Astronomers detect signs of an atmosphere stripped from a planet during giant impact
Such planetary smashups are likely common in young solar systems, but they haven’t been directly observed.
Scientists find evidence the early solar system harbored a gap between its inner and outer regions
The cosmic boundary, perhaps caused by a young Jupiter or an emerging wind, likely shaped the composition of infant planets.
Rover images confirm Jezero crater is an ancient Martian lake
The findings include signs of flash flooding that carried huge boulders downstream into the lakebed.
Zeroing in on the origins of Earth’s “single most important evolutionary innovation”
A new study shows oxygenic photosynthesis likely evolved between 3.4 and 2.9 billion years ago.
Taylor Perron receives 2021 MacArthur Fellowship
In his research, the geomorphologist seeks connections among landscape evolution, biodiversity, and human history.
TESS Science Conference II draws nearly 700 virtual attendees
Not just an exoplanet-finder anymore, TESS yields diverse astrophysics results at second science conference.
Geologists take Earth’s inner temperature using erupted sea glass
The results could help scientists unravel the processes underlying plate tectonics.
Study highlights long road toward gender parity in the geosciences
Researchers find improvement in relative retention of women but predict decades of sustained effort are required to achieve gender parity.
Aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover, MOXIE creates oxygen on Mars
Thanks to an MIT-designed instrument, a NASA mission has produced oxygen on another planet for the first time.
With Perseverance, MIT teams prepare for Mars rover landing
Following touchdown, MOXIE will brew up oxygen while geologists comb for sediments to sample.
TESS discovers four exoplanets orbiting a nearby sun-like star
MIT-led NASA mission finds a multi-planetary system that could be an “ideal laboratory” to study planetary formation and evolution.
Rock magnetism uncrumples the Himalayas’ complex collision zone
MIT EAPS researchers find the impressive mountain range formed over a series of impacts, not a single event, as previously thought.
3 Questions: Rona Oran and Benjamin Weiss on the ancient moon’s missing magnetism
Simulations rule out plasmas caused by meteoroid impacts as the source of lunar magnetism, supporting the proposal that the ancient moon generated a core dynamo.
Field geology at a distance
As part of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission, Professor Tanja Bosak helps determine the best samples to bring home for clues about life 4 billion years ago.
Astronomers discover an Earth-sized “pi planet” with a 3.14-day orbit
The rocky world, with its baking-hot surface, is likely not habitable.