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One of the solar system’s largest — and perhaps the most geometric — storm systems surrounds the north pole of Saturn. This prominent feature of Saturn’s atmosphere not only appears as a geometric hexagonal pattern, but it has also sported a distinctive blue hue, contrasting with the pale golden atmosphere that makes up the rest of Saturn’s clouds to the south. But recently, it has been found that the region has made a dramatic chromatic shift, turning from its typical blue color, to gold.
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The European Space Agency just can’t seem to catch a break: the organization hasn’t been able to successfully land a space probe on Mars, with the latest setback marked by the identification of the crash site of ExoMars’ Schiaparelli lander. The ESA’s previous attempt at putting a probe on mars was the ill-fated Mars Express Beagle 2 lander, in 2003.

The probe entered Mars’ atmosphere on October 19, but contact was lost seconds after its descent parachute was jettisoned. An investigation into the probe’s telemetry shows that the parachute was released too early, and the descent thrusters did not fire long enough, resulting in the probe crashing into the Martian landscape.
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The levels of carbon dioxide found in the atmosphere in modern times have been found to be nearly ten times higher than any other time since the extinction of the dinosaurs, 65 million years ago. The event that came the closest to today’s CO2 levels, the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), occurred 55.5 million years ago, where a spike in greenhouse gasses caused global temperatures to increase by 5–8 °C over what we’re experiencing today. While the existence and cause of the PETM is well established, the source of the massive amount of CO2 that caused the temperature spike has been a complete mystery to scientists.read more

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Researchers at NASA have developed a new substance that generates minute amounts of electricity, for use in a bandage that takes advantage of an electrically-based healing process. This new substance, a polymer called polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), produces a mild electrical current when pressure or heat, such as body heat, is applied to it.

“This method utilizes generated low level electrical stimulation to promote the wound healing process while simultaneously protecting it from infection,” according to NASA.
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