The cause of a 2021 marsquake has been found.
Researchers found fruit flies can move their retinas the same way humans move their entire eyeballs to focus on objects and judge depth. Further research could inform studies on vision in general, and even potentially help us better understand disorders like schizophrenia, which impairs eye movement.
ESA released the highest resolution video ever captured of the “quiet corona” — the Sun’s surface when it’s not experiencing significant eruptions. The sight was captured by Solar Orbiter’s closest flyby yet, at two-thirds the distance between the Earth and Sun.
NASA determined quakes detected by the InSight lander last December were caused by meteoroids. Their craters are the largest the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has watched form, and the impacts scattered ice that had been buried under the surface.
For the first time, researchers observed play behavior in insects. In their experiment, bumblebees repeatedly chose to roll small wooden balls for no reward. That suggests insects experience some kind of positive feelings, making them far more complex than commonly thought.
The European Southern Observatory’s VLT Survey Telescope captured the remnants of the Vela supernova. The ghostly image shows the closest supernova remnant we know of, just 800 light-years from Earth.
Astronomers spotted three near-Earth asteroids inside the orbit of Earth and Venus — a notoriously difficult place to spot asteroids due to the Sun’s glare. Two qualify as “planet killers,” or asteroids large than one kilometer across that could pose a threat to Earth.
A University of Göttingen scientist uncovered the color patterns of scallops from the Triassic period using UV light. At 240 million years old, they’re the oldest shells known to retain their colors. The study shows color variation based on region, with diversity similar to modern-day shells.