Category: 7. Science

Earth today is teeming with life. We have oceans, breathable air, and the perfect combination of chemical ingredients necessary for living organisms to thrive. But when Earth first started forming, it lacked some of the most fundamental elements required for life.

So how did our world transition from being barren and inhospitable to what it is today?

A team of scientists just found new clues that show Earth’s original mix of elements was complete surprisingly early – only a short time after the solar system came together.

Formation of the solar system

When the solar system began to form billions of years ago, it emerged from a gigantic cloud of gas and dust. This cloud contained important elements such as hydrogen, carbon, and sulfur – chemicals essential for life.

Not everything in the solar system was equally formed, though. The inner zone, the region nearest the Sun, was extremely hot.

Due to this heat, most of the life-critical components never condensed into solid form. Instead, they remained in the form of gas and didn’t persist long enough to become part of the rocky material that formed the tiny inner worlds such as Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.

As a result, early Earth was built mostly from dry, rocky stuff. It missed out on a lot of the “wet” ingredients that came from the cooler, outer parts of the solar system.

The puzzle of life on Earth

Scientists have long wondered when Earth picked up the materials that would one day allow life to appear. If the inner solar system didn’t have them, then they had to come from somewhere else. And if they came later, when exactly did that happen?

That’s what scientists at the University of Bern’s Institute of Geological Sciences wanted to know. They analyzed rocks from ancient Earth and meteorites, using radioactive isotopes to calculate time with astonishing accuracy.

“A high-precision time measurement system based on the radioactive decay of manganese-53 was used to determine the precise age. This isotope was present in the early solar system and decayed to chromium-53 with a half-life of around 3.8 million years,” said Dr. Pascal Kruttasch, who led the study.

The team’s method allowed them to measure ages with less than a million years of error – even on materials that are billions of years old.

“These measurements were only possible because the University of Bern has internationally recognized expertise and infrastructure for the analysis of extraterrestrial materials and is a leader in the field of isotope geochemistry,” noted Klaus Mezger, co-author of the study.

Earth’s chemistry was locked in fast

The team found that Earth’s chemical signature – the unique mix of elements that made up the young planet – was complete in less than 3 million years after the solar system formed.

“Our solar system formed around 4,568 million years ago. Considering that it only took up to 3 million years to determine the chemical properties of Earth, this is surprisingly fast,” said Kruttasch.

“Thanks to our results, we know that the proto-Earth was initially a dry rocky planet. It can therefore be assumed that it was only the collision with Theia that brought volatile elements to Earth and ultimately made life possible there,” explained Kruttasch.

The collision that changed everything

Scientists have long believed that Earth was hit by a planet-sized object called Theia early in its history. This impact is also what likely created the Moon.

However, this study adds something new: evidence that Theia may have delivered the materials that made Earth capable of supporting life.

Theia likely formed farther from the Sun, where cooler temperatures allowed water and other volatiles to collect. When it slammed into Earth, it didn’t just shake things up – it may have delivered the very elements we needed to build oceans, an atmosphere, and the chemistry of life.

“The Earth does not owe its current life-friendliness to a continuous development, but probably to a chance event – the late impact of a foreign, water-rich body. This makes it clear that life-friendliness in the universe is anything but a matter of course,” said Mezger.

What this means for other planets

If Earth only became habitable thanks to a lucky collision, that has big implications for other planets – both in our solar system and beyond.

Even if a rocky planet forms in the right zone around its star, it might not be enough. The timing and location of volatile delivery, plus the exact kind of collision, may all play a role. And those things don’t happen everywhere.

It’s possible that many planets stay dry forever. Others might get hit too hard or too often. Earth’s path may not be typical – it may be one of the rare cases where the right ingredients arrived at the right time, in just the right way.

Understanding Earth’s massive collision

We still don’t fully understand what happened during that massive collision between proto-Earth and Theia. Kruttasch and his team want to explore the event further.

“So far, this collision event is insufficiently understood. Models are needed that can fully explain not only the physical properties of the Earth and moon, but also their chemical composition and isotope signatures,” Kruttasch said.

In other words, scientists still need to untangle the chemistry of Earth and its satellite. The Moon and Earth share strikingly similar chemical fingerprints – a mystery that challenges the idea of a foreign body like Theia delivering the missing ingredients for life.

If Theia really formed farther from the Sun, where water and volatile elements were abundant, why don’t those differences show up more clearly in the Moon’s composition?

Future research could help answer that question – and may also help us figure out how common this kind of planet-forming “recipe” is in the universe.

The full study was published in the journal Science Advances.

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Episode description: 

Some exoplanets—like a gas giant with rain made of glass and 5,000-mile-per-hour winds—sound like worlds dreamed up by a science fiction writer. But they’re real. From light-years away, scientists can uncover details about planets orbiting distant stars and even ask whether some exoplanets could support life. Néstor Espinoza, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute, explains how NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is revealing new details about exoplanets, especially rocky worlds like Earth.  

[Music: Curiosity by SYSTEM Sounds] 

HOST JACOB PINTER: You’re listening to NASA’s Curious Universe. I’m your host, Jacob Pinter.  

Imagine a movie that starts like this: 

[Muisic: Into the Void by Gage Boozan] 

The camera pans up, and we see a spaceship. It’s sailing toward to an alien planet. The planet is cobalt blue, and it’s gigantic—bigger than any planet in our own solar system. It even has water vapor. But the explorers in the spaceship know they have to be careful because this planet’s atmosphere is basically blow-torched, with a rain of molten glass whipping in winds of more than 5,000 miles an hour. So the spaceship keeps flying, and as the movie continues we see other bizarre worlds.  

There’s a planet that orbits a small, red star. It’s unknown if the planet has life. But if it does, that red starlight could make plants here red or purple—even black. We also glimpse a rogue planet. Somehow this one broke free from its star. It roams the galaxy alone and in perpetual darkness, never to see another sunrise.  

Well, here’s the big plot twist: all of these planets are real. Hollywood didn’t make them up. They’re called exoplanets, a whole assortment of planets beyond our solar system, orbiting faraway stars.  

NÉSTOR ESPINOZA:  If you go outside and you just pick a random star, chances are that star has a planet orbiting around it.  

JACOB: Néstor Espinoza is an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute. 

NÉSTOR: If they have rocky planets, do the atmospheres look like, you know, the Earth’s or Mars or Venus, or something else completely? We have no idea. We just started exploring them. It sounded science fiction up to five years ago. Now it’s science. It’s not science fiction anymore, which is pretty fun. (laughs) 

[Music: Move As I Move by Jan Telegra] 

JACOB: Now, these exoplanets are too far away for our spacecraft to visit. But we have tools to study them, including the James Webb Space Telescope. Webb is a huge telescope in space, a million miles from Earth, studying the cosmos in ways that we just can’t from Earth’s surface. NASA leads the international partnership that built Webb, and the Space Telescope Science Institute handles its science and operations for NASA. That means Néstor was there in Webb’s first moments, watching engineers take Webb for a test drive. Néstor planned to use Webb’s data to prove whether exoplanet science was something he could really do with this mission. And almost instantly, he got his answer from the universe. 

NÉSTOR: Like, I got that answer within like 15 minutes, and it was, like a complete “Yes,” and I already knew it was going to be beyond what we were expecting. The signal was just so much better, like nothing I have ever seen. From that moment, I knew, like, this is going to make everyone crazy. 

JACOB: But getting that cosmic “yes” was only the beginning. Before it launched, scientists around the world knew what Webb was supposed to be able to do. Now they were waiting to hear how it really performed. Néstor sifted through the data, making sure Webb could capture as much detail as the world hoped. 

NÉSTOR: Doing exoplanet science with James Webb—it’s not that straightforward. Typically, just, you know—you want to look at a star with James Webb, point at a star, you get your data, and that’s it. With exoplanet data, you have to massage the data a little bit more in order to extract the signals that you want, because they’re very tiny signals. 

JACOB: So what makes exoplanet data so tricky? 

[Music: Results Take Time by Paul Richard O’Brien] 

Imagine traveling far, far away from own solar system and trying to look back at Earth. From out here, the Sun is a speck—just one of many. As we try to zoom in on the Sun, we run into a problem. It’s really bright—so much brighter than Earth. There’s just no hope of seeing the faint glow of our own home planet. But there is a way we can detect it.  

Whenever a planet passes in front of the Sun, the Sun would appear just a little bit dimmer. And since planets radiate their own energy, when they disappear behind the Sun, we could detect that too. That tiny bit of information may not sound like much. But with careful study, scientists can use it to figure out details like a planet’s temperature and what chemicals are in its atmosphere. 

Since the first discovery of an exoplanet in the 1990s, scientists have catalogued thousands of these planets all across our galaxy. Some of them are exotic worlds in classifications like “hot Jupiters” or “sub-Neptune” gas giants. Néstor’s research focuses on rocky planets like Earth, and if you’re thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’, the next step is to ask, Could these rocky planets also show signs of life? 

Now, rocky planets are smaller, and that makes them harder to study. NASA is already planning for a future telescope called the Habitable Worlds Observatory, specifically designed to hunt for signs of life. In the meantime, Néstor says Webb is giving us a lot to work with. 

JACOB: It’s a big universe out there, and there’s a lot of stuff to study. What made you say, this is the thing that I want to spend my life looking at? 

NÉSTOR: So from when I was a kid—I think everyone has gone through this stage in which you’re like, kind of obsessed with, like, aliens, right? Either from movies and like E.T. and stuff like that. Or Star Wars, for instance—big fan of Star Wars. I remember—I think that’s when started. My mom brought me to these—for some reason, they redid the original Star Wars movies, episodes, you know, four through six, and they put it in the movies. And my mom had only one free day in her week. She worked a lot. We were basically just my mom and I. She had one day free and the week, and she said, We’re going to spend the whole day and we’re gonna see the three episodes. I was, like, eleven.  

JACOB: Back to back to back?  

NÉSTOR: Back to back! It was nuts. I was like, I have no idea what this movie is about. I’ll just go. And it blew my mind too, right? This thing of seeing Tattoine with two suns. What?! This thing could exist out there? You know, planets that are covered in ice, planets that are like Earth or desert planets. And I thought that was nuts. So that really kick started the thing, like that little seed, and that just grew. I never thought I could actually be a scientist. So I come from Chile. And in Chile, I don’t know—science was not a thing that I knew one could do. From TV, I thought, There’s scientists out there, but it’s done by folks at NASA and other places. But I’m, like, very far away from that. So at some point, my physics teacher just grabbed me and she told me, “You know, I’ve seen you with these bright eyes in physics, and you like this astronomy thing a lot. You know you can be a scientist, right?” This was when I was 15, and I was like, but you—really? You can get paid for, like, doing science, for, like, discovering new things? That sounded completely nuts. It’s like someone paying you to play video games, right?  

JACOB: Right. 

NÉSTOR: And she was like, yeah, that’s a career, and you can study it here. And that also blew my mind. I was like, what? So that’s when I figured out that I wanted to be an astronomer. So that that was the kind of the path to science and me and the path to exoplanets: physics teachers, moms, and Star Wars. 

JACOB: So, I wonder if you can fill in the blank in this sentence for me: James Webb is teaching us _____ about exoplanets.   

NÉSTOR: Ooh. There’s no single word, really, because it’s revolutionizing the field, really. We are starting to see maybe the first hints of evidence of atmospheres around rocky exoplanets. That was well beyond our capabilities three years ago before the launch of James Webb. This is really the next frontier. Like, if we want to get and eventually detect life out there, the first question is, Does this rocky planet have an atmosphere or not? And we can see that in our solar system, even. So, you know, Mercury has, like, a very thin, almost non-existent atmosphere. Now that’s because it’s just too close to the sun, right? Poor planet.  

JACOB: Sure. It’s getting baked all the time.  

NÉSTOR: Exactly. Poor planet. You can bake a pizza in the thing if you want. But then it doesn’t have a substantial atmosphere, as you know, the one we have on Earth, the one that Venus has. And stars out there are also very different. We’re used to this beautiful Sun that we see every day, but there are stars of all sizes and colors out there. And in fact, one of the things that impresses the public I think the most is, when you ask them, “What do you think is the average star out there? How does it look like?” And everyone tells you, like, Ah, it looks like the Sun. And the answer is, no, that it’s not like the Sun. It’s actually a star that is kind of 10 percent the size of the Sun. So much smaller. That makes it much redder. And then you have to be closer to that star in order to feel the same heat, because it’s smaller, it’s colder. Just like a heater. So those stars really outnumber all the rest of the stars. Those are the majority of the stars out there. So we also know that rocky planets—actually most of the rocky planets—live around these small stars. We’re trying to explore, how does the average rocky planet out there look like, which orbits these small stars? Which is very alien. Like, if you imagine the sky on these things, it’s completely different. Like, you are used to this orange star coming up. Imagine now, like a very small star coming up. It’s red—like, very, very red. So if there’s plants or something like that, on these rocks—on these planets, they might look completely different. They might absorb completely different light. They might look completely different. So figuring out these alien worlds, it’s this exciting thing that James Webb is allowing us to do. 

JACOB: The thing that the James Webb Space Telescope, I think, is the most famous for, is that it is looking back to cosmic dawn and sort of the very first galaxies and so on. And in a lot of ways, that’s what it was designed to do. So what makes those tools that it has also really useful for studying exoplanets? 

NÉSTOR: That’s an excellent question. So what you do is that you wait until the planet passes in front of the star from your point of view on Earth. And when the planet passes—if you’re lucky enough to see that passage—some of the starlight passes through the atmosphere of the planet and interacts with it. And those little signals are the ones that we detect with James Webb, and we’re able to extract, like some sort of, like cosmic detective part, right, which is, see which light got absorbed by the atmosphere of the planet. What we’re trying to do is see which part of that starlight is being eaten up by the molecules in the atmosphere, and different molecules like to eat different colors of light. They have different diets. So if you want to detect sodium, for instance—you know, your classic salt—you typically go to what we call optical wavelengths, which are light that we can see. Like, you and I can see. Like the color of your shirt, the color of your pants. That’s light, colors of light that we can see. But there’s many other colors out there. In particular, James Webb is what we call an infrared telescope. So it’s able to detect light, which is called infrared light. It’s past—like way redder than the reddest you could see, that we cannot see. Our eyes just can’t detect that. In the infrared, it’s exactly where the molecules that we’re most excited about—like, you know, water; carbon dioxide, which is a big thing on the rocky planets on the solar system; methane—all of these molecules, their diets of light are based on infrared light. So if you want to detect those molecules, you have to go to the infrared, right? And that’s what makes James Webb so unique. You have this big bucket of light that is very stable, and it’s able to look at exactly the colors of light on which these very important molecules are absorbing. 

JACOB: Do you think you could take me on a little tour of some of the exoplanets you study? Like, I don’t know—can we pretend that we’re visiting? And can you tell me what we see and what it even might be like to actually go there and be on the surface or be in that atmosphere or something? 

NÉSTOR: Totally. Yeah, I can do that. So right now we don’t have a solid detection, but I can make a case for this. I think I’m going to put as an example case one planetary system that is very dear to my heart because I’ve been working a lot on that, and it’s called the TRAPPIST-1 system.  

[Music: Designing the Future by Carl David Harms] 

So in order to travel to the TRAPPIST-1 system, we have to take a rocket and travel like several tens—like a couple tens of light-years. That means that if we threw a little laser, it will take, like, 20 to 30 years to get there. So the first alien thing about this system is that the star is crazy small. The star is the size of Jupiter, which is like, What?! A star can be that small? The answer is yes, they can be that small. And this system doesn’t have, you know, one, two, or three, four rocky exoplanets going around. It has seven rocky exoplanets going around the star. The other alien thing about this system is that all these planets orbit very tightly packed together. So they are in orbits that are—in an orbit that it’s smaller than the orbit of Mercury. All these seven planets are packed in an orbit that is very, very small. The other alien part about this TRAPPIST-1 system—as I told you, seven planets. Two or three of those planets are in what we call the habitable zone of this system, which is a distance from its star, in which it’s not too hot and not too cold, such that if they had atmospheres like we have on Earth, they could sustain liquid water in their surfaces. And that’s pretty exciting, because it means, you know, maybe life is there. Even more, because the system is so tightly packed, if we, you know, we were traveling to this thing, if we were to go and land on one of these planets and you looked up in the sky, you could actually see the other planets as, like, big moons. So if you have a friend in this other habitable planet, you can call them and say, “Hey, there’s a storm coming your way in like three hours,” right? Which is nuts, right? The fact that it’s so packed means that you can see the planets in the sky, the other planets in the sky. So that would be, you know, a beautiful sight, 

JACOB: Even better than Tatooine, right?   

NÉSTOR: Even better! Right? So that’s the whole thing with this field. It’s like, you think you have seen cool stuff in science fiction? Wait until you see the science data, right? That’s crazy! 

JACOB: This is maybe going to ask you to take your scientist hat off and put your prediction hat on. But do you think that we’ll find signs of life on an exoplanet—I don’t know, within your lifetime?  

NÉSTOR: I surely hope so. Signs? Yes, I think we would be able within my lifetime, especially with what we have lined up in the future. So will we be able to detect these biosignatures within my lifetime, between like 30 years, 40 years from now? I think the answer is probably yes. Will we be able to claim unambiguously that that’s aliens, like, walking on that planet? Probably not. But that’s where our scientific community gets together to try to figure out what alternative scenarios will produce this particular signal?  

JACOB: Right.  

NÉSTOR: And I’m very confident that we will get to very good answers with that. Like the scientific community—once it focuses on a problem, it’s very good at figuring out how to make that happen. You just mentioned, for instance, that the James Webb Space Telescope was made basically for the deep universe, trying to figure out the first galaxies and so on. So they really thought very hard and how to make that with James Webb. That is the beauty of the Habitable Worlds Observatory. It’s the first time in history of humankind that we’re saying we’re going to build a big mission, big telescope, and this is going to be based on trying to figure out this—you know, actually get the signatures of possibilities of life out there in other planets. And that’s a very exciting—again, it’s a very exciting time to be alive, to be in this era in which we are jumping into try to figure out there’s life out there. It’s like, it’s never happened before. It’s amazing.   

JACOB: I was thinking about when you said that you grew up and didn’t know that being a scientist was an option. What advice do you have for someone who is interested in science but also may not realize that that is a real career path? 

NÉSTOR: Yeah. So what I would say—well, first of all that it is a real career path (laughs). It’s a thing you can do. So first thing is that there’s not a linear career path. You don’t have to be like a total genius that gets into physics, top grades, and then you go and do amazing discoveries. That’s just not how it works for the majority of us. If you have an interest and an excitement for this, that is like 60, 70 percent of the way. That is, if you’re really excited about this stuff, then this is a career path for you. It’s not going to be easy, like, I can tell you that from the very beginning, but it’s going to be totally worth it. I would also say that—and this is sometimes underlooked—that, yes, your excitement and for the science and so on is really important, but also having a support system is really important. I told you that basically it was my mom and I, and that support from my mom and from my friends and so on was key for me to going through this. I mean, if it weren’t for them, I would not be here. The final advice that I have for people that want to do science is that I know people have this concept of scientists being like these white-coated folks that are just in their own labs and the whiteboard, right? And they’re alone, lone wolves.  

JACOB: Oh yeah. I’ve seen it in the movies. 

NÉSTOR: Right! “Eureka! I solved cancer, whatever.” That’s not how science works. Science is a very, very collaborative environment. Like, my native language is Spanish, so I had to learn how to speak English and how to communicate effectively and so on. That is also very important. If you’re hearing all of this and you say, Wow, you have to do a lot of stuff, you can do it. If you’re excited about this stuff, you can be that scientist.   

JACOB: I have one last question for you, and then we’ll get you out of here. Since our show is called Curious Universe, what are you still curious about? 

NÉSTOR: Well, I’m curious about these atmospheres around rocky planets, for—in particular, if the atmospheres survived around the TRAPPIST-1 exoplanets. If they did and we find the system that it’s in the habitable zone of their stars, that has an atmosphere that we can characterize in detail, that would be such an amazing moment in humanity. Like, yes, we have this chance to figure out if life might be in this planet. That is the thing that has made me the most curious. And the overreaching kind of bigger question to that is, how frequent is life out there? The reality is that we don’t know. Maybe life is like this very rare, very niche thing that we were very lucky to have here on Earth, right? In our galaxy—in the hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy—is there another one that has life? Not only life—intelligent life, technology out there? Is there more advanced technology out there, perhaps? That has me very, very curious. That would be one of the questions if I had, like, a genie that could answer any question that would be—give me the number, right? How many? And that will solve so many questions in my mind about the universe out there.  

[Music: Exoplanet by Jeff Penny] 

But the very fact that we’re talking about this—and you folks are thinking, that you’re hearing this, you’re thinking, That’s an interesting question, and that’s an interesting question that we could get answered—that is amazing. Because we are not in the realm of science fiction anymore. This is science, and we are putting telescopes out there to get these answers. 

JACOB: Néstor Espinoza is an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute. And I just want to give you a quick update. Since I talked to Néstor, we have a little bit more information about TRAPPIST-1, the planetary system that Néstor is really excited about. Using the Webb telescope, scientists determined that TRAPPIST 1-d—which is one of the planets in that system—does not have an Earth-like atmosphere. We’re still learning more about that planet, and the six other rocky planets orbiting the same star.  

If you liked this episode, you will love NASA’s documentary Cosmic Dawn. Cosmic Dawn reveals the incredible true story of the James Webb Space Telescope with never-before-seen footage from the creation, construction, and launch of this remarkable telescope. See the film at nasa.gov/cosmicdawn.  

And you can find the latest news from the Webb telescope and much more information at nasa.gov/webb. 

This is NASA’s Curious Universe. This episode was written and produced by Emma Brambila. Our executive producer is Katie Konans. The Curious Universe team also includes Christian Elliott and of course, Padi Boyd. Krystofer Kim designed our show art. Our theme song was composed by Matt Russo and Andrew Santaguida of SYSTEM Sounds.  

As always, if you enjoyed this episode of NASA’s Curious Universe, please let us know. Leave us a review. Share the show with a friend. And remember, you can “follow” NASA’s Curious Universe in your favorite podcast app to get a notification each time we post a new episode.  

Newswise — Cells in our body are programmed to die after a certain period of time—a natural process known as apoptosis or “cell suicide.” This process is essential for maintaining the body’s balance. When aged or damaged cells are not properly eliminated, it can lead to diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disorders, and dementia. Therefore, accurately observing when and how cells die has become a crucial tool in life sciences and medicine, particularly for early disease diagnosis and evaluation of therapeutic efficacy.

A research team led by Dr. Sun-Uk Kim at the Future Animal Resource Center of the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB) has successfully developed a novel fluorescent reporter technology that enables real-time visualization of apoptosis inside living cells. By overcoming the limitations of conventional apoptosis detection methods, this breakthrough technology is expected to open new opportunities for drug discovery and biomedical research.

Until now, apoptosis detection has relied on methods such as microscopy observation, genetic analysis, and traditional fluorescent protein reporters. However, these methods often involved complex sample preparation, additional staining steps, and issues with accuracy.

The KRIBB team focused on caspase-3, a key enzyme that serves as the “final executioner” of apoptosis. Caspase-3 selectively cleaves a short amino acid sequence known as DEVDG. By precisely inserting this sequence into the structure of GFP (green fluorescent protein), the researchers engineered a biosensor that loses fluorescence at the moment apoptosis occurs. This “fluorescence switch-off” mechanism allows for real-time and highly sensitive detection of apoptosis.

Among the GFP-based reporters developed so far, KRIBB’s system stands out for its simplified operating principle and compact design, which greatly enhance both sensitivity and accuracy. The team further validated the sensor by tracking apoptosis in real time under various experimental conditions, including exposure to toxic substances and anticancer drugs.

Importantly, the new technology is applicable not only to cancer cell lines but also to a wide range of animal cell models, making it a powerful tool for evaluating drug-induced cytotoxicity and verifying therapeutic efficacy. Looking ahead, the fluorescent apoptosis reporter is expected to contribute significantly to studies on Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disorders, and cancer, all of which are closely linked to programmed cell death.

Dr. Sun-Uk Kim, who led the study, emphasized

“Our newly developed sensor allows apoptosis to be monitored with greater sensitivity and simplicity than existing methods. We anticipate it will accelerate the evaluation of new drug candidates, such as anticancer agents, and serve as a powerful tool in studies of neurodegenerative diseases where cell death plays a pivotal role.”

Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB) is a leading national research institute in South Korea dedicated to cutting-edge research in biotechnology and life sciences. Established in 1985, KRIBB focuses on advancing scientific knowledge in areas such as molecular biology, genomics, bioinformatics, synthetic biology, and aging-related studies. As a government-funded institute, KRIBB plays a pivotal role in driving innovation, supporting national R&D strategies, and collaborating with academic and industrial partners both domestically and internationally.

This research was supported by Big Issue Group Program(KRIBB Research Initiative Program) and the Global TOP Program funded by the National Research Council of Science & Technology (NST), the Excellent Young Researcher Program under the Basic Science Research Program of the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT), and the Core Technology Development Program for the Bio-Industry of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE).

The study was published online on June 24, 2025, in the prestigious international Journal of Advanced Research (Impact Factor: 13.0) under the title: “Designing an apoptosis reporter by mutagenesis-based insertion of caspase-3 cleavage motif into green fluorescent protein.”

(Corresponding Authors: [KRIBB] Drs. Sun-Uk Kim, Young-Ho Park)

(First Authors: [KRIBB] Drs. Dong Gil Lee, Hae-Jun Yang, Unbin Chae)

Scientists have developed a more efficient way to generate oxygen for astronauts that could help with future missions into deep space.

Current life-support systems such as those on the International Space Station (ISS) rely on bulky centrifuges to separate the oxygen and hydrogen bubbles created when water is split by electricity, a process known as electrolysis. On Earth, bubbles rise away from electrodes, but in microgravity, spinning is required to separate them. This method works, but the equipment is heavy, power-hungry and is ill-suited for long-duration missions to the moon or Mars.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a mysterious interstellar interloper spotted passing through our Solar System.

The comet, named 3I/ATLAS, was discovered by NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey telescope.

Currently 675 million km (420 million miles) away, 3I/ATLAS could be the oldest comet ever seen. 

“Rather than the quiet Wednesday I had planned, I woke up to messages like ‘3I!!!!!!!!!!’,” says Matthew Hopkins, one of the astronomers who discovered the comet.

Hopkins and the team developed the Ōtautahi–Oxford model to predict the properties of interstellar objects based on their orbits and possible origins.

How old is 3I/ATLAS?

Non-interstellar comets, like Halley’s Comet, formed within our Solar System and are no older
than the Solar System’s 4.5-billion-year lifespan.

Interstellar visitors, however, are not formed around the Sun and can be much older.

The team’s modelling suggests 3I/ATLAS is more than seven billion years old – the oldest comet identified to date. 

“It’s a fantastic opportunity to test our model on something brand new and possibly ancient,” Hopkins continues.

A visitor from deep space

3I/ATLAS is only the third-known interstellar object to have been observed, following 2I/Borisov in 2019 and ‘Oumuamua in 2017.

Unlike its predecessors, it is travelling on a much steeper path through the Galaxy, implying it originated in a completely different region of the Milky Way. 

It’s thought the comet formed in the Milky Way’s ‘thick disc’, a region of ancient stars that contains about 10 per cent of our Galaxy’s stellar mass.

If it does originate from around an old star in the thick disc, that implies that the comet should be rich in water-ice.

“This is an object from a part of the Galaxy we’ve never seen up close before,” says Professor Chris Lintott, who co-authored the study.

As 3I/ATLAS nears the Sun, its surface will heat up, allowing scientists to observe whether the expulsion of vapour and dust will form a classic glowing tail.

As well as having implications for how we detect interstellar comets, astronomers also hope 3I/ATLAS will provide clues about the role of interstellar objects in star and planet formation within our Galaxy.

Was Earth an interstellar wanderer?

Words: Chris Lintott

Five billion years ago or so, another interstellar object passed through our part of the Galaxy.

This wanderer, perhaps similar to 3I/ATLAS, became trapped in the nebula from which the Sun was forming.

Within the disc of material around our newly born star, the object began to accrete material, growing quickly into a more substantial body – one that would become the planet Earth.

Is this true?

Astronomers Suzanne Pfalzner and Michele Bannister proposed this idea following the arrival of ‘Oumuamua, and the romance of it grabbed me immediately.

Maybe the arrival of 3I will help us understand whether this idea about our cosmic origins holds up. 

This article appeared in the September 2025 issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine

We usually see the coast as a natural line of defense. Seagrass beds and mangroves are often praised for pulling carbon from the air. But there’s another story unfolding in the sand.

New research from Monash University shows that sandy coastlines are not silent climate helpers. They also release methane, a greenhouse gas that warms the planet much faster than carbon dioxide.

The study points to half of the world’s continental margins. These sandy stretches cover vast areas and have gone mostly unnoticed in climate models. They now appear to be an important, and underestimated, source of emissions.

Sandy coastlines release methane

Professor Perran Cook, a biogeochemist in the Department of Chemistry at Monash, is the principal investigator of the study.

“This new finding not only challenges a fundamental assumption in marine science, but calls into question what we thought we knew about the role of sandy coastline ecosystems in greenhouse gas production,” said Professor Cook.

In simple terms, the sand isn’t just storing carbon. It is leaking methane, and much of it comes from seaweed and seagrass breaking down. This means the gains we credit to coastal ecosystems may be smaller than once thought.

Sand microbes producing methane

The researchers worked in Australia’s Port Phillip Bay and Westernport Bay, and in Denmark’s Avernakø region.

The team found microbes living in sandy sediments that can survive oxygen and keep producing methane. Until now, scientists believed these methanogens could only work in oxygen-free zones.

Tests revealed two new strains. These microbes feast on the leftovers of decaying seaweed and seagrass. Instead of dying when oxygen floods their habitat, they bounce back quickly and restart methane production within hours. That recovery is much faster than anything seen in soils or rice fields.

How the microbes make methane

The microbes use a pathway called methylotrophic methanogenesis. They prefer compounds like trimethylamine, choline, and dimethyl sulfoniopropionate.

All of these compounds are released when marine plants break down. Other potential food sources, such as acetate or hydrogen, did little to stimulate methane.

This discovery shows why sandy sediments matter. They sit under mats of seaweed, soak up plant byproducts, and then feed methane straight into the atmosphere. Waves and currents push oxygen into the sand, but the microbes endure.

Algal blooms make it worse

Warmer water leads to more algae. The algae wash onto beaches and rot. As they decay, methane escapes into the air. This cycle keeps feeding itself, creating a feedback loop.

Professor Cook warned that large blooms add fuel to the problem. “With rising sea temperatures, species invasions and increasing nutrient pollution, we’re seeing more frequent algal blooms and biomass accumulation on beaches.”

“This could lead to larger and more frequent pulses of methane to the atmosphere, which in turn contributes to rising sea temperatures.”

Sandy beaches match major methane sources

The researchers calculated methane flux from sandy sediments. In some cases, emissions were as strong as wetlands, which are already known as major methane sources.

The average methane flux matched mangroves and salt marshes but beat out seagrass meadows.

Because these sands lie under shallow, turbulent waters, methane doesn’t linger. It escapes quickly instead of breaking down in deeper layers. This rapid release means sandy coasts may punch above their weight in the global methane budget.

Persistent methane production

The team isolated methanogen strains from both Australia and Denmark. Belonging to the genus Methanococcoides, they showed surprising resilience. When hit with oxygen, they paused. Once conditions shifted back, they resumed methane production within an hour.

Genomic analysis revealed why. The microbes carry antioxidant defenses, including enzymes normally linked to oxygen-using organisms. These tools allow them to handle sudden oxygen bursts and keep working in shifting coastal sands.

Local and seasonal drivers

Not every coastline behaves the same. Seasonal growth and decay of different seaweed and seagrass species matter. Warm waters, nutrient levels, and grazing pressure also play roles. Tropical and temperate coasts may follow very different emission patterns.

Human activity adds another layer. Fertilizer runoff and nutrient pollution drive eutrophication, leading to dense blooms.

As these blooms wash ashore, they deliver more fuel for methane-producing microbes. Climate change then sharpens the cycle further.

Sandy coastlines as methane sources

Study first author and Monash Ph.D. candidate Ning Hall emphasized the path forward. “From here, we need to understand this process in more detail,” Hall said.

Future work will examine how different species of seaweed and local ocean conditions affect emissions. These insights will help refine climate models and give a clearer picture of how much methane coastal zones release.

The study changes how we see sandy shores. They store carbon but also release methane. Microbes, decaying plants, and shifting ocean conditions decide how much they give or take.

By pulling this hidden source into focus, researchers show that coasts can’t be counted only as climate allies. They are active, dynamic players in the greenhouse gas puzzle, and they demand a place in future climate strategies.

The study is published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

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Writing in the journal Medicine, researchers from Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and other institutions in China suggested that the underlying mechanism may be related to the alleviation of oxidative stress and inflammation.

“Emerging evidence suggests that targeted nutritional supplementation may mitigate oxidative stress by augmenting antioxidant defense mechanisms,” they wrote.

“Among dietary antioxidants, vitamins C and E have demonstrated particular promise in attenuating oxidative damage through free radical scavenging and lipid peroxidation inhibition.”

Sanofi-Aventis Healthcare Pty Ltd, Australia provided the vitamins used in the study.

Targeted nutrition for sarcopenia

Sarcopenia is the progressive loss of muscle mass and strength, primarily affecting older ad. It is estimated to affect approximately 10% of individuals over the age of 60.

The condition can lead to a reduced quality of life and independence, an increased incidence of falls and a higher risk of fractures.

Physical activity, particularly resistance training, is the primary strategy for preventing and managing sarcopenia. In addition, nutritional interventions, such as increasing protein intake, are also recommended.

Oxidative stress plays a central role in the pathophysiology of sarcopenia. As people age, reduced levels of antioxidant enzymes in muscles and inadequate micronutrient intake in the diet can contribute to increased inflammation. Furthermore, while resistance training is beneficial, it can also generate reactive oxygen species, potentially exacerbating oxidative stress if not properly managed.

As antioxidants, vitamins C and E may help to counteract oxidative stress. However, the researchers noted that previous studies indicate that supplementation can impede muscular adaptations depending on an individual’s redox state.

“This dichotomy underscores the importance of precision nutrition strategies, wherein antioxidant supplementation is tailored to address specific deficiencies, thereby optimizing exercise benefits,” they wrote.

Study details

The researchers randomly assigned sixty women between the ages of 60 and 75 with sarcopenia to consume either 1,000 mg of vitamin C and 335 mg of vitamin E or a placebo daily for 12 weeks.

Participants also attended three 50-minute training sessions a week involving elastic band resistance exercises targeting different parts of the body.

While both groups increased their muscle mass, strength and physical performance after 12 weeks, participants in the antioxidant group had larger increases in arm lean mass, skeletal muscle mass index, handgrip strength and knee extension strength.

The researchers did not observe a significant difference in physical performance between the two groups.

The findings indicated that serum vitamin C and E levels at the end of the study were adequate in the supplement group but not in the placebo group. In addition, “changes in blood biomarkers proved the beneficial effects of vitamins C and E supplementation on physiological adaptation to RT [resistance training],” the researchers wrote.

They reported that reduced glutathione (GSH) and the reduced glutathione/oxidized glutathione (GSH/GSSG) ratio increased in the supplement group, which they noted may be attributed to the synergistic effects of the vitamins promoting GSH synthesis, regeneration and reduced consumption.

“Elevated serum GSH levels are particularly significant, as skeletal muscles can deliver GSH to the circulation, and increased serum GSH reflects positive muscle adaptations to exercise training,” the researchers wrote.

They also found significantly lower levels of IL-6, leading them to hypothesize that the vitamins improved the redox state or exerted anti-inflammatory effects.

“It has been reported that reduced circulating levels of IL-6 play an important role in mitigating muscle mass and strength loss in sarcopenia,” they wrote.

The study recommended future research to explore whether longer-term interventions could lead to further improvements in physical performance.

Source: Medicine 104(34) p. e43976, Aug. 22, 2025. | doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000043976 “Effects of vitamins C and E supplementation combined with 12-week resistance training in older women with sarcopenia: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.” Authors: X. Liu et al.

Original story from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (AL, USA).

The signaling mechanisms underlying the transition from stem cells to olfactory neurons has been described.

Cellular differentiation of stem cells into specialized cells requires many steps, including division, to create more cells; fate determination, which is a commitment to a specific lineage or developmental path; and migration, to integrate the cell into its final location.

Previous in vitro work has shown that stem cells can spontaneously self-organize into groups of specialized cell types, yet little is known about how that happens in living animals – where densely populated microenvironments have high degrees of noise in cell-to-cell signaling and variations in gene expression.

In a recent study, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB; AL, USA) and the University of Illinois Chicago (IL, USA) describe signaling mechanisms that determine one such example of vertebrate development – the transition from olfactory stem cells into highly regenerative olfactory neurons that are responsible for the sense of smell.

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Lymphoma pushes cells and tissue into an aged state

New research challenges the status quo that cancer treatments are responsible for accelerating the aging process, indicating that cancer itself also plays a role.

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Applying multiple techniques including high-resolution imaging of live zebrafish embryos, quantitative tracking of cell fate and single-cell RNA sequencing, researchers identified a unique bistable toggle switch that assigns divergent cell fates to progenitor cells and drives their assembly into cellular ‘neighborhoods’. In doing so, they showed how signaling that guides continuous neural development is integrated at multiple scales – including single cells, small clusters of cells and between entire organs.

The study describes “a previously unknown paradigm of cellular neighborhood assembly through which the olfactory epithelium integrates fluctuating, stochastic signals to streamline fate commitment, differentiation and integration into the olfactory neuronal rosette,” wrote lead author Sriivatsan Govinda Rajan and corresponding author Ankur Saxena. “These findings reveal how stochastic signaling networks spatiotemporally regulate a balance between progenitors and derivatives, driving sustained neurogenesis in an intricate organ system.”

“Remarkably, the human nose turns over its neurons every couple of months or so throughout our lifetimes,” Saxena concluded. “Given this unusual neuroregeneration, we wanted to answer a fundamental question: How do stem cells funnel fluctuating signals to make new neurons over and over again? Now, we’re building on our molecular ‘answers’ from the zebrafish model system by asking if the identified molecular pathways can be applied in other contexts to shape the nervous system across vertebrates. Long-term, our hope is to discover new therapeutic avenues for patients with neurodevelopmental or neurodegenerative disorders.”

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The Sun shapes life on Earth in countless ways. Beyond its warmth and light, it also hurls a constant stream of energetic particles into space. These solar particles can disrupt satellites, threaten astronauts, and influence space weather. Until recently, their origin remained only partly understood.

Now, the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter mission has revealed a breakthrough. The spacecraft has traced energetic electrons back to two distinct sources on the Sun, uncovering fresh details about how our star unleashes its power.

Distinct solar electron storms

The Sun accelerates electrons to nearly light speed and sends them racing across the Solar System. Scientists call them Solar Energetic Electrons (SEEs). Using Solar Orbiter, researchers separated them into two groups: those linked to solar flares and those tied to coronal mass ejections, or CMEs.

Study lead author Alexander Warmuth is a senior researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), Germany.

“We see a clear split between ‘impulsive’ particle events, where these energetic electrons speed off the Sun’s surface in bursts via solar flares, and ‘gradual’ ones associated with more extended CMEs, which release a broader swell of particles over longer periods of time,” explained Warmuth.

Confirmation of two electron groups

Scientists long suspected these two types existed. Solar Orbiter made the difference by observing hundreds of events closer to the Sun than ever before. The instruments captured electrons in their early state, offering unmatched clarity.

“We were only able to identify and understand these two groups by observing hundreds of events at different distances from the Sun with multiple instruments – something that only Solar Orbiter can do,” noted Warmuth.

“By going so close to our star, we could measure the particles in a ‘pristine’ early state and thus accurately determine the time and place they started at the Sun.”

Solar flares speed up particles

The theory behind electron acceleration helps explain this split. Solar flares unleash intense magnetic reconnection, which hurls particles outward in short, sharp bursts. These are responsible for impulsive events.

CMEs, in contrast, drive massive shock fronts through the solar atmosphere. As the shock propagates, it accelerates particles over wide regions and longer timescales, explaining the gradual events.

This dual mechanism shows how different physical processes can create electrons with similar energies but distinct signatures in space. It also highlights the Sun as a laboratory of natural particle physics, rivaling human-made accelerators.

Solar particles that seem to lag

Another puzzle involved timing. Sometimes particles seemed to escape hours after a solar flare or CME. Researchers found the lag wasn’t always about late release. Instead, it was partly due to how electrons traveled through turbulent space.

“It turns out that this is at least partly related to how the electrons travel through space – it could be a lag in release, but also a lag in detection,” said co-author and ESA Research Fellow Laura Rodríguez-García.

“The electrons encounter turbulence, get scattered in different directions, and so on, so we don’t spot them immediately. These effects build up as you move further from the Sun.”

Solar wind moves electrons

The space between planets is filled with the solar wind, a stream of charged particles carrying the Sun’s magnetic field. This environment confines and scatters energetic electrons, shaping their journey.

Shock waves, turbulence, and large-scale magnetic structures influence whether electrons reach Earth quickly or after significant delays.

Tracking this behavior is central to the mission. “Thanks to Solar Orbiter, we’re getting to know our star better than ever,” said Daniel Müller, ESA project scientist.

“During its first five years in space, Solar Orbiter has observed a wealth of Solar Energetic Electron events. As a result, we’ve been able to perform detailed analyses and assemble a unique database for the worldwide community to explore.”

Knowing particle origins 

Understanding these processes has practical benefits. The electrons linked to CMEs carry higher risks for satellites and astronauts. Distinguishing them from flare-driven events improves space weather forecasting, giving mission planners valuable warning.

“Knowledge such as this from Solar Orbiter will help protect other spacecraft in the future, by letting us better understand the energetic particles from the Sun that threaten our astronauts and satellites,” said Miller.

“The research is a really great example of the power of collaboration – it was only possible due to the combined expertise and teamwork of European scientists, instrument teams from across ESA Member States, and colleagues from the US.”

Future missions on solar insights

Future missions will build on Solar Orbiter’s success. ESA’s Vigil mission, launching in 2031, will watch the Sun’s side, spotting dangerous eruptions before they face Earth.

Meanwhile, Smile, launching next year, will study how Earth’s magnetic shield interacts with the relentless solar wind.

Together, these missions deepen our grasp of the Sun’s influence, preparing us to live more safely in its ever-changing space environment.

The study is published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

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