by Editor’s Note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. To get it in your inbox, register for free here.
As humans, we like to “dare mighty things”.
That’s the motto of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, which borrows from a Theodore Roosevelt quote.
As a species born to live and walk on Earth, humanity has found ingenious ways to adapt to zero gravity as we set our sights on deep space, including building robotic probes on they can go across the cosmos in our place.
This week, the first photo came from Japan’s “Moon Sniper”, showing interesting lunar rocks at its landing site, although the lander did not go down as planned.
Meanwhile, the European Space Agency has chosen two new missions: one that will “swim” through gravitational waves to solve the mysteries of the universe and another to find out why Venus didn’t turn out to be Earth.
And it’s time to say goodbye to one of the most beautiful robots ever to explore Mars.
Other life
After 72 flights in the Martian skies, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter is flying for the last time.
Ingenuity has been the faithful companion and aerial scout of the Perseverance rover for nearly three years since its maiden flight on April 19, 2021. The historic chopper was the first aircraft to operate and fly on another planet.
While coming in for a landing on January 18, the rover lost contact with the helicopter. When communication was restored, the mission team saw a photograph that captured the shadow of Ingenuity’s damaged rotor blade. The blade probably hit the ground, ending the helicopter’s mission.
The elusive humpback surpassed its initial 30-day mission, flying higher, farther and faster than its NASA team had ever hoped and paving the way for the future of space exploration.
“We couldn’t be more proud of our tough little tracker,” said Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity’s project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Please note
During the frigid days of winter, it’s easy to hope that spring will come quickly. But in addition to blooming flowers and warmer temperatures, spring will bring another force of nature: cicadas.
Scientists predict that the billions of cicadas will emerge as two different broods that typically emerge every 13 years and every 17 years at the same time.
The rare event has not been seen in the United States since Thomas Jefferson is president, and is not expected to happen again until 2245.
Long long ago
Scientists are teasing information from ancient DNA trapped inside bones, mummified bodies and dental plaque to solve the mysteries of pathogens that have affected humans for centuries – including syphilis.
The sexually transmitted disease, which can still be seen today, first made its mark in the 15th century, devastating European populations. Various nations have blamed their neighboring countries, and its origin is murky.
Researchers studied 2,000-year-old remains in Brazil and found the earliest known evidence of the bacterium that causes syphilis and other related diseases. The disease has a much longer and more complex history than scientists previously believed, the result showed.
Secrets of the sea
It turns out that the megalodon, a fearsome shark that terrorized the ancient seas, was not so mega after all.
The extinct megalodon is often depicted as a giant great white shark. But the creature’s cartilage would not have had the strength to support such a body shape, new research has suggested.
Instead, the marine predator was likely thinner than a great white, based on a study of a fossil belonging to the megalodon Otodus that lived more than 23 million years ago.
The revelation is one more piece in the puzzle that is the biology of megalodon, which was mostly difficult for researchers to figure out. That’s because it was much easier to find fossilized teeth than actual fossils.
Consequences
Butterflies and bees have helped reproduce flowers for thousands of years, but as the number of pollinators declines, some flowers are “self-pollinating,” or pollinating themselves.
While this change may seem like a positive survival tactic, scientists studying wild field pansies in France have found that some modern flowers are smaller and produce less nectar due to self-pollination.
“This could increase the decline of pollinators and create a vicious feedback cycle,” said study co-author Pierre-Olivier Cheptou, professor at the University of Montpellier. The evidence shows an “evolutionary breakdown of plant pollinators in the wild,” he said.
Meanwhile, scientists have rapidly depleted underground water reserves around the world used for drinking and irrigation – with a few notable exceptions.
Explorations
Take a trip through these interesting reads:
— There are only two female northern white rhinos on the planet, but the world’s first in vitro fertilization rhino pregnancy could save the species from extinction.
— Superbug infections have the potential to kill 10 million people a year by 2050, but scientists have turned to one of nature’s oldest predators to attack bacteria as a possible solution.
— Astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to look at the smallest exoplanet ever found to have water vapor in its atmosphere, and it’s a world swirling with inhospitable steam.
— Officials at a British wildlife park are hoping to rehabilitate a group of potty-mouthed African gray parrots who say “appropriate expletives” — but the team’s dangerous approach could be even dirtier birds if it backfires.
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