Europe’s Euclid telescope discovers its first new comet
Euclid was built to photograph distant galaxies, not fast-moving objects, but software written by University of Helsinki researcher Mikko Pöntinen flagged a fuzzy streak across several of its September images. With no match in existing catalogs, it was confirmed as a new comet, C/2026 S1 (Euclid), about 1.3 billion kilometers away on a steep orbit that takes thousands of years. The find suggests Euclid could spot comets early enough to pick a target for ESA’s future Comet Interceptor mission.
Source: European Space Agency →
Share: XFacebookRedditPinterest
One extra year of school cut dementia risk decades later
In 1972 the UK raised its school-leaving age from 15 to 16, creating a natural experiment. NIH-funded researchers at UW–Madison and USC compared more than 100,000 UK Biobank participants born just before and after the change and found the extra year lowered dementia diagnoses up to 50 years later. People with genes that raise Alzheimer’s risk benefited the most, strong evidence that education itself helps protect the brain.
Source: National Institutes of Health →
Share: XFacebookRedditPinterest
Sewn fabric molds can cast concrete beams that use a third of the concrete
Computer-optimized beams can save lots of material, but their curvy shapes are hard to cast without costly equipment. MIT engineers designed fabric molds whose stretch under wet concrete is predicted in advance, then built a 3-meter test beam that used about one-third the concrete and half the steel of a standard beam while performing within 2 percent of the model’s prediction. Cheap, packable molds like these could help cut cement’s big carbon footprint where construction is booming.
Source: MIT News →
Share: XFacebookRedditPinterest
280 Ice Age engravings found hiding in plain sight in a Catalan tourist cave
People have explored Spain’s Cova de la Font Major since at least the 12th century, and part of it has been open to tourists since 1957. Yet archaeologists only recently noticed some 280 Paleolithic engravings on its walls, including 55 animals such as horses, deer, a bear and wild cattle, plus dozens of abstract patterns. The faint carvings only show up when lit from the side, and they make the cave one of the richest Ice Age art sites on Iberia’s Mediterranean side.
Source: Smithsonian Magazine →
Share: XFacebookRedditPinterest