Category: Science

Venus, a scorching wasteland of a planet according to scientists, may have once had tectonic plate movements similar to those believed to have occurred on early Earth, a new study shows.

The finding sets up tantalizing scenarios regarding the possibility of early life on Venus, its evolutionary past, and the history of the solar system.

Researchers describe using atmospheric data from Venus and computer modeling to show that the composition of the planet’s current atmosphere and surface pressure would only have been possible as a result of an early form of plate tectonics, a process critical to life that involves multiple continental plates pushing, pulling, and sliding beneath one another.

Planetary neighbors

On Earth, this process intensified over billions of years, forming new continents and mountains, and leading to chemical reactions that stabilized the planet’s surface temperature, resulting in an environment more conducive to the development of life.

Venus, on the other hand, Earth’s nearest neighbor and sister planet, went in the opposite direction and today has surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead. One explanation is that the planet has always been thought to have what’s known as a “stagnant lid,” meaning its surface has only a single plate with minimal amounts of give, movement, and gasses being released into the atmosphere.

The new paper posits that this wasn’t always the case. To account for the abundance of nitrogen and carbon dioxide present in Venus’ atmosphere, the researchers conclude that Venus must have had plate tectonics sometime after the planet formed, about 4.5 billion to 3.5 billion years ago.

The paper suggests that this early tectonic movement, like on Earth, would have been limited in terms of the number of plates moving and in how much they shifted. It also would have been happening on Earth and Venus simultaneously.

“One of the big picture takeaways is that we very likely had two planets at the same time in the same solar system operating in a plate tectonic regime—the same mode of tectonics that allowed for the life that we see on Earth today,” says study lead author Matt Weller, who completed the work while he was a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University and is now at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.

This bolsters the possibility of microbial life on ancient Venus and shows that at one point the two planets—which are in the same solar neighborhood, are about the same size, and have the same mass, density, and volume—were more alike than previously thought before diverging.

The work also highlights the possibility that plate tectonics on planets might just come down to timing—and therefore, so may life itself.

“We’ve so far thought about tectonic state in terms of a binary: it’s either true or it’s false, and it’s either true or false for the duration of the planet,” says coauthor Alexander Evans, an assistant professor of Earth, environmental, and planetary sciences at Brown. “This shows that planets may transition in and out of different tectonic states and that this may actually be fairly common. Earth may be the outlier. This also means we might have planets that transition in and out of habitability rather than just being continuously habitable.”

Insights into Venus’ past

That concept will be important to consider as scientists look to understand nearby moons—like Jupiter’s Europa, which has shown proof of having Earth-like plate tectonics—and distant exoplanets, according to the paper.

The researchers initially started the work as a way to show that the atmospheres of far-off exoplanets can be powerful markers of their early histories, before deciding to investigate that point closer to home.

They used current data on Venus’ atmosphere as the endpoint for their models and started by assuming Venus has had a stagnant lid through its entire existence. Quickly, they were able to see that simulations recreating the planet’s current atmosphere didn’t match up with where the planet is now in terms of the amount nitrogen and carbon dioxide present in the current atmosphere and its resulting surface pressure.

The researchers then simulated what would have had to happen on the planet to get to where it is today. They eventually matched the numbers almost exactly when they accounted for limited tectonic movement early in Venus’ history followed by the stagnant lid model that exists today.

Overall, the team believes the work serves as a proof of concept regarding atmospheres and their ability to provide insights into the past.

“We’re still in this paradigm where we use the surfaces of planets to understand their history,” Evans says. “We really show for the first time that the atmosphere may actually be the best way to understand some of the very ancient history of planets that is often not preserved on the surface.”

Upcoming NASA DAVINCI missions, which will measure gasses in the Venusian atmosphere, may help solidify the study’s findings. In the meantime, the researchers plan to delve deep into a key question the paper raises: What happened to plate tectonics on Venus?

The theory in the paper suggests that the planet ultimately became too hot and its atmosphere too thick, drying up the necessary ingredients for tectonic movement.

“Venus basically ran out of juice to some extent, and that put the brakes on the process,” says coauthor Daniel Ibarra, a professor in the Earth, environmental, and planetary sciences department.

The researchers say the details of how this happened may hold important implications for Earth.

“That’s going to be the next critical step in understanding Venus, its evolution, and ultimately the fate of the Earth,” Weller says. “What conditions will force us to move in a Venus-like trajectory, and what conditions could allow the Earth to remain habitable?”

The paper appears in Nature Astronomy. Alexandria Johnson from Purdue University is a coauthor. NASA’s Solar System Workings program supported the work.

Source: Brown University

Making a few simple swaps in your diet can improve your health and curb carbon emissions to improve the health of the planet, too.

As reported in the journal Nature Food, making simple substitutions like switching from beef to chicken or drinking plant-based milk instead of cow’s milk could reduce the average American’s carbon footprint from food by 35%, while also boosting diet quality by between 4-10%

These findings highlight the potential of a “small changes” approach that researchers believe could encourage more consumers to adopt climate-friendly eating habits. Food production accounts for 25-33% of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions with beef production being a primary contributor.

“This study shows that cutting dietary carbon emissions is accessible and doesn’t have to be a whole lifestyle change,” says senior author Diego Rose, nutrition program director at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

“It can be as simple as ordering a chicken burrito instead of a beef burrito when you go out to eat. When you’re at the grocery store, move your hand one foot over to grab soy or almond milk instead of cow’s milk. That one small change can have a significant impact.”

For the study, researchers analyzed diet data from over 7,700 Americans, identified commonly eaten foods with the highest climate impact, and simulated replacing them with nutritionally similar, lower-emission options.

“For us, substitutes included swapping a beef burger for a turkey burger, not replacing your steak with a tofu hotdog,” says lead author Anna Grummon, assistant professor of pediatrics and health policy at Stanford University. “We looked for substitutes that were as similar as possible.”

The largest projected reductions in emissions were seen in mixed dishes: burritos, pastas, and similar popular dishes where it’s easy to substitute a lower-impact protein instead of beef.

The study expanded on past research by including dietary data for children. Whereas it may be more effective for an adult to focus on protein swaps, Grummon says switching children to plant-based milk can have a “meaningful impact on the carbon footprint” and help start positive habits earlier.

Identifying healthy alternatives to high-carbon foods was not the intent of the study. And yet, swapping to lower carbon foods showed “sizable improvements in how healthy the diets were.”

While these substitutes are not intended as a cure-all for climate objectives or personal health goals, they are evidence that small changes can have a large impact.

“There is overlap between sustainable diets and healthy diets,” Grummon says. “Our study shows that changing just one ingredient, making one swap, can be a win-win, resulting in meaningful changes in both climate outcomes and how healthy our diets are.”

Additional coauthors are from Stanford and Harvard University.

Source: Tulane University

Zika virus infection in pregnant rhesus macaques slows fetal growth and affects how infants and mothers interact in the first month of life, according to a new study.

The findings have has implications for both humans exposed to Zika virus and for other viruses that can cross the placenta, including SARS-CoV2, responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers say.

“Initially I thought this was a story about Zika, but as I looked at the results I think this is also a story about how fetal infections in general affect developmental trajectories,” says Eliza Bliss-Moreau, professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis and senior author of the paper published in Science Translational Medicine.

In most people, Zika virus infection causes mild or no symptoms and leaves long-lasting immunity. But during pregnancy, the virus can cross the placenta and cause damage to the nervous system of the fetus. In extreme cases, it can cause microcephaly in humans.

While no local transmission of the virus has been reported in the US since 2018, the mosquitoes that carry Zika virus continue to expand their range throughout Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Pacific.

Researchers previously showed that Zika virus could enter the fetal brain in pregnant macaques. The new study looked at the effects of Zika infection during the second trimester of pregnancy on infants up to a month after birth.

Mom-baby bonding

Pregnant animals did not become visibly ill with the virus, but ultrasounds showed fetal growth slowed after infection, says Florent Pittet, a project scientist. At birth, Zika-exposed infants were “at the low end” of the range for head size in rhesus macaques.

“They were smaller overall,” he says. Higher levels of circulating Zika virus corresponded with longer delays in growth.

After birth, the researchers tracked the development of sensory and motor skills—using tests similar to those used for human babies—and interaction with the mother.

“The trajectory was quite different,” Pittet says. Right after birth, infant monkeys spend a lot of time on their mother but start to separate after about two weeks. But the Zika infants spent much more time clinging to their mothers through the first month.

It’s not clear whether the mother or the infant is initiating this contact, Bliss-Moreau says. “We know that moms will keep hold of infants that are having challenges,” she says.

Virus during pregnancy

Surprisingly, growth delays and effects on mother-infant interactions were greater in male than in female infants, although both showed delays compared to uninfected controls. Infectious disease studies in animals tend to use one sex (usually male) to avoid confounding effects, but potentially missing such sex differences.

Additionally, the animals were housed in established social groups of multiple adult females (including their mother), a single male, and other male and female infants of about the same age. This allows the infants to learn from each other and from the adults, Pittet says.

“The presence of unrelated adults and infants in the social group is a critical factor for normative development,” he says. “Offering such a social rearing environment is tons of additional work but ensures a lot more relevance to developmental studies.”

Upcoming papers will describe the monkeys’ growth through the first two years of life. Zika virus exposure during pregnancy sets off a cascade of consequences that may not appear until later in development, Pittet says.

The finding that outcomes correlate with viral load during pregnancy offers opportunities to intervene, the researchers say. A drug or vaccine would not have to completely eliminate the virus to be beneficial. This may be generally true for other infections that can affect the fetus, such as COVID.

“Anything you can do to reduce viral load is a good thing for infant development,” Bliss-Moreau says.

A 2019 study by CNPRC scientists, in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, found that an experimental Zika vaccine lowered levels of circulating viruses in pregnant macaques.

Additional coauthors are from UC Davis CNPRC. The National Institutes of Health supported the work.

Source: UC Davis

A new study demonstrates that 10-20-30 interval training is just as effective for improving your running times and overall fitness, even if your sprints are only at 80%.

The researchers hope that the new knowledge can encourage more people to adopt this type of training, which benefits both blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

A group of runners jogs leisurely along a park’s trails. Thirty seconds later, they accelerate to a moderate pace for 20 seconds before blasting into a 10-second sprint. 10-20-30 interval running training is a widespread training concept because it is effective at improving running times and fitness levels, even with marked reduction in the amount of training.

Now, the new research demonstrates that you don’t necessarily need to give it all you’ve got in the final 10-second sprint to get into good shape and improve your times.

In the study, 19 runners replaced their normal training with 10-20-30 workouts for six weeks. The results came as a surprise: Half of the group, whom the researchers had instructed to perform at only 80% during the final 10-second sprint, achieved as much progress in their running performance and fitness as the group that sprinted at 100%.

“The result of the study really came as a surprise. We think that it is related to the fact that training at 80% of one’s maximum still gets the heart rate up significantly higher than a runner’s typical training. A higher heart rate leads to improvements in heart function and circulation, as evidenced in their times and fitness levels,” says Jens Bangsbo, a professor in the University of Copenhagen’s nutrition, exercise, and sports department (NEXS), who headed the study.

Over the five-kilometer (about 3.1 miles) distance that the researchers tested the 19 runners on, the “slow” group—who sprinted at only 80% of their max—achieved an average improvement in their running time of 42 seconds compared to their original time prior to the six-week interval training. Meanwhile, runners in the “fast” group only shaved an average of 24 seconds off of their times. Both groups of runners improved their overall fitness (maximum oxygen uptake) by 7%.

At first glance, it appears as if holding back somewhat on one’s final sprint carries nothing but advantages. However, as the researchers dug deeper to better understand how the runners’ muscles reacted to the two loads, one important difference emerged.

“Only the max group formed more mitochondria, which are the tiny power plants within our cells. They are important for muscular endurance and the ability of our muscles to engage in long-term work. So, if you plan on running a half or full marathon, you’ll need to sprint at 100% to achieve the maximum benefit,” says Bangsbo.

What is 10-20-30 training?

10-20-30 running is intensive interval training where you run: 30 seconds at a slow pace, 20 seconds at a moderate pace, and 10 seconds as sprint.

Each interval takes one minute and is repeated three to five times. Runners take a one to four minute break after each block of intervals. Runners should perform the five-minute periods of intervals one to four times during a workout, depending on your level of fitness.

The method is characterized by running faster and straining yourself more than you normally would, and by being divided into fixed intervals with built-in breaks. The many changes in pace and increased intensity are the fundamentals of 10-20-30 training and play a crucial role for anyone seeking to improve their overall fitness and performance.

Beginners should start with a 1 x 5-minute training. For people used to running, start with 2 x 5-minute periods with a 3-4 minute break. As you get used to this type of training, you should increase speed during the 20- and 10-second intervals as well as gradually increase the number of 5-minute intervals and reduce break time.

To benefit from this type of workout, you will need to do 10-20-30 training at least twice a week. Beginners should not run more than twice a week at first. Recreational runners can run three times a week, while experienced runners, who may already be accustomed to interval running, can choose to replace up to four training sessions a week with 10-20-30 training for optimal effect.

Effective training for busy runners

It may seem silly to be constantly accelerating and slowing down while out on a run, but consider what you’re missing out on by not doing so. 10-20-30 interval running is a type of workout that, besides improving running times and overall fitness, also comes with a wide range of other health benefits.

This was established in another study by Bangsbo in 2020, in which diabetics lowered their blood sugar and the amount of “dangerous fat” around their organs after ten weeks of 10-20-30 exercise.

“Just as with other high intensity exercises that elevate heart rate, 10-20-30 workouts have a positive effect on health. Among other things, we also see improvements in blood pressure and cholesterol levels. At the same time, interval training is more effective, because you can get into better shape and improve your health in less time than by running at a constant pace,” says Bangsbo.

According to Bangsbo, 10-20-30 training can also feel both easier and more fun.

“Many people find that interval running is more fun due to the changes in pace. And when doing 10-20-30 training , there is also a social element, as runners with different performance level can meet after the 10-seconds period and run together, which makes it more enjoyable. With this study, we’ve shown that, even if you ‘only’ run at 80% during the sprint, it is still a very effective form of training—which may encourage even more people to opt for this kind of training,” concludes Bangsbo.

About the study

19 runners replaced their regular training with 10-20-30 workouts (3-4 5-minute blocks) 3 times a week for 6 weeks. One group performed the 10-second sprint with maximum effort (MAX) and the other with approximately 80% of their maximum effort (SUBMAX).

What’s new in this study is that the runners who ran at 80% of their maximum speed during the 10-second sprint intervals progressed just as much (42 seconds improvement) in 5K performance and also benefited from a 7% increase in overall fitness (maximum oxygen uptake) as the group who ran at a full sprint during the 10 second sprints.

According to the researchers, the surprising result is probably related to the fact that even “sub-maximum” 10-20-30 training provokes a significantly higher heart rate than a runner’s normal training regimen. This is one of the main reasons for participants’ improved health and cardiovascular fitness.

The study appears in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports.

Source: University of Copenhagen

LAS VEGAS — Ongoing development of a regulatory framework for overseeing new commercial space activity is critical to NASA’s long-term exploration plans that will rely increasing on the private sector, the agency’s deputy administrator said.

In an Oct. 24 speech at AIAA’s ASCEND conference here, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said the agency supported ongoing work by the National Space Council to develop what is known as “mission authorization,” a regulatory framework to comply with treaty requirements to oversee commercial missions not currently licensed by other agencies.

“We are leaning heavily on our commercial partners. Our industry needs a clear, timely and consistent path to success and safety,” she said, citing “the risk to all space activities of not having some form of coordinated oversight that has clarity for both NASA and the industry.”

Both industry and government have been pushing for years to create a mission authorization system that would provide “authorization and continuing supervision,” in the words of Article 6 of the Outer Space Treaty, for commercial space activities not overseen today by government agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Communications Commission and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Those agencies currently license launch and reentry, communications and remote sensing, respectively.

Melroy cited as examples of activities that would benefit from mission authorization commercial lunar landers and space stations. NASA is relying on commercial landers to deliver cargo and astronauts to the lunar surface while it supports development of commercial space stations as successors to the International Space Station.

“I just can’t say enough how vitally important it is that we succeed in coming up with the right framework,” she said. “Commercial partners are critical to the success of not just NASA but to our country and, I believe, the world.”

Mission authorization would help companies by reducing uncertainty about who will regulate them and how, she argued. “The U.S. has to have a clear front door to industry,” she said. “Industry must be able to secure the regulatory approvals needed to partner with NASA in order to keep everyone safe. On the other side, it’s important that the in-space authorization policy be very clear and straightforward to understand.”

Another benefit of the policy, she said, would be to harmonize regulations with other nations. “It’s come up multiple times among the Artemis Accords signatories. But until we have one for novel space activities in deep space, it’s kind of a hard conversation to have.”

She said she was “pleased” with the work so far by the National Space Council on developing a mission authorization framework as well as the cooperation offered by agencies such as the Commerce and Transportation Departments and the FCC. “As we move forward, we will need to continue to work together to ensure that there’s a good balance between adherence to responsible space behavior and nurturing our space economy.”

Melroy did not give any details about what that mission authorization framework would look like, other than it would likely include both a policy and proposed legislation. She also did not say when she expected that framework to be published.

At the most recent public meeting of the National Space Council in September 2022, Vice President Kamala Harris requested proposals from agencies on how to regulate “commercial novel space activities” within six months. Officials have since said they are reviewing those proposals, but offered little detail about what might be included in a mission authorization framework or its timetable for release.

Melroy emphasized, amid long-running debates about which agency should handle mission authorization, that NASA was not interested in regulating commercial space activities. “NASA is not a regulator, but I hope I’ve made the case for you that this issue is vitally important to us and to our mission, and we’re going to stay involved.”

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Defying social norms and thinking outside the box are often seen as prerequisites for entrepreneurial success, but being unapologetically weird can be both an advantage and a liability, according to new research.

In the study in Personnel Psychology, researchers explore the link between investor funding and perceived weirdness—defined as an individual difference characterized by failing to adhere to widely accepted social norms regarding one’s appearance, speech, or behavior such that one is perceived as odd, strange, or abnormal.

“People tend to draw conclusions about those who are non-normative,” says coauthor Emily Grijalva, associate professor of organization and human resources in the University at Buffalo School of Management. “A person’s willingness to violate, or their inability to follow, norms can enhance their creativity; yet at the same time, weird entrepreneurs are perceived to have diminished competence.”

Using pitches given by individual entrepreneurs from the five most recent seasons of the popular television show Shark Tank, the researchers surveyed three separate groups of people recruited through Amazon Mturk, a panel data collection company.

The groups were surveyed on either the perceived weirdness of the Shark Tank entrepreneurs; the entrepreneurs’ own creativity, competence, and warmth; or the creativity of the products (without seeing the entrepreneurs themselves). Ultimately, these entrepreneur attributes, including weirdness, predicted investor interest from Sharks on the show.

The study found that weird entrepreneurs benefited from being perceived as more creative, but suffered from being seen as less competent. The researchers also found that entrepreneurs with more creative products attracted more investors, and that interpersonal warmth (i.e., being friendly and kind) was key to leveraging the advantages of weirdness and reducing the disadvantages.

“Although the study focused on entrepreneurs, our findings might extend to other professions as well, including in the selection of leaders,” says Grijalva. “Companies can sometimes benefit from attracting and selecting employees who tend to deviate from norms, particularly if the person is interpreted as trustworthy or kind because they can potentially better maintain relationships or find people to work with that compensate for any weaknesses.”

Jun-Yeob Kim, a PhD candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is the study’s lead author. Additional coauthors are from the University at Buffalo; the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Source: University at Buffalo

Killer whales’ diet has a greater impact than their location on contaminant levels and potential health risks, a new study shows.

Both elegant and fierce, killer whales are some of the oceans’ top predators, but even they can be exposed to environmental pollution.

A new study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology reports the levels of legacy and emerging pollutants in 162 individuals’ blubber.

As the largest member of the dolphin family, killer whales, also known as orcas, are found worldwide. Marine vessel traffic can disturb the hunting and communication of these black-and-white marine mammals. But they face another type of human threat—legacy and emerging persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in their environments.

POPs include chlorinated hydrocarbons and flame retardants, and can accumulate in animals’ fat stores as the contaminants move up the food chain though a process called biomagnification.

Previous studies have shown that some Pacific orca populations can carry POP loads in their blubber that pose potential health risks, including reduced immunity, hormonal imbalances, and reproductive issues.

But information on orcas living in the North Atlantic are lacking. So, Anaïs Remili and Melissa McKinney from McGill University and colleagues wanted to assess the contaminants present in animals spanning from Eastern Canada to Norway.

The researchers collected skin and blubber biopsies from over a hundred free-ranging killer whales, across the North Atlantic Ocean from Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and Norway. They analyzed half of each tissue sample for five classes of POPs, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The other portion was used to evaluate the animals’ diets.

Multiple features stood out in the data:

• Specimens from orcas in the western North Atlantic contained substantially higher contaminant loads than ones from orcas on the eastern side—a pattern that contrasts with previously reported POP levels in other Arctic marine organisms.
• The pattern could be attributed to individuals’ diet rather than location. Specifically, killer whales foraging on fish had the lowest POP levels, and animals consuming marine mammals, such as seals or other whales, had the highest.
• PCB-associated health risks were highest for killer whales that ate primarily marine mammals, with most animals’ levels exceeding the threshold for a higher risk of female reproductive failure.

The levels of one POP, known as α-HBCDD, were the highest reported for any marine mammal to date, despite the fact that this brominated flame retardant was banned a decade ago.

The researchers say the findings support the need for proper waste disposal to prevent contaminants from entering the oceans’ food chains and reaching the top predators. They say the findings of their study underscore the need for action to protect North Atlantic killer whales and their ecosystems.

Source: McGill University

In 2021, a team of astronomers suggested that a recently discovered near-Earth asteroid, Kamo`oalewa, could be a chunk of the moon. Two years later, another research group finds that a rare pathway could have enabled this to happen.

So far, only distant asteroids from beyond the orbit of Mars have been considered a source of near-Earth asteroids, says Renu Malhotra, professor of planetary sciences at the University of Arizona and a senior author of the paper in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.

“We are now establishing that the moon is a more likely source of Kamo`oalewa,” Malhotra says.

The implication is that many more lunar fragments remain to be discovered among the near-Earth asteroid population.

Researchers decided to study Kamo`oalewa for two reasons. Kamo`oalewa is uncommon in that it is Earth’s quasi-satellite, a term used for asteroids whose orbits are so Earth-like that they appear to orbit Earth even though they actually orbit the sun.

The other peculiar aspect of Kamo`oalewa is its longevity, says Jose Daniel Castro-Cisneros, the study’s lead author and a graduate student in the physics department. Kamo`oalewa is expected to remain as a companion of the Earth for millions of years, which is its remarkable feature, Castro-Cisneros says, unlike other known objects that stay in these very Earth-like orbits only for a few decades.

The 2021 study found that Kamo`oalewa’s spectrum was unlike that of other near-Earth asteroids but matched most closely that of the moon. Based on this, the team hypothesized that the asteroid could have been ejected from the lunar surface because of a meteoroidal impact.

In the new study, Malhotra and her team wanted to determine the feasibility of a knocked-off piece of the moon getting into this quasi-satellite orbit—a phenomenon that is quite unlikely, Malhotra says. Moon fragments that have enough kinetic energy to escape the Earth-moon system also have too much energy to land in the Earth-like orbits of quasi-satellites, she says.

With numerical simulations that accurately account for the gravitational forces of all the solar system’s planets, Malhotra’s group found that some lucky lunar fragments could actually find their way to such orbits. Kamo`oalewa could be one of those fragments created during an impact on the moon in the past few million years, according to the study.

Throughout its history, the moon has been bombarded by asteroids, which is evident in the numerous impact craters preserved on its surface, explains Malhotra. Impact craters are created when asteroids or meteorites crash into the surface of a planet or the moon. Impacts cause lunar material to be ejected from the moon’s surface, but most of that material usually falls back on the moon, she says.

Some of the ejected materials fall on Earth, and that’s how we get meteorites from the moon, Malhotra says. But a small fraction could escape the gravity of both the moon and the Earth and end up orbiting around the sun like other near-Earth asteroids. Numerical simulation suggests that Kamo`oalewa could be one of even tinier fractions that gained entry into the hard-to-reach Earth’s co-orbital space.

The study’s findings could help understand more about near-Earth asteroids, which are considered a hazard to Earth, Malhotra says. More detailed studies of Kamo`oalewa and determining this asteroid’s origin in a specific impact crater on the moon will provide useful insights on impact mechanics, she adds.

In the future, Castro-Cisneros says the team is planning to identify the specific conditions that allowed the orbital pathway of Kamo`oalewa. The group is also aiming to work on determining Kamo`oalewa’s exact age, he says.

“We looked at Kamo`oalewa’s spectrum only because it was in an unusual orbit,” Malhotra says. “If it had been a typical near-Earth asteroid, no one would have thought to find its spectrum and we wouldn’t have known Kamo`oalewa could be a lunar fragment.”

Source: University of Arizona

WASHINGTON — The European Space Agency said Oct. 19 it has rescheduled a long-duration static-fire test of the Ariane 6 rocket for late November, after a major meeting of European government officials where support for the rocket will be on the agenda.

In an update, ESA said engineers are continuing work to fix a problem with the hydraulics in the thrust vector control system of the core stage of the rocket. That problem caused ESA and its partners to delay the hot-fire test, where the core stage’s Vulcain 2.1 engine is fired for 470 seconds, from early October.

The agency said that the long-duration test is now scheduled for November. It will be preceded by a full-scale launch countdown test in October, lasting 36 hours, that will conclude with a brief firing of the core stage engine. That rehearsal test had previously been planned for after the long-duration test.

The ESA statement did not give specific dates for the two tests. However, at a press briefing after a meeting of the ESA Council, Josef Aschbacher, director general of ESA, said the countdown rehearsal was scheduled for Oct. 23 and the long-duration engine test for Nov. 23.

He said that ESA still expected to set a period for the inaugural launch of the Ariane 6 after that long-duration test. “It is planned to be in 2024,” he said of the first flight, “but when exactly is too early to say.”

Despite this latest testing delay, Aschbacher argued that the Ariane 6 team was making good progress, citing the successful short-duration hot-fire test Sept. 5 and a separate test of the upper stage’s Vinci engine Sept. 1. “Both have been very successful,” he said. “We are confident that we are on a good path towards the maiden flight, of course with many steps still to be undertaken.”

The delay, though, means ESA won’t have an estimated date for the Ariane 6’s debut when it convenes a second European Space Summit meeting Nov. 6-7 in Seville, Spain. That event will host separate meetings of the ESA Council and European Union’s Competitiveness Council, as well as a joint meeting of the two bodies.

Access to space is one of the key topics ESA plans to discuss at the summit, and at the press briefing Aschbacher said the agency is finalizing a package of initiatives for which it will seek endorsements by participating countries at the meeting. He declined to go to into details about the package because the final details are still being worked out but that ESA members had achieved consensus on the “big picture” of the proposal.

For access to space, he said the package has four main elements, one of which is “stabilized access to space” through support for the Ariane 6 and Vega C rockets. The other elements include a “challenge” for small launch vehicles being commercially developed, construction of launch pads at the French Guiana spaceport and whether Arianespace will continue to market and operate Vega, which is built by Avio.

The summit, he noted, will provide a political endorsement of those plans, but not funding. Those funding commitments will come at ESA’s next ministerial meeting in late 2025.

Vega launch investigation

ESA officials also discussed at the briefing an issue with the most recent Vega launch Oct. 8, the first for the Vega family of vehicles since a Vega C launch failure in December 2022. The rocket carried two primary payloads and 10 cubesats.

Officials confirmed that two of the 10 cubesats did not deploy from their payload adapters on the rocket’s upper stage. ESA did not identify them in the release, but other industry sources said they were ESTCUBE-2, from Estonia’s University of Tartu, and ANSER-LEADER, one of three cubesats from Spain’s National Institute for Aerospace Technology. Both were supported by an EU program for in-orbit testing of new space technologies.

“These satellites were probably not deployed,” said Toni Tolker-Nielsen, ESA’s director of space transportation. While deployment commands were sent, there was no telemetry confirming that the satellites were deployed and the two satellites were not tracked by the U.S. Space Force. “We assume they stayed on the upper stage of the launcher and reentered together with the upper stage.”

ESA is participating in an investigation led by Arianespace and Avio to study the failed deployment. It will not affect the next Vega flight planned for next spring, he said, because it will not use the same cubesat payload adapter as the most recent flight.

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Researchers have figured out how to use chicken feathers to create an environmentally friendly and cost-effective membrane for fuel cells.

The food industry generates enormous amounts of waste and byproducts, including from poultry production. Each year, some 44 million tons of chicken feathers are incinerated. This not only releases large amounts of CO₂, but also produces toxic gases such as sulphur dioxide.

The new method puts these feathers to good use. Using a simple and environmentally friendly process, the researchers extract the protein keratin from the feathers and convert it into ultra-fine fibers known as amyloid fibrils. These keratin fibrils go on to be used in the membrane of a fuel cell.

Fuel cells generate CO₂-free electricity from hydrogen and oxygen, releasing only heat and water. They could play an important role as a sustainable energy source in the future. At the heart of every fuel cell lies a semipermeable membrane. It allows protons to pass through but blocks electrons, forcing them to flow through an external circuit from the negatively charged anode to the positively charged cathode, thereby producing an electric current.

In conventional fuel cells, these membranes have so far been made using highly toxic chemicals, or “forever chemicals,” which are expensive and don’t break down in the environment. The new membrane, on the other hand, consists mainly of biological keratin, which is environmentally compatible and available in large quantities—chicken feathers are 90% keratin. This means the membrane manufactured in the laboratory is already up to three times cheaper than conventional membranes.

“I’ve devoted a number of years to researching different ways we can use food waste for renewable energy systems,” says Raffaele Mezzenga, professor of food and soft materials at ETH Zurich. “Our latest development closes a cycle: we’re taking a substance that releases CO₂ and toxic gases when burned and used it in a different setting: with our new technology it not only replaces toxic substances, but also prevents the release of CO₂, decreasing the overall carbon footprint cycle.”

However, there are further challenges to overcome before hydrogen can become established as a sustainable energy source. “Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe—just unfortunately not on Earth,” Mezzenga says. Since hydrogen doesn’t occur here in its pure form, it has to be produced, which requires a great deal of energy. Here, too, the new membrane could serve well in the future, because it can be used not only in fuel cells but also in water splitting.

In a process known as electrolysis, direct current is passed through water, causing oxygen to form at the (this time) positively charged anode, while hydrogen escapes at the negatively charged cathode. Pure water isn’t conductive enough for this process and often requires the addition of acids. The new membrane, however, is permeable to protons and thus enables the particle migration between anode and cathode necessary for efficient water splitting, even in pure water.

The researchers’ next step will be to investigate how stable and durable their keratin membrane is, and to improve it if necessary. The research team has already filed a joint patent for the membrane and is now looking for investors or companies to develop the technology further and bring it to market.

Additional coauthors are from ETH Zurich and Nanyang Technological University Singapore.

Source: ETH Zurich