The moon’s nearside (that is, the side facing Earth) is dark-colored and dominated by ancient lava flows, whereas the farside is more rugged—and NASA researchers now suggest it’s due to a wonky lunar interior. Using data from twin spacecraft named Ebb and Flow, they found a 2–3% difference in the moon mantle’s ability to deform on each side. They say this data could be explained by the nearest hemisphere’s insides being up to 170°C hotter than the farside.

The detection of differences between the moon’s interior in the near and far hemispheres is reported in Nature this week.

A massive barred spiral galaxy from the early Universe has stunned astronomers by forming stars at 300 times the rate of the Milky Way, without signs of a galactic collision. Using Webb and ALMA, researchers discovered that its bar structure, rich in gas and similar in shape to modern spirals, is

This is the most distant object known to humanity.

A trio of scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Université de Lyon, and Arizona State University, respectively, has found that a likely reason flat pancake-like volcanoes form on Venus’ surface is the planet has an elastic lithosphere and volcanoes that emit dense lava.

In their paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, M. E. Borrelli, C. Michaut, and J. G. O’Rourke describe how they used data collected by NASA’s Magellan mission in the 1990s, to simulate how one such flat-topped dome could have come about and what they learned by doing so.

Planetary scientists have been wondering for many years how the oddly shaped volcanic domes came to exist on the surface of Venus. With their flat shapes and steep sides, they are unlike any volcanoes seen on Earth—they look much more like pancakes than cones. To learn more, the research trio took a unique approach. They attempted to simulate how just one of them might have come about.

There are likely aspects of reality that sit outside our perception—and it’s possible psychedelics reveal some of that, experts say.