Astronomers Believe Water Worlds Could Support Life
The conditions for life surviving on planets entirely covered in water are more fluid than previously thought, opening up the possibility that water worlds could…
Geophysics
Researchers Develop New Technique to Forecast Geomagnetic Storms
The Earth’s magnetic field extends from pole to pole and is strongly affected by solar wind from the sun. This “wind” is a stream of…
NASA Creates First Ever 3D Model of Melting Snowflake
NASA has produced the first three-dimensional numerical model of melting snowflakes in the atmosphere. Developed by scientist Jussi Leinonen of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in…
Scientists Map the Mineralogy of the Moon’s South Pole-Aitken Basin
A detailed study of a giant impact crater on the Moon’s far side could provide a roadmap for future lunar explorers. The study, by planetary…
New Hydrothermal Model Evaluates the Possibility of Life on Jupiter’s Moon Europa
Jupiter’s icy moon Europa is a major target of astrobiology research in light of the possibility that it offers a habitable environment in the Solar…
Geophysicists Reveal Megathrust Fault Off Costa Rica
Geophysicists have obtained detailed three-dimensional images of a dangerous megathrust fault west of Costa Rica where two plates of the Earth’s crust collide. The images…
New Finding Shows Remarkable Similarities Between Earth and Titan
Saturn’s moon Titan may be nearly a billion miles away from Earth, but a recently published paper based on data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft reveals…
Machine Learning Helps Predict the Geothermal Heat Flux in Greenland
A paper appearing in Geophysical Research Letters uses machine learning to craft an improved model for understanding geothermal heat flux — heat emanating from the…
Astronomers Reveal How a Jupiter Jet Stream Shifts into Reverse
Speeding through the atmosphere high above Jupiter’s equator is an east–west jet stream that reverses course on a schedule almost as predictable as a Tokyo…
California’s Sierra Nevada Mountain Range Grew Taller During Drought
A new NASA study shows that a loss of water from the rocks of California’s Sierra Nevada caused the mountain range to rise nearly an…
Yale Researchers ‘Look’ Deep Inside a Diamond Planet
New research by Yale University scientists suggests rocky planets orbiting other stars may hide thick layers of diamond beneath the surface. “A carbon-rich planet likely…
Jupiter’s Moon Europa Could Have Subduction Zones
New research shows that Jupiter’s moon Europa could have subduction zones, which could supply chemical food for life to a subsurface ocean. A Brown University…
NASA Heliophysics Research Details Substorm Activity Around Earth
Researchers have been studying the near-Earth environment for the better part of a century, but many mysteries — like where the energetic particles that pervade…
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory Detects Solar Flare Pulses at Sun and Earth
When our Sun erupts with giant explosions — such as bursts of radiation called solar flares — we know they can affect space throughout the…
New NASA Research Bolsters Theory of Heat Source Under West Antarctica
New research from NASA adds evidence that a geothermal heat source called a mantle plume lies deep below Antarctica’s Marie Byrd Land, explaining some of…
NASA Scientists Track Ozone Pollution by Monitoring Key Ingredients
New NASA-funded research has devised a way to use satellite measurements to track ozone formation among three different sets of conditions. Ozone pollution near Earth’s…
New Study Shows Earth’s Tectonic Plates Are Weaker Than Once Thought
New research from the University of Pennsylvania gives scientists a better idea of olivine’s strength, with implications for how tectonic plates form and move. No…
MIT Study Predicts Thresholds for a Sixth Mass Extinction
According to a newly published study from MIT, Earth’s oceans may hold enough carbon to launch mass extinction of species in future millennia. In the…