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Earth's atmosphere may help support human life on the moon

The moon's surface may be more than just a dusty, barren landscape. Over billions of years, tiny particles from Earth's atmosphere have landed in the lunar soil, creating a possible source of life-sustaining substances for future astronauts. But scientists have only recently

Pop Music Is Getting Darker

The tunes that top the charts have been getting more negative for half a century The post Pop Music Is Getting Darker appeared first on Nautilus .

Astronomers create first map of the sun's outer boundary

Astronomers have produced the first continuous, two-dimensional maps of the outer edge of the sun's atmosphere, a shifting, frothy boundary that marks where solar winds escape the sun's magnetic grasp. By combining the maps and close-up measurements, scientists from the Center

Small galaxies may buck the black hole trend, Chandra finds

Most smaller galaxies may not have supermassive black holes in their centers, according to a recent study using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. This contrasts with the common idea that nearly every galaxy has one of these giant black holes within their cores, as NASA leads

Scientists teach helices to switch shapes

Researchers at the University of Jyväskylä have discovered a simple way to program synthetic molecules so they can form specific spiral-like structures by embedding instructions directly into their sequence. This breakthrough could lead to new smart materials and molecular

Meaning drives young musicians—but few get the chance

Music students are driven both by career ambitions and by a strong personal relationship with music. At the same time, unequal conditions early in life shape who gains access to the music education field. This is shown in a new doctoral dissertation in music education from the

Orca tail dolphins to hunt salmon—and may share the catch

Killer whales or orca (Orcinus orca) have been observed hunting with Pacific white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens) in the waters off British Columbia, Canada, and sharing fish scraps with them after making a kill, according to research published in Scientific Reports.

Swarm detects rare proton spike during solar storm

The European Space Agency's Swarm mission detected a large but temporary spike of high-energy protons at Earth's poles during a geomagnetic storm in November. It did this not with the scientific instruments for measuring Earth's magnetic field, but with its 'star tracker'

The solution to finding an atmosphere on TRAPPIST-1 e

The hunt is on for terrestrial exoplanets in habitable zones, and some of the most promising candidates were discovered almost a decade ago about 40 light-years from Earth. The TRAPPIST-1 system contains seven terrestrial planets similar to Earth, and four of them may be in the