By studying meteorites believed to be remnants of the catastrophic breakup of a dwarf planet, researchers are learning how lonsdaleite, a particularly hard type of diamond, forms in nature.
Space & Planets
Posted inFeatures
Space Raindrops Splashing on Earth’s Magnetic Umbrella
Though not as damaging as extreme space weather events, showers of plasma jets hit Earth’s magnetic shield every day—yet we’re only beginning to understand their effects.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Ozone, Water Vapor and Temperature: It’s a Complex Relation
Solar occultation observations from the ACS/MIR instrument provide coincident profiles of O3, H2O and temperature, shedding light on correlations and unveiling knowledge gaps in Mars’s photochemistry.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
MESSENGER Reveals a More Dynamic Mercury Surface
Image pairs indicate that 99% of the planet’s surface could be altered in the next 25 million years.
Posted inNews
Massive Stars May Commit Grand Theft Planet
New simulations show that planets around young, massive stars may have been captured or stolen rather than homegrown.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Abiotic Life and Energy on Water-Rich Rocky Celestial Bodies
The discovery of tiny crystals of the iron-rich hydroxychloride kuliginite in New Caledonia provides new insights into the hydrogen production from mantle rocks and saline water.
Posted inNews
Tiny “Pancakes” Suggest Some Asteroids May Stay Active
Analysis of a meteorite that fell in Costa Rica shows that its parent body may resemble the asteroid Bennu.
Posted inNews
Impact Crater off the African Coast May Be Linked to Chicxulub
The underwater crater, spotted serendipitously in commercial observations of seafloor sediments, is believed to have formed at roughly the same time as the famous Cretaceous-Paleogene impact event.
Posted inNews
Early Life Learned to Love Oxygen Long Before It Was Cool
Laboratory experiments show that earthquakes may have helped early life evolve in an oxygen-free world.
Posted inNews
Unraveling the Mystery of a Rare Mineral on Mars
The discovery of tridymite in Mars’s Gale Crater triggered debate about the rare mineral’s origins. A research team recently suggested a scenario with explosive implications.