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Experimentation is the foundation of the scientific process — and is at the heart of what it means to be human and to question the world around us.
Thousands of years ago, our ancestors produced the first maps of the stars and practiced alchemy, the forerunner of chemistry.
Even Sir Isaac Newton, considered the father of physics, was an enthusiastic alchemist who wrote a recipe for a key ingredient needed to make the fabled philosopher’s stone. The stone was thought to turn any metal into silver or gold.
Chemists in the 1700s tried to consider alchemy a pseudoscience. But ancient alchemists really developed technology and discovered chemical elements that are widely used today.
Now, a new discovery links astrology and alchemy to one fascinating image that survived the Renaissance.
Dig this
a Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe changed the way people understood the heavens in the 1500s by seeing a supernova and proposing the moon orbiting Earth – all before there were telescopes.
But in the basement of his castle called Uraniborg, which included an observatory, the astronomer did secret alchemical work for elite royal clients. Little is known about Brahe’s work, apart from his commitment to developing medicinal recipes other than gold.
New analysis of glass shards from the demolished alchemy laboratory has revealed the ingredients Brahe used in his mysterious concoctions, including tungsten – which was not officially described until more than 180 years after his death.
Defying gravity
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have spent more than 50 days aboard the International Space Station after testing the first crewed mission of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft. And no date has yet been set for the astronauts to return to Earth.
But NASA and Boeing are addressing the “root cause” of the spacecraft’s problems that arose during its journey, including helium leaks and thruster issues.
Engineers have conducted ground tests for weeks to replicate the anomalies, and additional tests this weekend should fully reveal the issues, said Mark Nappi, Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program manager.
Meanwhile, SpaceX has received approval to continue launches using its Falcon 9 rocket, which recently suffered a mission-ending failure during a routine trip. Once the Starliner mission is completed, SpaceX will ferry a quartet of astronauts for NASA’s Crew-9 mission to the space station.
Once upon a planet
Marine scientists have discovered an unusual type of oxygen produced without photosynthesis on the sea floor – more than 13,000 feet below the sea’s surface – which may help unravel the origins of life.
When Andrew Sweetman, a professor with the Scottish Marine Science Association, discovered the unexpected phenomenon in the Pacific ten years ago, he thought the detection equipment was faulty. No light can reach the depths of the ocean, and organisms on the sea floor are not known to produce any oxygen.
But now, new research from Sweetman and his team suggests that the “dark” oxygen could be created by metallic nodules the size of potatoes that act as “geothers” within the deep-sea ecosystem.
Secrets of the sea
A camera attached to an endangered shark captured the moment a boat struck the marine animal, and this may be some of the first footage showing just how common boat strikes are to seafarers.
Researchers do not know if the 23ft (7m) shark that lived in the waters around the Blascaody, off the coast of Ireland, survived the collision. But it is clear that the run-in left a large scratch and streaks of paint on the shark’s spotted skin.
Scientists are working to better understand the species, which is among the largest fish in the world. The footage was intended to shed more light on the alga’s eating habits as it feeds on the ocean surface with agape jaws.
Instead, the video highlights why the shark and other endangered sea creatures need protection.
Separately, cocaine was detected in sharks living off the coast of Brazil, and this is the first time the drug has been found in free-range sharks.
Other life
The Perseverance rover has found something that suggests Mars may have had microbial life in the past.
The robotic explorer is exploring a rock called Cheyava Falls. The rover used its instruments to analyze the leopard spotted rock and found chemical signatures and structures that could have formed life billions of years ago when water was present on the red planet.
“These spots are a big surprise,” said David Flannery, an astronomer on the Persistence science team. “On Earth, these features in rocks are often associated with the fossil record of microbes living in the subsurface.”
Inquiries
These new discoveries may surprise you:
— Komodo dragons, the world’s largest lizards, have iron-knife teeth that sharpen their orange serrated edges and help the deadly predators tear apart their prey, according to new research.
— The Chandra X-ray Observatory celebrated a quarter of a century in space by releasing 25 bright, never-before-seen images of the cosmos — but NASA budget cuts could bring the mission to an untimely end.
— They are not the only people who can blush. Domestic hens have been observed blushing to express fear or excitement, and researchers working on a French farm have images of the pink chickens to prove it.
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