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Apollo 17 Moon Samples Reveal Uncommon Sulfur, New Analysis Indicates

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The prevailing theory regarding the origin of the Moon suggests it formed from a colossal impact event involving Earth and a body known as Theia. The degree to which materials from these two celestial objects mixed during this event is still debated. Poor mixing may leave traces of the original atomic and/or Theia composition. The sulfur isotopic makeup of the primordial materials that survived the impact can help establish parameters concerning the chemistry of the early solar nebula, the sulfur distribution in the early solar system, and the efficiency of mixing during this significant lunar impact event. In a recent study, researchers from Brown University and other institutions present intriguing sulfur isotope data derived from lunar rocks collected from the Taurus Littrow region during Apollo 17. Their analysis reveals that the volcanic material in the samples is significantly depleted in sulfur-33. This depletion sharply contrasts with sulfur isotope ratios found on Earth, suggesting the likelihood of:

Commander Eugene Cernan retrieves a drive tube from a lunar roving vehicle during Apollo 17 EVA. Image credit: NASA.

Some elements possess distinct “fingerprints” through specific isotopic ratios, revealing slight variations in atomic weights.

If two rocks share the same isotopic fingerprint, it strongly indicates a common origin.

In terms of the Moon and Earth, researchers have identified general similarities in the oxygen isotopes of both bodies.

Dr. James Dottin, a researcher from Brown University, stated:

“Previously, it was assumed that the Moon’s mantle shared the same sulfur isotope composition as Earth.”

“This was the anticipated outcome when we examined these samples, yet we observed values markedly different from those found on Earth.”

The sample under investigation was sourced from a double-drive tube—a hollow metal cylinder driven approximately 60 cm into the lunar soil by Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmidt.

Upon returning to Earth, NASA secured the tube in a helium chamber to preserve the sample for future studies under the Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA) program.

In recent years, NASA has begun to make ANGSA samples accessible to academic researchers via a competitive application process.

Dr. Dottin and his team chose secondary ion mass spectrometry for sulfur isotopic analysis. This precise analytical method did not exist in 1972 when the samples were initially returned to Earth.

For their research, they targeted specific samples from drive tubes believed to originate from mantle-derived volcanic rocks.

“There are two possible explanations for the anomalous sulfur,” Dr. Dottin explained.

They may represent remnants of chemical processes that took place during the Moon’s early history.

When sulfur interacts with ultraviolet light in a thin atmosphere, a diminished sulfur-33 ratio can be observed.

It is theorized that the Moon had a transient atmosphere in its early history, which could have facilitated such photochemical reactions.

If this is indeed the case, it would have interesting implications for the Moon’s evolutionary history.

“This offers evidence of ancient material transfer from the lunar surface into the mantle,” Dr. Dottin said.

“On Earth, we rely on plate tectonics for this process, but the Moon lacks such tectonic activity.”

“Thus, the idea of some form of exchange mechanism on the early Moon is thrilling.”

Alternatively, the unusual sulfur signatures could be remnants from the Moon’s formation itself.

The prevailing theory states that a Mars-sized object named Theia collided with Earth early on, with debris from that impact eventually forming the Moon.

The sulfur signatures from Theia differ significantly from those of Earth, and these differences may be reflected in the Moon’s mantle.

This study does not definitively resolve which explanation is accurate.

“Investigating sulfur isotopes from Mars and other celestial bodies may someday provide insights,” Dr. Dottin remarked.

“Ultimately, a better understanding of isotopic distributions will enhance our comprehension of solar system formation.”

study Published in Journal of Geophysics: Planets.

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JW Dottin III et al. 2025. Endogenous yet exotic sulfur in the lunar mantle. JGR: Planet 130(9):e2024je008834; doi:10.1029/2024je008834

Source: www.sci.news

The Uncommon “Triple Dip” La Niña Could Illuminate 2023’s Extreme Heat

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The Pacific Ocean released heat into the atmosphere in 2023

BlickWinkel/Alamy

A rare “triple dip” La Niña, which kept Pacific Ocean temperatures low for three consecutive years, may have set the stage for a significant rise in global heat observed in 2023.

While a rise in global temperatures was anticipated due to greenhouse gas emissions and warm surface waters, a peak was not expected until early 2024. From September 2023 indicates this surge has come earlier than forecasted.

Julius Mex from the University of Leipzig, Germany, and his team sought to understand the events of late 2023 that triggered this exceptional heat. “Our goal is to clarify why temperature changes in the Northern Decay were so extreme,” he states.

Utilizing a dataset that amalgamates historical weather records with climate models, the research team explored various factors, including the Pacific’s circulation, temperature, cloud coverage, radiation, and precipitation for the years 2022 and 2023.

The findings suggest that the Pacific’s cool La Niña conditions, persisting since 2020, were pivotal. They suppressed ocean warmth, fostered the creation of lowland clouds, and enhanced solar radiation reflection.

When the El Niño pattern emerged in 2023, the shift from La Niña to El Niño was so pronounced that it affected air circulation and precipitation patterns in the Western Pacific, releasing more heat into the atmosphere than initially expected.

Simultaneously, this transition led to a sharp decrease in cloud coverage over the Eastern Pacific Ocean, allowing for enhanced absorption of solar radiation. “This could drive significant annual temperature fluctuations,” notes Mex.

Karsten Hautin from Leipzig University, although not involved in the research, expressed agreement with the conclusions. “With a triple dip La Niña, the ocean fails to release heat,” he explains. “As a result, heat accumulates in the deeper ocean layers before eventually surfacing.”

Mex emphasizes that their findings indicate the reduction of ocean cloud cover as a critical element in the sharp temperature increase observed in 2023. “It fits perfectly,” he concludes.

Richard Allan from the University of Reading in the UK notes advances in understanding how cloud coverage shifted over the Pacific in 2022 and 2023. Nevertheless, he highlights that anthropogenic climate change, alongside decreases in cooling aerosol pollution, significantly contributes to diminished ocean cloud cover and escalating temperatures.

“The magnitude of the global temperature rise in 2023 resulted not only from heightened planetary heating due to increased greenhouse gases but also from the reduction and dimming of clouds connected with decreasing aerosol particle pollution,” Allan remarks.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Two Uncommon Radio Signals Discovered Emerging from Antarctic Ice

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An unusual radio pulse was identified by the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) Experiment. Various instruments were deployed on NASA balloons over Antarctica, aiming to detect radio waves produced by cosmic rays impacting the atmosphere. This experiment seeks to illuminate events in the distant universe by scrutinizing signals that reach Earth. Rather than bouncing off the ice, this radio signal seemed to originate from beneath the horizon. Such a direction challenges our current understanding of particle physics and might indicate a previously unknown particle or interaction.

ANITA instruments were stationed in Antarctica to minimize interference with other signals. The setup involves balloon-mediated radio detectors flying through ice to capture what is known as an ice shower. Image credit: Stephanie Wissel/Penn State.

“The detected radio waves were highly angled, approximately 30 degrees below the ice surface,” said physicist Dr. Stephanie Wissel from Pennsylvania State University.

“Our calculations suggest the anomalous signal interacted with thousands of kilometers of rock before reaching the detector.

“This poses an intriguing question as we have yet to understand these anomalies fully. However, we do know they likely do not represent neutrinos.”

Neutrino signals typically emerge from high-energy sources such as the sun or significant cosmic events like supernovae and the Big Bang.

Yet, these particles present a challenge: they are notoriously difficult to detect.

“A billion neutrinos pass through any point instantly, but they rarely interact,” Dr. Wissel explained.

“This presents a paradox. If we detect them, it means they traversed this way without interacting with anything else.”

“We can even identify neutrinos originating from the edge of the observable universe.”

“When observed and traced back to their source, these particles travel at speeds comparable to light, offering insights into illuminative events that reveal more than the most powerful telescopes.”

“Researchers globally have been focused on creating specialized detectors to capture faint neutrino signals.”

“Even a minor signal from neutrinos can unveil valuable information, making all data crucial.”

“We’re aiming to utilize radio detectors to establish a significant neutrino telescope, anticipating low event rates.”

ANITA was one of these detectors, positioned in Antarctica to reduce interference from other signals.

To capture the ejection signal, it deploys a balloon-mediated radio detector to traverse ice stretches and identify what is known as an ice shower.

“We operate these radio antennas on balloons that soar 40 km above the Antarctic ice,” Dr. Wissel noted.

“We lower the antennas into the ice, searching for neutrinos that interact within the ice, resulting in radio emissions detectable by the instrument.”

These unique ice-interacting neutrinos, termed tau neutrinos, generate secondary particles called tau leptons that are released from the ice as they lose energy traveling through space, producing emissions identified as air showers.

“If visible to the naked eye, an air shower may resemble a sparkler dispersed in one direction.

“We can distinguish between two signal types (ice and air shower) and ascertain details about the particles that produced the signals.”

“These signals can be traced back to their sources, akin to how balls thrown at angles bounce back predictably.”

However, the recent peculiar findings cannot be traced because they display sharper characteristics than existing models anticipate.

By analyzing data gathered from multiple ANITA flights and contrasting it with thorough simulations of both mathematical models and common cosmic rays and upward air showers, researchers successfully eliminated background noise and ruled out possibilities of known particle-based signals.

Scientists then cross-referenced signals from other independent detectors, including the IceCube experiment and the Pierre Auger Observatory, to determine if any upward-facing air shower data had been captured by other experiments similar to those identified by ANITA.

The analysis disclosed that no other detectors documented anything capable of explaining what ANITA detected, leading researchers to characterize the signal as abnormal. This indicates that the particles responsible for the signal are not neutrinos.

The signal defies conventional paradigms in particle physics. Some theories propose it could hint at dark matter; however, the absence of follow-up observations from IceCube and Auger significantly diminishes this possibility.

“Our team is in the process of designing and constructing the next major detector,” Dr. Wissel shared.

“We aspire for a new detector called Pueo to be larger and more adept at identifying neutrino signals, which should clarify the nature of the abnormal signal.”

“My hypothesis is that some intriguing radio propagation phenomena occur near the ice, close to the horizon—effects I don’t fully comprehend, but we are certainly investigating them.

“So, this is one of those enduring mysteries, and we are eager to achieve enhanced sensitivity when we deploy Pueo.”

“In principle, we should detect more anomalies, and perhaps we’ll decipher their nature.”

“We could also encounter neutrinos, which would be tremendously exciting in their own right.”

The team’s paper was published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

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A. Abdul Halim et al. (Pierre Auger Collaboration). 2025. Exploring abnormal events detected by ANITA using the Pierre Auger Observatory. Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 121003; doi:10.1103/physrevlett.134.121003

This article is based on a press release provided by the Pennsylvania State University.

Source: www.sci.news

Uncommon Aerobic Bacterium Discovered Capable of Degrading Persistent “Forever Chemicals”

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Labris Portucalensis F11A Strain of Aerobic Bacterium From the Xanthobactereae Family, Can Break Down and Transform at ThreeS of-and PolyFluoroarkyl Substances (PFAS) C Byprodusts, According to New Research.

Labris Portucalensis F11 CAN BE POTENTIALLY USED FOR PFAS BIODEGRADADATION in CONTAMINATED ENVIRONMENTS. Image Credit: Wijayahena et alDOI: 10.1016/J.SCITOTOTENV.2024.178348.

“The Bond Between Carbon and Fluorine Atoms IS IS STRONG, SO MOST MICROBES CANNOT Use IT AN ENERGY SOURCE,” ER at the University at buffalo and suny.

“THE Labris Portucalensis F11 Bacterial Strain Developed The Ability to CHOP AWAY THE FLUORINE AND EAT THE CARBON.

Labris Portucalensis F11 Was Isolated from the SOIL OF ANDUSTRIAL SITE in PORTUGAL AND HAD Utical Contaminants. However, it Had Never BeeN Tested on Pfas.

In The New Study, Professor AGA and HER COLLEAGUES FOUND THAT Labris Portucalensis F11 METABOLIZED OVER 90% of OF Perfluorooctane Sulfonic Acid (PFOS) Following An Exposit of 100 Days.

PFOS Is ONE OF THE TYQUENTLY DETECTED TYPES OF PFAS AND WAS DESIGNATED HAZARDOUS BY THE US ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCYT Year.

Labris Portucalensis F11 ALSO BROKE down LOMER SULFONATE.

UNLIKE MANY PRIOR STUDIES ON PFAS-DEGRADING BACTERIA, The New Study Accounted for Shorter-Chain Breain Breakdown Products-or Metabolites.

In some case, Labris Portucalensis F11 EVEN REMOVED FLUORINE FROM The Metabolites or Broke Them Down to Minute, Undetector Levels.

“Many Previbility Studies Have Only Degradation of Pfas, But Not the Formation of Metabolites,“ SAID MINDULA WIJAYAHENA E University at Buffalo and Suny.

“WE Not ONLY ACCOUNTED FOR PFAS Byprodusts But Found some of Them Continued to Be Further Degradeded by The Bactteria.”

PFAS ARE A GROUP OF UBIQUITOUS CHEMICALS WIDELY USED SINCE THE THE 1950S in EVERYTHING from Nonstick Pans to Fire-Fighting Materials.

THEY'RE At the Can USE THEIR CARBON as an enERGY SOURCE.

“IF BACTERIA SURVIVE IN A HARSH, POLLUTED ENVIRONMENT, It's Probable Vecause THEY HAVE ADAPTED TO USE SURROUNDING CHEMICAL POLLUTANTS AS AS AS ASO RCE SO THEY DON'T Starve, “Professor AGA SAID.

“Through Evolution, SOME BACTERIA CAN DEVELOP EFFECTIVE MECHANISMS to USE Chemical Contaminants to Help Them Grow.”

THE Findings Were publiced ​​in the journal Science of the total Environment.

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Mindula K. Wijayahena et al2025. PFAS BIODEGRADATION by Labris Portucalensis F11: Evidence of Chain Shortening and Identification of Metabolites of PFOS, 6: 2 FTS, and 5: 3 FTCA. Science of the total Environment 959: 178348; Doi: 10.1016/J.SCITOTENV.2024.178348

Source: www.sci.news

New research suggests Voyager 2’s approach to Uranus in 1986 occurred during an uncommon solar event

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When NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by Uranus in 1986, scientists got their first close glimpse of the giant icy planet. Alongside the discovery of new moons and rings, a puzzling new mystery faced scientists. The energetic particles around Uranus defied their understanding of how magnetic fields trap particle radiation. The cause of that special mystery is a cosmic coincidence, according to a new study. Just before Voyager 2's flyby, Uranus was found to have been affected by an unusual type of space weather that crushed and dramatically compressed the planet's magnetic field. Its magnetosphere.

The first panel of this artist's concept depicts how Uranus' magnetosphere operated before NASA's Voyager 2 flyby. The second panel shows that an unusual type of solar weather occurred during the 1986 flyby, giving scientists a biased view of the magnetosphere. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

The planetary magnetosphere (the region around a planet dominated by its magnetic field) influences the environment around the planet, and understanding its properties is important for mission planning.

Voyager 2's close encounter of Uranus reveals a unique magnetosphere that is highly asymmetric and appears to lack plasma, a common element in the magnetospheres of other planets, and has an unusually strong band of high-energy electrons It became.

The signatures from this single measurement have since been used as the basis for understanding Uranus's magnetic field, but these anomalies have been difficult to explain without complex physics.

“If Voyager 2 had arrived just a few days earlier, we would have seen a completely different magnetosphere on Uranus,” said Dr. Jamie Jasinski, a researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“The spacecraft observed Uranus in a situation that has a probability of only about 4%.”

Jasinski and his colleagues reanalyzed Voyager 2 data before the flyby and found that the spacecraft encountered Uranus shortly after a violent solar wind event that ejected streams of charged particles from the Sun's atmosphere.

This compressed Uranus's magnetosphere, creating a condition that only occurs 4% of the time.

In this state, we see a plasma-free magnetosphere with highly excited electron emission bands.

The authors suggest that two magnetospheric cycles may exist during solar minimum due to variations in Uranus' solar wind.

Additionally, the chances of Uranus' outermost major moons, Titania and Oberon, orbiting outside the magnetosphere may be very low, giving scientists the possibility of detecting an underground ocean without interference from the magnetosphere. There is.

“The 1986 flyby was full of surprises, and we were looking for an explanation for its unusual behavior,” said Dr. Linda Spilker, also of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“The magnetosphere measured by Voyager 2 is just a snapshot in time.”

“This new study explains some of the apparent contradictions and will once again change our view of Uranus.”

of findings Published in today's magazine natural astronomy.

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JM Jasinski others. Unusual conditions in Uranus' magnetosphere during Voyager 2's flyby. Nat Astronpublished online on November 11, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02389-3

Source: www.sci.news

Scientists witness uncommon nuclear decay of potassium isotope

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Physicists are Potassium Decay (KDK) Collaboration. They directly observed for the first time a very rare but important decay pathway from potassium-40 to argon-40. Their results have the potential to improve current understanding of physical processes and increase the accuracy of geological dating.

Decay scheme of potassium 40. Image credit: Stukel other., doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.052503.

Potassium-40 is a ubiquitous natural isotope whose radioactivity has been used to estimate geological ages over billions of years, to theories of nuclear structure, and to the search for subatomic rare events such as dark matter and neutrinoless double beta decay. influence.

The decay of this long-lived isotope must be precisely known for its use as a global clock and to explain its presence in low-background experiments.

Although potassium-40 has several known decay modes, the electron-capture decay predicted directly into the ground state of argon-40 has never been observed before.

“Some of the nuclei of certain elements radioactively decay into the nuclei of other elements. These decays can be helpful or annoying, depending on the situation,” the KDK physicists said. I am.

“This is especially true for potassium-40, an isotope that normally decays to calcium-40, but about 10% of the time it decays to argon-40.”

“This decay pathway involves a process called electron capture, which provides information about the nuclear structure.”

“Potassium-40 has a very long half-life, so it can even determine the age of geological objects on billion-year time scales.”

“Due to its long half-life, it is difficult to find another way for potassium-40 to break down.”

In a new study, researchers measured a rare decay branch of potassium-40 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Holyfield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility.

“Quantifying the decay rate of potassium-40 and its decay branches is difficult because it requires measuring the parent nucleus and a sufficient number of rare progeny nuclei,” the researchers said.

“We studied a subset of potassium-40 that decays to argon-40 by electron capture, which accounts for about 10% of all potassium-40 decays.”

“Although most potassium-40 electron-capture decays emit characteristic gamma rays that form the background of most experiments, a small subset of these decays occur without gamma ray emission.”

“This happens when potassium-40 captures an electron that goes directly to the ground state of argon-40.”

“We have directly measured this decay for the first time. This result indicates that other decay rates may also need to be reevaluated.”

“The rare decay branch we identified and measured provides unique experimental evidence for so-called forbidden beta decay, with implications for predictions of nuclear structure and for potassium-based geological and solar system age estimates. It removes years of uncertainty.”

“This discovery also improves our assessment of the background that exists in experiments that explore new physics beyond the Standard Model.”

The results are published in two papers (paper #1 and paper #2) in the diary physical review letter and diary Physical Review C.

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M. Stukel other. (KDK collaboration). 2024. 40,000 rare collapses with implications for fundamental physics and geochronology. Physics.pastor rhett 131 (5): 052503; doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.052503

L. Harias other. (KDK collaboration). 2024. Evidence of ground state electron capture at 40K. Physics. Rev.C 108 (1): 014327; doi: 10.1103/PhysRevC.108.014327

Source: www.sci.news

Uncommon footage captures killer whale guiding its calf in hunting and launching a dolphin high into the air

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A rare video was captured this week by a whale-watching trip off the coast of San Diego, showing an orca teaching its baby how to hunt by headbutting a dolphin and flipping it over multiple times in the air.

Wildlife filmmaker Domenic Biagini, who shot the footage, described the scene, saying: “The killer whale catches the dolphin, but when the dolphin slows down, he releases it after it is subdued and brings the baby killer whale with him to catch it himself.” “Seeing that level of communication and understanding was like watching a family.”

Biagini owns Gone Whale Watching, one of several companies that spotted a pod of six orcas off the coast of San Diego on Monday. He said the orca hunt took about 30 minutes, which was much longer than the average orca hunt because he was teaching orca pups.

According to marine biologist Alisa Shulman Janiger, killer whales are among the ocean’s apex predators and are known to incorporate their large size and speed into their hunting strategies. She added that it is common for orcas to slow down the prey and show the children how to hunt.

Shulman-Janiger explained that the killer whales in the video are so young that their eye patches are yellow instead of white, a color that eventually fades as they get older.

Where do whales come from?

Shulman Janiger said the whale in Biagini’s footage is an eastern tropical Pacific orca, which typically lives in waters off Mexico and Central America. They are rarely seen in the relatively warm, calm waters of Southern California.

Speaking about the hunting behavior, Biagini said, “We try to explain to our guests that while what whales do to dolphins can sometimes be very gruesome, this is normal and healthy.”

Biagini also mentioned that after Monday’s hunt, the killer whales approached the boat to see what was going on and began to poke their heads out of the water, which is a behavior known as spy hopping.

‘Remember us at your Thanksgiving feast’: Killer whales celebrate the hunt

Biagini said the killer whales often celebrate after a successful hunt and zigzag back and forth through the water. He compared it to the feeling of happiness and smiling after a Thanksgiving meal.

Additionally, Biagini expressed concern about the increasing number of boats getting close to orcas to film social media videos, urging people to film animals in the most ethical way.

Danger of flocking to whale watching

Biagini also raised concerns about the number of boats surrounding the pod of killer whales, stating that too many boats with inexperienced operators could interfere with their hunting behavior or lead to collisions.

In a video he shot, a man driving a boat by himself abandons the wheel to lean out onto the deck to record the video.

Overall, Biagini emphasized the importance of being stewards of animals and approaching them in an ethical way.

Source: www.nbcnews.com