Science & TechnologyS


Better Earth

Rocks in Canada may be oldest on Earth, dating back 4.16 billion years

Ben Turner
Live Science
Fri, 27 Jun 2025 00:01 UTC
Rock formation
© David Hutt/AlamyCanadian rock formation
The rocks could offer insight into Earth's primordial crust and the environment that gave birth to life.

An obscure rock formation on the eastern shore of Canada's Hudson Bay may contain the oldest known rocks on Earth, a new study claims.

The analysis dated the site's streaky gray rocks, part of an outcrop called the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt, to 4.16 billion years ago — meaning they're remnants from our 4.57 billion-year-old planet's earliest crust.

The dating, performed by two methods that used the decay of radioactive isotopes (versions of elements) to measure the age of ancient magma trapped inside the rocks, significantly bolsters a controversial past study by the same scientists.

If their findings, published June 26 in the journal Science, stand up, they could offer a unique window into our planet's ancient history and the geochemical stage where life emerged.

"The volcanic rocks have to be at least 4.16 billion years old or older; I would argue that the best age for them is 4.3 billion years old," study co-author Jonathan O'Neil, a professor of environmental science at the University of Ottawa, told Live Science. "No known rocks are older."
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Blue Planet

'She is the only person in the world compatible with herself' — scientists discover new blood type unique to just one person

RJ Mackenzie
Live Science
Wed, 25 Jun 2025 00:00 UTC
blood sample
© Andrew Brookes/Getty ImagesBlood sample
After years of study, scientists have discovered a new blood type in a woman from Guadeloupe. They're now searching for more people with the characteristic.

Scientists have discovered a new blood group that has so far only been identified in one woman, from the French overseas region of Guadeloupe.

The 68-year-old is the only known person in the world to have this blood group, which has been named "Gwada negative," after a local name for her home islands. The researchers behind the discovery announced their work in a presentation at the International Society of Blood Transfusion's Congress in Milan, which concluded June 4.

The research team first met the woman in 2011, when she was living in Paris and undergoing routine tests before a surgery. But the tests couldn't reveal her blood type or any matches for it.

Analysis at the time wasn't advanced enough to detect the cause, and the case lay cold for eight years.
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2 + 2 = 4

Graduate student solves classic mathematics problem about the limits of addition

Leila Sloman
Quanta Magazine
Thu, 22 May 2025 15:54 UTC
addition mathematics theories sum free sets
© Nash Weerasekera for Quanta MagazineIn a sum-free set, no two members of the set add to make a third member of the set.
A new proof illuminates the hidden patterns that emerge when addition becomes impossible.

The simplest ideas in mathematics can also be the most perplexing.

Take addition. It's a straightforward operation: One of the first mathematical truths we learn is that 1 plus 1 equals 2. But mathematicians still have many unanswered questions about the kinds of patterns that addition can give rise to. "This is one of the most basic things you can do," said Benjamin Bedert, a graduate student at the University of Oxford. "Somehow, it's still very mysterious in a lot of ways."

In probing this mystery, mathematicians also hope to understand the limits of addition's power. Since the early 20th century, they've been studying the nature of "sum-free" sets — sets of numbers in which no two numbers in the set will add to a third. For instance, add any two odd numbers and you'll get an even number. The set of odd numbers is therefore sum-free.
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Info

Scientists complete the most thorough analysis yet of India's genetic diversity

Robert Sanders
UC Berkeley News
Thu, 26 Jun 2025 17:24 UTC
A comparison of more than 2,700 complete genomes from South Asians uncovers a wealth of ancient and recent diversity and genetic links to disease.

Indians
© Photo courtesy of unsplashIndia is one of the most diverse countries in the world. A new analysis of Indian genomes shows an ancient admixture of genes from Neanderthals and Denisovans, and more recent mingling of genes from Iranian farmers, Central Asian steppe pastoralists and hunter-gatherers from South Asia.
With around 5,000 different ethno-linguistic and religious groups, India is one of the most culturally and genetically diverse countries in the world. Yet, it remains underrepresented in genomic surveys, even when compared to other non-European groups, such as East Asians and Africans.

A new analysis of Indian genomes — the largest and most complete to date — helps untangle these groups' complex evolutionary history, uncovering a 50,000-year history of genetic mixing and population bottlenecks that shaped genetic variation, health and disease in South Asia.

The analysis, led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, India, the University of Southern California (USC) and the University of Michigan, was published today (June 26) in the journal Cell.

"These findings fill a critical gap and reshape our understanding of how ancient migrations, archaic admixture and social structures, like endogamy, have shaped the Indian genetic variation and risk of diseases, and will help inform precision health strategies in India," said Priya Moorjani, a senior author of the paper and a UC Berkeley assistant professor of molecular and cell biology.

Because of the complex history of gene flow and endogamy, or within-community marriages, Moorjani said, some groups within India are as genetically different from each other as Europeans are from East Asians. Studying diverse individuals across India thus helps to understand how ancient ancestry, geography, language and social practices interacted.
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Brain

Meet the dystopian startups making 'biological computers' from human cells

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Mon, 30 Jun 2025 04:15 UTC
machine
© Cortical LabsCortical Labs' CL1
Picture a dystopian future where computers don't just mimic human thinking - they're powered by actual human brain cells. That future is taking shape in a Cambridge, England, lab, where a groundbreaking device called CL1 is blending biology and technology in ways that could transform how we compute. Developed by Australian startup Cortical Labs and U.K.-based bit.bio, this shoebox-sized machine houses 200,000 lab-grown brain cells wired to silicon circuits, creating a "biological computer" that's already turning heads.

Unlike traditional computers, which guzzle energy, CL1 operates with the efficiency of a human brain. "Our brains process information using a fraction of the power that modern electronics need," Hon Weng Chong, CEO of Cortical Labs, told FT. "This could open doors to smarter robots, stronger cybersecurity, and immersive virtual worlds."

Oh, joy.
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Cassiopaea

Another naked-eye Nova, this time in constellation Vela


Spaceweather
Sun, 29 Jun 2025 17:14 UTC
A star exploded June 25th in the southern constellation Vela, and it is already visible to the unaided eye (magnitude +4.8). Eliot Herman photographed V572 Velorum using a robotic telescope in the Rio Hurtado Valley of Chile:

Nova V572
© Taken by Eliot Herman on June 27, 2025 @ Rio Hurtado Valley, ChileTwo bright nova in recent days after a long drought. Both in southern sky. This one was discovered on June 25 2025 in Vela. Captured with iTelescope T72 in Chile. This nova is about mag 5.0.
"After a long drought, this is the second bright nova discovered this month," says Herman.

This appears to be a "classical nova." First documented by Chinese astronomers some 2000 years ago, these explosions occur in binary star systems. White dwarf stars steal gas from a bloated partner until the stolen fuel ignites in a sudden thermonuclear blast.

Novas that you can see with your unaided eye magnitude are uncommon. Typically, they appear no more than about once a year. However, in June 2025 there have been two such novas in quick succession : First V462 Lupi and now V572 Velorum. Southern sky watchers, submit your photos here.
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Telescope

James Webb telescope discovers its first planet — a Saturn-size 'shepherd' still glowing red hot from its formation

Ben Turner
Live Science
Wed, 25 Jun 2025 00:00 UTC
new star TWA 7
© JWST/ESO/LagrangeImage of the disk surrounding the star TWA 7 recorded using ESO’s Very Large Telescope’s SPHERE instrument. The image captured with JWST’s MIRI instrument is overlayed.
Nestled inside a planetary ring 110 light-years from Earth, a planet spotted by the James Webb telescope is the lightest exoplanet ever detected.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured its first direct image of a planet in a remote solar system, and it's lighter than any seen before.

The planet, named TWA 7b, is a gas giant with a size comparable to Saturn's. Orbiting a star just over 6 million years old, the planet is still glowing hot from its formation.

The planet is the first observation of hypothesized yet previously unseen "shepherd" planets, which clear gaps of material found inside planetary rings. The researchers behind the discovery published their findings June 25 in the journal Nature.

Lead study author Anne-Marie Lagrange, an astronomer and research director at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris, told Live Science:
"It tells us that indeed, planets can form gaps in disks (which was theorised, but not observed) and trojan-like structures can indeed be present in exoplanetary systems. It is the first time that such a light planet is imaged, ten times lighter than the lightest [previously known] planet. This is thanks to the extreme sensitivity of JWST in the thermal domain."
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Fire

Scientists discover evidence of extensive human fire use 50,000 years ago

Li Yali
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Tue, 24 Jun 2025 17:13 UTC
Ancient Fire Use
© IOCASFire history of Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia and Papua New Guinea-Australia and age distribution of archaeological sites since the last 300,000 years.
Fire is an ancient natural phenomenon that has shaped our planet for over 400 million years. It alters habitats, affects the carbon cycle, and is closely linked to changes in climate and vegetation.

With the arrival of humans, fire began to transition from a purely natural force to one that could be harnessed to achieve specific goals. However, it has long been unclear when humans started using fire extensively to regulate their lives and significantly influence fire occurrences.

To address this question, researchers from the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS), alongside collaborators from China, Germany, and France, analyzed the pyrogenic carbon record in a 300,000-year-old sediment core from the East China Sea.

"Our findings challenge the widely held belief that humans only began influencing environment with fire in the recent past, during the Holocene," said Dr. ZHAO Debo, the study's corresponding author.

This study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), highlights the presence of charred plant remains — known as pyrogenic carbon — formed when vegetation burns but is not completely consumed by fire. The research reveals a notable increase in fire activity across East Asia approximately 50,000 years ago. This finding aligns with earlier reports of heightened fire activities in Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Papua New Guinea-Australia region respectively, suggesting a continental-scale intensification of fire use during this period.
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Meteor

Night lizards survived dinosaur-killing asteroid strike, despite being close enough to see it happen

Patrick Pester
Live Science
Tue, 24 Jun 2025 00:00 UTC
Night Lizard
© Kevin Venegas Barrantes/ShutterstockNight lizards live around the Gulf of Mexico and in southern Central America
Mysterious night lizards survived the giant asteroid strike that ended the reign of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago, despite living right next to the impact site in Mexico, a new study finds.

Thanks to a new evolutionary analysis, researchers discovered that the little lizards, in the family Xantusiidae, were living around the Gulf of Mexico before and after the asteroid struck what is now Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. This makes night lizards the only group of land vertebrates known to have survived close to the impact location, and still have members living in the region today.

The dinosaurs' doomsday asteroid was around 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) wide and caused widespread devastation when it hit at the end of the Cretaceous period (145 million to 66 million years ago). The impact was catastrophic for much of Earth's wildlife, triggering the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction event, in which around 75% of all species died out. However, two lineages of night lizard managed to persist through the disaster, despite likely being close enough to see the impact.

"They would have been all around the margin of the asteroid impact," study lead author Chase Brownstein, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University, told Live Science.
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Galaxy

Astronomers capture the most intricate picture of a galaxy in a thousand colors ever seen

Robert Lea
Space.com
Mon, 23 Jun 2025 22:16 UTC
sculptor galaxy most detailed image colors
© ESO/E. Congiu et alZoomed-in image of the Sculptor galaxy, as seen by the Very Large Telescope
"The Sculptor Galaxy is in a sweet spot. It is close enough that we can resolve its internal structure, but at the same time big enough that we can still see it as a whole system."

Astronomers have obtained a stunning new image of the Sculptor Galaxy, painted in thousands of colors that reveals the intricacies of galactic systems.

The incredible image of the galaxy — located around 11 million light-years away and also known as NGC 253 — was collected with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile.
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