This week’s science news was packed with interesting new facts about how the human body works, including the discovery that weightlessness means zero game for humans trying to reproduce in space.
A new study shows that sperm migration, fertilization, and embryo development are significantly disrupted in simulated microgravity. This discovery could pose serious problems for future space colonization.
NASA announces nuclear rocket
This week, NASA announced some ambitious plans for a return to the moon. The space agency’s head, Jared Isaacman, announced that he would cancel plans for a space station in lunar orbit and use its components for a $20 billion permanent base on the moon, while also sending a nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars.
Plans for a new moon base, which would use drones and a fleet of robotic landers to build a nuclear power plant on the moon by 2036, may be motivated in part by a desire to stay ahead of China in a new space race.
Whether the plan is realistic or just madness is likely to come into sharper focus next week, as the space agency’s Artemis II moon rocket makes its final efforts to launch by the April 30 deadline.
More space news
— Chinese lander reveals giant radiation ‘cavity’ between Earth and moon — It could change the way lunar exploration is done
-Anomalies in Mars’ mantle could trigger volcanic eruptions, which could accelerate the entire Earth’s rotation.
—Cannonball-sized meteorite crashes through roof of Texas home as multiple ‘fireballs’ rain down on US
life’s little mysteries
A common side effect of smoking cannabis is feeling incredibly voracious. So what explains this effect? Live Science’s Kenna Hughes-Castleberry investigated why cannabis gives people a “munch.”
—If you enjoyed this, sign up for the Life’s Little Mysteries newsletter
Iran war is a climate catastrophe
As the Iran war enters its fifth week with little sign of a ceasefire, we report a surprising discovery. An alarming amount of carbon dioxide had already been released in the first two weeks of the war, with the largest source coming from the destruction of buildings that had to be demolished and rebuilt.
The war has depleted the world’s carbon dioxide emissions faster than the 84 least carbon-emitting countries combined. The aftershocks of the war are expected to have an even bigger impact on the climate than the fighting itself, as countries seek to cushion the fuel and fertilizer shock caused by Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
More Earth news
– Scientists race to save Australia’s ‘zombie trees’ from rapidly spreading fungal disease
– As climate change worsens, new research suggests drought could fuel the rise of antibiotic-resistant superbugs.
– Antarctica could warm 1.4 times faster than the rest of the Southern Hemisphere in the coming decades, study finds
Also featured in this week’s science news
—A mouse study suggests that brain aging is caused by a loss of control over how genes are regulated.
– Roman mosaic depicts a topless woman fighting a leopard in a stadium, study finds
-1,000-year-old altar and human sacrifice of the Toltec Empire discovered in Mexico
—AI compresses billions of years of evolution into seconds, creating a “Lego-like robot” that can recover after losing a limb
――What are the new developments in things? Bizarre ‘half-Möbius’ molecule has unusual properties chemists have never seen before
science reading material
Genetic material is everywhere around us, in soil, water, and air, leaving invisible traces throughout ecosystems. By tracking this, scientists could potentially detect species, map food webs, and chart biodiversity without tracking a single organism.
But analyzing the components of this ambient DNA soup is a daunting task. In this long piece, Live Science explored scientific advances that could soon enable real-time monitoring of Earth’s biosphere.
something for the weekend
If you’re looking for something a little longer to read over the weekend, here are some of the best analysis, crossword and opinion pieces published this week.
— Is the Metaverse finally dead and buried? What’s really going on with the challenge of living in a virtual world? [Analysis]
— Live Science Crossword Puzzle #36: America’s National Bird — Horizontal 11 [Crossword]
-Our fossil fuel economy is a castle in the sand, and President Trump’s Iran war is about to destroy it. The need to transition to clean energy has never been clearer. [Opinion]
Science news in pictures
This photo taken by NASA’s Terra satellite in February shows a bright plume of swirling ocean mud that was kicked up off the coast of Florida after the arctic explosion that brought severe winter weather to much of the United States earlier this year.
NASA’s Artemis II rocket is poised on Launch Pad 39B at NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The 322-foot-tall (98-meter) Space Launch System and Orion crew capsule stack is ready to launch the mission’s four-person astronaut crew for a 10-day flight around the moon and back as early as April 1.
science is in motion
watch on
Researchers filmed a sperm whale giving birth while being assisted by 10 other females in its social unit. This is the first time this type of phenomenon has been confirmed in an animal other than primates.
The birth, filmed by an airborne drone in July 2023, took place over an hour, during which the female surrounded the mother and newborn in a protective circle and took turns lifting the calf to the surface, giving the fluke time to unfold and acquire its own natural buoyancy control.
Sperm whale social groups are matrilineal, with lifelong bonds formed between mothers, daughters, grandmothers, and unrelated females. Males, on the other hand, primarily roam the oceans alone, creating nature’s most extreme geographic separation between the sexes.
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