Onboard the International Space Station (ISSInternational Space Station), the Extant Life Volumetric Imaging System, dubbed ELVIS, is not about resurrecting rock-n-roll legends but pioneering scientific discovery. Using innovative holographic technology to deliver detailed 3D views of cells and microbes, the system allows scientists to study the adaptability and resilience of life under extreme conditions. Knowledge gained could reveal how life might persist on distant moons and planets, significantly enhancing our search for life outside Earth.

Clathrates are characterised by a complex cage structure that provides space for guest ions too. Now, for the first time, a team has investigated the suitability of clathrates as catalysts for electrolytic hydrogen production with impressive results: the clathrate sample was even more efficient and robust than currently used nickel-based catalysts. They also found a reason for this enhanced performance. Measurements at BESSY II showed that the clathrates undergo structural changes during the catalytic reaction: the three-dimensional cage structure decays into ultra-thin nanosheets that allow maximum contact with active catalytic centres. The study has been published in the journal ‘Angewandte Chemie’.

Astronomers have detected the most promising signs yet of a possible biosignature outside the solar system, although they remain cautious.

An international team led by NSF NOIRLab astronomer Christina Williams has discovered the most distant spiral galaxy known to date. Named Zhúlóng, meaning ‘Torch Dragon’ in Chinese mythology, this ultra-massive system existed just one billion years after the Big Bang, and yet it shows a surprisingly mature structure. Zhúlóng was discovered as part of the PANORAMIC Survey conducted on the James Webb Space Telescope.

A QUT-led study analysing data from NASA’s Perseverance rover has uncovered compelling evidence of multiple mineral-forming events just beneath the Martian surface – findings that bring scientists one step closer to answering the profound question: did life ever exist on Mars?

Why do comets and their meteoroid streams weave in and out of Earth's orbit and their orbits disperse over time? In a paper published online in the journal Icarus this week, two SETI Institute researchers show that this is not due to the random pull of the planets, but rather the kick they receive from a moving Sun.

"Contrary to popular conception, everything in the solar system does not orbit the Sun," said lead author and SETI Institute scientist Stuart Pilorz. "Rather, the Sun and planets all orbit their common center of mass, known to scientists as the solar system barycenter."