Our Blog

Several liquid bodies have been found under the south pole of Mars, according to a major new study.The findings give extra credence to previous research that suggested there could be a large saltwater lake underneath the Martian surface, the researchers claim – and also led to them discovering a number of other wet areas.The findings could be key in the search for alien life on the planet, the researchers note, given life as we know it requires liquid water to survive.They will also be key to “planetary protection” work that ensures that humanity doesn’t contaminate other planets with life from Earth during missions to explore them.The researchers call for future work to better examine Mars, its chemistry – and whether there might be any traces of what they call “astrobiological activity”, or alien life.The discovery was made using MARSIS, or the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding, which is onboard the Mars Express spacecraft sent by the European Space Agency to orbit around Mars.Watch moreThe instrument sends radar pulses that can penetrate the surface and ice caps of Mars. They can then be measured as they bounce back towards the spacecraft, allowing researchers to delve into the planet without actually touching it.In the new study, researchers led by Elena Pettinelli from Roma Tre University used techniques borrowed from Earth satellites to study the lakes beneath Antarctic glaciers.By doing so, they were able to analyse data from MARSIS that examined a huge array around the body they had found on Mars. That allowed them to confirm that it was liquid.They were also able to find a number of other patches, separated from the main body by dry areas, which together appear to make up a patchwork of various salty lakes.“Not only did we confirm the position, extent and strength of the reflector from our 2018 study” said Professor Pettinelli, “but we found three new bright areas.”“The main lake is surrounded by smaller bodies of liquid water, but because of the technical characteristics of the radar, and of its distance from the Martian surface, we cannot conclusively determine whether they are interconnected,” she said in a statement.The data appears to indicate that the bodies are “hypersaline solutions” –a brine in which high concentrations of salt are dissolved in water – which is perhaps the reason they are able to stay liquid despite the very cold conditions of Mars’s south pole.The fact that there is a whole set of lakes suggests that they have probably formed relatively easily, and that versions of them may therefore have been present throughout the history of the planet. If that was the case, then they could have served as home for alien life that flourished when Mars was more easily habitable – and those lakes that are left behind could be a shelter for whatever life is still around.“While the existence of a single subglacial lake could be attributed to exceptional conditions such as the presence of a volcano under the ice sheet, the discovery of an entire system of lakes implies that their formation process is relatively simple and common, and that these lakes have probably existed for much of Mars’ history,” said Roberto Orosei, principal investigator of the MARSIS experiment.“For this reason, they could still retain traces of any life forms that could have evolved when Mars had a dense atmosphere, a milder climate and the presence of liquid water on the surface, similar to the early Earth.”The study, ‘Multiple subglacial water bodies below the south pole of Mars unveiled by new MARSIS data’, is published in Nature Astronomy.

The app sends alerts to people if its systems have been triggered by someone in their network potentially receiving a positive test.But the somewhat confusing notification does not necessarily mean that users have to self-isolate. The notification only means that the system is looking at a possible exposure, not that the system has definitely been triggered.The app’s official Twitter account confirmed that users will be sent a specific notification if they are judged to be at high enough risk to need to self-isolate, and that message will be separate from the one indicating that they have been subject to a possible exposure.Many users of the app – which was released last week – have reported receiving concerning messages on their iPhone or Android phones, which appear to suggest they may be at risk of having been infected with the virus.Read more“Possible Covid-19 exposure,” the notification reads. “Verifying exposure info.“The app has accessed the date, duration and signal strength of this exposure.”Given the concerning title of the notification, which reads “possible covid-19 exposure”, many have been concerned that this could mean the app has judged them to be at risk, and that they should self-isolate.But it is actually the latter part of the message – that the exposure is still being verified – that is important. The notification only means that a potential exposure has been detected, and it is only if a future message arrives that users need to take action.Apple and Google’s contact-tracing APIs allow phones to connect to other devices and take note of any they come into contact with. If the owner of one of those phones indicates that they have had a positive test, anyone whose phones they came into contact with can then be alerted, and that first notification will be sent.But further examination of the data is required before people will be told to self-isolate. That will look at further information to judge precisely how likely it is that someone may have been exposed to the person in question – if they are judged to be at risk, that is when they will be given the instruction to self-isolate, in a separate and more straightforward notification.That second message will include information about what to do when self-isolating, the app’s official Twitter account posted.“The app will send you an alert if you need to self-isolate and how long for, it’ll provide a countdown timer, and when you reach the end of your self-isolation period, you will receive a notification with a link to the latest advice for you,” a representative wrote.

Scott posted a picture on Instagram of himself and the new Dualshock controller from the newly console.While he did not show the PS5 itself, the caption suggested that he is playing the console, which has yet to be publicly released.“I will be playing until the sun up,” he wrote in the caption.The PS5 is not scheduled to arrive until November 12 in a limited number of countries, including the US. It will receive a full release – including finally arriving in the UK – a week later, on 19 November.The new Xbox Series X and Series S are known to be in the hands of a number of personalities and publications. Initial reviews of the new console have already been released, with those with early access to the Series X indicating that it is much quicker than even the Xbox One X.The PS5, by contrast, has been less publicly available. Throughout the release process, Sony has revealed less about its console as early – it allowed Xbox to reveal the price and release date of its consoles before it did so, for example.Read moreThere have been few indications that anyone outside of Sony – and Scott – have played on the new console, let alone have one in their possession.Reports from Japan suggest that YouTubers in the country will have hands-on time with the new console in early October. Speculation has suggested that the same rollout could come to other countries afterwards.The usual release schedule would see members of the press, influencers and perhaps even the public able to play on the console weeks or even months before its release. But those plans have presumably been shelved at least in part because of the coronavirus outbreak, which has left all major tech companies holding virtual and remote events.The fact that Scott is apparently playing on the new console at home – or at least has touched the new controller – does suggest that the console is on its way out to some people outside of Sony and that first impressions could be revealed soon.

A biomimetic prosthetic hand has been developed by Italian researchers that can replicate the behaviours of the human hand.The hand, called Hannes, is able to restore over 90 per cent of functionality to people with amputated limbs, the researchers claim.The prosthetic, which includes the hand and the wrist, moves using the electrical signals generated by the wearer’s muscles.An array of sensors detects the activity of the user’s limb muscles, and uses specially developed software to make precise movements.However, the researchers claim that the hand’s mechanical design – apparently unique in the market – is the key to the prosthetics versatility and movement.Read moreThe mechanism lets the hand adapt to the object it is holding using a single motor, which allows it to be more efficient.The thumb can be oriented in three different positions: a tight grip for small objects, a lateral grip for thin objects, and a ‘power grip’ which the researchers say the user can apply to lift heavy objects.The wrist can also turn, similar to turning a key, meaning that the wearer can hold items in various orientations.Its 1300mAh battery gives the prosthetic a day of standard use, and will be durable for one year.The hand is available in two sizes, for either right- or left-handed men and women.The researchers say that after a training period of under one week, patients could use Hannes in their home to perform daily tasks.

Astronomers have found a huge, previously unknown cluster of stars lurking at the centre of our galaxy.The “ancient stellar population” is made up of a set of stars that the astronomers who found them said were surprising in a variety of ways.The middle of our Milky Way is relatively full of stars, more full than most other places in the known universe. It is in that region that astronomers found the newly discovered stars.They appear to have begun as a globular cluster within our galaxy that long ago migrated to the centre of the Milky Way, the astronomers said.The centre of the Milky Way lies only 25,000 light-years from Earth, in the constellation of sagittarius. It was only discovered last century and astronomers have been looking to learn more about it ever since.Much of that research has focused on the extremely massive black hole at the middle of our galaxy. It is surrounded by a one of the densest fields of stars in the known universe, made up of 20 million stars spread across the 26 light-years at the centre.Read moreBut those stars are difficult to see, since they are hidden behind an array of dust clouds that block out the visible light, making the area appear dark despite it large population of stars. To peer through, astronomers are forced to use special equipment that capture light at shorter and longer wavelengths.Astronomers have speculated that other galaxies probably have similar phenomena at their middle, with a central black hole and a cluster of stars around it. But the close distance of the Milky Way means that scientists are able to see with enough detail to spot individual stars.The researchers did so and explored 700 stars, analysing not only their brightness and colour but also the way they are moving and what they might be made of.The researchers found that around 7 per cent of the stars had relatively low “metallicity” – or relatively small amounts of heavier elements – suggesting that they are older than the others, and older than expected. What’s more, they appeared to be moving differently to the stars around them, spinning more quickly and on a slightly different plane to the rest of the galaxy.Simulations indicated that the stars had ended come from elsewhere, either further out in the galaxy or in another neighbouring one entirely. Scientists speculate that the former is most likely, partly because the stars looked more akin to those found in our own galaxy.The discovery is reported in two papers – ‘On the Origin of a Rotating Metal-Poor Stellar Population in the Milky Way Nuclear Cluster’ and ‘Revealing the Formation of the Milky Way Nuclear Star Cluster via Chemo-Dynamical Modeling’ – both published in Astrophysical Journal Letters today.