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Â鶹´«Ã½. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Lost in Space-Time

Each month, we hand over the keyboard to a physicist or mathematician to tell you about fascinating ideas from their corner of the universe. You can sign up to the Lost in Space-Time newsletter here.
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Mare Crisium is a large, dark, basaltic plain on the Moon that filled an ancient asteroid impact. Basaltic plains on the Moon were created by early volcanic eruptions. Mare Crisium was flooded with basaltic lava, a dark, runny lava commonly found on Earth. Basaltic plains on the Moon are also known as lunar maria, because of a mistaken belief by early astronomers that these dark areas were oceans ? ?maria? is the Latin word for ?seas.? We now know these spots to be plains of basalt created by early volcanic eruptions, but the nomenclature of ?maria? (plural) or ?mare? (singular) remains. The basalts in Mare Crisium range in age from 2.5 to 3.3 billion years old! These dates come from measuring the radioactive isotope signatures of samples returned from Mare Crisium by the Soviet Luna 24 mission. Along the rim of Mare Crisium lies an outer boundary of wrinkle ridges. Wrinkle ridges are commonly found in places where the surface has contracted. As the surface is compressed, it bends and fractures, and can form complicated patterns of faults and folds.

Space

Bricks made of dust from the moon and Mars could make space buildings

Baking a mixture of saltwater and materials that mimic dust from the moon or Mars at a high temperature produced sturdy bricks that could be used to build human habitats in space

News

Jared and Monica Isaacman

Space

Send thousands of people to orbit, says space tourist Jared Isaacman

News

The ?crew? of the Artemis 1 mis?sion to the Moon

Space

Space test dummies will measure female radiation risk for first time

News

Controversial claim that the universe is skewed could upend cosmology

Space

Controversial claim that the universe is skewed could upend cosmology

Features

The Murchison meteorite

Earth

All four of the key DNA building blocks have been found in meteorites

News

Enceladus

Space

NASA should explore Uranus and Enceladus, say planetary scientists

News

Hubble?s view of supernova explosion Cassiopeia A A new image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope provides a detailed look at the tattered remains of a supernova explosion known as Cassiopeia A (Cas A). It is the youngest known remnant from a supernova explosion in the Milky Way. The new Hubble image shows the complex and intricate structure of the star?s shattered fragments. Acknowledgement: Robert A. Fesen (Dartmouth College, USA) and James Long (ESA/Hubble). NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration

Space

Scientists simulated a supernova blast with a foam ball and a laser

News

US company Axiom Space launched on 8 April 2022 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Space

Watch: Axiom and SpaceX launch first all-private crew to ISS

News

New simulation is the most detailed model of the early universe

Video

New simulation is the most detailed model of the early universe

Video

lettuce

Space

Bone-boosting lettuce could help Mars astronauts stay healthy

Eating lettuce containing a hormone that boosts bone formation might help astronauts from losing bone mass in space – and might even help treat osteoporosis on Earth too

News

Video

James Webb Space Telescope takes highest resolution infrared image

Video

Environment

UK government backs plan to harvest solar power from space

News

Space

We mustn’t let the billionaire rocket men decide what happens in space

Comment

Space

NASA funds experimental radiation shield and Mars climbing robot

News

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