Welcome to today’s news from the Universe that has the capacity to provide clues to the mystery of our existence and adds a much needed cosmic perspective in our current Anthropocene Epoch.
Tardigrades could be the first interstellar space travelers –– “A team of physicists, philosophers and biologists have come up with a list of organisms that could withstand the harsh conditions of interstellar space, and tardigrades take the top spot,” reports BBC Science Focus. ”
Glow Shields Earth’s ‘Last Creature’ from Deadly Radiation--“It’s been said that the tardigrade, an eight-legged microscopic creature –the most resilient form of life on our planet, that can exist for up to 30 years without food or water and endure temperature extremes up to 150 degrees Celsius– will exist until the Sun dies.”
Astronomers find evidence of zodiacal light on other habitable worlds –Life-forms on these super-Earths might see ethereal light reflecting off dust in their solar system, reports Astronomy.com
Any Single Galaxy Reveals the Composition of an Entire Universe –In computer simulations of possible universes, researchers have discovered that a neural network can infer the amount of matter in a whole universe by studying just one of its galaxies, reports Charlie Wood for Quanta. In the CAMELS project, coders simulated thousands of universes with diverse compositions, arrayed at the end of the stunning article’s video as cubes.
“Unlocking the Universe’s Hidden Secrets” –Acclaimed Scientists Share Their Hopes for the James Webb Space Telescope, reports The Daily Daily edit staff.
A New Map of the Sun’s Local Bubble –At the edge of a vast region devoid of gas and dust, scientists find an explanation for “how all nearby star formation began,” reports Dennis Overbye for The New York Times.
Nine things we learned about aliens in 2021, reports Brandon Specktor for Live Science –“A bombshell UFO report, the “alien junk” in our solar system, and more new clues about extraterrestrial life.”
We Booped the Sun –For such a familiar celestial body, the sun is still very mysterious—but we’re getting closer to it than ever before, reports Marina Koren for The Atlantic.
In a First, an ‘Atomic Fountain’ Has Measured the Curvature of Spacetime –The atom interferometry technique uses the effects of time dilation to reveal subtle changes in gravity’s strength, reports Scientific American via Space.com.
Taking Cosmology to the Far Side of the Moon –New Chinese program plans to use satellites in lunar orbit to study faint signals from early universe, reports Spectrum –“A team of Chinese researchers are planning to use the moon as a shield to detect otherwise hard-to-observe low frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum and open up a new window on the universe.”
One of the Last Great Mysteries of the Early Universe, reports Maxwell MoeThe Daily Galaxy. “Did supermassive black holes exist shortly after the big bang, before the birth of stars? “This is one of the last great mysteries of the early universe,” said Kirk S. S. Barrow in 2018, currently at Harvard’s CfA, about how supermassive black holes formed during the birth of a galaxy. It’s a mystery the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) may soon be able to solve.”
Alexander Friedmann: a pioneer of cosmic expansion –It is time to give the Russian cosmologist the credit he deserves, reports Big Think in this podcast. “One hundred years ago, a Russian cosmologist named Alexander Friedmann proposed the idea that the Universe expands from a singular point. A true visionary, he also found that the Universe could oscillate in time, with alternating periods of expansion and contraction. We now call the equations that describe the temporal evolution of the Universe the “Friedmann equations.”
11 epic mysteries scientists totally can’t solve –What is the universe made out of? When did the anus evolve? Can humans live to 150 years old? And more! reports Brian Resnick for VOX. “To investigate some of the biggest mysteries in science, you have to venture to some pretty far-out places: the bottom of the oceans, inside the human brain, the tops of mountains, and even the end of time.”
“The Exoplanet Paradox” -Worlds With Low Oxygen May Be Teeming with Life Based on Early Earth History, reports The Daily Galaxy. “Understanding how Earth regulates climate both in the modern era but also in the distant past is critical for our understanding of planetary habitability,” said Noah Planavsky, a biogeochemist at Yale University. “This will help guide our search for life beyond our solar system and is an example of how the evolution of complex life fundamentally changed our planet.”
Strange Deformed Planet With Mysterious Motion Detected by Exoplanet Mission Cheops, reports SciTechDaily –“The planet, known as WASP-103b is located in the constellation of Hercules. It has been deformed by the strong tidal forces between the planet and its host star WASP-103, which is about 200 degrees hotter and 1.7 times larger than the Sun.”
SpaceX Satellites Have Invaded Astronomers’ Views of The Sky, And It’s Getting Worse –With the rapid expansion of commercial space, there is a growing number of satellites in orbit around our planet. Most of these are in low-Earth orbit, which is becoming increasingly crowded, reports Science Alert.
Astronomers propose building a neutrino telescope — out of the Pacific Ocean reports Paul Sutter for Space.com –Meet the ambitious P-ONE proposal.
MIT Scientists Design a ‘Flying Saucer’ That Could Float Across The Moon, reports Science Alert.
What really makes a planet habitable? Our assumptions may be wrong, reports Paul Sutter for Space.com If we find an Earth-size planet around a star that sits outside the “habitable zone,” we shouldn’t write it off just yet.
Recent Galaxy Reports
Interview with NASA’s Chief: “We are Not Alone in the Universe, or the Multiverse”
Extraterrestrial Contact Paradox to Antimatter Stars of the Milky Way
Before the Big Bang to the Search for Life Not as We Know It
Are the Laws of Physics Evolving to We’re About to Unlock the Universe’s Secrets
Are Humans an Anomaly?
ExoGalactic Planets to NASA’s Eye on the First Billion Years of the Universe
The Missing Planet to The Aliens We Are Looking For Are AI
Evolution May Be a Cosmic Universal to the New Search for Alien Tech
Humans Could Be the Dominant Species in the Universe to Albert Einstein’s Forgotten Idea
Alien Chemistry of Other Worlds to One-Month Voyage to Jupiter
Physicists Search for the Dark Force to Terrifying Theory of Universe’s Expansion
Hunt for Alien Life Top Priority for U.S. Astronomers to Strange Object at Andromeda’s Center
Primordial Black Holes May Flood the Universe to Planets of Milky Way’s Ancient Bulge
Read about The Daily Galaxy editorial team here