In 2024, NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance collected an unusual rock sample, Sapphire Canyon, that features white, leopardlike spots and might hold clues about sources of organic molecules within Mars. In Review of Scientific Instruments, researchers used optical photothermal infrared spectroscopy to study a visually similar rock to try to determine if O-PTIR can be applied to the Sapphire Canyon sample when it is eventually brought here. They aimed to see if O-PTIR could differentiate between the rock’s primary material and its dark inclusions and found it was extremely effective because of the enhanced spatial resolution of O-PTIR.

Medical imaging methods are often affected by background noise. To solve this, some researchers have drawn inspiration from quantum mechanics, which describes how matter and energy behave at the atomic scale. Their studies draw an analogy between how particles vibrate and how pixel intensity spreads out in images and causes noise. Now authors apply the same mathematics to decipher the localization of pixel intensity in images. In this way, they can separate the noise-free “signal” of the anatomical structures in the image from the visual noise of stray pixels.

In a new study, scientists at the University of Missouri looked deep into the universe and found something unexpected. Using infrared images taken from NASA’s powerful James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), they identified 300 objects that were brighter than they should be.

A new artificial intelligence tool developed by researchers at the University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Mānoa is making it easier for scientists to explore complex geoscience data—from tracking sea levels on Earth to analyzing atmospheric conditions on Mars. Called the Intelligent Data Exploring Assistant (IDEA), the software framework combines the power of large language models, like those used in ChatGPT, with scientific data, tailored instructions, and computing resources.

New research by MIT scientists raises the possibility that a so-called ionic liquid could support life in worlds without water. Lab experiments show that ionic liquids can form from chemical ingredients that likely exist on the surface of some rocky planets and moons. 

For decades, astrochemists have been looking for sulfur atoms in space and finding surprisingly little of the element that is a key ingredient to life. A new study could point to where it has been hiding.