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Could next-gen artificial intelligence help map out future space outposts?

Planning a successful trip can be challenging, especially when your destination is in outer space. Even before liftoff, space missions require extraordinary amounts of scientific preparation and data analysis to succeed, which can take years to complete. However, as space agencies race to establish a permanent presence on the moon, using artificial intelligence to combine such information into a single system could make mission planning much more efficient.

One such system, developed by Gokce Inal, a Ph.D. candidate in civil, environmental and geodetic engineering at The Ohio State University, is an AI framework designed to help scientists evaluate potential lunar landing sites, identify dangerous hazards future crews might face, and scour new regions for scientifically valuable geologic features.

“AI systems are going to become critical tools for space exploration that will help humans analyze the millions of images and data sets that future missions will require,” she said. “This work is meant to serve as a bridge between those two worlds, AI and planetary science.”

Mutated immune cells raise red flags in lupus

Scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) and the University of Washington (UW) have discovered that patients with lupus have unusual mutations that may turn their bodies into battlegrounds.

These mutations are widespread in immune cells called neutrophils. Other immune cells see the mutated neutrophils as a threat—and they try to fight back. This internal battle may contribute to the development of painful inflammation, debilitating joint pain and other serious lupus symptoms throughout the body.

“This may get to the very crux of the disease pathogenesis,” says LJI professor Stephen Schoenberger, Ph.D., who co-led the new Nature study with UW School of Medicine professor Tomas Mustelin, M.D., Ph.D.

Same radical, different paths: X-ray snapshots reveal how neighboring molecules shape its movement

Chemical reactions have their own “impatient molecules.” Unable to stay still even for a moment, they latch onto other molecules indiscriminately. Researchers have now found that even these molecules change where they “sit” and how far they roam depending on who their neighbors are. The findings are expected to help scientists make better medicines and materials by directing reactions only to the desired sites.

A research team led by Professor Kyung Hwan Kim of the Department of Chemistry at Pohang University of Science and Technology, in collaboration with Professor Seung Jun Hwang’s team in the Department of Chemistry at KAIST, captured the first encounters between radicals and neighboring molecules on a timescale of one 10 billionth of a second, or 100 picoseconds.

The team found that the structure of the neighboring molecule changes where a radical resides and the range over which it moves. The study was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Insect-inspired flying robot bounces back after collisions

Flying insects, such as fruit flies, bees, dragonflies and mosquitoes, can dart through narrow spaces and survive collisions with various objects. In contrast, many flying robots fall, suffer damage or even break down when they hit nearby surfaces or objects.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) have developed a tiny robot that could better replicate the resilience of flying insects. The new robot, presented in a paper published in Science Robotics, could potentially explore areas that are difficult for other robots or humans to reach, recovering quickly after collisions.

“Our lab has been developing soft robotics for years. We were inspired by how flying insects survive collisions and other physical disturbances,” Qibing Pei, senior author of the paper, told Tech Xplore. “Many insect-sized robots rely on fragile components, which makes operating beyond the laboratory difficult. We saw an opportunity to use electrically responsive polymer materials to create a simpler, more resilient design.”

Comets probably didn’t seed life on Earth after all, new study suggests

The theory that comets delivered the molecular building blocks for life on Earth is a long-standing one, since comets are known to carry many of these molecules. However, a new study challenges this idea.

The researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, found the cometary delivery of these building blocks would be—at best—a ‘one-off fluke,’ and not the steady rain of prebiotic molecules that had been theorized.

Using computer modeling, the researchers determined that comets travel too fast and at too sharp an angle to Earth’s atmosphere for the fragile organic molecules to survive: they would almost certainly vaporize on impact with the surface. However, the researchers also found that another planet in our system—Mars—could be a slightly more promising candidate for cometary delivery of prebiotic molecules, although this is still highly unlikely. The results are published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Nearly 20 Years Later, Physicists Finally Detect a Long-Predicted Effect in Graphene

A nearly 20-year-old scientific prediction has gained experimental support, revealing how graphene’s atomic structure could unlock new possibilities for advanced sensors and electronic devices.

A wrinkle in graphene just a few atoms wide can dramatically alter how electricity behaves in the material. Scientists have now measured this effect in exceptionally sharp folds, providing experimental evidence for a phenomenon predicted nearly 20 years ago.

The discovery, published in Advanced Materials, suggests that researchers could eventually control electrical properties by changing a material’s shape rather than its chemical composition. Graphene, a remarkably strong and conductive material consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms, is already being explored for batteries, computer chips, and other advanced electronics.

No Batteries, No Plugs: Scientists Create a Tiny Sensor That Powers Itself

Scientists have developed a tiny temperature sensor that harvests energy from magnetic fields near electrical wiring.

Electrical wiring produces weak electromagnetic fields that typically go unnoticed, but researchers have found a way to turn some of that energy into a power source for tiny electronic devices. Scientists at the University of Arkansas (U of A) and the University of Michigan have developed a graphene-based energy harvester capable of powering an ultra-low-power temperature sensor without a conventional battery.

The prototype operates using energy collected from its immediate surroundings, consuming power measured in nanowatts, or billionths of a watt. It represents another advance toward the team’s goal of developing autonomous sensors that could function unattended for decades.

Hubble Finds a Stunning Twist in How the Universe Emerged From Darkness

Hubble observations of nearby starburst galaxies challenge the idea that supernova winds helped reionize the early universe, suggesting young stars may have enabled radiation to escape before those winds formed.

Powerful winds from exploding stars were thought to clear paths for ultraviolet radiation to escape early galaxies. A new study of nearby galaxies suggests those winds may instead make escape more difficult, challenging a leading explanation for how the universe emerged from a fog of neutral hydrogen.

Within the first billion years after the Big Bang, that fog made the universe opaque to ultraviolet light. It began to clear during an era called reionization, which started about 13 billion years ago. Energetic radiation from early galaxies struck neutral hydrogen atoms, separating them into charged protons and electrons.

This Giant Planet Orbits Its Star Every Two Days — but Something Is Very Wrong

Astronomers have discovered an unusual planet with an extremely hot host star and a highly eccentric orbit that challenges expectations for its class.

A giant planet racing around an unusually hot star has caught astronomers’ attention because of its highly elongated orbit. Known as TOI-1355 b, the planet completes one revolution in roughly two Earth days, following a path that differs sharply from the nearly circular orbits typical of many hot Jupiters.

Researchers from the University of Tokyo and their international collaborators believe the planet’s unusual trajectory could help explain how giant planets migrate toward their stars. However, its changing orbit is expected to limit observations after approximately 2033, leaving scientists a relatively short window to investigate its behavior.