Category: 7. Science

Researchers at the University of Oxford and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have uncovered the mechanism by which cells identify and repair a highly toxic form of DNA damage that causes cancer, neurodegeneration, and premature ageing.

The findings, published in Nucleic Acids Research, reveal how DNA-protein crosslinks (DPCs) – harmful DNA lesions induced by chemotherapy, formaldehyde, and UV exposure – are recognised and broken down by SPRTN, a key repair enzyme.

The research team discovered a new region within SPRTN that enables it to selectively target DPC lesions, increasing its repair activity 67-fold while leaving surrounding structures unharmed.

Led by Kristijan Ramadan, Toh Kian Chui Distinguished Professor in Cancer and Stem Cell Biology at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, NTU Singapore and Honorary Senior Researcher at the Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, the work has important implications for improving cancer therapy and healthy ageing.

The threat of DPC lesions

Every time a cell divides into two, it must accurately create a copy of all its DNA, a process that involves the tight coordination of sophisticated molecular machinery. DNA-protein crosslinks (DPCs) are bulky lesions in which unwanted proteins attach to DNA, blocking the process of copying the cell’s DNA.

If left unrepaired, DPCs can cause neurodegeneration, premature ageing, and cancer. Therefore, understanding how these lesions are repaired is crucial for protecting genome integrity and preventing these conditions.

DPCs can occur through normal cellular metabolism, as well as exposure to chemotherapeutic drugs, UV radiation, and environmental agents like formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is a Group 1 carcinogen commonly found in household furniture, paint, and air pollution, including haze.

SPRTN is a critical enzyme that protects cells against DPC lesions. It travels along the DNA and degrades the proteins in the lesions, which clears the blockage and enables the DNA copying process to proceed.

Until now, it was unknown how SPRTN specifically breaks down DPC lesions without damaging functional proteins in the cell.

Discovery of a damage recognition domain

The research team discovered a specialised region within SPRTN which drives its activity against DPCs. The region detects chains of ubiquitin – tiny tags that attach to other proteins to modify their function – which DPC lesions have in abundance.

Recognition of these tags directly guides SPRTN to the DPC lesions, triggering a rapid increase in its activity to break down the harmful protein attachments.

“In the absence of ubiquitin chains on DPCs, SPRTN is slow and inefficient, taking hours to clear the DNA lesions. But when the ubiquitin chains are present, SPRTN’s ability to specifically target DPCs and break them down is enhanced 67-fold, enabling rapid removal of DPCs, which is critical due to its role in the rapid repair of DNA,” said Prof Ramadan, who is also the Director of the Cancer Discovery and Regenerative Medicine Programme at NTU Singapore’s Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine.

Importantly, the team showed that longer chains significantly accelerated the repair process compared to when only one or two ubiquitin tags were attached to the DNA lesion. This allows SPRTN to act quickly on DPCs while sparing other proteins that lack these tags.

Implications for cancer therapy and healthy ageing

These findings, which demonstrate the importance of the newly discovered SPRTN region for DPC lesion repair, have important implications in cancer therapy and healthy ageing.

Mutations in the SPRTN gene are known to cause Ruijs-Aalfs syndrome (RJALS), a rare condition characterised by chromosomal instability, premature ageing, and a high risk of early-onset liver cancer. The discovery of SPRTN’s recognition mechanism provides essential insights into our cells’ natural defences and how defects in DPC repair can drive disease.

First author of the study, Oxford’s postdoctoral researcher Dr Wei Song, said: “Our body’s ability to repair DNA damage caused by DPCs has long been a mystery. But now that we know how the repair mechanism works, we’ve laid the groundwork for developing potential ways to strengthen the body’s defences against age-related diseases, as well as reduce the side effects of cancer therapies that damage DNA.”

Commenting as an independent expert, Dr Jens Samol, Senior Consultant in Medical Oncology, Department of Medical Oncology, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore, said that the researchers’ study is significant as it identified that ubiquitin chains act as the main signal for SPRTN’s rapid activation and are very likely the main signal for SPRTN to specifically target and break down DPCs heavily tagged with ubiquitin.

“These findings further the understanding of SPRTN’s ability to specifically degrade DPCs and prevent normal cells from becoming cancerous,” added Dr Samol. “Moreover, some cancer patients are resistant to chemotherapy that kills tumour cells by inducing DPCs in them.”

“The involvement of ubiquitin shown by the study opens the possibility of investigating whether anti-ubiquitin antibodies or ubiquitin-proteasome inhibitors, such as bortezomib, could be potentially used as therapeutic options for overcoming cancer patients’ resistance to chemotherapy drugs. This concept could be tested in animal models like mice.”

Future studies by the researchers, including ongoing work in zebrafish, mouse models and human tissues, aim to validate their findings and further explore the potential of strengthening DPC repair mechanisms. This research could further revolutionise our understanding of the processes of ageing and cancer, as well as identify potential therapeutic interventions.

Photocatalysis, a technology that converts solar energy into chemical reactions, holds immense promise for addressing energy shortages and environmental pollution. However, traditional crystalline semiconductors face limitations in efficiency and stability. A groundbreaking review led by researchers from China Three Gorges University and Capital Normal University unveils how amorphous nanomaterials, which are lacking of long-range atomic order, could overcome these barriers and provide a new thought of advanced photocatalysis.

Published in Nano Research, the review systematically analyzes the unique advantages of amorphous materials, including their high density of catalytic sites, tunable electronic structures, and enhanced light absorption. These properties enable unprecedented efficiency in critical applications such as hydrogen evolution, carbon dioxide reduction, and pollutant degradation.

Unlike their crystalline counterparts, amorphous materials possess disordered atomic arrangements, creating abundant defects and unsaturated bonds that act as active sites for catalytic reactions. “The intrinsic flexibility of amorphous structures allows for tailored energy band engineering, which significantly improves charge separation and light utilization,”explained Dr. Binbin Jia, corresponding author and professor at China Three Gorges University. “This opens up possibilities for designing photocatalysts that operate under visible or even infrared light, vastly expanding their practical applications.”

The first is photocatalytic hydrogen production (HER), where the most common strategy is to enable a significant increase in photogenerated electron transfer efficiency by constructing amorphous/crystalline heterojunctions. This is followed by carbon dioxide reduction (CO₂RR), in which the efficiency of selective reduction of CO₂ to CO is effectively enhanced by defect modulation or heteroatom doping of conventional crystalline materials for amorphization. In the visible light, amorphous semiconductors also play an important role in organic degradation due to their unique surface properties, including large specific surface area, abundant surface functional groups, and the ability to promote the adsorption of substrates onto their surfaces through chemical bonding, which can be more effectively utilized for better photocatalytic efficiencies by loading single atoms or groups on their surfaces. Of course, the applications of amorphous materials in other fields, such as photocatalytic nitrogen fixation and photocatalytic H₂O₂ preparation, have also been mentioned and showed better functionality.

Despite their promise, amorphous materials face hurdles such as structural instability and complex synthesis. The team emphasizes the need for advanced characterization techniques, such as in-situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy and transient photoluminescence, to unravel dynamic catalytic mechanisms. “Future research must focus on stabilizing these materials through cross-scale design and AI-driven optimization,” noted Dr. Liqun Ye, co-author and professor at China Three Gorges University.

The review underscores the potential of amorphous nanomaterials to drive sustainable technologies, from green hydrogen production to carbon-neutral chemical synthesis. “By integrating amorphous materials into industrial-scale processes, we can significantly reduce reliance on fossil fuels and mitigate environmental damage,”said Dr. Xiaoyu Fan, co-author from Capital Normal University.

The researchers anticipate that their work will inspire collaborations across materials science, chemistry, and engineering to accelerate the commercialization of amorphous photocatalysts.

About Nano Research

Nano Research is a peer-reviewed, open access, international and interdisciplinary research journal, sponsored by Tsinghua University and the Chinese Chemical Society, published by Tsinghua University Press on the platform SciOpen. It publishes original high-quality research and significant review articles on all aspects of nanoscience and nanotechnology, ranging from basic aspects of the science of nanoscale materials to practical applications of such materials. After 18 years of development, it has become one of the most influential academic journals in the nano field. Nano Research has published more than 1,000 papers every year from 2022, with its cumulative count surpassing 7,000 articles. In 2024 InCites Journal Citation Reports, its 2024 IF is 9.0 (8.7, 5 years), and it continues to be the Q1 area among the four subject classifications. Nano Research Award, established by Nano Research together with TUP and Springer Nature in 2013, and Nano Research Young Innovators (NR45) Awards, established by Nano Research in 2018, have become international academic awards with global influence.

Magnetic fields play an important, if sometimes underappreciated, part in planetary systems. Without a strong magnetic field, planets can end up as a barren wasteland like Mars, or they could indirectly affect massive storms as can be seen on Jupiter. However, our understanding of planetary magnetic fields are limited to the eight planets in our solar system, as we haven’t yet accrued much data on the magnetic fields of exoplanets. That could be about to change, according to a new preprint paper by a group of research scientists from Europe, the US, India and the UAE.

According to the paper, there are two main ways scientists could collect data on exoplanet magnetic fields. First is a direct detection using two “effects” known as the Hanle and Zeeman effects. The other is indirect which utilizes “hot spots” in a host star’s atmosphere.

For direct detection, an observatory would need to capture photons that travel through the planet’s atmosphere as it is making a transit. Given that transits are one of the primary ways exoplanets themselves are detected, there should be plenty of data of these events. With those photons in hand, the researchers could analyze them for the Hanle and Zeeman effects.

Fraser discusses detecting magnetic fields around an Earth-like exoplanet.

The Hanle effect happens when light that is affected by a magnetic field, especially one that is perpendicular to the line of sight. These polarized light beams can be absorbed by helium atoms in the planet’s atmosphere, making a clear spectrographic line at the “He I 1083 triplet”. Importantly, this effect is even in place for relatively weak magnetic fields, so it could be utilized for probing magnetic fields that are even weaker than Earth, though the orientation of the field plays an important role in what strength it is able to measure.

Polarization also plays a role in the Zeeman effect, but instead of linear polarization in a certain orientation, the Zeeman effect looks at circular polarization instead of the linear polarization used in the Hanle effect. Light passing through an exoplanet magnetic field could be circularly polarized by magnetic field lines pointing along the line of sight of the observatory, which meshes nicely with the perpendicular magnetic field lines that cause the Hanle effect.

Combining the two of these effects can provide a relatively clear picture of the strength and orientation of an exoplanet’s magnetic field. An additional advantage is that, since they use a differential measurement, its easy to remove potentially confounding data like photons from the host star itself. However, since those photons must pass through the exoplanet’s atmosphere, there also aren’t very many of them, so this technique only works with larger planets that are close to their host star.

Fraser discusses possibilities for the future of exoplanet research.

Indirect methods also require the host planets to be close to their star, but for a different reason. They identify stellar hot spots that are the manifestation of magnetic field interactions between the star and the planet. The planet, whose size doesn’t matter as much in this scenario, must be close enough to its host star to be within its Alfvén surface, a space defined by the area where star/planet magnetic interactions are supposed to occur.

Even Mercury isn’t within our Sun’s Alfvén surface, which is typically between 10 and 20 solar radii from the surface of the star. However, since the majority of exoplanets that have been found orbit very close to their parent star, that isn’t necessarily a disadvantage. This technique does have other disadvantages, though, like trying to disentangle whether the magnetic activity causing the hotspot is from a planet or from some other dynamic system in the star’s magnetic field itself.

Ultimately more science, and therefore more data, is needed. The authors hope future missions like the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) will be well placed to collect the type of data needed to analyze these potential magnetic fields. That’s not to say current observatories can’t do some preliminary work with strong magnetic fields, but given that HWO won’t be launching for at least another 15 years, it might be a while before we truly get a better understanding of the magnetic fields of planets outside our own system.

Learn More:

A. Strugarek et al – Detecting and characterising the magnetic field of exoplanets

UT – Detecting Exoplanets by their Magnetospheres

UT – Measuring Exoplanetary Magnetospheres with the Square Kilometer Array

UT – Magnetic Fields Help Shape the Formation of New Planets

• Betelgeuse is a famous red supergiant star, located some 650-700 light-years from Earth. Its fame stems in part from the fact it’ll someday explode and become visibly brighter in our sky! Astronomers have long thought Betelgeuse might have a smaller, fainter companion star.
• Betelgeuse does indeed have a buddy, astronomers have now confirmed using the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii. The companion star is blue-white and orbits within Betelgeuse’s outer atmosphere.
• Both stars likely formed at the same time, only about 10 million years ago. The fate of the companion isn’t entirely known, but it may eventually be consumed by Betelgeuse.

A companion for Betelgeuse

It’s confirmed! The beloved red supergiant star Betelgeuse has a companion! Astronomers using the ‘Alopeke instrument on the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii found the companion star. The researchers said on July 21, 2025 that the companion has an estimated mass of around 1.5 times that of our sun. It appears to be an A- or B-type pre-main-sequence star — a hot, young, blue-white star that has not yet initiated hydrogen burning in its core.

The companion is 6 magnitudes fainter than Betelgeuse and orbits close to Betelgeuse itself, within the supergiant star’s extended outer atmosphere.

The Betelgeuse binary system

So … wow! What an incredible example of stellar evolution in action. Both Betelgeuse and its companion are relatively young stars, only about 10 million years old. Both are massive stars, of the sort that burn their fuel quickly. In accordance with what astronomers have learned about how stars evolve, Betelgeuse started out more massive than its companion. It probably started with about 15 to 20 times the sun’s mass. Betelgeuse has already spent the hydrogen fuel in its core and evolved to the red giant stage. It’ll famously explode as a supernova someday soon, anytime between now and 10,000 years from now.

The companion – at only 1.5 times the sun’s mass – appears to be still forming. It’s not massive enough to become a supernova itself someday, but, in any case, its life will be cut short by Betelgeuse. And it might eventually spiral into Betelgeuse.

Several astronomers in recent decades have suggested a companion for Betelgeuse. And a previous study from last year strongly suggested it. But now, the new observations have confirmed it.

The researchers published their peer-reviewed findings in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on July 21, 2025.

Higher-resolution images reveal Betelgeuse’s buddy

Astrophysicist Steve Howell at NASA Ames Research Center in California led the team that made the discovery. The researchers used a speckle imager on Gemini North called ‘Alopeke (‘fox’ in Hawaiian). Speckle imaging uses very short exposure times to freeze out the distortions in astronomical images caused by Earth’s atmosphere. The astronomers combined it with the power of Gemini North’s 8.1-meter mirror to produce higher-resolution images.

The researchers analyzed the light of the fainter companion star to determine its characteristics. It is an A- or B-type pre-main-sequence star: young, hot and blue-white in color, in contrast to Betelegeuse’s fiery red. In addition, it is also much smaller and less massive than Betelgeuse, only 1.5 times as massive as our sun. Betelgeuse itself is enormous, about 1,400 times larger in size than the sun.

Optically, the companion star is 6 magnitudes fainter than Betelgeuse.

The researchers say that both stars likely formed at the same time. The companion, however, will probably have a sorter lifetime. It will eventually be consumed by Betelgeuse after it spirals into the red supergiant.

An impressive accomplishment

The detection of the companion star is an impressive achievement, to be sure. Howell said:

Gemini North’s ability to obtain high angular resolutions and sharp contrasts allowed the companion of Betelgeuse to be directly detected. Papers that predicted Betelgeuse’s companion believed that no one would likely ever be able to image it.

This detection was at the very extremes of what can be accomplished with Gemini in terms of high-angular resolution imaging, and it worked. This now opens the door for other observational pursuits of a similar nature.

Martin Still, the National Science Foundation program director for the International Gemini Observatory, added:

The speckle capabilities provided by the International Gemini Observatory continue to be a spectacular tool, open to all astronomers for a wide range of astronomy applications. Delivering the solution to the Betelgeuse problem that has stood for hundreds of years will stand as an evocative highlight achievement.

The Great Dimming of Betelgeuse

Betelgeuse is a variable star, but also experiences periods of even more significant dimming in brightness. It most recently did so in 2019-2020 and again in 2024. In fact, these dimming episodes sparked speculation that Betelgeuse might explode soon (and astronomers say that indeed it will do so one day).

In 2021, scientists said that Betelgeuse was expelling massive amounts of hot gas and dust from its atmosphere. This, consequently, caused the dimming, as the dust temporarily blocked some of the star’s light.

Interestingly, the previous study from 2024 also suggested that if Betelgeuse did have a companion, then it probably won’t go boom anytime soon. So we might be waiting a long time yet!

Bottom line: Astronomers using the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii have confirmed a companion for Betelgeuse! The companion star is blue-white and orbits within Betelgeuse’s outer atmosphere.

Source: Probable Direct Imaging Discovery of the Stellar Companion to Betelgeuse

Via NOIRLab.

Read more: Betelgeuse will explode someday, but WHEN?

Read more: How far is Betelgeuse, the famous red supergiant star?

Fragments of ancient viral DNA once dismissed as “junk” may play a role in controlling our genes, according to a new international study.

Using a novel method to trace the evolutionary history of viral DNA, researchers from McGill University and Kyoto University uncovered sequences that had been overlooked in earlier genome annotations.

“If we can clearly map what parts of our genome are specific to humans or primates, and what parts came from viruses, we’re one step closer to understanding what makes us human and how our DNA influences health and disease,” said Guillaume Bourque, one of the study’s lead authors and a professor in McGill’s Department of Human Genetics.

About eight per cent of the human genome comes from viruses that infected our ancestors millions of years ago. Once thought to be useless, some of these sequences are now known to help switch genes on and off. The new study, which identifies specific sequences that show regulatory potential, adds to growing evidence that these long-overlooked sequences may play important roles and deserve closer scrutiny.

New method to decode viral DNA

When the human genome was first sequenced 25 years ago, researchers identified the viral DNA but lacked the tools to study it in detail. Using modern technology, the team revisited the genome and found many annotations were outdated or incorrect.

The researchers developed a new method that groups viral sequences by their evolutionary history, rather than by sequence similarity alone. By tracing how the sequences evolved over time, they identified patterns that suggest which ones may help control when genes are turned on or off.

Focusing on a viral DNA family called MER11, the team found that there were not three subtypes, as previously thought, but four. One group, MER11_G4, was especially active in human stem cells and included a unique DNA motif found only in humans and chimpanzees. It was this group that the researchers believe may play a role in switching genes on and off.

“The current annotation of viral DNA in the genome shouldn’t be treated as definitive. It’s time to revisit and refine it,” said Bourque.

A clearer understanding of the genome, he added, could help scientists make sense of genetic mutations linked to cancer and rare diseases.

About the study

“A phylogenetic approach uncovers cryptic endogenous retrovirus subfamilies in the primate lineage” by Xun Chen, Zicong Zhang, Yizhi Yan, Clément Goubert, Guillaume Bourque and Fumitaka Inoue was published July 18 in Science Advances.

The research was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canada Research Chairs program, the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé, and Japan’s World Premier International Research Center Initiative.

As Nokia’s futurist in residence, I have spent a lot of time exploring the intersections of technology and human potential. Few frontiers capture my imagination quite like space, not as a distant dream, but as an imminent reality that will fundamentally reshape how we live, work, and connect. We stand at an inflection point where the space economy is transitioning from government-funded spectacle to commercial necessity, and Nokia is uniquely positioned to help power this transformation.

The New Space Economy: More Than Rockets and Astronauts

When most people think about space, they envision dramatic rocket launches and astronauts floating in zero gravity. But the real space revolution is happening much closer to home. The global space economy is projected to reach $1.8 trillion by 2035, up from $630 billion in 2023. This goes beyond launching satellites and is about creating a vast interconnected network that touches every aspect of our digital lives.

From providing connectivity in remote Earth regions using low-Earth orbit satellites to deploying actual cellular networks on the Moon, Nokia is applying its terrestrial network expertise to extraterrestrial challenges. As Thierry Klein, President of Nokia Bell Labs Solutions Research, told me recently, “We recently operated the first cellular network on the Moon. The same technologies we use to connect billions of people on Earth can be adapted for space.”

This achievement represents more than a technological milestone; it validates a fundamental principle that will help drive the space economy forward. The most successful space ventures won’t reinvent everything from scratch; they’ll intelligently adapt proven terrestrial technologies for the unique challenges of space.

Mining the Moon, Monitoring the Earth

Mining the moon for water, helium-3, and rare earth elements could become a multibillion-dollar industry in the near future, but the real near-term value lies in how space-based systems enhance life on Earth. Consider this: every time you use GPS navigation, check weather forecasts, or stream content via satellite, you’re participating in the space economy. Nokia’s vision extends this integration exponentially.

The implications are vast. These space-based systems will power everything from real-time communications for astronauts to massive data transfers via optical ‘superhighways’—laser-based links that could carry vast amounts of information between Earth, the Moon, and eventually Mars. Nokia is developing technologies for immersive video transmission over satellite links, working with the European Space Agency on ways to stream high-resolution, 360-degree video in real time, even over constrained bandwidth.

What fascinates me most is the sheer scope of what this unlocks, from laying the foundations for a lunar economy to enabling deeper space exploration. The idea of robots mining the Moon’s surface sounds like science fiction, but it’s becoming a reality. I’m especially drawn to how connecting space could help us here on Earth: using satellite constellations to monitor our planet’s health, detect deforestation in real time, predict extreme weather, or track environmental changes with unmatched accuracy. These networks could become a kind of planetary nervous system.

To get a sense of public sentiment on this topic, I ran a LinkedIn poll asking which space opportunity people found most exciting, from satellite internet and lunar mining to space-based solar power and orbital data centers. Initial results show that people are particularly excited about solar-power from space and global satellite internet. https://www.linkedin.com/services/page/b682423078b5846457/

The Human Drive to Explore

As astronaut Tim Peake eloquently explained to me recently, there’s something fundamental about humanity’s drive to explore that goes beyond economics. We have this innate desire to explore. We want to send probes onto the planet Mars. We want to go out and explore the moons of Jupiter and Saturn and to think about could there be life? Small microbial bacterial, but within our own solar system, for example, in the liquid oceans on Europa, or on Enceladus.

This exploration imperative creates a virtuous cycle. Space gives us information, ultimately. More than 50% of our data on climate is coming from space. It gives us the ability to communicate, to navigate and to operate in our society at the moment. The scientific insights we gain from studying other worlds help us understand our own planet better, while the technologies we develop for space exploration inevitably find applications that improve life on Earth.

Building the Infrastructure of Tomorrow

The most exciting aspect of Nokia’s space initiatives is the vision of permanent infrastructure beyond Earth. As Thierry Klein outlined in our conversation, the goal isn’t merely to plant flags and leave footprints, but to establish a persistent presence. “Eventually, as we build out a lunar economy and as we go back to the same area and we build out a colony, we can imagine a service provider that will be there permanently,” he explained. “So that anybody that will go to that region, to that colony, will just be able to connect to a network the way you would do when you travel on Earth.”

This infrastructure mindset is crucial. Space exploration has stagnated for decades. Today, commercial capabilities are quickly outpacing those of governments. The key insight is that sustainable space development requires the same kinds of robust, standardized systems that enabled the internet revolution on Earth.

Nokia’s approach embodies this philosophy. Rather than creating proprietary, space-specific solutions, it adapts proven, standards-based cellular technologies for space environments. This means future lunar bases won’t need specialized communication systems—they’ll use familiar protocols that can seamlessly integrate with Earth-based networks.

New Frontiers: Solar Farms and Data Centers in Space

Beyond lunar networks, the space economy is expanding into revolutionary new territories that could transform how we generate and process data. China is constructing a one-kilometer-wide solar farm for launch into space. This celestial power station, positioned in geostationary orbit, would continuously harvest solar energy and beam it to Earth via microwave transmission, potentially generating as much energy annually as all extractable oil on our planet.

Equally exciting is the emergence of space-based data centers. Companies like Lonestar Data Holdings have already launched prototype storage devices to the Moon, while Axiom Space plans to deploy computing nodes aboard the International Space Station. These orbital facilities solve multiple terrestrial challenges simultaneously: they eliminate land use conflicts, access unlimited solar power, and achieve natural cooling by radiating heat directly into space.

For Nokia, these developments represent extraordinary opportunities. Their expertise in creating autonomous, self-healing networks becomes invaluable for infrastructure that must operate reliably for years without physical maintenance. Whether it’s managing data flows between Earth and orbital processing centers or coordinating power distribution from space-based solar arrays, networking technologies will be the invisible backbone enabling humanity’s expansion into the cosmos.

The Nokia Advantage

Nokia’s century-plus experience in connecting people provides unique advantages in this new frontier. Successful networks are about creating ecosystems that enable innovation and Nokia’s space initiatives apply this same principle beyond Earth’s atmosphere.

The convergence of artificial intelligence, advanced materials, and space technology creates unprecedented opportunities. AI can optimize satellite constellations in real-time, advanced materials enable lighter and more durable space infrastructure, and space-based computing could eventually handle processing tasks too resource-intensive for Earth-based systems.

Looking Forward

The space economy represents a fundamental expansion of human capability and presence. Nokia’s role in this transformation reflects its core mission: connecting people and enabling possibilities, regardless of where they are in the solar system.

Our expansion into space will profoundly change human civilization. The networks we build today, from the first cellular connection on the Moon to the optical superhighways that will link worlds, are laying the foundation for humanity’s multi-planetary future.

As we stand on the threshold of this new era, Nokia is helping to create it. The same spirit of innovation that once connected villages with telephone lines now reaches toward the stars, ready to connect worlds.

To find out more about Nokia’s space technology, click here: https://nokia.ly/4eoMz7J

Calling all librarians! NASA sponsors dozens of research projects that need help from you and the people in your community. These projects invite everyone who’s interested to collaborate with scientists, investigating mysteries from how star systems form to how our planet sustains life. You can help by making observations with your cell phone or by studying fresh data on your laptop from spacecraft like the James Webb Space Telescope. You might discover a near-Earth asteroid or a new food option for astronauts.  Participants learn new skills and meet scientists and other people around the world with similar interests. 

Interested in sharing these opportunities with your patrons? Join us on August 26, 2025 at 1 p.m. EST for a 1-hour online information session.  A librarian and a participatory science professional will provide you with a NASA Citizen Science Librarian Starter Kit and answer all your questions. The kit includes everything you need to host a NASA Science Program for patrons of all ages. 

• Editable poster to advertise event
• Event prep guide (for the host and for the space)
• Community connection ideas 
• Editable event agenda
• Handout for participants

Scan the QR code above or go to https://shorturl.at/tKfTt to register for the session.