Europa

A new NASA study modeling conditions in the ocean of Jupiter’s moon Europa suggests that the necessary balance of chemical energy for life could exist there, even if the moon lacks volcanic hydrothermal activity.

Europa is strongly believed to hide a deep ocean of salty liquid water beneath its icy shell. Whether the Jovian moon has the raw materials and chemical energy in the right proportions to support biology is a topic of intense scientific interest. The answer may hinge on whether Europa has environments where chemicals are matched in the right proportions to power biological processes. Life on Earth exploits such niches.

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Scientists studying the causes of climate change have looked to Earth’s atmosphere for answers. But that may be the wrong place to find them, says William Goodenough, author of “The Three Concepts of Climate Change: Is AGW Politics or Science?”

Instead, the key could lie in the planet’s magnetic poles, which have been shifting from their traditional locations at the same time the Earth has experienced erratic weather behavior.

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Luminous Galaxy W2246-0526 NASA Image

In a far-off galaxy, 12.4 billion light-years from Earth, a ravenous black hole is devouring galactic grub. Its feeding frenzy produces so much energy, it stirs up gas across its entire galaxy.

“It is like a pot of boiling water being heated up by a nuclear reactor in the center,” said Tanio Diaz-Santos of the Universidad Diego Portales in Santiago, Chile, lead author of a new study.

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