InformerNow

Satellite image of the lunar south pole and Schrödinger basin NASA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY The moon might be more hospitable to life than we thought, increasing the risk of future moon missions contaminating the lifeless lunar surface. Space missions must follow policies on “planetary protection” to avoid contaminating other bodies of the solar system with microbes…

What lurks behind the dense, dusty clouds of this galactic neighbor? There lies the star-powered heart of the galaxy Messier 82 (M82), also known as the Cigar Galaxy. Located just 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major (The Great Bear), the Cigar Galaxy is considered a nearby galaxy. As this Hubble Space Telescope…

Scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University have determined the genetic lineage of a now extinct plant population from Nishinoshima, a volcanic island whose frequent eruptions periodically “reset” the vegetation. While they traced the lineage to a nearby island, they discovered distinct genetic quirks due to the rarity of seeds making it there, including a “founder’s effect.”…

Plant stem cells are crucial for the world’s food supply, animal feed, and fuel production. They lay the foundation for how plants grow. Yet, much about these mysterious building blocks remains unknown. Previous analyses have failed to locate many of the important genes that regulate how these cells function. Now, for the first time, Cold…

After a year’s worth of scientific scrutiny, the ‘Sapphire Canyon’ rock sample remains the mission’s best candidate for containing signs of ancient microbial life processes. A sample collected by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover from an ancient dry riverbed in Jezero Crater could preserve evidence of ancient microbial life. Taken from a rock named “Cheyava Falls”…

Long-term stress levels, measured through hair samples, may provide important clues about mental health risks in children with chronic physical illnesses (CPI), according to new research from the University of Waterloo. The study highlights how high hair cortisol, a type of steroid hormone, acts as a powerful early warning sign that could help identify children…