WEIRD SCIENCE

 

Hubble spots a strange new type of celestial object

  By Michael Irving – Astronomers have discovered a brand new type of celestial object: an active binary asteroid, meaning it’s made of two rocks orbiting each other while leaving a trail of gas like a comet. (Credit: ESA/Hubble, L. Calçada). Astronomers have …

Rains bring death to the Atacama Desert

  David Szondy – – A small, ephemeral lagoon in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert (Credit: Carlos González-Silva/Provided). Water may be an essential element of life, but to the scarce microbes that inhabit the Mars-like Atacama Desert in Chile, it’s death. …