Category: 7. Science

In a new study, geophysicists at Kyoto University have used the first-of-its-kind footage to study the movement of Earth’s fault in real time.

A strike-slip fault is a geological feature where two blocks of the Earth’s crust slide past each other horizontally, like two cars brushing by on a narrow road. During bouts of tectonic activity, these blocks can suddenly shift in opposite directions, releasing energy that can trigger earthquakes.

Most of what we know about this tectonic activity is from the analysis of seismic data gathered from seismology tools that are some distance from the event. However, this footage from Myanmar provides researchers with a front-row seat to the action.

The event occurred on March 28, 2025, in the city of Mandalay, the second-largest city in Myanmar. It was part of a magnitude 7.7 earthquake, which was felt as far away as Thailand, leaving at least 4,900 people dead. The massive earthquake began along the Sagaing Fault, a massive 1,400-kilometer (870-mile) crack in the Earth’s crust that separates two tectonic plates, the Burma Microplate and the Sunda Plate.

It then tore through the ground at incredible speed, covering more than 460 kilometers (286 miles). In some places, the ground shifted horizontally by several meters, which was captured by the CCTV footage.

The researchers studied the video frame-by-frame using a technique known as pixel cross-correlation. This revealed that the fault slipped sideways 2.5 meters (over 8 feet) in just 1.3 seconds, with a maximum speed of 3.2 meters (10.4 feet) per second.

The total movement is normal for this type of earthquake, but the speed at which it happened is a surprising and important discovery.

“The brief duration of motion confirms a pulse-like rupture, characterized by a concentrated burst of slip propagating along the fault, much like a ripple traveling down a rug when flicked from one end,” Jesse Kearse, corresponding author from the Department of Geophysics at Kyoto University, said in a statement.

The analysis also shows that the slip path is slightly curved, as opposed to being completely linear, just as previous studies have suggested. 

“We did not anticipate that this video record would provide such a rich variety of detailed observations. Such kinematic data is critical for advancing our understanding of earthquake source physics,” said Kearse.

On the other side of the planet in eastern Canada, a family’s doorbell camera captured the video and audio of a meteorite as it struck the Earth right outside their house. It’s a good job the homeowner set off promptly on his dog walk, otherwise he could have become the second person in history to have been confirmed to be hit by a meteorite.

The study is published in The Seismic Record.

New Chandra images!

The Chandra X-Ray Observatory has been sending back images from its position in space since 1999. And the newest collection, released by NASA and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics on July 23, 2025, are stunners. This group of nine images features distant galaxies and bustling regions of star formation.

These images also incorporate data from other telescopes, such as the James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope.

From top to bottom and left to right, the images are of N79, NGC 2146, IC 348, M83, M82, NGC 1068, NGC 346, IC 1623 and Westerlund 1. Read on to find out a little more about each of them.

All that glitters

Here are the highlights of the nine new objects from Chandra. Refer to the labeled image at bottom.

N79 is a star factory in the Large Magellanic Cloud, about 160,000 light-years away. Newborn stars are creating the hot gas we see here.

NGC 2146 is a spiral galaxy in Camelopardalis, about 44 million light-years away. Hot gas is blowing away from the galaxy thanks to supernovas and the wind of giant stars.

IC 348 is a region of star formation in our own Milky Way galaxy. The stars are illuminating wispy tendrils of interstellar material.

M83 is the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy in Hydra. A new study of this face-on spiral said galaxies like this one can sustain star formation by pulling in gas from the region between galaxies.

M82 is the Cigar Galaxy in Ursa Major. It’s a starburst galaxy, producing stars some 100 times faster than other galaxies. Supernovas here have spread their remains millions of light-years from the galaxy’s disk.

NGC 1068 (aka M78) is the Squid Galaxy in Cetus. Its central supermassive black hole releases a powerful wind blowing at a million miles per hour.

NGC 346 is an area of star birth in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Some of the young, massive stars here are less than 2 million years old.

IC 1623 is a pair of merging galaxies in Cetus. As the gas and dust of the galaxies collide, it triggers new star formation.

Westerlund 1 is our galaxy’s most massive young star cluster. It lies just 12,000 light-years away toward the constellation Ara. If our solar system were located at its heart, our sky would be full of hundreds of stars as bright as the full moon.

New images with labels

Bottom line: New Chandra images highlight glittering spectacles of the cosmos, from star factories to black-hole-powered galaxies.

Via Chandra X-Ray Observatory

Earth wears a magnetic cloak called the magnetosphere, which shields us from the constant stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun (known as the solar wind). This invisible armor not only protects our atmosphere but also keeps our satellites and space tech safe from wild space weather.

But this shield isn’t flawless. During solar storms, a process known as magnetic reconnection can create temporary holes in the magnetic field, resulting in sudden energy bursts that shake up near-Earth space. As more people rely on satellites and venture into orbit, predicting these space weather surges is more crucial than ever.

The key? Measuring the reconnection rate, which shows how quickly and effectively energy is transferred during these disruptions. Until now, scientists have used spacecraft and solar flare imaging to gather clues, but these methods only capture fragments of the larger picture.

Now, a research team from Chiba University in Japan, led by Associate Professor Yosuke Matsumoto, is trying a fresh approach: using soft X-ray imaging to see reconnection rates more clearly and consistently.

When the solar wind hits the magnetosphere, some energy waves do just the opposite

Soft X-rays are naturally created when solar wind particles collide with hydrogen atoms near the magnetosphere, our planet’s protective shield.

To take full advantage of this cosmic glow, a research team used the Fugaku supercomputer to run ultra-detailed simulations, blending Earth’s magnetic activity with soft X-ray models. They found that during intense solar wind, X-rays create bright, cusp-shaped patterns that reveal the shape and behavior of magnetic reconnection zones, places where the shield temporarily weakens.

The key breakthrough? These patterns can be observed by satellites far from Earth, such as the upcoming GEO-X mission, and can be used to measure the global reconnection rate. This metric indicates how energy flows during solar storms. The team’s calculation (0.13) matched both theory and lab results, confirming that this method is effective.

Associate Professor Yosuke Matsumoto from the Institute for Advanced Academic Research at Chiba University, Japan, said, “Imaging X-rays from the sun-facing magnetospheric boundary can now potentially quantify solar wind energy inflow into the magnetosphere, making X-rays a novel space weather diagnostic tool.”

Scientists discovered a phenomenon that impacts Earth’s radiation belts

Thanks to cutting-edge research, scientists now have a new method to study magnetic reconnection, the cosmic phenomenon responsible for energy surges that can breach Earth’s magnetic shield. By analyzing soft X-rays emitted when solar wind hits our planet’s defenses, researchers are unlocking new ways to forecast space weather more accurately.

Why does this matter? Solar storms can disrupt communications, affect astronauts, and damage satellites. With commercial space travel on the rise, predicting these space tantrums is more critical than ever.

But the impact goes beyond Earth. As Dr. Yosuke Matsumoto points out, magnetic reconnection isn’t just an Earthly concern; it is also at play in solar flares, black holes, and even plasma machines here on Earth, such as fusion reactors. Understanding it could help develop cleaner energy and explore the source of cosmic rays zooming through the universe.

Journal Reference:

1. Ryota Momose, Yosuke Matsumoto, Yoshizumi Miyoshi. Estimation of Reconnection Rate From Soft X-Ray Emission at the Earth’s Dayside Magnetopause. Geophysical Research Letters. DOI: 10.1029/2024GL114342

Around 100 million years ago, male dinosaurs entered a “mating arena” in Colorado and danced their hearts out to attract females, a new study suggests.

Researchers uncovered a series of mating display scrapes preserved on the surface of rocks at Dinosaur Ridge in Jefferson County, Colorado. The state is known for dinosaur track sites, with previous studies suggesting that dinosaurs returned to these mating spots over successive breeding seasons.

Long before the Curiosity rover set robotic wheels on Mars, two landers touched down. NASA’s Viking Project, as well as capturing the first-ever images from the Martian surface, saw the landers conduct biological tests on the Martian soil, specifically to look for signs of life. 

The results were fairly unexpected and confusing to scientists. Most of the experiments were not promising. In one part of the experiment, traces of chlorinated organics were found, though these were believed at the time to be contaminants brought from Earth.

One part of the experiment saw water containing nutrients and radioactive carbon added to Martian soil. If life were present, the idea was that the microorganisms would consume the nutrients and emit the radioactive carbon as a gas. 

While the first experiment did find this radioactive gas (control experiment found none) later results were mixed. If microbes were present in the soil, giving them more of the radioactive nutrients and incubating them for longer should produce more radioactive gas. But a second and third injection of the mix did not lead to the production of more gas. The initial positive result was put down to perchlorate, a compound used in fireworks and rocket fuel, which could have metabolized the nutrients.

However, there are other ideas. Dirk Schulze-Makuch, professor for planetary habitability and astrobiology at the Technical University Berlin, suggests that adding water to the experiment was a mistake and may have killed off microbes we were attempting to find. 

In a piece published in June for BigThink, he cites examples of life on Earth found in the most extreme environments on Earth, such as the Atacama Desert, living entirely within salt rocks and drawing humidity from the air. 

Pouring water on these microbes would kill them, perhaps explaining why the further injections of nutrients didn’t result in the detection of radioactive gas. When you’ve just been drowned by an alien robot, you don’t tend to be all that hungry.

“Imagine something similar happened to you [as a human]. For example, if there was an alien in a spaceship coming down to Earth and found you somewhere in the desert. Then they said ‘OK, look, that’s a human and it needs water,’ and puts you directly in the middle of the ocean. You wouldn’t like that, right? Even though that is what we are. We are water-filled bags, but too much water is a bad thing, and I think that’s what happened with the Viking life-detection experiments,” Schulze-Makuch told Space.com in 2024.

Schultz-Makuch had previously suggested that Martian life could have hydrogen peroxide in their cells, which might be another factor in the results of the Viking experiments. 

“This adaptation would have the particular advantages in the Martian environment of providing a low freezing point, a source of oxygen and hygroscopicity,” Schultz-Makuch and co-author Joop M. Houtkooper wrote in a 2007 study.

“If we assume that indigenous Martian life might have adapted to its environment by incorporating hydrogen peroxide into its cells, this could explain the Viking results,” Schulze-Makuch wrote for BigThink, adding that the gas chromatograph mass-spectrometer heated up samples before analyzing them. 

“If the Martian cells contained hydrogen peroxide, that would have killed them. Moreover, it would have caused the hydrogen peroxide to react with any organic molecules in the vicinity to form large amounts of carbon dioxide — which is exactly what the instrument detected.”

Though it’s a huge if, if this were correct, it would mean that we found life on Mars nearly 50 years ago, then killed it, like the bad aliens in movies.

An earlier version of this story was published in August 2023.

Genoa (Italy), July 24, 2025 – Until today, skin, brain, and all tissues of the human body were difficult to observe in detail with an optical microscope, since the contrast in the image was hindered by the high density of their structures. The research group of the Molecular Microscopy and Spectroscopy Lab at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT-Italian Institute of Technology) in Genoa has devised a new method that allows scientists to see and photograph biological samples in all their complexity, obtaining clear and detailed images. The new technique has been made available to the scientific community in “open science” mode, representing an advantage in the biomedical field, since it allows us to observe active cells, even in the presence of diseases, as well as to understand how drugs interact with living tissues.

The work has been published recently in the prestigious international scientific journal Nature Photonics and is part of the research conducted by the group of Giuseppe Vicidomini, Principal Investigator of the Molecular Microscopy and Spectroscopy Lab, within the Brighteyes project funded by the European Research Council (ERC). The objective of the project was the use of new single-photon sensors to develop new optical microscopy techniques capable of observing biomolecular processes inside a living cellular system, such as organoids, in order to study their behavior and understand the causes of certain pathologies and the process of human aging. The project also led to several innovations that have already reached the market, thanks to international industrial collaborations and the creation of the start-up Genoa Instruments.

This latest study introduced a new optical microscopy method capable of addressing a very specific issue in the field: obtaining extremely sharp and detailed images of thick and complex biological samples.

“What we did was rethink the way microscopes measure the light that hits the samples under observation, improving both the spatial resolution and the contrast when studying thick tissues, where background light would normally overpower their structure, creating noise in the images,” explains Giuseppe Vicidomini, coordinator of the study.

The research group created an instrument that acts like a light scalpel, penetrating deeply and observing the sample without damaging it. A small array of sensors captures both the light at the point where it hits and the variations with which the light spreads in the sample. Once this information is recorded, a reconstruction algorithm processes it, identifying the path of the light through the sample and producing sharper and better-sectioned images, without losing signal quality.

“The optical microscope used is equipped with an array of SPAD detectors (single-photon avalanche diode), capable of detecting the arrival of individual photons with very high spatial and temporal precision,” explains Alessandro Zunino, first author of the study and post-doc researcher at the Molecular Microscopy and Spectroscopy Lab at IIT in Genoa. “This characteristic not only improves the resolution and optical sectioning, but also enables advanced techniques such as fluorescence lifetime, which are fundamental to explore molecular dynamics in living tissues and to provide functional as well as structural information.”

Given its relevance in the field of optical microscopy and in life sciences, the obtained result has been made accessible to the entire international community following the principles of open science. The new method is open-source and open-access. Any laboratory can adopt, modify, and apply it to their work at no cost and without the need for complex equipment. The authors have freely released the software and data, paving the way for rapid dissemination and further innovation within the scientific community.

Potential applications are numerous: from studying brain tissue, tumors, organoids, and other complex biological systems, to direct observation of cellular life to understand disease progression. In the pharmaceutical field, the technique could be used to visualize in real time how drugs interact with living biological tissues, speeding up and enhancing the accuracy of the discovery of new treatments and therapies.

The physicists have for the first time detected magnons at the nanometre scale, magnetic spin waves that travel through a material without carrying any conventional electrical current. Magnons can be used to encode and carry data faster than the electrical signals currently used in personal electronic devices.

Mapping the magnons

The research was led by the University of York, UK, the SuperSTEM laboratory in Daresbury, UK, the University of Uppsala, in Sweden and also involved Durham, and the University of Washington, USA.

The breakthrough was to utilise a high energy and spatial resolution electron microscope to directly detect and map the magnons spectroscopically, within a nickel oxide crystal with extreme precision.

This detection had been predicted but previously had not been proven.

Scientists and technologists previously had limited means to test how the magnons behave at the smallest possible length-scales, down to single atoms – a crucial piece of information given the push to make devices smaller.

Durham researchers performed one of the first calculations on the magnon spectroscopic signal, a crucial step to detecting them experimentally in the electron microscope.

What next?

Professor Quentin Ramasse, Director of SuperSTEM, the UK National Research Facility for Advanced Microscopy, where the experiment was conducted, called the development a major leap for electron microscopy, and a world-first.

The team now hope to move beyond proof of concept towards gaining a comprehensive understanding of magnons in other material systems, to inform practical device applications.

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is a fraction of blood plasma; its concentration of platelets is of great value in regenerative medicine as they are essential in accelerating healing and repairing tissue. Until now, obtaining them has been based on centrifugation techniques which, in addition to being expensive, could activate the platelets prematurely and reduce their effectiveness.

We realized that our device not only separated the plasma, but also obtained very high-quality PRP, with functional and minimally activated platelets.”

Lourdes Basabe, Ikerbasque Research Professor 

Innovation from sedimentation

Unlike traditional methods, the system developed at the University of the Basque Country (EHU) uses gravity sedimentation (a physical separation process in which the solid particles, which are denser than the fluid, settle at the bottom of a container due to the force of gravity, a routine method for removing solids suspended in liquids). The system comprises laser-cut acrylic sheets and special adhesives, which means it can be manufactured at a low cost. In just 40 minutes, it can extract around 300 micro-litres of PRP from 1 millilitre of blood, thereby minimising handling.

The results obtained with this new system are very interesting indeed. Platelet activation could be significantly reduced, reaching a level of 8.2 % as opposed 31 % seen in traditional methods. What is more, the mean platelet volume (MPV) was maintained, which is essential for maintaining the therapeutic efficacy of PRP. It was also possible to eliminate 98% of red blood cells and 96% of white blood cells. Another significant advantage is that this method can be adjusted to process a higher or lower quantity of blood, thus maintaining its effectiveness at all times.

A finding produced by years of research

This development is the result of the ongoing work of the team, which has spent over a decade researching what are known as Lab-on-a-Chip technologies. In other words, ones that concentrate and automate various functions that normally require large, complex equipment into a single, small device, even the size of a chip. In other words, it is like having an entire laboratory operating in a space that fits into the palm of one’s hand. During the course of this research, the scientists observed that the composition of the plasma separated in their devices was particularly rich in low-activated platelets. Based on this observation, they redesigned the system for therapeutic purposes. The result is a disposable, portable, low-cost, and easy-to-use device with the potential for use in resource-limited clinical settings, personalised treatments, or even home healthcare.

The lead author of the work is Dr Pablo Enrique Guevara-Pantoja, post-PhD researcher in the Microfluidics Cluster EHU research group thanks to a prestigious Marie Curie COFUND grant. With a solid international track record in microfluidics and biomedical engineering, he has been the lead author of multiple high-impact publications and is the co-inventor of several patents in the field of diagnostics and bioengineering.

Intellectual property protection and transfer

The technology has been protected by a Spanish patent and the group is currently seeking clinical, industrial or investment partnerships to scale up the system and facilitate its release onto the market and into healthcare settings.

In a first-of-its-kind experiment tracing evolution across 25 generations, scientists have discovered that marine copepods – the tiny crustaceans at the heart of the ocean food web – rely on a largely unknown biological toolkit to survive the stresses of climate change.

Published July 15, 2025, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study reveals that it’s not only genetic changes (permanent alterations to DNA) that help these animals adapt to warming and acidifying ocean conditions. In addition, little-known epigenetic changes (temporary “on/off” chemical modifications to parts of DNA) play a crucial role too. Remarkably, the researchers discovered that the two mechanisms operate independently but in concert, offering what they call a “two-pronged strategy” for long-term resilience.

“This is a story of molecular hope in the face of a rapidly changing planet,” said senior author Melissa Pespeni, associate professor of biology at the University of Vermont. “We found that evolution is not working from one toolbox, but two – and they’re complementary.” 

Until now, few studies have tracked genetic and epigenetic changes in tandem over many generations. This experiment is one of the first to do so in a long-term, replicated evolution study—offering some of the strongest evidence yet that epigenetic change can help populations survive and perhaps even allow future genetic adaptation.

Which means that copepods may be tougher under the stresses of a warming ocean than scientists previously would have predicted. And that could be good news for the many fish species who eat copepods as their primary prey – and for the many other creatures, including humans, who eat fish.

Evolution in a bucket

To conduct this study, Pespeni and colleagues at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel in Germany and at the University of Connecticut, raised populations of Acartia tonsa – a foundational marine copepod species – in carefully controlled laboratory buckets. Some buckets were warmed, others acidified, and some experienced both. Over a year, these fast-reproducing animals cycled through 25 generations.

The team measured their response not only at the organismal level – how many eggs the copepods laid, their thermal tolerance, development rates, and survival – but also at the molecular level. Using state-of-the-art sequencing, the researchers mapped changes in the animals’ genome (genetic adaptation), epigenome (molecular markers that influence gene expression), and transcriptome (which genes were turned on and off).

They found striking and consistent epigenetic and genetic changes across the treatment groups – but, surprisingly, these changes occurred in different regions of the genome.

“That’s really powerful,” said Pespeni. “It shows that the epigenetic variation was not just dragged along with the genetic variation. These are independent mechanisms that the organism is using to cope.”

Evolution’s dynamic duo

In genetics, variation provides the raw material for evolution. Populations with more genetic variation are generally better equipped to respond to environmental change. But what happens when genetic variation runs low – or change happens too fast for slow-moving genetic mutations to keep up?

That’s where epigenetics comes in.

“Epigenetic changes can happen within an individual’s lifetime and don’t require a new mutation,” said Pespeni. “They’re reversible and fast.” Exactly what a copepod wants when facing a heat wave or a spike in ocean acidification.

The study found that regions of the copepod genome with high epigenetic divergence – like shifts in methylation – had two to two-and-a-half times lower genetic divergence, suggesting that these mechanisms may inhibit each other or target different functions. But both types of changes mattered.

Epigenetic divergence was particularly concentrated in genes involved in stress responses and the regulation of transposable elements – bits of “jumping” DNA that can reshuffle the genome. And importantly, these epigenetic changes were correlated with changes in gene expression, directly shaping how the organism functions.

“Together, these results show that genetic and epigenetic variation are not redundant,” Pespeni explained. “They are evolution’s dynamic duo – providing two independent toolkits for organisms facing rapid global change.”

A shift in evolutionary thinking

The findings have profound implications for how scientists understand evolution and resilience in the Anthropocene.

“Epigenetics is not just a side note in biology,” said Pespeni. “It’s important. We’re not rewriting Darwin, but we are expanding the Modern Synthesis to include this player.”

“This might sound like neo-Lamarckian heresy,” Pespeni said with a laugh, referencing the discredited idea that traits acquired during a lifetime can be passed to future generations. (Because you spent years in the garden and developed rough calloused hands doesn’t mean your child will be born with “gardener’s hands” or a love of lettuce.) “But what we’re seeing is that molecular and physiological phenotypes – like how an organism responds to temperature stress – can be passed down to future generations through epigenetic means, at least temporarily.”

Why copepods matter

Tiny as they are, Acartia tonsa and other copepods play a massive role in the ocean ecosystem and global carbon cycle. They’re the base of the marine food web, sustaining fish, whales, and seabirds. They also help cycle nutrients and carbon in the ocean.

“Without copepods, you don’t have fish, you don’t have whales, you don’t have the ocean system we know,” said Pespeni. “And they are arguably the most abundant animal on Earth.”

The fact that copepods can survive and quickly adapt across generations – say, during a short, intense heat wave – could make a long-term difference in maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem function in a warming world.

“Allowing an organism to survive a few extra generations during a stress event could preserve genetic diversity and buy time for longer-term adaptation,” said Pespeni. 

Hope in the genome

This research may offer new optimism to the grim tale of global changes. While genetic diversity has long been seen as the well of evolutionary potential, this study suggests that epigenetic diversity might offer a hidden reserve of strength – one that can be tapped quickly, flexibly, and repeatedly. “And that’s important,” Pespeni says, “because it shows these organisms may be more resilient than previously expected.”

Reference: Brennan RS, deMayo JA, Finiguerra M, et al. Complementary genetic and epigenetic changes facilitate rapid adaptation to multiple global change stressors. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2025. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2422782122

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