Category: 7. Science

Start watching for the Delta Aquariids meteor shower this week. The chart shows the view looking south-east from London at midnight on 28 July. The radiate is marked. This is the point from which the meteors appear to radiate in all directions.

Most annual meteor showers have a well-defined peak of activity, but the Delta Aquariids are a more drawn-out affair. Although the predictions place the peak somewhere between 28 and 30 July, the activity can be just as strong leading up to and after the moment.

The moon will have set by midnight, meaning that even faint meteors will be visible. The maximum hourly rate lies in the 15-to-20 range, but these meteors are known to sometimes leave persistent trails in the sky that can be seen for minutes after the bright flash of the shooting star has passed.

Generated from dust that was once in the tail of comet 96P/Machholz, the Delta Aquariids are just one meteor shower that it could have generated. The Arietids, a rare daytime meteor shower, may also have come from the same comet.

The Delta Aquariids are more favourably placed in the southern hemisphere’s skies, but observers in both hemispheres can enjoy the event.

Asteroid 2025 OS passed Earth this weekend

Astronomers detected an asteroid passing close to Earth on July 19, 2025. The discovery was made using a 20″ (0.5 meter) telescope at the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) station in Chile.

Astronomers say the asteroid was traveling at a speed of 28,409 miles per hour (45,720 km/h), or 7.9 miles per second (12.70 km/sec), relative to Earth.

After analyzing the space rock trajectory, scientists realized the asteroid was closest to Earth a few hours earlier, at around 11:20 pm ET on Friday 18, 2025. At closest approach, it passed 2,534 miles (4,078 km) from Earth. That’s extremely close, considering Earth’s diameter is about 7,926 miles (12,760 kilometers).

It was designated as asteroid 2025 OS by the Minor Planet Center.

At closest approach

According to NASA/JPL, the asteroid passed just southeast of Australia during its closest approach to Earth around 11:20 pm ET on Friday 18, 2025.

Fortunately, it posed no danger to Earth. Asteroid 2025 OS is a small asteroid with an estimated size between 8.85 to 19.7 ft (2.7 and 6.0 meters) in diameter.

If asteroid 2025 OS had entered our atmosphere, most of it would have disintegrated as a spectacular meteor.

Generally, small asteroids are difficult to detect. On the other hand, larger asteroids reflect more sunlight, so they are easier to detect.

Bottom line: Astronomers discovered asteroid 2025 OS on July 19, 2025. It passed closest to Earth on July 18. It is a small asteroid, so it posed no danger to Earth.

Via IAU Minor Planet Center

Read more: Calculating whether an asteroid might hit Earth

Read more: We’re getting better at seeing asteroids that may hit Earth

Among cartoon supervillains, Krang, the slimy nemesis of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, is a favorite of neuroscientists. After a vague accident, Krang is stripped of his body and reduced to a brain in a vat of cerebrospinal fluid. Lacking physical agency, Krang appeals to his fellow supervillain, the Shredder, to construct a new brain-machine interface and bipedal robotic skeleton. This freshly re-embodied android Krang teams up with the Shredder to take on the Ninja Turtles and conquer the Earth.

Like the visionary writers of the Ninja Turtles, neuroscientists often make the abstraction that a brain can exist in isolation from the body. They model the brain as a computational machine that exists in a realm of pure thought, receiving inputs and sending outputs as abstract information streams. Yet this “brain in a jar” worldview neglects a simple fact: Brains and nervous systems evolved jointly with the bodies they inhabit.

Indeed, coordinating body movement is the ultimate point of brain function. The brain is not connected to the external world, except through the body. It receives no sensory inputs except those transduced through the sensory organs, and it can enact no consequences except through muscles and other actuators. Thus, the biomechanical features and constraints of the body are built into the function of the brain. How animals move also determines how they gather new sensory information. Ultimately, Krang needed a robotic body to manifest his evil deeds. The cartoon spent little time elaborating on how a bipedal artificial body was tuned to be controlled by Krang’s reptilian brain, but some intense engineering (or millions of years of evolution) must have happened behind the scenes.

Embodiment, then, is the concept that the function of the brain is inexorably shaped by the body. Although it is not a new idea in neuroscience, the embodiment lens is often neglected when neuroscientists study specific brain subsystems, particularly higher-order “cognitive” functions. Fortunately, in the growing field of NeuroAI, embodiment is now garnering greater attention. In 2023, for example, Anthony Zador and his collaborators proposed an embodied Turing test, and the 2024 National Institutes of Health BRAIN NeuroAI Workshop featured embodiment as a central theme.

Here, we discuss three key features of embodied intelligence that are characteristic of animal brains: feedback, biomechanics and modularity. We argue that embracing these three features will benefit computational models of real brain function, as well as the design of artificial neural networks that move beyond large-scale word salad generation to efficiently accomplish real-world tasks.

F

irst, feedback is a ubiquitous characteristic of biological neural networks. Feedforward models in which information flows in only one direction, such as from the retina to the lateral geniculate nucleus to the primary visual cortex, are popular because they are easy to interpret. But they are valid only in very narrow contexts and more typically are mere fantasies or wishful thinking; for example, a vast majority of lateral geniculate nucleus inputs are not from the retina, and these inputs include significant feedback from the primary visual cortex. Biological systems almost always rely on constant and multiscale feedback: Animals interact with fluctuating physical environments, neural circuits rely heavily on recurrent connections, interlinked organs adjust their function based on feedback from other organs, and cells modify themselves through gene regulatory feedback mechanisms. The view of the brain as a passive computational engine that tries to understand (i.e., to form “representations” of) the world denies the essential agency of animals to act and to have an impact on the external world.

Second, biomechanical features of each specific body are essential to understand the function of the neural system within it. Consider, for instance, this video of a trout; its body undulates in the current and then surges upstream toward a small rock. What appears to be a dexterous natural behavior is, in fact, executed by a recently dead fish. So this “behavior” requires no neural activity and arises entirely from the interaction between the vortices shedding from the rock and the biomechanics of the fish body. Some neuroscientists might find this distressing. But our more optimistic view is that harnessing the mechanical intelligence of the body can simplify the demands of nonlinear neural control.

Third, brains are highly modular. Even as we advocate for an integrative approach, there is undeniable value in deeply characterizing specific parts of the brain and musculoskeletal systems in isolation. But these modules eventually need to be stitched together. Another way of thinking about modularity is in terms of bottlenecks. In the retina, for instance, retinal ganglion cells are the only cells that send outputs to the rest of the image-forming visual system, and motor-control circuits all converge onto the final common output of motor neurons that synapse onto muscles. Such bottlenecks define modules, making it possible to develop computational models of each module that nevertheless interface with one another and from which emerges the holistic behavior of the virtual animal. Importantly, models of different subsystems can be made at different resolutions and learned from different data.

Embracing these three features can help neuroscientists frame research from an embodied perspective, but there is still a chasm between the aspiration to study an embodied brain and how to implement it in practice. After all, neural dynamics are complicated enough; do we now have to model nonlinear musculoskeletal dynamics as well? And how urgent is it to integrate a model of the bladder with a model of the striatum? Choices must be made. Fortunately, a convergence of comprehensive biological datasets and artificial-intelligence approaches makes these choices slightly easier. Scientists are developing (and sharing) biomechanically realistic full-body models of animals, including rats, mice and flies. Currently, most of the published models are still quite basic—essentially, skeletons of the body—but many collaborative groups, ourselves included, are working to add biologically realistic muscles and sensors.

W

hat makes this emerging zoo of virtual animals distinct from previous generations of biomechanical models is their compatibility with models of the brain. We can think of the brain models as “controllers” that plan and execute behavior while responding to sensory stimuli from the environment. Currently, a prevailing software platform for simulating virtual animals is MuJoCo, a physics engine that simulates the biomechanics of skeletons, muscles and tendons. Because MuJoCo was developed in part to facilitate research in robotics, its core capabilities include handling advanced contact forces of dynamic body parts with an environment and learning controllers to coordinate desired body movements. A JAX-accelerated implementation called MuJoCo-MJX now makes training whole-body virtual animals tractable for researchers with access to GPU computing.

Even so, some future features would be welcome additions to this or another neuro-physical simulation platform. A flexible interface to model and fine-tune networks of neurons with recurrent architecture in a closed loop with the biomechanics would accelerate the development of fully integrated neuromechanical models. The ability to rapidly simulate non-rigid biomechanics, such as fluid-structure interactions, deformable skeletal elements and muscle actuators that slide past each other, would further expand the ability to ask questions at the interface of neural function, musculoskeletal dynamics and natural behavior.

The prospect of developing a fully integrated neuromechanical model is perhaps closest to fruition for the adult fruit fly, Drosophila. The recent completion of comprehensive synaptic wiring diagrams, known as connectomes, of the fly brain and ventral nerve cord means it is now tractable to hook up computational models of neural dynamics at the resolution of cells and synapses to whole-animal biomechanics. Such embodied models will open the door to in silico experiments that are currently not feasible in real animals, complementing existing genetics and behavioral tools. As an example, consider the sensorimotor control of robust walking. From more than a century of intense study, we know that nerve-cord circuits can generate rhythmic motor patterns autonomously, yet when the walking animal encounters a perturbation, such as uneven terrain, it must integrate feedback from sensory neurons with feedforward commands to adjust, recover and maintain walking. In silico experiments that ask how neural dynamics of recurrent circuits couple with biomechanical consequences in a virtual walking fly, complete with interactions with an unpredictable physical environment, will help untangle these dual functions.

An embodiment lens could also help shape a rapidly emerging area of NeuroAI to develop foundation models of animal brains and behaviors. The idea behind foundation models is to gather a large corpus of neural and video recordings of animals in a variety of contexts and then train neural-network models to predict neural activity and behavior in response to any arbitrary input. If such efforts are to provide any insight into biology, we argue that they must carefully consider each animal’s body, not just tracked key points on the body and other aggregate measures of behavior. An artificial neural network might learn to control swimming, but how it accomplishes this could be completely different from how the fish’s brain does it, if even a dead fish can surge upstream in a current. After all, the brain does not directly control positions of knees, elbows and shoulders; it controls muscles, which generate forces to move bodies and manifest behavior.

The convergence of software tools, open datasets and a culture of collaborative science makes it an auspicious time to pursue embodiment in NeuroAI. We stand to gain a deeper understanding of how the nervous system controls behavior and a more ethological perspective on AI—one in which the brain sits not in a jar but inside the body that it evolved to sense and control. As Master Splinter, the martial arts instructor and adoptive father of the Ninja Turtles, once wisely stated, “A creative mind must be balanced by a disciplined body.”

Scientists uncover how zebrafish switch between cell division and direct differentiation to rebuild sensory organs, challenging long-held views on tissue regeneration.

Study: Stem and progenitor cell proliferation are independently regulated by cell type-specific cyclinD genes. Image Credit: Anusorn Nakdee / Shutterstock.com

In a recent study published in the journal Nature Communications, researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in the USA investigated the mechanisms by which stem cell genes modulate regeneration in zebrafish lateral line neuromasts (sensory organs). Specifically, the study leveraged cutting-edge CRISPR gene editing, single-cell RNA sequencing, and live imaging to investigate how two distinct cyclin D genes, ccndx and ccnd2a, regulate distinct cell populations during the development and regeneration of these sensory organs.

Study findings reveal that ccndx and ccnd2a function via independent yet complementary pathways – the former modulates the division of progenitor cells, while the latter drives the amplification of stem cell proliferation. Even when one pathway is lost, the other can partially compensate, but regeneration proceeds via a limited and less robust mechanism. For example, in ccndx mutants, direct differentiation can generate hair cells without division; however, fewer cells and a pronounced polarity defect occur, with approximately 70% of regenerated hair cells exhibiting a posterior bias. This polarity defect is mechanistically linked to reduced expression of hes2.2, which normally inhibits Emx2, a master regulator of hair cell polarity. Together, these genes ensure robust tissue maintenance, offering new therapeutic directions for sensory regeneration research.

Background

Tissue turnover and regeneration are fundamental processes essential for maintaining life. These constantly occurring processes rely on delicate balances between populations of stem cells, which gradually replenish themselves over time, and progenitor cells, which mature into specialized forms in response to physiological requirements.

Decades of research have revealed that cyclin D proteins, known primarily for their crucial role in regulating cell cycle progression, have substantial modulatory effects on cell proliferation. Unfortunately, the mechanistic associations between specific stem cell populations and cyclin D protein use remain poorly understood. Unraveling these associations may open the door to novel regenerative therapies, especially relevant in today’s increasingly aging global population, which is experiencing a decline in sensory ability.

Recent research aims to leverage the zebrafish, a well-studied model organism renowned for its regenerative capabilities, to answer this question. In particular, the zebrafish’s sensory lateral line is known to regenerate cells rapidly following injury. This line consists of hair, support, and mantle cells, essential for detecting water movement. Given their functional analogy to the human inner ear, these models are used to gain a better understanding of sensory regeneration.

About the Study

The present study utilized several transgenic zebrafish larval strains to elucidate the mechanisms underlying regeneration in the lateral line sensory system. The study focuses on two cyclin D genes: ccndx and ccnd2a.

By leveraging CRISPR-Cas9 and CRISPR-Cas12a gene editing, transgenic zebrafish with ccndx and/or ccnd2a knocked out were then observed (via scRNA-seq) to elucidate their differences in gene expression and cell states. These assays were replicated over 10,000 cells and were complemented by RNA velocity modeling using the scVelo and partition-based graph abstraction (PAGA) algorithms.

Researchers began by treating zebrafish larvae with neomycin, an antibiotic (ototoxin) that triggers rapid hair death (and subsequent regeneration) along the lateral line organ. Observation via single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) assays in combination with 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EdU) labeling and time-lapse imaging (Nikon Ti2 Eclipse; 42 hours at 28.5 °C) resulted in the identification of two proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression-marked cell populations, one governed by ccndx and the other by ccnd2a.

Finally, protein modeling using the Robetta and Mol*3D Viewer platforms was conducted to compare the structural conservation of cyclin D proteins across transgenic zebrafish species. Statistical analyses comprised analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-tests for inter-treatment difference significant reporting (p < 0.05).

Study Findings

Neomycin treatment assays revealed the presence of two independent cell populations involved in neuromast regeneration. scRNA-seq analysis revealed these populations: 1. Self-renewing amplifying stem cell populations that express ccnd2a, and 2. Progenitor cells that mature into sensory hair cells that express ccndx.

Notably, ccndx knockout strains demonstrated hair regeneration even in the absence of ccndx expression. Still, these hair cells were often misoriented, possibly because of altered hes2.2 and emx2 activity (genes involved in hair cell polarity). Importantly, expressing ccnd2a under the ccndx promoter, an artificial genetic rescue, was able to restore both the number and orientation of hair cells in ccndx-mutants (p < 0.0001), marking a mechanistic demonstration rather than a physiological compensation.

In contrast, ccnd2a-deficient mutants showed reduced amplifying stem cell proliferation during development, but regeneration was less affected, suggesting that other cyclins can compensate during tissue repair, without inducing polarity defects. Specifically, the study reports upregulation of ccnd1 during regeneration in ccnd2a mutants, potentially compensating for the loss of ccnd2a function (Supplementary Fig. 5N–P). This independent regulation suggests sensory regeneration can occur even if one population (pathway) is compromised. For example, five days post-fertilization (dpf), ccndx mutants showed significantly reduced EdU+ differentiating progenitor cells compared to their wild-type siblings (p = 0.0001), while amplifying cell counts remained unchanged (p = 0.35).

This finding that zebrafish hair cells can regenerate through direct differentiation without progenitor proliferation represents a paradigm shift in regenerative biology, challenging the long-standing view that proliferation is essential for tissue regeneration.

Finally, this study revealed the importance of ‘Notch signaling’ in sensory regeneration. This highly conserved cell-to-cell communication pathway, essential for development and tissue homeostasis, was found to suppress ccndx expression, with its inhibition leading to increased progenitor proliferation only in ccndx-intact fish, thereby confirming a tight regulatory loop between Notch activity, cyclin D expression, and regeneration capacity.

Conclusions

This study represents a significant advance in our understanding of regenerative biology, demonstrating for the first time that, contrary to prior assumptions, all proliferating cells in regenerative tissues are not regulated similarly. It highlights the future importance of tailored cell cycle regulation, leveraging both ccndx and ccnd2a for optimal sensory regeneration outcomes.

These findings could accelerate the development of therapies in regenerative medicine. However, it is important to note that ccndx is absent in mammals, so these findings are directly applicable only to non-mammalian species. As with all basic science studies in animal models, findings should be considered in the context of zebrafish biology, and their applicability to humans will require further research.

Monitor lizards, also known in Australia as goannas, are some of the most iconic reptiles on the continent. Their lineage not only survived the mass extinction that ended the reign of non-avian dinosaurs, but also gave rise to the largest living lizards on Earth.

Today, these formidable creatures pace through forests and scrublands, flicking their tongues as they go.

A new study published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society looks beneath their skin. For the first time, it reveals hidden bone structures that may hold the key to the evolutionary success of goannas in Australia.

An essential organ

The skin is an organ essential for survival. In some animals, it includes a layer of bone plates embedded among the skin tissue. Think of the armour-like plates in crocodiles or armadillos: these are osteoderms.

Their size ranges from microscopic to massive, with the back plates of the stegosaurus as the most impressive example.

We have only just started to understand these enigmatic structures. Osteoderms can be found in animal lineages that diverged up to 380 million years ago. This means these bone plates would have evolved independently, just like active flight did in birds, pterosaurs and bats.

But what is their purpose? While the advantage of flight is undisputed, the case is not as clear for osteoderms.

The most obvious potential would be for defence – protecting the animal from injuries. However, osteoderms may serve a far broader purpose.

In crocodiles, for example, they help with heat regulation, play a part in movement, and even supply calcium during egg-laying. It is the interplay of these poorly understood functions that has long made it difficult to pinpoint how and why osteoderms evolved.

A cutting-edge technique

To help resolve this enigma, we had to go back to the beginning.

Surprisingly, to date science has not even agreed on which species have osteoderms. Therefore, we assembled an international team of specialists to carry out the first large-scale study of osteoderms in lizards and snakes.

We studied specimens from scientific collections at institutions such as the Florida Museum of Natural History, the Natural History Museum in Berlin, and Museums Victoria.

However, we soon learnt that this came with challenges. Firstly, the presence of osteoderms can vary dramatically between individuals of the same species. Secondly, there is no guarantee that osteoderms are sufficiently preserved in all specimens.

Most importantly, they are buried deep within skin tissue and invisible to the naked eye. Traditionally, finding them meant destroying the specimen.

Instead, we turned to micro-computed tomography (micro-CT), an imaging technique similar to a medical CT scan, but with much higher resolution. This allowed us to study even the tiniest anatomical structures while keeping our specimens intact.

Using computer-generated 3D models, we then digitally explored the bodies of lizards and snakes from all parts of the world. Incorporating data from prior literature, we processed almost 2,000 such samples in our search for osteoderms.

To illustrate our results, we devised a technique called radiodensity heatmapping, which visually highlights the locations of bone structures in the body.

For the first time, we now have a comprehensive catalogue showing where to find osteoderms in a large and diverse group; this will inform future studies.

Not just anatomical curiosity

What we found was unexpected. It was thought only a small number of lizard families had osteoderms. However, we encountered them nearly twice as often as anticipated.

In fact, our results show nearly half of all lizards have osteoderms in one form or another.

Our most astonishing finding concerned goannas. Scientists have been studying monitor lizards for more than 200 years. They were long thought to lack osteoderms, except in rare cases such as the Komodo dragon.

So we were all the more surprised when we discovered previously undocumented osteoderms in 29 Australo-Papuan species, increasing their overall known prevalence five times.

This isn’t just an anatomical curiosity. Now that we know Australian goannas have osteoderms, it opens up an exciting new avenue for further studies. This is because goannas have an interesting biogeographic history: when they first arrived in Australia about 20 million years ago, they had to adapt to a new, harsh environment.

If osteoderms in goannas showed up around this time – possibly owing to new challenges from their environment – we’d gain crucial insights into the function and evolution of these enigmatic bone structures.

Not only may we just have found the key to an untold chapter in the goanna story, our findings may also improve our understanding of the forces of evolution that shaped Australia’s unique reptiles as we know them today.

Preliminary data from a NASA-funded Greenland survey point to a two-degree centigrade rise in regional ocean water temperatures in less than a decade.

For the first time ever, a team of researchers took the data from a subglacial Greenland channel in February of this year using a custom-built, remotely operated vehicle equipped with sonar, laser-ranging and a mass spectrometer.

Preliminarily, what we’ve been able to show is, at least during this year, ocean water in this region is almost two degrees warmer than it was less than 10 years ago, Britney Schmidt, a Cornell University astrobiologist and the ongoing Icefin project’s principal investigator, tells me in Reykjavik. It’s crazy amounts of warming; we’re losing this ice very rapidly and it’s much warmer than I would have expected; two degrees in 10 years is insane, she says.

The ROV allows us to find channels that are bringing water out from underneath the ice sheet which has huge climate implications, Schmidt tells me during the recent European Astrobiology Institute’s BEACON 25 conference in Iceland. But it also has astrobiological implications, because you’re bringing samples from under the ice sheet that we otherwise can’t get to, she says.

This ROV exploration is also trailblazing the way for NASA’s potential subsurface lander missions to the icy moons of Europa and Enceladus. At the same time, this research is providing the most current data on climate change in our Northern hemisphere.

One of these glaciers has been moving back at about a kilometer a year; others are moving faster, but this system is quite unstable, so we’re rapidly losing ice, says Schmidt.

NASA-funded and partly funded by the private Simons Foundation, one aim of the research is to simulate the types of exploration, decision making, and analyses that might be required for a mission one of our solar system’s icy moons.

Retreating Glaciers

Working from temporary headquarters atop Greenland’s ice cap, the team made its measurements earlier this year by deploying the ROV into subsurface channels and steering the ROV upstream underneath the ice sheet. The team worked near or on three glaciers, including the Knud Rasmussen Glacier on Greenland’s Northwestern Coast

We’re able to resolve exactly how the ocean is getting into these channels and how much fresh water is affecting the base of the ice, says Schmidt. That allows us to put much tighter constraints on how melting is happening, she says.

Ice Melt

Even so, Greenland has been rapidly losing ice for the last 100 years due to direct human-caused effects in the Northern hemisphere.

Three glaciers are calving (or losing) ice directly into the ocean.

In the cold part of the season, the team can drive out on snowmobiles to these environments, Schmidt explains in her BEACON 25 talk. The team first drills a hole in the sea ice, then we deploy the vehicle vertically through the ice, then drive it under the ice horizontally, as Schmidt explains in her talk.

Future Icy Moon Exploration

The ways in which we’re exploring beneath the ice are analogous to the types of things we’d need to develop to explore Jupiter and Saturn’s icy moons, says Schmidt. You’d melt through the ice shell to be able to pull water samples and decide which samples are interesting and then pass the most interesting ones through to in-situ life detection instrumentation, she says.

At the same time, this work is helping the team develop new sample handling systems that oceanographers and climatologists can use on Earth.

Mass spectrometers pull in samples of material and analyze their chemistry. in this case, it’s what’s called a membrane inlet (semi-permeable) mass spectrometer, says Schmidt. It’s pulling dissolved gases out of the water and analyzing their composition, she says. That allows us to do is to understand what’s going on underneath the ice and measure just how much melting is happening underneath the glaciers, she notes.

This basic research will also help further NASA’s laundry list of tech development needed to manage eventual subsurface sampling of Europa and Enceladus.

How would a subsurface rover on the icy moons of Europa or Enceladus communicate back to Earth?

It would probably need a tether or a set of acoustic transponders that can transit through the ice to allow it to radio back to the surface and then radio out back to Earth, says Schmidt. But it’s possible, she says.

But before such ambitious space missions to Europa or Enceladus, there’s practical work to do here on Earth. One involves enabling AI for the Icefin ROV so that it can make at least some of its own exploration decisions in situ.

We have a long way to go on under-ice robotic autonomy, both from just how to keep vehicles safe to how to understand the environment, says Schmidt. That’s kind of a frontier, not just for space exploration, but also for Earth exploration, she says.

ForbesClimate Change Is Even Wreaking Havoc On Satellites In Low-Earth OrbitBy Bruce Dorminey

In the relatively short time that the James Webb Space Telescope has been operational, there’s seemingly no end to its list of accomplishments. And if you’re like us, you were sure that Webb had already achieved the first direct imaging of a planet orbiting a star other than our own a long time ago. But as it turns out, Webb has only recently knocked that item off its bucket list, with the direct visualization of a Saturn-like planet orbiting a nearby star known somewhat antiseptically as TWA 7, about 111 light-years away in the constellation Antlia. The star has a significant disk of debris orbiting around it, and using the coronagraph on Webb’s MIRI instrument, astronomers were able to blot out the glare of the star and collect data from just the dust. This revealed a faint infrared source near the star that appeared to be clearing a path through the dust.

The planet, dubbed TWA 7b, orbits its star at about 50 times the distance from Earth to the Sun and is approximately the size of Saturn, but only a third of its mass. The star itself is only about 6.4 million years old, so the planet may still be accreting from the debris disk, which might present interesting insights into planetary formation, assuming that other astronomers confirm that TWA 7b is indeed a planet. But what’s really interesting about this discovery is that because the star system’s orbital plane appears to be more or less perpendicular to ours, the standard exoplanet detection method based on measuring the dimming of the star by planets passing between it and us wouldn’t have worked. This might open the doors to the discovery of many more exoplanets, and that’s pretty exciting.

Question: What’s worse than a big space rock that’s on a collision course with Earth? Answer: Honestly, it feels like a lot of things would be worse than that right now. But if your goal is planetary protection, one possible answer is doing something that turns the one big rock into a lot of little rocks. That seems to be just what NASA’s DART mission did when it smashed into a bit of space debris named Dimorphos back in 2022, ejecting over 100 boulders from the asteroid-orbiting moonlet. LICIAcube, an Italian cubesat that hitched a ride on DART, used optical cameras to observe the ejecta, and measured rocks from 0.2 m to 3.6 m in diameter as they yeeted off at up to 52 meters per second. Rather than spreading out randomly, the boulders clustered into two different groups, something that years of playing Asteroids has taught us isn’t what you’d expect. The whole thing just goes to show that planetary protection isn’t as simple as blasting into a killer asteroid and hoping for the best. And please, can somebody out there type “NASA DART” into Google and tell me what they see? Because if it’s not an animated spacecraft zipping across the screen and knocking the window out of kilter, then I need a vacation. K, thanks.

Do you even code? If you’re reading Hackaday, chances are good that you at least know enough coding to get yourself into trouble. But if you don’t, or you want to ruin somebody else’s life bring someone new into the wonderful world of bossing computers around, take a look at Micro Adventure, an online adventure game aimed at teaching you the basics — err, BASICs — of coding. The game walks you through a text-based RPG (“You’re in a dark room…”) and prompts you to code your way through to a solution. The game has an emulator window that appears to be based on MS/DOS 1.00, so you know it’s cutting-edge stuff. To be fair, it’s always been our experience that coding is mostly about concepts, and once you learn what a loop is or how to branch in one language, figuring it out in another language is just about syntax. There seem to be at least six different adventures planned, so perhaps other languages will make an appearance in the future.

And finally, while we’re talking about the gamification of nerd education, if you’ve been meaning to learn Morse code, you might want to check out Morse Code Defender. It’s an Android app that uses a Missile Command motif to help you learn Morse, with attacking missiles having a character attached to them, and you having to enter the correct Morse code to blow the missile up before it takes out your ham shack. We haven’t tried it yet, so there may be more to it, but it sure seems like a cute way to gamify the Morse learning process. Honestly, it’s got to be better than doomscrolling Instagram.