Formations

Our world may seem fragile, but Earth has been around for a very long time. If we ventured far back into the past, would we reach a time when it looked fundamentally different? The answer lies in some of the earliest extensive relics of Earth's surface, found in a remote corner of southern Africa's highveld—a region known to geologists as the Barberton Greenstone Belt. The geological formations in this region have proved difficult…

The Nigerian government has flagged off a N40 billion mass metering project to end the era of estimated billings in the Nigerian Army formations nationwide. Bolaji Tunji, special adviser on strategic communication and media relations to the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday. “The Federal government has begun the mass metering of the Nigerian Army formations nationwide with a promise to end the era of estimated billings in the power sector,” Mr Tunji said. Speaking during…

The Martian dune formation and Martian climate in the Zhurong rover exploration zone. Credit: NAOCUsing data from the Zhurong rover, researchers have discovered a major climate shift on <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>Mars</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>Mars is the second smallest planet in our solar system and the fourth planet from the sun. It is a dusty, cold, desert world with a very thin atmosphere. Iron…

James Webb offers an almost unequaled view into the furrows of the universe. One of the most recent revelations that Webb has helped head up comes in the form of a new image of distant spiral galaxies, giving astronomers an unbridled view of the early stages of star formation. The goal of these observations is to understand better how stars form in distant galaxies from long, long ago. By looking far into the universe’s past, astronomers hope to use James Webb’s various instruments to provide more details about…

Four mirabilite mounds along the Great Salt Lake shoreline.Photo: Utah Geological SurveyAngelic Anderson crouched down and ran her fingertips across a large white mound that rose several inches from the surface of the bone-dry lakebed. As a park ranger at the Great Salt Lake State Park in northern Utah, she’s accustomed to seeing the massive lake’s waterline recede, especially during dry months when there’s little to no rainfall. However, over the course of the last few winters, she and other rangers have noticed…

Abnormal blood vessel formations can cause cardiac problems, pain, and bleeding.A new study finds that thalidomide can treat abnormal blood vessel formations.The same properties of thalidomide, the prevention of blood vessel development (anti-angiogenesis), which resulted in birth defects when it was administered to pregnant women, have sparked interest in its therapeutic potential in other domains.Professor Miikka Vikkula of the de Duve Institute, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium, presented findings…