In a paper published in Earth and Planetary Physics, an international research team has completed taxonomic classification of 80 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) through multicolor photometric observations. Using data from Purple Mountain Observatory Yaoan High Precision Telescope (YAHPT, IAU code O49) in China and Kottamia Astronomical Observatory 1.88 m telescope (IAU code 088) in Egypt, the study reveals the distribution characteristics of different asteroid complexes and their correlations with size and orbital parameters, providing critical references for understanding NEA origins and optimizing planetary defense strategies.

Researchers have discovered that natural “sunscreen” compounds found in algae and cyanobacteria may also support skin and heart health. By comparing two mycosporine-like amino acids, the team showed for the first time that these molecules can block a key enzyme involved in blood pressure control in laboratory tests, while also offering antioxidant and anti-aging effects. The findings open new possibilities for cosmetics and functional foods based on nature-derived ingredients.

The fight against climate change relies heavily on finding better ways to capture carbon dioxide before it escapes into our atmosphere. While carbon nanotubes have long been seen as a "wonder material" for this task, their internal structures are often locked away like a closed pipe. Now, a research team from the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) has pioneered a deceptively simple way to pop those caps open and supercharge their adsorption capacity.

Why are planets rarely found orbiting a pair of stars? UC Berkeley and American University of Beirut physicists find that general relativity makes the orbit of a tight binary pair precess. As the orbit shrinks because of tidal effects, the precesion increases. Eventually the precession matches the orbital precession of any circumbinary planet, creating a resonance that makes the planet’s orbit wildly eccentric. The planet either gets expelled from the system or is engulfed by one of the stars.

For the first time ICFO researchers, in collaboration with scientists from UAB, have directly imaged a spin-orbit-coupled supersolid. The team has observed quantum fluids of atoms forming stripes whose spacing oscillates in time, as the spacing of a crystal does. These results, published in Science, demonstrate unequivocally the dual superfluid and crystalline nature of such systems.

A new study out of York University has found that the amount of atmospheric trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), the tiniest forever chemical, significantly declined in Toronto during COVID in 2020, which researchers say is good news for the world’s ability to mitigate it in the future. “When we turned off the tap, so to speak, and we all went home and stopped normal activities, we saw a really quick response, a dramatic reduction of TFA. But the real surprise is that the results point to TFA being formed from short-lived chemical precursors emitted into the atmosphere,” says York University atmospheric chemist Professor Cora Young, senior author of the paper published today.