NASA scientists recreated Mars’ ‘spiders’ in a lab

Science and Health

Scientists are amazed by spider-like shapes on the southern part of Mars. No one knows precisely how these formed. Each one can be over half a mile long and has many thin “legs.” These are known as araneiform terrain, and they often appear in groups, making the surface look wrinkled.

Now, NASA scientists have re-created those formation processes in simulated Martian temperatures and air pressure for the first time. The experiments could help tune the models for how they form.

The study confirms how spider-like shapes form on Mars based on the Kieffer model. Sunlight heats the soil through clear carbon dioxide ice that forms in winter. The darker soil absorbs heat, causing the ice to turn directly into gas in sublimation. As the gas builds up, it cracks the ice and escapes, carrying dark dust and sand from the soil onto the ice surface.

When winter ends and the ice sublimates, the leftover scars from these small eruptions create spider-like features.

The challenging part of conducting these experiments was re-creating conditions found on the Martian polar surface—extremely low air pressure and temperatures as low as minus 301 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 185 degrees Celsius). They used a liquid-nitrogen-cooled test chamber at JPL called the Dirty Under-vacuum Simulation Testbed for Icy Environments, or DUSTIE.

Lauren Mc Keown of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California said, “I love DUSTIE. It’s historic; the wine barrel-size chamber was used to test a prototype of a rasping tool designed for NASA’s Mars Phoenix lander. The tool was used to break water ice, which the spacecraft scooped up and analyzed near the planet’s north pole.”

New offerings provide tourists with fresh experiences in summer tourism boom

Travel

Regions across China rolled out a slew of measures to increase the supply of quality tourism products, leading to a tourist boom this summer. The emergence of new business formats, models, and scenarios, which met tourists’ diverse and personalized travel demands, led to growth in the tourism market, according to multiple travel platforms.
This year, China saw the hottest tourism summer since 2019, with both inbound and outbound tourist trips and tourism consumption hitting a record high, said Dai Bin, director of the China Tourism Academy.
Data from China’s service-focused e-commerce giant Meituan showed that bookings in the culture and tourism industries surged over 11 percent year on year this summer.
A report on the tourism market in the summer of 2024 issued by Chinese online travel agency Ctrip highlighted the continued resilience of both domestic and cross-border tourism this summer.
More inbound tourists visiting emerging destinations thanks to improved infrastructure

Visitors, including many from overseas, view the sights at the Palace Museum in Beijing in July. (China News Service/Jia Tianyong)
This summer, inbound tourists increased rapidly, fueled by a series of favorable policies and the improvement in relevant facilities.
During the period, a total of 110 million Chinese and foreign travelers entered or exited China, an increase of 30 percent compared with the same period last year, according to the National Immigration Administration.
Data from Ctrip revealed that inbound tourism orders jumped about 70 percent year by year this summer, with emerging destinations like Chongqing, Zhangjiajie, and Lijiang seeing a staggering increase of over 30 times in inbound tourists.
Lower-tier tourism markets became a highlight of summer tourism. Data from online travel service provider Qunar showed that hotel bookings in fourth- and fifth-tier cities and counties in July and August skyrocketed 113 percent compared to pre-summer levels and surged 24 percent year on year.
Thanks to the continuous improvement of tourism infrastructure, rural areas and lower-tier cities and counties can better meet the travel needs of specific groups, attracting an increasing number of tourists, said Cai Muzi, a researcher with the big data research institute of Qunar.
Integrated tourism: Sports, education, and culture
The integration of tourism with other sectors is creating exciting new experiences. By integrating sports, education, and culture with tourism, consumers can find the perfect match for their interests when planning a trip.
The Paris Olympics ignited a sports tourism boom this summer. Meituan data showed sports-related bookings surged 230 percent year on year between July 1 and Aug. 27, with more than 70 percent of customers aged 20 to 35.
The total bookings of tourists from the Chinese mainland traveling to Paris during the Olympics rose 129 percent year on year, and car rental bookings in Europe increased by 170 percent year on year, according to Ctrip data.

Tourists visit Vanke Songhua Lake Resort in Jilin City, northeast China’s Jilin Province, Aug. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Li He)
Tourism integrated with education was especially popular with families this summer, as summer vacation is a peak season for parent-child trips and family trips, with education tours, recreational vehicle tours, and chartered car services becoming popular.
According to data from Ctrip, bookings for family trips on the platform accounted for a whopping 35 percent of the summer’s total, and orders for car rentals during this summer surged 22 percent year on year. The recreational vehicle rental market was particularly hot. On the platform, 49 percent of recreational vehicle renters were first-timers, and families with children made up 65 percent of recreational vehicle renters. Educational tours in China saw an even more dramatic 175 percent year-on-year increase.
This summer, China saw a thriving performance market, and some places where performances were held emerged as tourist destinations.
Museums gained great popularity this summer. Ctrip data showed a double-digit surge in museum visits compared to last year’s summer season.
China also launched a series of special cultural and tourism activities, new consumer scenarios and measures to benefit the people, according to an official with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
In Xi’an, capital of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, the “Twelve Hours of Chang’an” theme block that vividly reproduces the urban life of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) introduced multiple activities combining culture and tourism, including collaborations with popular IPs like “A Chinese Odyssey” films and promotions for Hanfu, the traditional attire of the Han ethnic group. Consequently, the theme block received over 7,000 tourist arrivals every day during this summer.
(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Liang Jun)

Florida to argue for Texas book bans in out of state…

Arts & Culture, Books

Florida’s controversial legal argument defending book bans is expanding, pushing beyond school libraries into public libraries.After arguing for more than a year on behalf of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration that school officials can remove any books for any reason, including objections to LGBTQ and race-related content, attorneys for the state now are making the same defense for community libraries — in Texas.The Florida Attorney General’s Office joined 17 other red states in filing a court brief defending a Texas county’s removal of 17 books from its library system. They claim that book removals are “government speech” and therefore don’t violate others’ First Amendment rights.The legal doctrine is essentially a First Amendment exception that says governments can discriminate based on viewpoint or content when they speak for themselves.Next week, Florida Solicitor General Henry Whitaker will argue that before a federal appeals court in New Orleans. To make this happen, Llano County – located in Central Texas, population 22,540 – ceded some of its speaking time to Florida.“The county’s decisions over which books to offer its patrons in its public libraries, at its own expense, are its own speech,” the states wrote in their August filing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which includes Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. (Public libraries are publicly funded.)“The government does not violate anyone’s free speech rights merely by speaking — no matter what it chooses to say or not to say,” they continued. Next week, notably, is also “Banned Books Week.” It’s a decades-old event held by librarians and free speech advocates to spread attention about books that have been targeted in school and community libraries.Some of those advocates have told the appeals court that it should uphold a district court’s preliminary ruling rejecting the government speech argument.“A Democratic governor could not order the removal of all library books advocating ‘Republican’ ideals, nor could a predominantly Jewish city council ban all copies of the New Testament to impose a single religious view,” wrote the American Civil Liberties Union and its Texas chapter in an early September filing. “This is clear not only from common sense, but also from First Amendment doctrine.”More on what is the ‘government speech’ doctrineFlorida has seen a multitude of lawsuits on school book banning and related policies. Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office has defended DeSantis’ education officials and local school officials, invoking the government speech defense: “Public school systems, including their libraries, convey the government’s message,” Moody wrote in one of the filings. It’s a relatively new legal doctrine, and the U.S. Supreme Court has not always ruled in favor of it, though justices in 2015 said Texas could refuse to allow Confederate flag specialty license plates because they represented government speech.In one of the Florida cases, U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor, appointed by President Trump, said how the doctrine applies to school library books is “surprisingly unsettled.” He’s not made a ruling on it yet.But Texas U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman, appointed by President Obama, ordered the county the removed books last year, writing that those suing “have sufficiently alleged that Defendants’ actions do not constitute government speech and that Defendants unlawfully removed books based on their viewpoint.”The books removed ranged from ones about farts to ones about racism and LGBTQ topics. County residents who used the local library system filed the lawsuit.The district court’s decision was appealed by the county. A conservative three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit agreed in part with the original ruling, saying eight of the 17 books had to be returned.“We agree that library personnel must necessarily consider content in curating a collection,” it wrote in its June decision. “However, the Court has nowhere held that the government may make these decisions based solely on the intent to deprive the public of access to ideas with which it disagrees. That would violate the First Amendment and entirely shield all collection decisions from challenge.”But U.S. District Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan dissented, slamming the other two conservative judges as “Federal Library Police.”“There is a simple answer to the question posed by this case: A public library’s choice of some books for its collection, and its rejection of others, is government speech,” wrote Duncan, who was appointed by Trump.A majority of the 17-member appeals court tossed that decision and ordered a rehearing, setting up the Tuesday morning hearing where Whitaker will appear.“Our office is routinely involved with amicus briefs, especially when they involve state issues,” said Kylie Mason, Moody’s spokesperson, in an email. “It is also not unusual for us to appear at an argument when we draft a (friend of the court) brief.”Mason said the crafting of the court brief came at no extra cost to the state, since “there is no additional cost for a salaried employee to help draft a brief,” but did not answer price questions about travel.The Florida Freedom to Read Project, a book access advocacy organization, warned the public in a social media post to “pay attention” to this case: “They will keep presenting this ridiculous argument until they find a friendly court,” it wrote.From school libraries … to public librariesMost of the book banning controversies in Florida have surrounded school shelves. Unlike in Texas, community libraries have largely avoided the controversy. But the USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida reported last year that this was beginning to change. That change has accelerated in recent months.For example, the Pasco County library system recently pulled 130 children’s books for review, according to the Tampa Bay Times. County officials decided which books to put on that list by, in part, key word searching terms such as “LGBTQ.”One of the titles, “And Tango Makes Three,” is a children’s picture book that’s based on a true story about a same-sex penguin pair raising a chick together.Yet, just last week, school officials who removed it from school shelves in Nassau County put it back after getting sued. They emphasized in a settlement agreement with its authors that “And Tango Makes Three” is appropriate for all ages and has educational value.“Pasco County Libraries is committed to fostering an environment where all customers can access a broad range of ideas and information,” Sarah Andeara, a county spokesperson, in an emailed statement. “As part of the county’s effort to ensure our collection meets state standards, we have pulled for reconsideration certain materials in our collection.”And this is likely to continue – until, at least, higher courts weigh in on Florida’s government speech argument.“Regardless of whether book-banning campaigns target the Bible or Judy Blume, politicized efforts to restrict access to information cannot be reconciled with the Founders’ faith in the free exchange of ideas and our national commitment to freedom of expression,” wrote the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression in a brief for the Llano County case. “These battles will persist until the courts declare that the only way to win is not to play.”Financial cost of book bans:Florida school board pays over $100K to defend ban on book about same-sex penguin pairStephen King slams Florida book banning:Stephen King had a 3-word reaction to news his books are banned in some Florida schoolsThis reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Douglas Soule is based in Tallahassee, Fla. He can be reached at [email protected]. On X: @DouglasSoule.

From nitrogen pollution to battery recycling, young scientists take action to help society

Science and Health

For Piotr Olbryś, a 19-year-old from Poland, it was his brother’s hearing aid that motivated him to look into how to make lithium-ion batteries more environmentally friendly. His work earned him one of the four first prizes, each worth € 7 000, at the 2024 edition of the EU Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS). “My brother has a hearing aid,” he said. “So, he’s constantly changing and throwing away batteries. That caused me to start thinking about the waste this generates.” Lithium-ion batteries are found in almost every electronic gadget.Olbryś was one of 143 young scientists from 37 countries, all aged between 14 and 20, who came together from 9 to 14 September in Katowice, Poland, to present their research.Most of them were there because they had won similar contests in their home countries. EUCYS 2024 was funded by the European Commission, which co-organised it with the University of Silesia, Katowice, and the Polish Children’s Fund.In the end, the four first prizes were awarded to contestants from Austria, Bulgaria, Poland and the United States.Better way to tune instruments The young scientists presented their projects at booths in front of visitors and judges. Their research focused on an amazingly diverse range of fields.Paula Morata González, an 18-year-old from Spain, is keen to improve the tuning of musical instruments.“I play the harpsichord and study at the conservatory,” she said. “During tuning classes, I found it much more intuitive to find beautiful notes by looking at their mathematical proportions.”“It all started when I learned about photosynthesis in high school. I wanted to know more, and just kept digging.Lamia MusicEventually she built a model that could help tune instruments. “At first my music teacher thought I was crazy,” she laughed. “But I love combining science and art.” González starts university this year, where she hopes to continue on this interdisciplinary path, double-majoring in music and biomedical sciences.Artificial intelligenceAt their booths, the contestants were interviewed by a team of judges, mostly scientists themselves, who were duly impressed. “The quality of the projects was very impressive this year,” said Milan Macek, president of the jury. “A trend seems to be the increased use of artificial intelligence.”Macek has been a judge at the seven previous editions of EUCYS. He is a professor of genetics at Prague’s Charles University, but in Katowice, he was hard-pressed to pick the winners.“There are not enough prizes for all the talent here, so hard choices had to be made.”Over 100 young scientists gathered for the EU TalentOn 2024 contest in Katowice, Poland. © EU TalentOn 2024In parallel with EUCYS, another contest was held in Katowice, in the style of a hackathon. During EU TalentOn 2024, 108 participants aged between 21 and 35 developed scientific projects to address societal challenges such as climate change and water management.The grand prize was won by a team of young researchers from the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Italy for their cancer prevention project Breath for Life. It received an award of €12 000.High-speed camera or chessboard?Most EUCYS contestants also targeted societal challenges with their projects. The work of another winner, 17-year-old Aleksandra Petkova from Bulgaria, might, for example, help design more efficient ships. “It can help us build ships that use less fuel, reducing emissions,” she said. In her research project, she used sources like drone and satellite imagery to study the wakes of ships and make them more efficient, combining physics with a very practical goal.Petkova hails from a family of scientists, which influenced her to take part in science contests like EUCYS. “I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t doing something with science,” she said. “As a small child, I was already playing with magnets and mirrors, trying to understand the deeper principles of how they worked.”She’s still overwhelmed by the accolades her work received. “I don’t know what I’ll do with the money. Maybe I’ll buy a new chessboard,” she laughed. “On the other hand, I would like a high-speed camera for experiments. A few thousand more frames per second would make a big difference.”Organic batteriesOlbryś from Poland looked at organic cathodes in batteries, which are easier to recycle than today’s cathodes, but lack the energy density of less green versions. This is why he researched new material combinations and found options that combine the best of both worlds.“I didn’t have access to a supercomputer, so I just did them on my home laptop,” he said. “Sometimes one calculation would take two or three entire days. The sound of the cooling fans caused me to have a lot of dreams about helicopters,” he joked.Starting university in Warsaw in two weeks, Olbryś hopes to continue his research. “I love projects where science can change the world.”Go for itLamia Music, a 15-year-old Austrian who looked at new kinds of solar cells, was giddy upon receiving first prize, in addition to an award from the London International Youth Science Forum. “I almost didn’t go to my national competition,” she said. “I just went there for fun, to meet interesting people. Now I suddenly have this prize,” she laughs. “Sometimes you just need to go for it I guess.”Her project worked on new types of solar cells, the central component of solar panels. “It all started when I learned about photosynthesis in high school,” she remembers. “I wanted to know more, and just kept digging.”“Farmers are really struggling with this. I wanted to do something real for the world.Nikhil VemuriFor Music, the prize, however, wasn’t the most important thing about the contest. “What I love about science is that you can learn new things, and meet new people,” she said. “That’s what I did here. I was fascinated just walking around and learning about fields I didn’t know anything about.”For the young Austrian, science is a passion. “Sometimes I will wake up in the middle of the night with ideas,” she said.For now, she wants to continue with her research, partly under the auspices of a local university. Nitrogen pollutionNot all winners at EUCYS were from Europe. Nikhil Vemuri, 17, from the United States, won the fourth first prize.“I live in North Carolina, in an area with a lot of farms. Today, they use too much fertiliser on their fields, which causes environmental problems, such as nitrogen pollution. I wanted to help.”He designed a software tool that could predict, based on satellite imagery, where over- and under-fertilisation is likely to happen. For example, if a field slopes downwards, fertiliser will likely concentrate at the bottom. Vemuri’s tool allows farmers to use fertiliser more efficiently and sparingly, reducing pollution.“Farmers are really struggling with this. I wanted to do something real for the world.”Beyond being celebrated for his project, Vemuri repeated what other participants already said. Sure, receiving awards is nice. But what really makes EUCYS special is the connections made.“I talked to some fascinating projects here,” he said. “But more importantly, I made some great friends. That’s what makes an event like this so amazing.”

From nitrogen pollution to battery recycling, young scientists take action to help society

Science and Health

For Piotr Olbryś, a 19-year-old from Poland, it was his brother’s hearing aid that motivated him to look into how to make lithium-ion batteries more environmentally friendly. His work earned him one of the four first prizes, each worth € 7 000, at the 2024 edition of the EU Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS). “My brother has a hearing aid,” he said. “So, he’s constantly changing and throwing away batteries. That caused me to start thinking about the waste this generates.” Lithium-ion batteries are found in almost every electronic gadget.Olbryś was one of 143 young scientists from 37 countries, all aged between 14 and 20, who came together from 9 to 14 September in Katowice, Poland, to present their research.Most of them were there because they had won similar contests in their home countries. EUCYS 2024 was funded by the European Commission, which co-organised it with the University of Silesia, Katowice, and the Polish Children’s Fund.In the end, the four first prizes were awarded to contestants from Austria, Bulgaria, Poland and the United States.Better way to tune instruments The young scientists presented their projects at booths in front of visitors and judges. Their research focused on an amazingly diverse range of fields.Paula Morata González, an 18-year-old from Spain, is keen to improve the tuning of musical instruments.“I play the harpsichord and study at the conservatory,” she said. “During tuning classes, I found it much more intuitive to find beautiful notes by looking at their mathematical proportions.”“It all started when I learned about photosynthesis in high school. I wanted to know more, and just kept digging.Lamia MusicEventually she built a model that could help tune instruments. “At first my music teacher thought I was crazy,” she laughed. “But I love combining science and art.” González starts university this year, where she hopes to continue on this interdisciplinary path, double-majoring in music and biomedical sciences.Artificial intelligenceAt their booths, the contestants were interviewed by a team of judges, mostly scientists themselves, who were duly impressed. “The quality of the projects was very impressive this year,” said Milan Macek, president of the jury. “A trend seems to be the increased use of artificial intelligence.”Macek has been a judge at the seven previous editions of EUCYS. He is a professor of genetics at Prague’s Charles University, but in Katowice, he was hard-pressed to pick the winners.“There are not enough prizes for all the talent here, so hard choices had to be made.”Over 100 young scientists gathered for the EU TalentOn 2024 contest in Katowice, Poland. © EU TalentOn 2024In parallel with EUCYS, another contest was held in Katowice, in the style of a hackathon. During EU TalentOn 2024, 108 participants aged between 21 and 35 developed scientific projects to address societal challenges such as climate change and water management.The grand prize was won by a team of young researchers from the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Italy for their cancer prevention project Breath for Life. It received an award of €12 000.High-speed camera or chessboard?Most EUCYS contestants also targeted societal challenges with their projects. The work of another winner, 17-year-old Aleksandra Petkova from Bulgaria, might, for example, help design more efficient ships. “It can help us build ships that use less fuel, reducing emissions,” she said. In her research project, she used sources like drone and satellite imagery to study the wakes of ships and make them more efficient, combining physics with a very practical goal.Petkova hails from a family of scientists, which influenced her to take part in science contests like EUCYS. “I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t doing something with science,” she said. “As a small child, I was already playing with magnets and mirrors, trying to understand the deeper principles of how they worked.”She’s still overwhelmed by the accolades her work received. “I don’t know what I’ll do with the money. Maybe I’ll buy a new chessboard,” she laughed. “On the other hand, I would like a high-speed camera for experiments. A few thousand more frames per second would make a big difference.”Organic batteriesOlbryś from Poland looked at organic cathodes in batteries, which are easier to recycle than today’s cathodes, but lack the energy density of less green versions. This is why he researched new material combinations and found options that combine the best of both worlds.“I didn’t have access to a supercomputer, so I just did them on my home laptop,” he said. “Sometimes one calculation would take two or three entire days. The sound of the cooling fans caused me to have a lot of dreams about helicopters,” he joked.Starting university in Warsaw in two weeks, Olbryś hopes to continue his research. “I love projects where science can change the world.”Go for itLamia Music, a 15-year-old Austrian who looked at new kinds of solar cells, was giddy upon receiving first prize, in addition to an award from the London International Youth Science Forum. “I almost didn’t go to my national competition,” she said. “I just went there for fun, to meet interesting people. Now I suddenly have this prize,” she laughs. “Sometimes you just need to go for it I guess.”Her project worked on new types of solar cells, the central component of solar panels. “It all started when I learned about photosynthesis in high school,” she remembers. “I wanted to know more, and just kept digging.”“Farmers are really struggling with this. I wanted to do something real for the world.Nikhil VemuriFor Music, the prize, however, wasn’t the most important thing about the contest. “What I love about science is that you can learn new things, and meet new people,” she said. “That’s what I did here. I was fascinated just walking around and learning about fields I didn’t know anything about.”For the young Austrian, science is a passion. “Sometimes I will wake up in the middle of the night with ideas,” she said.For now, she wants to continue with her research, partly under the auspices of a local university. Nitrogen pollutionNot all winners at EUCYS were from Europe. Nikhil Vemuri, 17, from the United States, won the fourth first prize.“I live in North Carolina, in an area with a lot of farms. Today, they use too much fertiliser on their fields, which causes environmental problems, such as nitrogen pollution. I wanted to help.”He designed a software tool that could predict, based on satellite imagery, where over- and under-fertilisation is likely to happen. For example, if a field slopes downwards, fertiliser will likely concentrate at the bottom. Vemuri’s tool allows farmers to use fertiliser more efficiently and sparingly, reducing pollution.“Farmers are really struggling with this. I wanted to do something real for the world.”Beyond being celebrated for his project, Vemuri repeated what other participants already said. Sure, receiving awards is nice. But what really makes EUCYS special is the connections made.“I talked to some fascinating projects here,” he said. “But more importantly, I made some great friends. That’s what makes an event like this so amazing.”

Earth May Have Had ‘Rings Of Fire’ That Caused Chaos, Scientists Say

Science and Health

Scientists have found evidence that Earth may have once had a ring system similar to Saturn’s. It appears to have existed about 466 million years ago and may have both rained down meteorites on Earth’s surface and caused an ice age.

“Over millions of years, material from this ring gradually fell to Earth, creating the spike in meteorite impacts observed in the geological record,” said Professor Andy Tomkins at the School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and lead author of a study published this week in Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Impact Craters
Using reconstructions of plate tectonics from this period, called the Ordovician, the researchers found 21 asteroid impact craters within 30 degrees of the equator despite over 70 percent of Earth’s continental crust being outside this region.

That’s an anomaly that conventional theories cannot explain. “We also see that layers in sedimentary rocks from this period contain extraordinary amounts of meteorite debris,” said Tomkins. During the Ordovician, Earth was continually struck by meteorites.

Close Encounter
The researchers think the multiple asteroid impacts were caused by one giant object coming close to Earth. When that happens, debris is the result. That’s because of the “Roche limit,” about 20,000 km from Earth. Once a large object gets within that distance, gravitational forces can cause it to break up.

Cue a debris ring encircling Earth similar to the rings now enveloping Saturn. Over millions of years, the ring caused a shower of debris to fall upon Earth’s surface. The timing matches a surge of meteorite impacts preserved in the geological record, say the researchers.

Ring Shadow
The debris ring may also have cast a shadow on Earth, which has implications for the planet’s climate. The ice age at the end of the Ordovician period is considered one of the coldest periods in Earth’s history in the last 500 million years, with cold temperatures, glaciers and huge drop in sea level.

If the ring around Earth was the cause of a significant global cooling event — known as the Hirnantian — there could be other rings in Earth’s more distant history that had similar climatic consequences.
“The idea that a ring system could have influenced global temperatures adds a new layer of complexity to our understanding of how extra-terrestrial events may have shaped Earth’s climate,” said Tomkins.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.

Earth May Have Had ‘Rings Of Fire’ That Caused Chaos, Scientists Say

Science and Health

Scientists have found evidence that Earth may have once had a ring system similar to Saturn’s. It appears to have existed about 466 million years ago and may have both rained down meteorites on Earth’s surface and caused an ice age.

“Over millions of years, material from this ring gradually fell to Earth, creating the spike in meteorite impacts observed in the geological record,” said Professor Andy Tomkins at the School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and lead author of a study published this week in Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Impact Craters
Using reconstructions of plate tectonics from this period, called the Ordovician, the researchers found 21 asteroid impact craters within 30 degrees of the equator despite over 70 percent of Earth’s continental crust being outside this region.

That’s an anomaly that conventional theories cannot explain. “We also see that layers in sedimentary rocks from this period contain extraordinary amounts of meteorite debris,” said Tomkins. During the Ordovician, Earth was continually struck by meteorites.

Close Encounter
The researchers think the multiple asteroid impacts were caused by one giant object coming close to Earth. When that happens, debris is the result. That’s because of the “Roche limit,” about 20,000 km from Earth. Once a large object gets within that distance, gravitational forces can cause it to break up.

Cue a debris ring encircling Earth similar to the rings now enveloping Saturn. Over millions of years, the ring caused a shower of debris to fall upon Earth’s surface. The timing matches a surge of meteorite impacts preserved in the geological record, say the researchers.

Ring Shadow
The debris ring may also have cast a shadow on Earth, which has implications for the planet’s climate. The ice age at the end of the Ordovician period is considered one of the coldest periods in Earth’s history in the last 500 million years, with cold temperatures, glaciers and huge drop in sea level.

If the ring around Earth was the cause of a significant global cooling event — known as the Hirnantian — there could be other rings in Earth’s more distant history that had similar climatic consequences.
“The idea that a ring system could have influenced global temperatures adds a new layer of complexity to our understanding of how extra-terrestrial events may have shaped Earth’s climate,” said Tomkins.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.