in more detail.
Tkalčić says seismological measurements in remote areas such as the seabed are also useful. “This is important for understanding the deepest inner evolution of Earth, from the time of the planetary layers to the present,” he says.
Small rocks in the universe revealed that life on earth could have come from asteroids. And life outside of earth suggests that we are one step closer than we thought.
A bold NASA mission known as OSIRIS-REX five years ago The Bennu asteroid is on a course close to colliding with earth, and in the process, it will grab a small sample. A small capsule, containing 120 grams (4 ounces) of asteroid material, landed in the Utah Desert in late 2023.
Since then, scientists have been eagerly waiting to hear the contents of the capsule. Currently, scientists have confirmed that the asteroid contains not only organic matter but also all the components that make up DNA.
Sample return capsules from NASA’s OSIRIS-REX mission are found immediately after landing in the Utah Desert on September 24, 2023. Photo Credit: NASA/Keegan Barber
Bennu, currently orbiting close to the earth, is an ancient fragment of our solar system, with its parent asteroid formed about 4.5 billion years ago.
“We now know from Bennu that the ingredients of life are really interesting and complicated,” said Dr. Tim McCoy, the MET stone curator at the National Natural History Museum in the United States and co-leader of new papers.
“We have found the next step on the road to life.”
The breakthroughs suggest that life was formed on earth after asteroid collisions, but this process also occurs throughout the universe, whether through parent bodies or other asteroid collisions. It suggests a new beginning.
How can Bennu help in forming life?
The most important discovery is that Bennu seems to host “Brinny Bros,” which allows minerals and salts to mix. This compound developed into complex structures that form essential ingredients of life.
Researchers suggest that saltwater outside of earth may be an essential environment for birthing organic compounds throughout the universe, including on earth. In addition to the potential of water, these saltwater environments can facilitate prebiotic organic synthesis processes, where building blocks for life can come together.
Surprisingly, the absence of liquid water plays a vital role here. While liquid water is essential for life, chemical reactions needed to form complex structures require a loss of water in the process.
So what mixture forms this life?
The survey results will be published in the journals Nature and Nature Astronomy. Researchers around the world analyzed a small part of the sample using an electron microscope, enabling inspection at a resolution equal to a human hair.
“It may seem natural to think that earth, hosting life, has the most widespread collection of organic materials in the solar system,” said Dr. Douglas Vacoc, Research Organization Messaging President of METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence), to BBC Science Focus.
The first museum exhibit of a sample from the Bennu Asteroid was announced at the National Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian Institution in the United States. This is a rock-filled fragment with mass. Photo Credit: James di Loret and Philip R. Lee, Smithsonian
The impressive asteroid collection contains 14 of the 20 amino acids found in all living organisms (protein building blocks), including individual non-protein amino acids not known or existing in known biology. The sample also contains all five nucleic bases (adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine, uracil) that form the code of DNA and RNA.
“There are no signs that Bennu’s amino acids were created by living organisms, but as we know, some essential building blocks for life are abundant on this asteroid,” Vacoch said.
How close are we to “life”?
Researchers have yet to understand the complex structure formed at Bennu’s core upon impact.
“We now have a basic building block moving along this path, but how far along this process can progress is unknown,” they said.
It’s not clear if Bennu’s conditions can advance to the next stage of biological evolution.
“Amino acids alone are not enough for life,” said Professor Lewis Dartnell to BBC Science Focus. “These acids need to bond into long chains to start protein production or bind to DNA. The next step in the origin of life requires not just building blocks but assembling these blocks.”
“To create life, these building blocks must begin the production of molecules like proteins and DNA, forming them into cells,” he added.
What is needed beyond organic molecules and water to reach this point? “The missing elements are energy sources like photosynthesis or chemical energy,” said Dartnell. “Additionally, a long period is required to move from simple amino acids to proteins, DNA, cells, and life spans.”
A scanning electron microscope image of carbonated sodium venous in Bennu’s sample – Photo Credit: Rob Wandel, Tim Gooding, and Tim McCoy, Smithsonian
This discovery represents a significant leap in understanding Bennu’s nature.
“By examining Bennu’s chemical composition, we have found clues to its origins and recent discoveries point to its roots in the outer solar system,” said Vacoch.
Bennu’s contents may set a new baseline for exploring other cosmic bodies. The sample was meticulously preserved before analysis, ensuring the integrity of the salt content.
“There is no substitute for traveling to asteroids, collecting pristine samples, and returning them to an Earth research institute,” Vacoch stated. “OSIRIS-REX serves as proof of profound discoveries from sample return missions.”
If the fragments had fallen to earth on their own, the salt content would have been disrupted in the earth’s atmosphere. But with this knowledge, McCoy and his colleagues may find evidence of this saltwater in existing MET stone collections.
“This is like finding what you were looking for on a mission,” McCoy said. “We have found something unexpected. It’s the best reward for all kinds of exploration.”
About our experts
Dr. Douglas Vacoch, President of the Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI), is a research and educational organization that sends signals to nearby stars. He is a member of the International Space Law Research Institute and serves as a general editor for Springer’s Space and Society series.
Professor Lewis Dartnell is a Professor of Science Communication at the University of Westminster, specializing in space biology and the exploration of microbial life on Mars. He is the author of Origin: How Earth Created Us and The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch.
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Near-Earth asteroid 2024 PT5 is in an Earth-like orbit and remained very close to Earth for several months at the end of 2024.
2024 PT5 captured a brief flyby from September 29 to November 25, 2024. Image credit: University of Colorado.
2024 PT was first detected on August 7, 2024 by the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope at the University of Hawaii in Sutherland, South Africa.
This asteroid poses no danger to Earth, but its orbit around the sun closely matches that of our planet.
The object, which is about 10 meters (33 feet) wide, appears to be composed of rock that broke off from the moon’s surface and was ejected into space after a major impact.
“There was a general idea that this asteroid might have come from the moon, but when we discovered that this asteroid is rich in silicate minerals, it became conclusive proof. The silicate minerals are not the kind found on asteroids, but rather the ones found in the moon’s rocks. Dr. Teddy Kaleta Astronomer at Lowell Observatory.
“It doesn’t seem to have been in space very long, perhaps only a few thousand years, because there was no cosmic weathering to cause its spectrum to turn red.”
Using observations from the Lowell Discovery Telescope and NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) at Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii, Dr. Kaleta and his colleagues show that the spectrum of sunlight reflected from the surface of 2024 PT does not match its spectrum. showed. A known asteroid type. Instead, the reflected light more closely matched the moon’s rocks.
This discovery doubles the number of known asteroids thought to originate from the Moon.
“Asteroid 469219 Kamooarewa was discovered in 2016 in an Earth-like orbit around the sun, indicating that this asteroid may also have been ejected from the lunar surface after a major impact,” the astronomers said. said.
“As telescopes become more sensitive to smaller asteroids, more potential lunar boulders will be discovered, and scientists studying the moon as well as scientists studying rare asteroid populations will It creates exciting opportunities for everyone.”
“If a lunar asteroid could be directly related to a specific impact crater on the Moon, studying it could provide insight into the cratering process on the pockmarked lunar surface.”
“Also, material collected from deep on the moon’s surface in the form of asteroids passing close to Earth could be available to future scientists for study.”
“This is a story about the moon told by asteroid scientists,” Dr. Kaleta said.
“It’s an unusual situation where we go out to study asteroids and end up wandering into new territory in terms of the questions we can ask for PT5 in 2024.”
of findings On January 14, 2025, Astrophysics Journal Letter.
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Theodore Caleta others. 2025. On the origin of the near-Earth asteroid moon2024 PT5. APJL 979, L8; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad9ea8
Most of us are aware that our planet is constantly spinning around its own axis as it orbits the sun. However, the Earth actually rotates around a tilted axis of 23.44°, leading to changes in its slope over time due to natural oscillations and cycles.
Human activities, such as global warming and groundwater extraction for irrigation, are causing significant changes in Earth’s tilt. Scientists have found that as polar ice melts and water redistributes, it can affect the planet’s rotation.
Researchers estimate that pumping large amounts of groundwater for irrigation purposes has led to significant changes in Earth’s tilt over recent decades. This redistribution of water mass is impacting the planet’s rotation, with measurable effects on sea levels and pole shifts.
Experts like Professor Seo Ki-won note that even small changes in water mass can affect Earth’s rotation, leading to shifts in its axis. These changes have been observed over the past few decades, indicating the impact of human activities on a global scale.
While these changes may not directly impact the climate, they do have implications for systems that rely on precise measurements and timing, such as GPS and financial markets. As Earth’s rotation slows due to mass redistribution, adjustments will need to be made to prevent system failures.
It is becoming increasingly clear that human activities are influencing not just the climate, but also the fundamental movements of Earth within space. As we continue to alter the planet’s mass distribution, we must be prepared to adapt our technologies and systems to accommodate these changes.
The issue of energy consumption and its sources has always been a significant concern in the context of the climate crisis. In response, efforts are being made to utilize cleaner and newer fuels. Recently, a groundbreaking discovery of vast reservoirs of hydrogen energy hiding beneath the Earth’s surface has emerged, prompting questions about its potential impact.
Naturally occurring geological hydrogen is formed through Earth’s geochemical processes and has been identified in limited locations such as Albania and Mali. Research published in the journal Scientific Progress suggests that these reserves are widespread globally.
The study posits that if just 2 percent of the underground hydrogen could be extracted, it could yield 1.4 × 10^16 Joules of energy, equivalent to the world population’s energy consumption in 35 minutes. This amount of energy exceeds that of all natural gas reserves on Earth and could aid in achieving net-zero carbon goals.
While current methods for obtaining hydrogen involve fossil fuels or water-intensive electrolysis processes with a carbon footprint, extracting geological hydrogen is a comparatively low-carbon process, albeit currently practiced only in Mali.
Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey have developed a model combining knowledge of hydrogen occurrence and geological data to explore these reservoirs on a global scale, estimating a substantial amount of hidden hydrogen beneath the Earth’s surface.
However, experts are hesitant about committing resources to extraction due to the scale and infrastructure required, as highlighted by geoscientist Professor Bill McGuire from University College London (UCL). He emphasizes the abundance of renewable energy sources like wind and solar and questions the necessity of tapping into another finite resource.
About our experts
Professor Bill McGuire is a volcanologist, climatologist, and author currently serving as Professor of Geophysics and Climate Hazards at UCL. His works include books on natural disasters, environmental change, and climate solutions.
Despite conflicting with the results of some recent studies, this new discovery reinforces the claim that Jupiter-based comets like 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko may have contributed to providing water to Earth. This finding has been confirmed.
This pseudocolor four-image mosaic consists of images taken on February 3, 2015, from a distance of 28.7 km from the center of comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The size of the mosaic is 4.2 x 4.6 km. Image credit: ESA / Rosetta / NAVCAM / CC BY-SA IGO 3.0.
Water is crucial for the formation and sustenance of life on Earth, and continues to be central to life on Earth today.
It is believed that some water was present in the gas and dust that formed our planet around 4.6 billion years ago, but due to Earth forming close to the sun’s intense heat, a considerable amount of water is thought to have evaporated.
The process by which Earth became abundant in liquid water is still a subject of debate among scientists.
Studies have indicated that a portion of Earth’s water originates from steam released by volcanoes, which then condensed and fell into the oceans.
Furthermore, evidence suggests that a significant percentage of our oceans resulted from the impact of ice and minerals from asteroids and potentially comets hitting Earth.
A series of comets and asteroids colliding with inner solar system planets 4 billion years ago could have facilitated this occurrence.
While there is a strong theory linking asteroid water to Earth’s water, the role of comets has perplexed scientists.
Multiple measurements of Jupiter-based comets have indicated a strong correlation between their water and that of Earth.
This connection is based on a fundamental molecular signature utilized by scientists to track the origins of water across the solar system.
The deuterium (D) to ordinary hydrogen (H) ratio in an object’s water serves as this signature, providing insights into the object’s formation location.
By comparing this hydrogen ratio in comets and asteroids to that of Earth’s water, scientists can discern a potential connection.
Deuterium-rich water is more likely to form in cold environments, resulting in objects formed farther from the Sun, such as comets, exhibiting higher concentrations of this isotope compared to objects formed nearer to the Sun, like asteroids.
Measurements conducted over the past few decades on the deuterium in the water vapor of various other Jupiter-based comets have revealed levels akin to Earth’s water.
“It seems increasingly likely that these comets play a significant role in delivering water to Earth,” commented Dr. Kathleen Mandt, a planetary scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
However, ESA’s Rosetta mission to 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014 challenged the notion that Jupiter-based comets aid in replenishing Earth’s water reservoirs.
Upon analyzing Rosetta’s water measurements, scientists discovered that it has the highest deuterium concentration among all comets, with approximately 100% more deuterium than Earth’s oceans (about 1 deuterium atom for every 6,420 hydrogen atoms), surpassing it by threefold.
“This was a significant revelation that compelled us to reassess everything,” remarked Dr. Mandt.
An advanced statistical computing approach was employed by the researchers to automate the laborious task of segregating deuterium-rich water from over 16,000 Rosetta measurements.
These measurements were taken within the gas and dust coma encircling 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by Rosetta.
For the first time, Dr. Mandt and collaborators analyzed all water measurements from the European mission.
The researchers aimed to comprehend the physical processes influencing the fluctuations in hydrogen isotope ratios detected in comets.
Studies on comet dust in laboratory settings and observations indicated that comet dust could impact the hydrogen proportion detected in comet vapors, potentially altering how the comet’s water compares to Earth’s water.
“So, I was curious to see if I could find evidence of this phenomenon occurring in 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko,” added Dr. Mandt.
“This is one of those rare instances where a hypothesis is proposed and genuinely validated.”
In fact, scientists identified a distinct correlation between the deuterium measurements of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko within its coma and the amount of surrounding dust near the Rosetta spacecraft, indicating that measurements taken in certain regions of the coma near 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko may not accurately represent the comet’s celestial composition.
As the comet traverses an orbit closer to the Sun, its surface warms, releasing gases from the surface, including dust particles with attached water ice fragments.
Research suggests that water containing deuterium has a higher tendency to adhere to dust particles compared to regular water.
When this ice on dust particles is expelled into a coma, it can create an illusion of the comet containing more deuterium than it actually does.
The researchers noted that by the time the dust reaches the outer regions of the coma, at least 120 miles away from the comet’s core, the coma depletes of water.
Once the deuterium-rich water dissipates, the spacecraft can precisely measure the amount of deuterium emanating from the comet’s core.
“This discovery holds profound implications not only for elucidating the role of comets in supplying water to Earth but also for comprehending comet observations that offer insights into the early solar system’s formation,” the researchers noted.
“This discovery provides a unique opportunity to revisit previous observations and prepare for future observations to better factor in the effects of dust.”
of study Published in a magazine scientific progress.
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Kathleen E. Mandt others. 2024. D/H of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko almost on Earth. scientific progress 10(46);doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adp2191
Map showing where asteroid fireballs can be seen in Siberia
ESA
A dramatic but harmless spectacle will take place over Siberia today as an asteroid about 70 centimeters in diameter burns up in the atmosphere.
The space rock will illuminate the sky over northern Siberia at around 11:15 pm local time (4:15 pm Japan time). Warning from the European Space Agency (ESA).
Alan Fitzsimmons Britain's Queen's University Belfast says objects of this size pose no danger to people on the ground, but early warnings are a positive sign that our ability to detect these objects before they hit Earth is increasing. It is said that this is a sign.
“It's small, but it's still going to be pretty spectacular,” Fitzsimmons said. “The sky above the impact site will darken and a very impressive, very bright fireball will spread across the sky for hundreds of kilometers around it.”
Several objects of this size collide with Earth every year, and we are getting better at detecting them early. The first discovery was in 2008. The next discovery was made six years later, but the pace of observations has picked up. Today's asteroid, named C0WEPC5, is the fourth predicted to hit Earth this year.
Early warning of small asteroids gives astronomers the opportunity to observe them, collect data, and even try to collect any small pieces that survive. Fitzsimmons said the first such predicted impact in 2008 led to the recovery of a small piece of rock and generated important science. “What was beautiful was that the meteorite's reflectivity matched exactly what was measured by telescopes before the impact, and it was a perfect match between what we saw in space and what we later found on Earth. “It shows a very nice direct connection,” he says.
Detecting larger, more dangerous objects heading toward Earth could provide an opportunity to deflect them or at least evacuate the dangerous area.
NASA and ESA currently have dedicated programs for asteroid discovery and tracking. This involves a large network of dedicated observatories and amateur astronomers who read the positions of known objects so that their orbits can be better understood and predicted.
This latest asteroid was discovered by NASA's Asteroid Earth Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS). ATLAS operates four telescopes around the world and is designed to provide up to a week of collision warning.
“This is a victory for science, [for] “If you happen to be in Siberia this evening, there will definitely be something to take your mind off the very cold temperatures,” says Fitzsimmons.
Primordial black holes have been theorized for decades and may even be the eternally elusive dark matter. However, primordial black holes have not yet been observed. These tiny black holes could become trapped in rocky planets or asteroids, consuming their liquid cores from within and leaving hollow structures behind, according to a duo of astrophysicists from the University at Buffalo, Case Western Reserve University, and National Donghua University. It is said that there is. Alternatively, microtunnels could be left in very old rocks on Earth, or in the glass or other solid structures of very old buildings.
An artist's impression of a primordial black hole. Image credit: NASA.
Small primordial black holes are perhaps the most intriguing and intriguing relics of the early universe.
They could act as candidates for dark matter, be sources of primordial gravitational waves, and help solve cosmological problems such as domain walls and the magnetic monopole problem.
However, so far no convincing primordial black hole candidates have been observed.
Professor Dejan Stojković of the University at Buffalo said: “Although the chances of finding these signatures are low, the search does not require many resources and the potential reward of providing the first evidence of a primordial black hole is enormous. It's going to become something.”
“We need to think outside the box because what has been done so far to find primordial black holes has not worked.”
Professor Stojkovic and colleague Dr. De Zhang Dai, of Case Western Reserve University and National Donghua University, are investigating how large hollow asteroids can grow without collapsing, and whether a primordial black hole is The probability of passing was calculated. Earth.
“Because of such long odds, we have focused on hard traces that have existed for thousands, millions, or even billions of years,” Dr. Dai said. .
“If the object has a liquid central core, a trapped primordial black hole could absorb the liquid core, whose density is higher than that of the outer solid layer,” Professor Stojković added.
“In that case, if the object was hit by an asteroid, the primordial black hole could escape from the object, leaving only a hollow shell.”
But would such a shell be strong enough to support itself, or would it simply collapse under its own tension?
Comparing the strength of natural materials such as granite and iron to their surface tension and surface density, the researchers found that such hollow objects could be less than one-tenth the radius of the Earth, making them smaller than normal We calculated that it was more likely to be an asteroid than a planet. .
“If it gets any bigger, it will collapse,” Professor Stojković said.
“These hollow objects could potentially be detected with telescopes. The mass, and therefore the density, can be determined by studying the objects' trajectories.”
“If an object's density is too low for its size, that's a good sign that it's hollow.”
For objects without a liquid core, the primordial black hole could simply pass through, leaving a straight microtunnel behind.
For example, a primordial black hole with mass 10twenty two grams, leaving a tunnel 0.1 microns thick.
Large slabs of metal or other materials could serve as effective black hole detectors by monitoring the sudden appearance of these tunnels, but very old materials from buildings that are hundreds of years old Searching for existing tunnels has a higher probability. From the oldest to rocks that are billions of years old.
Still, even assuming that dark matter is indeed composed of primordial black holes, they calculated that the probability that a primordial black hole would pass through a billion-year-old rock is 0.000001.
“You have to compare costs and benefits. Does it cost a lot of money to do this? No, it doesn't,” Professor Stojković said.
“So, to say the least, it's unlikely that a primordial black hole will pass through you during your lifetime. Even if you did, you probably wouldn't notice.”
“Unlike rocks, human tissue has a small amount of tension, so the primordial black hole won't tear it apart.”
“And while the kinetic energy of a primordial black hole may be huge, it is moving so fast that it cannot release much of that energy during a collision.”
“If a projectile is moving through a medium faster than the speed of sound, the molecular structure of the medium has no time to react.”
“If you throw a rock through a window, it will probably break. If you shoot a window with a gun, it will probably just leave a hole.”
team's paper Published in a magazine physics of the dark universe.
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De Chan Dai and Dejan Stojković. 2024. We're looking for planets, asteroids, and tiny primordial black holes on Earth. physics of the dark universe 46: 101662;doi: 10.1016/j.dark.2024.101662
Flooding is a common occurrence in the cities of Navotas and Malabon, located in densely populated areas north of Metro Manila in the Philippines.
These cities have adapted to the constant threat of floods. For example, the iconic jeepney vehicles are now made of stainless steel to prevent corrosion from seawater. Additionally, roads have been continuously elevated, reaching heights higher than people’s doors in some areas.
“They keep raising the roads higher and higher, and it’s a challenge to sustain this,” says Dr. Mahal Ragmay, Executive Director of the University of the Philippines Resilience Institute.
The struggle to combat floods in these cities is not just due to rising sea levels, but also to the lowering of the ground level. A study led by Lagmay and his team revealed that parts of Metro Manila sank by 10.6 centimeters (4.2 inches) per year between 2014 and 2020, significantly higher than the global average sea level rise.
This rapid decline has been a growing concern, especially in certain coastal areas around Manila Bay where floods have left half of the houses submerged, forcing rice farmers to turn to fishing for their livelihood.
Similar subsidence issues are observed in various highly urbanized regions worldwide, as highlighted by land subsidence expert Dr. Matt Way, who studies urban subsidence on a global scale.
The Impact of Land Subsidence
Subsidence measurements are now conducted using advanced technologies like satellite data, allowing researchers to make more accurate estimates of ground movement. With tools like GNSS and InSAR, scientists can track ground movement in 3D at specific points, providing detailed insights into subsidence patterns.
By analyzing subsidence data from various cities globally, researchers have found that many urban areas are experiencing significant sinking rates, posing a threat to millions of people.
Causes of Subsidence
Tighter regulations on groundwater extraction have slowed Jakarta’s sinking rate, but flooding still occurs – Credit: BAY ISMOYO
Subsidence in cities like New York and Manila has various causes, including post-glacial rebound and human activities like excessive groundwater pumping. While natural phenomena like seismic faults contribute to ground movements, human interventions play a significant role in accelerating subsidence rates.
Addressing subsidence requires a multi-faceted approach, from regulating groundwater extraction to monitoring and mitigating the impact of sinking urban areas.
Mitigating Urban Subsidence
Cities like Jakarta, Tokyo, and Houston have made strides in slowing subsidence rates by implementing stricter water regulations and alternative water supply solutions. In Manila, efforts to ban deep well drilling and reduce reliance on groundwater are underway to address subsidence issues.
While some areas may face relocation due to flooding and sinking, careful management of groundwater resources and proactive monitoring can help cities bounce back from subsidence challenges.
About our experts
Dr. Matt Way is an expert in oceanography and studies natural disasters and crustal geodesy at the University of Rhode Island.
Dr. Mahal Lagmay is the Executive Director of the University of the Philippines Resilience Institute, focusing on projects related to flooding and groundwater management in the Philippines.
Giant reed warbler migrating between Europe and Africa
AGAMI Photo Agency / Alamy Stock
Many migratory birds use the Earth's magnetic field as a compass, and others can use information from that field to more or less determine where they are on their mental map.
Greater Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus skillupaceus) appears to calculate geographic location by drawing data from various distances and angles between the magnetic field and the shape of the Earth. The study suggests that birds use magnetic information as a kind of “GPS,” telling them not only where to go, but also their initial whereabouts, they said. richard holland At Bangor University, UK.
“When we travel, we have a map that shows us where we are and a compass that shows us which direction to go to reach our destination,” he says. “We don't expect birds to have this much precision or knowledge about the entire planet. Yet, when they travel along their normal path, or even when they travel far from that path, they , and observe how the magnetic cues change.”
Scientists have known for decades that migratory birds rely on cues from the ocean. solar, star and earth's magnetic field To decide which direction to go. But using a compass to figure out direction and knowing where a bird is in the world are markedly different, and scientists are wondering if and how birds figure out their current map location. I'm still debating whether to do it or not.
Florian Packmore Germany's Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park Administration suspected that birds could detect detailed aspects of magnetic fields to determine their global location. Specifically, magnetic obliquity (the change in the angle of the Earth's surface relative to magnetic field lines) and magnetic declination (the difference in orientation between the geographic and magnetic poles) are used to better understand where you are in the world. He thought he might be able to do it.
To test their theory, Packmore, Holland and colleagues captured 21 adult reed warblers in Illmitz, Austria, on their migration route from Europe to Africa. So the researchers temporarily placed the birds in an outdoor aviary, where they used a Helmholtz coil to disrupt the magnetic field. They artificially altered the inclination and declination in a way that corresponded to the location of Neftekamsk, Russia, 2,600 kilometers away. “That's way off course for them,” Packmore says.
The researchers then placed the birds in special cages to study their migratory instincts and asked two independent researchers, who were unaware of changes in the magnetic field, to record which direction the birds headed. In the changed magnetic field conditions, most birds showed a clear tendency to fly west-southwest, as if trying to return to their migratory route from Russia. In contrast, when the magnetic field was unchanged, the same birds attempted to fly south-southeast from Austria.
This suggests that the birds believed they were no longer in Austria, but Russia, based solely on magnetic inclination and declination, Packmore said.
“Of course they don't know it's Russia, but it's too far north and east from where they should be,” Holland says. “And at that point, they look at their compass system and figure out how to fly south and west.”
However, the neurological mechanisms that allow birds to sense these aspects of the Earth's magnetic field are still not fully understood.
“This is an important step in understanding how the magnetic maps of songbirds, especially the great reed warbler, work,” he says. Nikita Chernetsov The professor at the Institute of Zoology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg was not involved in the study.
The study confirms that the great reed warbler relies on these magnetic fields for positioning, but that doesn't mean all birds do, he added. “Not all birds work the same.”
Packmore and Holland said the birds were released two to three weeks after the study, at which point they were able to continue their normal migration. In fact, one of the birds they studied was captured a second time a year later. This means that the researchers' work did not interfere with the birds' successful migration.
A new study shows that about 70% of meteorites originate from at least three recent breakups of giant asteroids.
This is the artist's impression of the asteroid as it breaks apart. Credit: NASA/JPL-California Institute of Technology.
A type of meteorite, commonly called a chondrite, accounts for about 80% of all meteorites that hit Earth, including those that were involved in the violent impact period about 466 million years ago that is thought to have started the Ice Age. Included.
Previous studies have demonstrated that approximately 70% of meteorites on Earth have compositions known as H and L chondrites.
Argon-argon dating of L-chondrite meteorites on Earth suggests that these samples may have originated from the catastrophic destruction of a single asteroid that experienced a supersonic impact approximately 470 million years ago. It turned out to be high.
in new researchESO and MIT researcher Dr. Michael Marcet and colleagues have compiled spectroscopic data from asteroids in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter.
They found that a group of asteroids known as the Massalia family is very similar in composition to L-chondrite meteorites on Earth.
Through computer modeling, they propose that an impact event about 450 million years ago destroyed an L-chondrite asteroid, forming the Massalia family and providing debris that fueled the influx of meteorites.
in second studyCharles University researcher Miroslav Broz and his colleagues found that the current influx of H and L chondrite meteorites was likely caused by three recent breakups.
These events occurred about 5.8, 7.6 and 40 million years ago and involved the destruction of asteroids over 30 km (18.6 miles) in diameter.
More specifically, they suggest that the impact formation of the relatively young Karin and Coronis asteroid families and a second impact event (about 40 million years ago) in the older Massalia asteroids are currently falling to Earth. I guessed that explained most of the meteorites.
in Third, follow-upDr. Brož and his co-authors extended their approach to the entire meteorite family, revealing the major origins of carbonaceous chondrites and achondrites, in addition to those from the Moon, Mars, and Vesta.
“Our discovery provides insight into the mystery of where the most common meteorites that have ever hit Earth came from and how those impacts shaped Earth's history.” ,” the researchers said.
Our planet’s new small satellite, 2024 PT5, arrived in Earth’s orbit on September 29, 2024.
2024 PT5 is scheduled to capture a temporary flyby from September 29th to November 25th in 2024. Image credit: University of Colorado.
2024 PT5 was discovered by the Asteroid Earth Impact Final Warning System in Sutherland, South Africa on August 7, 2024.
This near-Earth asteroid is about 10 meters (33 feet) in diameter and follows an orbit similar to that of 2022 NX1.
2024 PT5 will become a mini-Earth satellite on September 29 and return to heliocentric orbit 56.6 days later on November 25.
“Near-Earth objects like this offer a glimpse into the formation process of the solar system,” said astrophysicist Dr. Nico Cappellutti. University of Miami.
“Most asteroids in our solar system are rocky remnants left over from the formation of our solar system.”
2024 PT5 is part of Arjuna, an asteroid belt made up of space rocks that follow an orbit around the sun very similar to Earth’s orbit.
“So sometimes they can remain temporarily trapped in our gravitational field,” Dr. Cappellutti said.
“Bringing them this close is a fascinating opportunity.”
“The asteroid, the size of a school bus, is too faint and small to be seen with the naked eye or with amateur telescopes, but its two-month stay around Earth has reinforced our intense interest in space rocks. It helps maintain.”
Two years ago, in what was called the first test of the planetary defense system, NASA crashed a spacecraft into the giant space rock Dimorphos, which could change direction if the asteroid was on a collision course with Earth. proved something.
Private companies also want to send spacecraft to asteroids in hopes of mining the precious metals they contain.
“Asteroids are classified based on their orbits and their contents,” said Dr. Bertrand Dano, also from the University of Miami.
“Some are made entirely of stone, while others contain high concentrations of rare metals, such as platinum and gold for electronics, nickel and cobalt for catalysts and fuel cell technology, and, of course, iron.”
“Mining asteroids is not far off. There are currently millions of asteroids in our solar system, about 2 million of which are larger than 1 km.”
“The resources it contains are a new dream for El Dorado, and there are several companies currently betting on it.”
“Recent missions to rendezvous with, orbit and land on asteroids have proven that space mining may be only a matter of time.”
“However, proceeding with asteroid mining will require huge investments, from the mining equipment that needs to operate in a vacuum to the technology needed to transport the extracted minerals to Earth.”
“And then there’s the spacecraft itself. A dedicated ship that would travel to an asteroid for the purpose of extracting minerals from the asteroid would probably be a robotic ship.”
“A trip to Mars would take about eight months under the best conditions. The space and equipment needed to support life would be put to good use as storage for backup equipment and resources.”
“Because it takes a lot of energy to leave Earth’s gravity, mining missions are better launched from space or from low-gravity bodies such as the Moon, Mars, or Titan, one of Saturn’s natural moons. Sho.”
“Returning to Earth is relatively easy, but dangerous for the material. It would be a shame if all the prizes disappeared. Refining will take place in space, and purified products can be shipped regularly. As far as I know, no one is thinking that far.”
“Yet, asteroid mining could have a 100-fold or more return.”
“Mining platinum or gold from an asteroid and returning it could make you a trillionaire overnight, potentially upending entire economies, trade and markets.”
“Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson once said, ‘The first billionaire in history was the one who exploited the natural resources of asteroids.'”
Upon entering my department’s weekly Astro Coffee Journal Club some years ago, I was immediately struck by an existential crisis regarding the future of our planet.
Let me clarify; our discussion was not centered on the planet itself. Rather, we were delving into a newly published research paper detailing intriguing features in the light spectrum of very distant stars known as white dwarfs—or dead stars.
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While this white dwarf wouldn’t directly impact Earth, nor did its spectrum pose any particular threat, the paper did offer a peek into our Sun and, in turn, our own future in a somewhat terrifying manner.
First and foremost, rest assured that our sun won’t explode, contrary to popular belief. One prevalent astronomical misconception is the notion that our sun will eventually go supernova, ending in a dramatic explosion that engulfs our solar system.
Based on our knowledge of stellar evolution, this fate does not await our Sun at all.
There are two main routes for a star to go supernova: a nuclear collapse supernova, where a massive star exhausts its fusion fuel, collapses, and bounces back in a violent explosion, or when a stellar remnant interacts catastrophically with a companion star, annihilating both. Fortunately, our Sun is safe from these outcomes as it lacks the mass for nuclear collapse and doesn’t have a companion star.
Nonetheless, immortality isn’t in the cards for the Sun.
Presently, our sun operates as a massive fusion reactor, converting hydrogen into helium at its core and emitting vast energy. Although some energy escapes as light, the rest bounces inward off the plasma, creating pressure that counteracts gravitational collapse—similar to how air pressure shapes a balloon. For the next 5 billion years, the Sun will function normally, but as hydrogen depletes, its core will compress, triggering fusion of helium into heavier elements and causing the sun to swell and grow brighter.
At this point, the sun will become potent enough to evaporate Earth’s oceans, likely wiping out life. Mercury and Venus will face a more severe fate, swallowed by the expanding sun. The future of Earth is uncertain during this phase, known as the red giant phase, when the Sun ceases nuclear fusion and sheds its outer layers, potentially birthing stunning planetary nebulae.
As the core collapses, it forms a dense white dwarf star sustained by quantum mechanical processes rather than fusion. Eventually, all Sun-like stars end as white dwarfs, cooling and fading away.
In our journal club, researchers studied a white dwarf’s spectral lines and noted unexpected elements like calcium, potassium, and sodium—fragments likely from a devoured planet, a notion hauntingly depicted as blood on a predator’s jaw. This insight into contaminated white dwarfs evoked a sense of emotional calm and reflection.
Perhaps in the distant future, alien astronomers will gaze upon us, reminiscing about the once vibrant Earth. The contemplation of these cosmic phenomena leaves one pondering the impermanence of all things.
In August 2024, ESA’s Jupiter ICy satellite probe (JUICE) made history with its daring Moon-to-Earth flight and double-gravity assisted maneuver. When the spacecraft passed the moon and the home planet, NASA’s Jupiter’s energetic neutrons and ions The (JENI) instrument aboard JUICE has captured the clearest images yet of Earth’s radiation belts, belts of charged particles trapped in Earth’s magnetosphere.
The center of this infographic shows the clearest image yet of a cloud of charged particles trapped in Earth’s magnetic field, and the inset shows high-energy images detected along JUICE’s flight path. Measurements of ions and electrons are shown. Image credit: ESA / NASA / Johns Hopkins APL / Josh Diaz.
“The moment we saw the clear new image, the whole room erupted in high-fives,” said Dr. Matina Goukiuridou, JENI deputy director at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
“It was clear that we had captured the giant ring of hot plasma surrounding Earth in unprecedented detail, and this result has sparked excitement about what’s to come on Jupiter.”
Unlike traditional cameras that rely on light, JENI uses special sensors to capture high-energy neutral atoms emitted by charged particles that interact with hydrogen gas in the widespread atmosphere surrounding Earth. Masu.
The JENI instrument is the latest generation of this type of camera and builds on the success of similar instruments in NASA’s Cassini mission, which revealed the magnetospheres of Saturn and Jupiter.
August 19th, JENI and its companion particle measuring instrument Jupiter’s energetic electrons (JoEE) made the most of his brief 30-minute encounter with the moon.
As JUICE zoomed just 750 km (465 miles) above the lunar surface, the instrument collected data about the space environment and its interactions with our closest celestial companion star.
Scientists expect this interaction to be magnified and observed on Jupiter’s moons as the gas giant’s radiation-rich magnetosphere passes over them.
On August 20, JUICE entered Earth’s magnetosphere, passing approximately 60,000 km (37,000 miles) over the Pacific Ocean. There, the instruments experienced for the first time the harsh environment that awaits them on Jupiter.
As JoEE and JENI raced through the magnetic tail, they encountered the dense, low-energy plasma typical of the region before plunging into the heart of the radiation belt.
There, instruments measured the millions of degrees of plasma surrounding Earth to investigate the secrets of plasma heating, which is known to drive dramatic phenomena in planetary magnetospheres.
“We couldn’t have expected a better flyby,” said Dr. Pontus Brandt, principal investigator for JoEE and JENI at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
“The wealth of data we have obtained from our deep dive into the magnetosphere is amazing. JENI’s image of the entire system that we just flew was simply the best.”
“This is a powerful combination to leverage in the Jupiter system.”
_____
This article has been adapted from the original release by NASA.
With the abundance of news stories, one might believe that humanity is on a path to self-destruction due to pollution, microplastics, and harmful chemicals. Reports of decreasing sperm counts have led to discussions about a possible “Spermageddon,” with politicians even considering incentivizing women to have children (source).
However, after speaking with experts like Professor Alan Pacey, a male infertility researcher, and Professor Sarah Harper, director of the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, it seems that while there is reason to be concerned, we are not currently in a crisis.
Why are some people concerned about “Spermageddon”?
The concern dates back to a study from 1974 that showed a decrease in sperm counts among American men compared to the data from the 1950s (source). While various factors like climate change, genetic defects, and microplastics have been suggested as causes for declining sperm counts, not all experts are convinced about the severity of the issue.
Recent studies, including those conducted in Denmark, have not shown significant declines in sperm quality, leading to doubts about the extent of the problem. While concerns about microplastics and chemicals are valid, they may not be directly linked to infertility as some believe.
Recent research published in the journal Nature also suggests that semen quality worldwide may not be declining significantly.
Is global infertility on the rise?
While birth rates are indeed falling, experts argue that there is no concrete evidence of a widespread increase in infertility. Factors like delayed childbearing, improved access to fertility treatments, and reduced stigma around infertility may be contributing to more people seeking assistance at fertility clinics.
Why are populations declining in many areas?
The declining birth rates in countries like South Korea, China, and the United States are influenced by various factors, including economic growth and changing societal norms. While it may seem like an “infertility epidemic,” some experts see it as a demographic outcome of broader trends.
Should we be concerned?
Experts have differing perspectives on the issue. While some, like Professor Harper, believe that falling birth rates are not a cause for alarm, others, like Professor Pacey, are concerned about the barriers to fertility treatment and the impact on individuals facing infertility. Both emphasize the need for a nuanced approach to addressing the complex factors affecting fertility rates.
About our experts
Professor Alan Pacey MBE is a renowned researcher in male fertility and sperm biology at the University of Manchester, with over 30 years of experience in the field.
Professor Sarah Harper CBE is a gerontology expert at the University of Oxford, focusing on population aging and fertility trends.
First hypothesized over 60 years ago Bipolar electric field Polar winds are the primary driver of a constant outflow of charged particles into space above the Earth’s poles. These electric fields lift charged particles in the upper atmosphere to higher altitudes than usual, and may have shaped the evolution of Earth in ways that are still unknown.
Collinson othersThey report that a potential drop of +0.55 ± 0.09 V exists between 250 km and 768 km due to the planetary electrostatic field, generated solely by the outward pressure of ionospheric electrons. They experimentally demonstrate that the Earth’s ambipolar field controls the structure of the polar ionosphere, increasing its scale height by 271%. Image courtesy of NASA.
Since the 1960s, spacecraft flying over Earth’s poles have detected streams of particles streaming from Earth’s atmosphere into space.
Theorists predicted these outflows, named them polar winds, and stimulated research to understand their causes.
Some outflow from the atmosphere was expected — intense, unobstructed sunlight should send some atmospheric particles escaping into space, like water vapor evaporating from a pot of water — but the observed polar winds were more puzzling.
Many of the particles inside were cold and showed no signs of heating, but they were moving at supersonic speeds.
“Something must be attracting these particles to the outer reaches of the atmosphere,” said Dr. Glynn Collinson, Endurance mission principal investigator and a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
The electric fields, hypothesized to be generated at subatomic levels, would be incredibly weak and their effects would be expected to be felt only for distances of hundreds of miles.
For decades, detecting it has been beyond the limits of existing technology.
In 2016, Dr Collinson and his colleagues began inventing a new instrument that they thought would be suitable for measuring Earth’s bipolar magnetic field.
The team’s equipment and ideas were perfectly suited for a suborbital rocket flight launched from the Arctic.
The researchers named the mission “Antarctic Expedition,” in honor of the ship that carried Ernest Shackleton on his famous 1914 Antarctic voyage. Endurance.
They set course for Svalbard, a Norwegian island just a few hundred miles from the North Pole and home to the world’s northernmost rocket launch site.
“Svalbard is the only rocket launch site in the world that can fly through the polar winds and make the measurements we need,” said Dr Susie Ingber, an astrophysicist at the University of Leicester.
Endurance was launched on May 11, 2022, reaching an altitude of 768.03 kilometers (477.23 miles) and splashing down in the Greenland Sea 19 minutes later.
Over the 518.2 kilometres (322 miles) altitude where Endurance collected data, it measured a change in electrical potential of just 0.55 volts (V).
“Half a volt is almost meaningless – it’s about the strength of a watch battery – but it’s just right for describing polar winds,” Dr Collinson said.
Hydrogen ions, the most abundant type of particle in the polar wind, experience an outward force from this field that is 10.6 times stronger than gravity.
“That’s more than enough to counter gravity, in fact to launch you into space at supersonic speeds,” said Dr. Alex Grosser, a research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and Endurance project scientist.
Heavier particles are also accelerated: an oxygen ion at the same altitude, immersed in this 0.5 volt electric field, loses half its mass.
In general, scientists have found that bipolar magnetic fields increase what’s called the scale height of the ionosphere by 271%, meaning the ionosphere remains denser up to higher altitudes than it would be without the bipolar magnetic field.
“It’s like a conveyor belt that lifts the atmosphere up into space,” Dr Collinson said.
The Endurance discovery has opened up many new avenues of exploration.
The polarity field, as a fundamental energy field of the Earth alongside gravity and magnetism, may have continually shaped the evolution of the atmosphere in ways that we are only now beginning to explore.
Because it is generated by the internal dynamics of the atmosphere, similar electric fields are expected to exist on other planets, including Venus and Mars.
“Any planet with an atmosphere should have a bipolar magnetic field, and now that we’ve finally measured it we can start to learn how it has shaped our planet and other planets over time,” Dr Collinson said.
G.A. Collinson others2024. Earth’s bipolar electrostatic field and its role in the escape of ions into space. Nature 632, 1021-1025;doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07480-3
This article is a version of a press release from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
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