remnants

Artist’s impression of Theia colliding with the Earth billions of years ago. Credit: Hongping Deng and Hangzhou Sphere StudioNew research suggests that large remnants of Theia, a Mars-sized object that collided with Earth to form the Moon, still exist within Earth’s mantle. These remnants are thought to be linked to seismic anomalies and could provide insights into Earth’s geological history and plate tectonic patterns.Scientists have dated the birth of the Solar System to about 4.57 billion years ago. About 60 million…

Tracking down various segments of the Berlin Wall scattered all over the US, this eccentric yet down-to-earth documentary from Courtney Stephens and Pacho Velez traces how a historic artefact can mutate and splinter into myriad meanings. Transformed by their surroundings as well as the film-makers’ gaze, these concrete slabs are more than a symbol of the cold war; they have come to represent something quintessentially American.From the midwest to California, state department halls to roadside restaurants, chunks of the…

Scientists have identified a virus-like protein, PEG10, as a significant factor in ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) progression. Usually associated with placental development, PEG10 changes cell behavior in a harmful way when present in high amounts in nerve tissue. This discovery opens up potential new avenues for ALS diagnosis and treatment.Study identifies promising new target for treating underlying cause of the fatal disease.More than 5,000 people are diagnosed annually with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a…

Remnants of a Roman oil amphora. Credit: University of Cordoba Measuring just 6 centimeters wide and 8 centimeters long, the magnitude and exceptionality of the discovery has left the European archaeological community flabbergasted. It is a fragment of an oil amphora from the Roman region of Betica, manufactured about 1,800 years ago, with a written text on it, found during prospecting carried out in the municipality of…

Astronomers operating the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope think they’ve found three gas clouds that formed in the aftermath of the very first stars, when the Big Bang was still in the rear-view mirror.First Full-Color Images From Webb Space TelescopeIn the eye of the Very Large Telescope, a ground-based, visible light observatory in Chile, the clouds appear as they did when the universe was around 2 billion years old. (The universe is now nearly 14 billion years old.) The team’s research on the clouds…

Marvel announced today that their Marvel Comics app, which allowed readers to make in-app purchases and read their digital libraries, will be shutting down in June, with user accounts and libraries migrated over to Marvel Unlimited. The Marvel Comics app was the last digital comics reader still run via the old Comixology software prior to the controversial 4.0 migration to Amazon’s Kindle infrastructure. Are you a Marvel Comics app (operated by Comixology) user? While the app may be shutting down this June, we’ve made…

Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is a supernova remnant located about 11,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia. It spans approximately 10 light-years. This new image uses data from Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) to reveal Cas A in a new light. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Danny Milisavljevic (Purdue University), Tea Temim (Princeton University), Ilse De Looze (UGent), Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)Glowing dust and elements display complex structures that are challenging for scientists to…

NASA's James Webb Telescope captured the astonishing image of an exploding supernova on Friday, providing scientists with new insights. The clear picture of Cassiopeia sheds new light on the constellation. NASA has announced the discovery of the youngest known relic of a supernova explosion, which occurred 340 years ago. This picture was captured by the telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument, which much improves upon earlier infrared photography. The picture is then converted into the spectrum of light we can…

Scientists have spotted a relict glacier on Mars, near the equator—far from the parts of the planet where water ice is known to exist today. While this leftover glacial structure may not contain any water now, the fact that it exists where it does suggests that water ice had a more expansive footprint in the Red Planet more recently than previously believed. Alongstanding quandary about the Red Planet is when (and where) the planet’s water disappeared. Its surface is marked by evidence that water used to flow in rivers…

The main sequence life of a star like the Sun may not end in a supernova like the most massive stars out there, but it will not be a quiet affair.As the star runs out of fuel and becomes unstable, it puffs up to an absolutely enormous size before blowing off its outer material while the core collapses into a small, ultradense white dwarf.For the Sun, that puffy red giant stage could extend as far as Mars, a process that could destabilize and destroy planets close enough.We have seen white dwarf stars that have planets,…