How habitable is Mars? A new view of the Viking experiments

Almost 40 years ago, two NASA probes on the surface of Mars scooped the soil in search of signs of microbes. The results that came back from the twin Viking missions were, to say the least, ambiguous. The scientific literature ...

A new solvent system: Hydrothermal molten salt

In a new report on Science Advances, T. Voisin and a research team in the Scientific Research National Center and the Institute of Technology and Energy Management in France, proposed a new solvent system. The hydrothermal ...

Why icicles are rippled

Winter is coming to an end; the last nights of below zero temperatures are here. In the morning, one still spots the occasional icicle on a gutter or car bumper. When you look at these icicles carefully, you may notice that ...

Recurring martian streaks: flowing sand, not water?

Dark features on Mars previously considered evidence for subsurface flowing of water are interpreted by new research as granular flows, where grains of sand and dust slip downhill to make dark streaks, rather than the ground ...

Global warming's next surprise: Saltier beaches

Batches of sand from a beach on the Delaware Bay are yielding insights into the powerful impact of temperature rise and evaporation along the shore that are in turn challenging long-held assumptions about what causes beach ...

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