A mineral physics interpretation of NASA seismic data hints that Mars has a chemically evolved crust.
Category: space
Plasma agriculture makes strides toward super-seeding conventional methods
Occasionally, the sun unleashes powerful flares and coronal mass ejections, which hurl plasma and energetic particles into space. On the infant Earth, this solar activity drove cascades of atmospheric chemical reactions that may have helped form the building blocks of life. More recently, scientists have discovered that applying plasma to seeds in a controlled way can trigger similar activity, making them faster-growing and more resilient. Researchers at Nagoya University and Kyushu University in Japan have compiled a comprehensive review of this new field—termed “plasma agriculture”—as a potential sustainable solution to address global food shortages.
The word plasma brings to mind a hot, ionized inferno that makes up the fourth state of matter. But the plasma used here is different. By applying high voltage to air or any gas, electrons are stripped from a tiny fraction of its molecules and gain very high energies. These electrons zipping around can effectively mimic the behavior of plasma even though the bulk of the gas remains at room temperature.
This low-temperature plasma can be applied directly to seeds without burning them. Excessive use of chemicals and genetic modification of plants cause concern for many people. Instead, plasma agriculture can offer similarly high crop yields without invasive intervention.
Astronomers find nearby planets to be small, strange, and utterly uninhabitable
Scientists have painted the most detailed portrait yet of the planetary system orbiting Barnard’s Star—the sun’s closest neighbor after Alpha Centauri, just under six light-years from Earth.
Discovered in 2025, the four planets orbiting Barnard’s Star are all smaller than Earth and Venus but larger than Mars—a type of planet not found anywhere in our own solar system.
By analyzing the chemical makeup of the star, the researchers from the University of Cambridge found that its planets are rich in a rare mineral called periclase, which on Earth is found only hundreds of kilometers (hundreds of miles) below the surface.
Astronaut Captures Sparkling City Lights And Auroras From Space
The post showed Adenot’s appreciation for the view of Earth from space, where the planet appeared lit up during the night.
The stunning footage serves as a reminder of Earth’s beauty and fragility when viewed from space. From glowing city lights to shimmering auroras and a radiant moonrise, the video offers a rare perspective that highlights both the planet’s natural wonders and human presence.
TESS just found a planet in a new way—and more may be hiding in its eight years of data
For the first time, NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) mission has identified a planet orbiting a distant star thanks to its warping of space-time. Unlike the star-hugging transiting planets TESS regularly reveals, the newfound microlensing world is a super-Jupiter orbiting far from its host star.
“When TESS launched, no one expected it to ever be capable of finding this kind of planet,” said University of New Mexico professor Diana Dragomir. “The discovery implies that there are probably other microlensing planets hiding in TESS’s data that we hadn’t previously thought to look for.”
Astronomers first became aware of the alerting microlensing event, called Gaia23bra b, in 2023 using ESA’s (European Space Agency) now-retired Gaia space telescope. Gaia23bra b is fundamentally different from the transiting planets normally found by TESS. Instead of causing a dimming, the star-planet system magnified the light of a more distant background star (the “source”).