Bacteria on a sample from the Ryugu asteroid, viewed with an electron microscopeMatthew J. Genge et al. 2024 A rock from the asteroid Ryugu that was brought back to Earth appears to be festooned with microbial life. But these microbes almost certainly came from Earth rather than outer space, say researchers. This contamination serves as a cautionary tale in the search for extraterrestrial life in future sample return missions, such as from NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars. In 2020, Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft returned to Earth with 5.4 grams of rock from the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid Ryugu. After the sample capsule…
Author: Team_NationalNewsBrief
As transportation sectors like shipping and aviation remain difficult to decarbonize, a French startup claims to have developed a promising solution to reduce carbon emissions in these industries. Aerleum, founded in 2023, says its technology can pull carbon dioxide from the air and convert it into methanol, which can be used to fuel cargo ships and serve as a base chemical in producing aviation fuel.The French utility company Électricité de France recently awared Aerleum the EDF Pulse Award in the carbon capture category for this innovation, which may help offset some of the emissions from transportation sectors that depend on…
The skies are darkening over Europe’s economy and politics, all thanks to their determination to wage war against Russia. The euro is plummeting to its lowest level in two years. Will the Euro stop at 85 cents in the year ahead? European leaders know that the Eurozone is crumbling, and instead of reform, they have chosen war and to use that as the excuse for the collapse of the Euro in the years ahead. In Putin’s address to the Russian people, he stated that “Russian military facilities in the Bryansk and Kursk regions were attacked by Western missiles.” According to…
Credit: Voice of America, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons “Latinos think they’re white,” bemoaned a liberal commentator trying to explain November’s election. He’s wrong, of course, but only missed the truth by a hair: Latinos think they’re Americans.Democrats are having a hard time explaining the “Latino vote” this year. That’s because it doesn’t exist. Most came into this country poor, uneducated and speaking Spanish. And over the generations, they’ve become regular Americans in every sense of the word. The Census Bureau says there are over 65 million Hispanics living in the U.S. That’s 19% of the population, and the overwhelming majority were…
Selena Gomez shared her deep connection with her boyfriend, Benny Blanco, expressing that she sees a future with the popular music producer.The couple, who have been dating since July 2023, has shared special moments, including public outings and Valentine’s Day surprises.Benny Blanco emphasized the importance of prioritizing each other’s needs, sharing he enjoys quiet mornings with Selena Gomez and loves preparing her favorite foods.Article continues below advertisementSelena Gomez Reveals She Sees A ‘Future’ With Benny BlancoInstagram | Selena GomezIn a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Gomez opened up about her growing connection with Blanco, revealing she sees a “future”…
“INCREASED RISK OF ATTACKS” “There are signals of an increased risk of attacks on the government district in the coming days. Also in Kyiv and Ukraine in general,” MP Yevgenia Kravchuk told AFP. The presidency, however, assured its office was working “as usual in compliance with standard security measures: if the alarm sounds, we will be in shelters”. The apparent heightened risk comes two days after the embassies of several countries, including the US, said they were closed, citing the threat of a Russian attack. In Moscow meanwhile, Russian defence minister Andrei Belousov said Moscow’s advances in the war-battered eastern…
President Vladimir Putin has confirmed that Russia tested a hypersonic intermediate-range missile in an assault on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, Ukraine. The Kremlin said the attack was in response to Ukraine’s recent use of US- and UK-supplied missiles to target Russian territory. Joe Biden, the outgoing US president, and his administration only recently gave the green light for Ukraine to launch long-range strikes into Russia, a move which has escalated tensions. The Pentagon said the US had been notified of the launch through nuclear risk reduction channels. Here is what you need to know: What is the Oreshnik, Russia’s…
Quarterback Brock Purdy popped up on the injury report this week after suffering a right shoulder problem during the team’s Week 11 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. More signs emerged on Thursday suggesting the injury could actually cause Purdy to miss time. Purdy was at least a limited participant in Thursday’s practice, but he did not take part in any of the throwing drills that were open to the media. Perhaps more tellingly, the 49ers pushed Purdy’s traditional weekly news conference back from Thursday to Friday, suggesting the organization genuinely is not sure who will start in Week 12 against…
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the two co-leads President-elect Donald Trump appointed to head the new Department of Government Efficiency, will likely try to end work-from-home policies for the 2.3 million employees in the federal workforce.”Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome: If federal employees don’t want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn’t pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home,” the two wrote on Wednesday in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal.A source close to the issue told the Journal that…
Spreading crushed basalt rock dust on fieldsUNDO Projects that spread rock dust on farms are removing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than competing technologies – but CO2 removal efforts remain far short of what is needed to avoid dangerous levels of global warming. Known as enhanced rock weathering, the method involves spreading crushed volcanic rocks over fields to accelerate the natural weathering process by which CO2 in the atmosphere is converted to stable mineral form. Spurred by its relative simplicity – and new evidence that the rock dust can improve crop yields as well as sequester carbon – this……