On Feb. 20, 2021, Northrop Grumman will launch its Cygnus cargo spacecraft aboard an Antares rocket to deliver several tons of cargo and supplies to the International Space Station for its 15th resupply mission (CRS-15). Included in these bulky supplies will be a handful of items that weigh no more than a few grams—a sampling of seeds, some microscopic proteins, and…
Tag: organisms
Hundreds of fish species, including many we eat, are consuming plastic
As more and more plastic trash permeates the oceans, microplastics are making their way into fish and shellfish, and potentially into humans. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/hundreds-fish-species-consume-microplastics-including-human-food…
Scientists make surprise Antarctic life discovery
A recent ice-boring operation has revealed the discovery of organisms living deep beneath the ice shelf. During a recent expedition, scientists with t… Source: https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/343926/scientists-make-surprise-antarctic-life-discovery…
Sponges found beneath Antarctic ice sheet ‘shouldn’t be there’
Biologists say the inadvertent discovery of sea life on a boulder beneath a 900-metre-thick Antarctic ice shelf challenges our understanding of polar organisms Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2267737-sponges-found-beneath-antarctic-ice-sheet-shouldnt-be-there/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Life found beneath Antarctic ice sheet ‘shouldn’t be there’
Biologists say the inadvertent discovery of sea life on a boulder beneath a 900-metre-thick Antarctic ice shelf challenges our understanding of polar organisms Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2267737-life-found-beneath-antarctic-ice-sheet-shouldnt-be-there/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Wildfire Smoke Is Loaded With Microbes. Is That Dangerous?
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: If you’re unfortunate enough to breathe wildfire smoke, you’re getting a lungful of charred plant material, noxious gases, and — if the fire tore through human structures — incinerated synthetic materials. All across the board, it’s bad stuff, proven to be a severe detriment to human health, particularly for those with respiratory conditions…
Want to find life on Mars? Look deep underground
A new study from researchers at Rutgers University suggests that the best place to look for evidence of life on Mars is deep underground, where geothermal heat melted subsurface ice. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/mars-life-search-subsurface-ice-melted-by-geothermal-heat…
Clues to Mars life in Earth’s Atacama Desert
Researchers in the U.S. and Spain have discovered a plethora of previously unknown microbes living in wet clay layers below Chile’s arid Atacama Desert. The finding will help future rovers search for life on Mars. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/microbes-clay-atacama-desert-life-on-mars…
Ancient life signs under dinosaur-killing Chicxulub crater
Researchers have found evidence for an ancient microbial ecosystem in a hydrothermal system beneath Mexico’s Chicxulub Crater, thought to be the site of the impact that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/dinosaur-killing-chicxulub-impact-crater-hydrothermal-microbial…
Covid-19 will probably become endemic. Here’s what that means
Rather than completely disappear – even when vaccines become available- it’s likely that the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 will be added to the family of infectious diseases known as “endemic” in the human population. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/covid-19-coronavirus-will-probably-become-endemic-defintion…