(CNN) — If you love space and exploring the cosmos, there’s no shortage of wonders right now.
Scientists have identified mysterious diamonds that likely originated from a dwarf planet that once existed in our solar system – until it collided with a large asteroid 4.5 billion years ago.
Rare space diamonds aren’t the only fascinating find for researchers. A ‘breathtaking’ image captured by the James Webb Space Telescope reveals the secrets of star birth in the Orion Nebula. Expect to see more unprecedented Webb images in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the Artemis I mission has a new launch date set for September 27, with a 70-minute window that opens at 11:37 a.m. ET.
And on Mars, inspiring discoveries are afoot as the Perseverance rover explores an intriguing site.
Other worlds
The Perseverance rover has made its most exciting discovery on the Red Planet to date.
Perseverance eventually collected samples from the site of an ancient river delta, which is replete with rock layers that serve as geological evidence of the Martian past. Some of the rocks contain the highest concentration of organic matter found by the rover to date, according to NASA scientists.
Among the organic matter are minerals that correlate with sulfates, which may preserve evidence of once potentially habitable sites on Mars and the microbial life that may have existed there.
New photos show the promising rocks amid the delta’s alien landscape. These important samples could answer the ultimate cosmic question: Are we alone in the universe?
We are a family
Modern humans and Neanderthals lived in tandem until our ancient parents died out around 40,000 years ago. Now researchers believe they may have identified something that gave Homo sapiens a cognitive advantage over Stone Age hominins.
Scientists have discovered a genetic mutation that would have allowed neurons to form faster in the modern human brain.
“We have identified a gene that helps make us human,” said study author Wieland Huttner, professor and director emeritus at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany. Germany.
But some experts believe more research is needed to determine the gene’s true impact.
Trail Blazers
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander – and those golden geese provided some pretty significant benefits.
Three teams of scientists have won the 2022 Golden Goose Awards, prizes organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, for pioneering breakthroughs.
One of them includes the Foldscope, a paper microscope that costs $1.75 to make. Stanford University bioengineer Manu Prakash came up with the idea while on a research trip to the Thai jungle more than a decade ago.
The scientific instrument has been around the world and researchers have even used it to identify a new type of cyanobacteria.
defy gravity
Mark your calendars: a NASA spacecraft will intentionally crash into a tiny asteroid on September 26.
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, spacecraft launched in November and is on its way to rendezvous with Dimorphos, a small moon orbiting an asteroid called Didymos.
The mission will cause the asteroid, which poses no threat to Earth, to alter its speed and trajectory in a kinetic impact test, the first of its kind. If DART is successful, the mission could demonstrate future ways to protect Earth from space debris.
The spacecraft recently got its first glimpse of Didymos about 20 million miles away (32.2 million kilometers). On the day of the encounter, we will see Dimorphos for the first time before DART collides with the space rock.
Consequences
The Xerces blue butterfly, the Floreana giant tortoise and the Tasmanian tiger are just a few of the species the world has lost due to human-made threats.
Environmental and travel photographer Marc Schlossman has spent 15 years documenting extinct and endangered animal specimens in the collection of the Field Museum of Chicago for his new book, “Extinction: Our Fragile Relationship With Life on Earth.”
Schlossman offers a ray of hope at a time when biodiversity loss is accelerating. Of the 82 species photographed for the book, 23 are extinct, he said.
Thanks to conservation efforts, the others have been brought back from the brink of extinction or, as in the case of the New Zealand kākāpo, may recover through ‘robust’ conservation work.
The-CNN-Wire
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