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As humans, we love to 'dare mighty things'.
That's the motto of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, which borrows from a quote from Theodore Roosevelt.
As a species born to live and walk on Earth, humanity has found ingenious ways to adapt to the absence of gravity as we set our sights on deep space, including building robotic explorers to travel in our place can travel the cosmos.
This week, the first photo from Japan's "Moon Sniper" arrived, showing intriguing moon rocks at the landing site, even though the lander didn't land as planned.
Meanwhile, the European Space Agency has selected two new missions: one that will "surf" through gravitational waves to unravel the mysteries of the universe and another to discover why Venus turned out not to be like Earth.
And it's time to say goodbye to one of the bravest robots to ever explore Mars.
Other worlds
After 72 flights in the skies of Mars, NASA's Ingenuity helicopter has flown for the final time.
Ingenuity served as the Perseverance rover's loyal companion and aerial reconnaissance for nearly three years since its maiden flight on April 19, 2021. The historic helicopter was the first aircraft to operate and fly on another world.
When the rover arrived for a landing on January 18, it lost contact with the helicopter. When communications were restored, the mission team saw a photo that captured the shadow of Ingenuity's damaged rotor blade. The blade likely struck the ground, ending the helicopter's mission.
The intrepid helicopter survived its original 30-day mission, flying higher, further and faster than the NASA team ever expected and paving the way for the future of airspace exploration.
"We couldn't be more proud of our tough little pioneer," said Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
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During the frigid days of winter, it's easy to hope that spring will arrive soon. But in addition to blooming flowers and warmer temperatures, spring brings another force of nature: crickets.
Scientists predict that billions of crickets will emerge as two different broods that typically emerge every 13 years and emerge simultaneously every 17 years.
This rare event has not been observed in the United States since Thomas Jefferson was president, and is not expected to occur again until 2245.
A long time ago
Scientists tease out information from the ancient DNA trapped in bones, mummified bodies and dental plaque to solve the mysteries of pathogens that have afflicted humans for centuries - including syphilis.
The sexually transmitted disease, which still occurs today, first made its mark in the 15th century and devastated the European population. Several countries blamed their neighbors for it, and its origins were murky.
Researchers studied 2,000-year-old remains in Brazil and found the earliest known evidence of the bacteria that causes syphilis and other related diseases. The disease has a much longer and more complicated history than scientists previously thought, the finding showed.
Ocean secrets
It turns out that the megalodon, a fearsome shark that terrorized the ancient seas, wasn't so mega after all.
The extinct megalodon is often depicted as an enormous great white shark. But the creature's cartilage would not have had the strength to support such a colossal body shape, new research has suggested.
Instead, the marine predator was likely leaner than a great white, based on an examination of a fossil of an Otodus megalodon that lived more than 23 million years ago.
The revelation is one more piece in the puzzle of megalodon biology, which has been largely difficult for researchers to figure out. That's because fossilized teeth are much easier to find than real fossils.
Implications
Butterflies and bees have contributed to flower reproduction for thousands of years, but as pollinator populations decline, some flowers are "self-pollinating" or self-pollinating.
While this shift may sound like a positive survival tactic, scientists studying wild violets in France found that some modern flowers are smaller and produce less nectar due to self-pollination.
"This could increase pollinator declines and create a vicious feedback cycle," said co-author Pierre-Olivier Cheptou, professor at the University of Montpellier. The evidence points to an "evolutionary breakdown of plant pollinators in the wild," he said.
Meanwhile, scientists around the world have noted a rapid depletion of underground water reserves used for drinking water and irrigation - with a few notable exceptions.
Explorations
Journey through these fascinating books:
- There are only two female northern white rhinos on the planet, but the world's first rhino pregnancy with in vitro fertilization could save the species from extinction.
- Superbug infections have the potential to kill ten 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 have used the Hubble Space Telescope to observe the smallest exoplanet that has water vapor in its atmosphere, and it's a world swirling with inhospitable steam.
- Officials at a British wildlife park hope to rehabilitate a group of foul-mouthed African gray parrots that say 'real expletives' - but the team's risky approach could lead to even more foul-mouthed peoplebirds if it backfires.
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