A new survey of hundreds of pulsars could help solve the mystery of why planets exist around these dead stars.
unsolved mysteries
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Earth’s Lower Mantle Is Drier Than Previously Thought
Scientists have long known that the two layers of Earth’s mantle have different chemical compositions. Now, modeling shows that different water concentrations may keep them from mixing.
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Evidence of Drought Provides Clues to a Viking Mystery
A persistent drying trend, not plunging temperatures, may have played a role in the unexplained disappearance of Norse settlers from Greenland, according to researchers.
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Martian Glaciers May Have Carved Its Valleys
Networks of valleys provide puzzling hints of running water on the surface of the Red Planet. New research suggests that some tributaries could have formed from icy sheets thousands of meters thick.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
A Unified Atmospheric Model for Uranus and Neptune
In a new model, three substantial atmospheric layers appear consistent between the ice giants.
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Earth’s Wobbly Inner Core Illuminated by Nuclear Explosions
Shock waves from Cold War era nuclear tests gave seismologists a glimpse of the inner core. Its wobbly rotation could explain phenomena such as the periodic change in the length of a day.
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Flipping the Sequence of Martian Formation
Analysis of the Chassigny meteorite suggests the planet acquired most of its interior volatiles from meteorites, not from the solar nebula.
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Holey Eclogite!
Scientists have found holes filled with minerals that indicate fluid-filled pores exist many tens of kilometers below Earth’s surface. But no, The Core fans, you still can’t get amethyst-laden geodes in the mantle.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Mysteries of the Global Carbon Cycle
Less than half of the anthropogenic carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere to drive climate change. The rest is being removed by mysterious processes in the land, biosphere, and ocean.
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Why Did Sunspots Disappear for 70 Years? Nearby Star Holds Clues
Five decades of data revealed a star undergoing a pause in magnetic activity similar to what the Sun experienced almost 400 years ago.