The presidential changeover last week was accompanied by a flurry of pardons stretching the power of the pardon about as far as weve ever seen it go. Outgoing President Joe Biden preemptively pardoned a group of people believed to be on the new administrations enemies list: members of his family, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley, the Congressional Select Committee to Investigate January 6 Attack, and more. Incoming President Donald Trump, meanwhile, pardoned 1,500 Capitol riot insurrectionists, plus two DC-area police officers and 23 anti-abortion activists. But even among the deluge, one pardon stood out: Trump granted clemency to Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the dark web drug marketplace Silk Road. In so doing, Trump fulfilled a campaign promise he made to libertarians and crypto fans alike, to whom Ulbricht is something of a folk hero. Nick Bilton, author of American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road, joined Today, Explained to talk about how Ulbricht was originally captured, break down Trumps decision to grant him clemency, and explain what it tells us about the new administration.Below is an excerpt of the conversation, edited for length and clarity. Theres much more in the full podcast, so listen to Today, Explained wherever you get podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.Sean RameswaramYou say this pardon is inevitable. How come? Nick BiltonTrump went to the Libertarian Convention in May. The room was filled with all these people, and theyre holding up these Free Ross signs. Everything that comes out of Trumps mouth is met with a boo except for when he says, If you vote for me, on day one, I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht. That was when the room burst into applause and cheers. And so for me, it was like: If he was going to win I believed he was going to win then Ross was going to be freed. Sean RameswaramWho is Ross Ulbricht, a.k.a. Dread Pirate Roberts?Nick Bilton Ross Ulbricht is a guy who came from Austin, Texas. Upper middle class, very nice, caring family. He was a really sweet kid. One of my favorite stories about him then is: Hes with a friend, walking down the street in Austin one day. He stops at the flower stall and buys some roses and then hands them back to the woman who works there and then continues to walk. His friend says, Whyd you do that? And he said, Because no one ever buys flowers for the person who works at the flower stall.Ulbricht goes off to college and he gets into not drugs, but the stuff we all do: smoking a little weed and taking some acid. The usual stuff kids these days do in college. He also falls deeply into the libertarian philosophy that the government should have no say in what you do with your own body: If you want to take drugs, you should be able to. He thinks that the problem with the war on drugs is that it has created a system where people only buy and sell these things in dark alleys and in dangerous places, which has led to so much crime around drugs and so on. And that if you legalized all drugs imaginable, you would essentially stop all the harm that happens to society. If you made it so that you could buy these drugs in an Amazon-like forum, people who sold bad drugs that killed people would get bad ratings, and you wouldnt buy from them anymore. Good people that cut their drugs up really nicely would become the bestsellers, and so on.He learns about this thing called the Tor Onion Browser. Its an untraceable browser. Then along comes bitcoin, and he has this realization, like, Oh my God, I can pair the Tor Onion browser with bitcoin, and I can create the website that is the Amazon of drugs. That becomes the Silk Road.Sean RameswaramWhat is Silk Road, beyond the Amazon of drugs? Nick Bilton To prove his thesis, Ross Ulbricht rents a cottage in Bastrop Park in Austin, and he secretly starts to grow magic mushrooms. He does it, ironically, while he is watching the show Breaking Bad.Eventually, he gets enough mushrooms that he fills a big trash bag with them. He posts the mushrooms on his website and waits for a buyer. In the meantime, he goes to online forums and anonymously says, Hey, has anyone seen this website, the Silk Road, where you can buy and sell drugs?Then one day, someone orders some. He mails them, and hes like, Holy shit, I sold some drugs. This is amazing. It worked.It started to spread, and soon people started listing other drugs, like marijuana and acid. A few months go by. Then, the website Gawker writes about it. And in that moment, it explodes. Its covered in the national news. The Chuck Schumer set finds out about it. This national attention turns into international attention, and before you know it, hes selling hundreds of millions of dollars of drugs. Silk Road starts to move to much more nefarious things than just basic weed and magic mushrooms. Theres a debate about whether they should sell body parts on the platform. They create another version of the site where they start selling guns. That proves to be more difficult because its harder to mail those to people. But it was a free-for-all. Anything you wanted to buy and sell was available on this marketplace, and all you needed was a few bitcoin and the Tor Onion Browser, and that was it. It gets to a point where Ulbricht is making so much money, and so much is being sold on Silk Road, that it captures the attention of people in China who were starting to make fentanyl at the time. Silk Road enabled them to mail fentanyl to the US. You start to see the beginning of the fentanyl epidemic, and the first people affected by it are kids.Of course the government was desperately trying to figure out how to stop it while all this was going on. Sean RameswaramHow do they catch the pirate?Nick Bilton The FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the IRS are trying to solve the case. Theres a big meeting with all of the agencies, and they decide theyre going to do this big sting operation in San Francisco.There was a little library there just two stories tall. The Dread Pirate Roberts goes there to work, because he doesnt like going on the internet to do his Silk Road work from his apartment in case its ever traced back. One day he goes to the local library in Bernal Heights, and he logs on. But two agents are sitting in the library across from him and they get into a fake screaming match. And when he looks up to see whats going on, another agent swoops in, grabs the laptop, and the other agents arrest him.Hes sentenced for distributing narcotics, using the internet to distribute narcotics, all of these different things. And the judge said, I believe that there are good in people and there are bad in people. And she says, I believe that there is good in you and bad in you. But what you did started an entire new paradigm of crime in this country, and people died as a result of it.Sean RameswaramHow quickly does a movement to free him spring up? Nick Bilton It starts during the trial in 2015, and it grows and grows as crypto and bitcoin grow into mainstream topics. Theres an argument to be made that before the Silk Road and the Dread Pirate Roberts, there was nothing that you could do with bitcoin that made any sense. A lot of people got incredibly rich as a result of the things that Ross Ulbricht did, and they see him as a sort of bitcoin deity. Sean RameswaramNick, we know how this story ends. We know that Ulbricht, the Dread Pirate Roberts, gets a presidential pardon. When does Donald Trump enter the chat?Nick BiltonWhen he was president as number 45, there were discussions, funnily enough, about pardoning Ulbricht on his way out. From what I have heard, there were a lot of people in the White House that didnt want that to happen, because it wasnt law and order. Trump 45 was very anti-drugs.But Trump 47 is so enmeshed with the tech community. The tech community sees anything anyone does with technology as a good thing, and they lock arms and sail off into the sunset together.Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

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By Isaac Schultz Published January 28, 2025 | Comments (0) | An illustration of an asteroid. Illustration: NASA/JPL-Caltech 2024 YR4 is a newly spotted asteroid with the potential to hit Earthand its chances of smashing into our planet in 2032 is definitely more than zero. I realize that definitely more than zero will cause some disquiet in the comments, so to be specific: There is a 1.2% chance the asteroid hits Earth based on very preliminary calculations. Which meansobviouslya 98.8% chance the rocky object misses us! But those odds are still upsettingly high, so lets bear down on what we know about the recently discovered asteroid. The Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) first spotted 2024 YR4 on December 27, 2024. At that point the asteroid was 515,116 miles (829,000 kilometers) from Earth. The asteroid is currently moving away from our planet but its next close approach will occur in December 2028. As noted, the current 1-in-83 odds of an asteroid impact are preliminary; astronomers will refine these estimates over time as they gather more data.According to NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratorys Center for Near Earth Object Studies, calculated impact probabilities can easily be inaccurate by a factor of a few, and occasionally by a factor of ten or more. So with that caveat, lets dive into 2024 YR4 and what sort of danger it may pose to our pale blue dot. CNEOS reports that the asteroid is 180 feet (55 meters) across, and its speed at (potential) impact estimated at 10.76 miles per second (17.32 kilometers/second). The center reports six distinct possible impact events between 2032 and 2074, with the highest likelihood of impact being in 2032December 22 of that year to be exact. Feel free to mark your calendars. Its important to point out that the probability decreases with each subsequent pass the asteroid makes, with the 2032 date the only one qualifying as a Torino 3 level risk.On the Torino Impact Hazard Scalea way of measuring the danger posed by asteroids2024 YR4 merits attention by astronomers, as the encounter is less than a decade away, but collision with Earth is hardly a sure thing. The objects level-three rating also means that, Current calculations give a 1% or greater chance of collision capable of localized destruction, CNEOS website states. However, Most likely, new telescopic observations will lead to re-assignment to Level 0, or a No hazard rating. Were certainly hoping this will be the case. As weve previously discussed, potentially hazardous asteroids (or PHAs) are routine interlopers in our part of the solar system. Despite their names, the asteroids rarely pose a threat to Earth, but are objects large enough to survive entry into Earths atmosphere.Though the asteroid is not large enough to pose a global threat, it would still release a tremendous amount of energy if it were to make impact on Earth. According to NASA, a strike from the asteroid would release about 8 megatons of energymore than 500 times the energy released by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, and comparable to the energy released in the Tunguska blast of 1908. As EarthSky points out, the only other asteroid to score higher on the Torino scale is 99942 Apophis, which for a short time in 2004 was listed on the Torino scale as a level 4. The threat posed by Apophis has since been downgraded to a zero on the scale, as astronomers ruled out any significant impact risk for the next 100 years. The asteroids characteristicsits speed, magnitude, heck, even its massare subject to change as scientists continue to monitor its path through space. The situation could turn out to be less of a threat, but also could become more alarming as the asteroid whips back around towards our planet.One thing is certain: Its critical that scientists keep an eye on the dynamic skies, filled with objects that could pose as existential a threat to humankind as another asteroid did the dinosaurs some 66 million years ago. Thats why NASA demonstrated the ability to redirect an asteroid back in 2024its hopefully a skill scientists never have to utilize, but one thats reassuring to have.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Passant Rabie Published January 24, 2025 By Margherita Bassi Published January 23, 2025 By Isaac Schultz Published January 14, 2025 By Margherita Bassi Published December 20, 2024 By Isaac Schultz Published December 12, 2024 By Passant Rabie Published December 10, 2024

A new look at James Gunns Superman has the internet in a tizzy. This weekend, Warner Bros. released a new TV spot for the film during the NFL games and while its mostly footage from the teaser trailer, there are a few new shots, including one of Superman flying across a snowy plain. The camera looks like its flying with him and, well, it looks a little weird. So weird in fact that Gunn himself had to jump on social media to stop the rising wave of assumption and misinformation. You can see the shot in action in the video below (and the still frame above). Basically, at the end of the shot, actor David Corenswets eyes look a little crossed, which led many to assume the shot was created with bad CGI. That then became a pile-on from people (a good portion of whom are die-hard Zack Snyder fans) dismissing an entire movie due to a few frames. But, it turns out, CGI had nothing to do with that specific look. Heres the clip. Yes, his eyes do look a little off but Gunn took to Threads to say the following: There is absolutely zero CG in his face. Peoples faces can look different when you put a wide angle lens up close. The background plate in Svalbard is 100% real as is David. The key phrase there is in his face. Clearly, there is CGI in the shot, both with the combination and integration of the images, probably the movement of the cape, and maybe more. But were talking specifically about the face here and Gunn says thats real. Speaking to press on set last year, Gunn revealed he and his team were inspired by films like Top Gun: Maverick for the flying scenes. Something thats pretty clearly seen here. And, if you rewatch footage from that movie, there is a similar effect. Tom Cruise and the other pilots dont look perfectly normal as they fly through the sky at superhuman speeds and they have glass as well as a helmet to protect them. Their faces are shoved back awkwardly by gravity. If Corenswet was on a set with camera in his face, and being blown with wind or moved around to simulate the speed, yeah, his face is going to distort. Maybe his eyes might even go a little wonky. In fact, if anything, CGI could be used to fix that look.And so, to recap, new Superman footage was released, some people got up in arms over one shot, the filmmaker explained his technique, and we all take a deep breath realizing its going to be like this every day until Superman opens on July 11. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

McCourt School of Public Policy Georgetown University / Roberto A.M Stern ArchitectsSave this picture! Francis DzikowskiUnited StatesArchitects: Robert A.M. Stern ArchitectsAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:150000 mYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2024 PhotographsPhotographs:Francis DzikowskiManufacturersBrands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers: Interface, Sherwin-Williams, Altas concorde, Alto, Armstrong, Bentley Mills, Caesarstone, Cambria, Chemetal, Forbo, Forms + Surfaces, ISEC, MK Architectural Metal, Maharam, Mohawk Flooring, Reynobond, STONHARD, Shaw, Southside Cast Stone, Surface Shop, +5 Lead Architects: Kevin Smith, Graham Wyatt More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA) has designed a new flagship home for the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University's Capitol Campus in downtown Washington, D.C. The new 150,0000 sqft building, located at 125 E St. NW, is an academic hub for students, faculty, researchers, and the wider policymaking community active in the nation's capital. The building houses extensive educational and community spaces, including 20 classrooms, an expansive main commons, academic offices, a 400-seat auditorium, and a large rooftop terrace with sweeping views of the U.S. Capitol and a 280-seat venue. As an academic center devoted to addressing complex national and international challenges, the McCourt School of Public Policy prioritizes sustainability and energy efficiency and is designed to achieve LEED Platinum certification. Additionally, a series of original site-specific installations by architect, designer, artist, and sculptor Maya Lin encourage building users to consider their natural surroundings.Save this picture!Save this picture!A flagship building of the Capitol Campus, the McCourt School is a contextual and coherent extension of Georgetown's downtown presence. A cube clad in stone, panelized metal, and glass curtain walls, 125 E St. carries forward the form and scale of its neighbors. Vertical fins and brise-soleilwhich primarily mitigate against sun exposures and optimize thermal performancearticulate the building's faade with projecting lines that echo the uniform punched windows of the neighboring 500 First Street NW. The McCourt School's 125 E St. building, however, introduces new visual interest with its interplay of metal, stone, and glass.Save this picture!The McCourt School of Public Policy's interior architecture has been shaped by the unique educational opportunities afforded by its location, namely its proximity to the nation's premier policymaking bodies, such as the U.S. Capitol and the Supreme Court. A 400-seat auditorium with broadcast capabilities and a 280-seat rooftop venue can host leading policymakers and practitioners for important discussions related to national and international policymaking. The building's design promotes organic interactions and chance encounters to foster a robust, interconnected, and inclusive academic community. Beginning in the light-filled double-height atrium, a "traveling staircase" connects the building's nine levels. Instead of winding directly upward, however, this staircase traverses the building, requiring students and faculty to pass through various spaces when traveling to an office or classroom. This staircase serves as an architectural expression of the school's connected community and resists the formation of academic siloes or hierarchies around the location.Save this picture!A series of installations by Maya Lin Studio, titled "Mapping Our Place in the World", animates interior spaces and grounds occupants in place, prompting them to consider their connection to the larger world. "Following the Potomac" is a ceiling-mounted composition of glass marbles that resembles a birds-eye view of the Potomac watershed. In the main commons, a series of weather-responsive pendant lights titled "Whether Birds" change color according to the presence of sun, clouds, snow, or rain. Audio recordings of local waterways, wetlands, forests, and grasslands, made at various times of day and year, are broadcast through directional speakers above the primary staircase. Lin also contributed to the design of the building's roofscape. "The Sky Garden" is an outdoor terrace with elliptical pools and native plants. It offers opportunities for quiet conversation and respite while celebrating regional ecology and framing views of the U.S. Capitol.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessAbout this officePublished on January 28, 2025Cite: "McCourt School of Public Policy Georgetown University / Roberto A.M Stern Architects" 28 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1026087/mccourt-school-of-public-policy-georgetown-university-roberto-am-stern-architects&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! 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Cumaru House / FGMFSave this picture! Fran ParenteHousesBrazilArchitects: FGMFAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:13 ftYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2020 PhotographsPhotographs:Fran ParenteManufacturersBrands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers: Agrolink, Dimarmore, Excellent, GQ Brasil , Mil Grau, Neobambu, Palimanan, Portobello, RMR, Terra Conttempornea, Vidro Vivo Lead Architects: Fernando Forte, Loureno Gimenes, Rodrigo Marcondes Ferraz More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. Social areas on the first floor, garage in the basement and bedrooms upstairs. A veranda and a swimming pool. The explanation of the basic program of this residence and its distribution as that of an ordinary sobrado is unable to properly depict it without describing its structural conception. A sequence of four porticos hang over the upper floor volume, making the first floor only a light glass enclosure.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!On one side of the structure the porticos are formed by four concrete pillars. On the other, only two pillars support a large metal truss, 22 m long, which supports the four concrete beams on the roof slab, responsible for suspending the entire house. This main structure, mixed concrete and steel, houses the entire program of the internal areas of the residence, in addition to covering a double-height balcony and part of the pool.Save this picture!Save this picture!The extended program consists of living rooms, kitchen, balcony and sauna on the first floor, garage, service areas and technical areas in the basement and four suites, office and home theater on the upper floor. In addition to the structural system and the large glass panels, wood is a very prominent element in this house, appearing in the form of slatted cumaru wood cladding on the upper floor, shrimp-type doors in the bedrooms, mobile brises over the pool, wooden deck on the balcony and carbonized wood in the gourmet space.Save this picture!The lightness and transparency of the house allows total integration between inside and outside, between the building and the landscaping. There is no clear boundary between the built and the natural area, the plants sometimes invade the house, sometimes they are only separated from the internal areas by light glass panels. Sometimes they compose the external landscape, sometimes they are covered by the large slab next to the pool, forming a cohesive whole formed by concrete, steel, glass, wood, water and vegetation.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessAbout this officeFGMFOfficeMaterialsSteelConcreteMaterials and TagsPublished on January 28, 2025Cite: "Cumaru House / FGMF" [Casa Cumaru / FGMF] 28 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1026119/cumaru-house-fgmf&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

Get all Revit Courses: https://balkanarchitect.com/?utm_source=youtube&amp ;amp;utm_medium=+92YT24My Revit project files: https://www.patreon.com/balkanarchitect?utm_source=youtube&amp ;amp;utm_medium=+92YT24Get my Personal Revit Template + Family Pack: https://balkanarchitect.com/p/balkan-architect-architecture-template-metric In this tutorial, we explore Revit's Paint Tool, covering how to set up materials using the Material Browser. Learn how to apply the Paint Tool to different categories, use it with the Split Face tool, and schedule it with Material Takeoff for efficient project management. Perfect for mastering material application in Revit!Subscribe for more!Please Like this Tutorial!Follow me on social media:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/balkanarchitect/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Balkan-Architect-278024016289562/?modal=admin_todo_tour Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArchitectBalkan Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro00:48 - How to use Paint Tool and Material Browser02:06 - Remove Paint and Additional Materials03:34 - Which category's work with paint tool?04:50 - Painting staircase06:43 - Painting part of a surface 06:57 Outro92YT24

Change the lighting in your Blender scenes without needing to re-render. Full tutorial now on the CG Boost YouTube channel.#lightgroups #3Dcompositing #Blender

Deep in the Barents Sea off the northern coast of Norway, the Borealis Mud Volcano has been spewing methane for centuries and supporting a flourishing community of seafloor creatures. Researchers have now recognized the underwater structure as a pillar of marine life in the benthic zone, the lowest ecological region of a body of water, where species are specially equipped to survive extreme living conditions.The distinctive environment has been detailed in a new study published in Nature Communications. The international research team involved with the study put a particular focus on the importance of the mud volcanos methane emissions; normally methane is associated with greenhouse gas and climate impacts, but it also plays an important role in forming complex, biodiverse ecosystems like the one surrounding Borealis.Living On the CrustsFirst discovered in 2023, the Borealis Mud Volcano is distinguished by a cluster of craters within a depression around 1,600 feet to 2,000 feet in diameter and an active gryphon, which is a steep cone that expels mud and other fluids, gasses, and oils. Borealis is only the second mud volcano to be observed in Norwegian waters, the first being the Hkon Mosby Mud Volcano discovered during a 1987 expedition.The mud volcano is considered a cold seep environment, a location where fluids containing methane, hydrogen sulfide, or other hydrocarbons seep up from below the seafloor (cold refers to the fact that it is not as warm as the conditions around hydrothermal vents).While some sections of the crater floor are inhospitable, the researchers found several species living on the volcanos carbonate crusts. These structures are created in part by a type of chemosynthesis, the biological process by which deep-sea microorganisms use energy to produce sugars (food) since sunlight generally does not reach the benthic zone; the particular type of chemosynthesis in this case is called anaerobic oxidation of methane, which increases local alkalinity and leads to the accumulation of carbonate deposits.The extent of carbonate deposits at Borealis indicate that the mud volcano has likely been producing methane for thousands of years, the researchers say.A Seafloor RefugeExploring the carbonate crusts with a remotely operated vehicle, the researchers spotted species of anemones, serpulids, demosponges, and octocoral colonies. Also present at the jagged carbonate formations were schools of fish, including saithe (or pollock), wolffish, cod, four-bearded rockling, and several species of Sebastes (many known as redfish).Researchers consider the Borealis mud volcano an oasis that provides shelter and feeding opportunities for thriving species, almost like a reef habitat. It acts as a refuge for species that are becoming increasingly endangered, including redfish species, many of which have been placed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List. The Borealis Mud Volcano is a unique geological and ecological phenomenon that provides a rare insight into the complex interactions between geological processes and marine ecosystems. It is important to preserve these unique habitats, which play a crucial role in maintaining marine biodiversity, said Giuliana Panieri, a geology professor at UiT The Arctic University of Norway and lead author of the study, in a statement.The immediate surroundings of the mud volcano, researchers found, were warmed to 11.5 degrees Celsius (52.7 degrees Fahrenheit), whereas the seabed usually has a colder temperature of around 4 degrees Celsius (39.2 degrees Fahrenheit). In addition, they came across sediments that contained extinct, microscopic marine organisms from up to 2.5 million years ago.The Future of the Deep SeaThe new insight on Borealis is relevant as the Arctic seabed could soon become a center for deep-sea mining, posing a major threat to seafloor environments. Researchers say there is also a need to study the methane emissions of the mud volcano on a deeper level. Although the impact of underwater methane emissions on carbon in the atmosphere is thought to be relatively minor, we still need to know how the emissions will fully affect the planet as it warms. Seafloor conservation in Norway, meanwhile, has promised progress. The nation has pledged to reach the 30 by 30 target, which entails protecting 30 percent of land and sea by 2030. A significant portion of this involves conservation measures for marine ecosystems, including those in the deep sea. By protecting the seafloor, scientists suggest that more cold seep environments could start to see the growth of biodiversity. Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:NOAA Ocean Exploration. What is the difference between cold seeps and hydrothermal vents?Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Life at Vents & SeepsJack Knudson is an assistant editor at Discover with a strong interest in environmental science and history. Before joining Discover in 2023, he studied journalism at the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University and previously interned at Recycling Today magazine.

Almost 30 years after the first planet outside our solar system was discovered, more than 7,000 other exoplanets have been identified. Now, its time to add another to the list.A team of researchers have confirmed an Earth-like planet named HD 20794 d, they report in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. The exoplanet is especially interesting to astronomers because at a mere 19.7 light-years away, its practically a neighbor. HD 20794 d, the star around which the newly identified planet rotates is not an ordinary star, Xavier Dumusque, an astronomer at the University of Geneva and co-author of the study, said in a press release. Its luminosity and proximity makes it an ideal candidate for future telescopes whose mission will be to observe the atmospheres of exoplanets directly.The Promise of WaterThe position of the planet in relation to that star also provides the possibility that it could hold water. So astronauts searching for signs of life beyond Earth are especially interested in it.HD 20794 d orbits its host star in 647 days. Although thats almost twice as long as an Earth year, its only 40 days less than Mars needs to circle our Sun. Unlike Earth and Mars, HD 20794 ds orbit is more elliptical than circular. That orbital pattern is especially interesting to astronomers, because if the planet contains water, it would likely be liquid during its closest passages to the sun, and ice when its farthest away.The Search for LifeFinding this particular exoplanet was no easy task; it required more work than just pointing one telescope to the sky and noticing the novel celestial body. Instead, it required analyzing more than 20 years of data from several instruments, then using an algorithm to filter out waves coming from other sources.We analyzed the data for years, carefully eliminating sources of contamination," Michael Cretignier, a research fellow at Oxford University and a co-author of the paper, said in a press release. The exoplanets size, proximity to Earth, and potential to hold water makes it a prime candidate to search for life, as well as testing hypothesis about conditions that could support it. New instruments, like the European Southern Observatorys Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), will hasten that search when they come online. Until then, the search for more exoplanets will continue. Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:Astronomy and Astrophysics. Revisiting the multi-planetary system of the nearby star HD 20794Before joining Discover Magazine, Paul Smaglik spent over 20 years as a science journalist, specializing in U.S. life science policy and global scientific career issues. He began his career in newspapers, but switched to scientific magazines. His work has appeared in publications including Science News, Science, Nature, and Scientific American.