NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission found ingredients for DNA and RNA on the asteroid Bennu.The discovery shows asteroids could seed planets with the precursors for life.It's also more evidence that life could arise on the dwarf planet Ceres and Saturn's moon Enceladus.NASA probed an asteroid and found an ancient repository of ingredients for life.The findings, published in two papers in the journals Nature and Nature Astronomy on Wednesday, point to a missing link in the origins of life on Earth, but also possibly elsewhere."The findings do not show evidence of life itself, but they do suggest that the conditions necessary for the emergence of life were likely widespread across the early solar system," Nicky Fox, the associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said in a briefing on Wednesday. "So this, of course, increases the odds that life could have formed on other planets," she added.NASA's groundbreaking mission to an asteroidA mission called OSIRIS-REx landed on an asteroid named Bennu in 2020, jammed its arm into the rock's surface, and scooped up a heaping sample of grit and dust. It was NASA's first-ever score of fresh, unadulterated asteroid material.The mission sealed the Bennu sample in a protective capsule in space and shot it back to Earth, where NASA divvied up the stuff to labs all over the world. Now, surprising science results are rolling in."I'm excited to announce that the OSIRIS-REx team discovered that Bennu contains many precursor building blocks of life, along with the evidence that it comes from an ancient wet world," Fox said. Not only does Bennu contain evidence of ancient pools of liquid water it also carries minerals crucial to life, amino acids, and the five nucleobases for DNA and RNA. The sample return capsule from NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, shortly after touching down in the desert. NASA/Keegan Barber As asteroids crash into worlds across the galaxy, "they're essentially seeding these planets with the necessary ingredients for life," Tim McCoy, the curator of meteorites at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and co-lead of one of the studies, told Business Insider.That's promising for the possibility of life on other worlds including a few within our own solar system.Clues in tiny grains of asteroid dust Magnetite (iron oxide) crystals, each less than one micrometer in size, in a sample from the asteroid Bennu. Rob Wardell, Tim Gooding and Tim McCoy, Smithsonian Researchers have spent thousands of hours peering through special electron microscopes, mapping each grain of material from Bennu.Each millimeter-sized grain takes about a month to map, McCoy said, because it "probably realistically has at least 10,000 mineral grains in it, and you're just trying to find the one you're looking for."In a sample the size of a bar of soap, "you're looking for a grain that's a hundredth the width of a human hair, and there might be one or two of them," McCoy said. Sodium carbonate needles, each less than a micrometer wide, leftover from water evaporation on Bennu's parent body. Rob Wardell, Tim Gooding and Tim McCoy, Smithsonian They found phosphates and clay, which are both essential to the formation of life on Earth. A salty brine also indicated that mineral-rich pools of water had once evaporated from the parent asteroid that Bennu splintered from.McCoy had expected some water, envisioning Bennu's parent asteroid spotted with "ancient mud." Instead, he said, "it was like an ancient mud with pockets of water in it."So, not only did the asteroid carry the basic elements for life. It also had the watery environment to help synthesize them into complex ingredients like the DNA nucleobases that the NASA team discovered.That synthesis is a key step in the development of life.After that, nucleobases must interact with phosphates (which were on Bennu) and sugars (which scientists are still looking for in Bennu's samples) to form the nucleotides that bind to make the double helix of DNA or its single-stranded cousin, RNA. From there, DNA or RNA provides the instructions for cells and, eventually, can evolve self-replicating life.That doesn't necessarily mean asteroids are flying around with DNA and small alien bacteria. However, that early pre-life chemistry may have started on an asteroid in space before it crashed into Earth.Potential for alien life in our solar systemWith its water gone, Bennu is probably not conducting life-ingredient chemistry today but two planetary bodies in our solar system probably are.The dwarf planet Ceres and the Saturn moon Enceladus both feature salty brines with large bodies of water. Plumes on Enceladus shoot out water from an underground ocean, which scientists believe is similar to salty water on Bennu's parent body 4.5 billion years ago. NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute Those water bodies are much bigger and have probably been around much longer than the water on Bennu's parent asteroid, so the chemical pathway to life "could have gone much further," McCoy said.Both are contenders for possible alien life. The Bennu discoveries are another point in their favor.Asteroid Bennu has more to offerAt the Smithsonian, McCoy said scientists have mapped about 15 millimeter-sized grains of Bennu dust, with hundreds more to go."We're seeing new things in almost every one," he said, so there are surely more discoveries to come.While they continue mapping the minerals in each grain, NASA's Goddard team plans to look for sugars that would be crucial to forming nucleotides. McCoy's team also hopes to find bits of water trapped in the crystalline structure of Bennu's mineral grains and trace that water's history, to find clues about how water has moved through the solar system and its planets."I mean, that's one of the great questions: How did we get oceans and life, and why didn't every other planet get them?" McCoy said. "This may be part of the answer."

Donald Trump and Elon Musks sweeping effort to purge and reshape the federal government is underway.Federal employees have arrived at a fork in the road, the new administration proclaimed in a Tuesday night announcement. Their offer is that employees can choose to voluntarily resign effective September 30, but receive full pay and be exempt from return-to-office requirements before then. Or, employees can choose to stay but theyll be subject to higher expectations and no guarantee of job security.The announcement comes after a week in which Trumps team has instilled fear and confusion into the federal workforce. Theyve fired some employees (including in legally dubious ways), put others on administrative leave, and demanded government employees fess up to any effort to hide DEI programs by changing their names.All of that now seems intended to encourage many federal employees to quit saving Trump and Musk the trouble of pushing out employees with legal protections against firing. However, the administration also begun the process of trying to rip away those protections for many positions. This would let them hire more political appointees who the president would unambiguously be able to fire at will.And keep in mind that this has all unfolded in just nine days; there is likely much more to come. Its rapidly becoming clear that this will be the most ambitious and extensive effort to radically remake the federal government in our lifetimes.In part, this is Trumps effort to get revenge on what he calls the deep state, prevent future investigations of himself, and sweep aside checks on his power. Its also, in part, the fulfillment of long-held conservative ambitions about sweeping aside federal bureaucrats and reducing spending.But Musk and others in whats become known as the tech right have their own grand ambitions to disrupt a federal workforce they view as bloated, incompetent, and ideologically unsympathetic to them and build something better in its place.Marc Andreessen, a venture capitalist close to Musk and involved in the Trump transitions planning, recently argued that the current federal government was basically built by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s and 40s, but had since become an out-of-control bureaucracy without its founder around to lead it.So, Andreessen argued: You need another FDR-like figure but in reverse. You need somebody, and a team of people around them, whos actually willing to come in and take the thing by the throat. That, he said, is a lot of what this administration plans to do.But its far from clear whether the ambitions of Trump and the tech right are truly in alignment beyond hostility to a common enemy. The tech right claims to want a government that can help the country achieve great things and a workforce that prizes merit and talent. Yet Trumps chief concern is political loyalty, freedom from checks on his power, and the ability to better wield federal power against his enemies. Who is using who?Musk has big plans for transforming the federal workforce. Weve only seen the very beginning of them.Many factions on the right have long hoped to drastically overhaul the federal government, cutting spending and dispensing with bureaucrats. But GOP presidents including Trump in his first term generally havent wanted to rock the boat that much. In 2017, Steve Bannon, during his brief tenure in Trumps White House, called for deconstruction of the administrative state. But he and Trumps other appointees didnt seem to know how to actually make that happen.So the post-election announcement that Musk would head some sort of ill-defined thing called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was met with widespread scoffing in Washington. Everyone knew that such efforts to overhaul the federal government always fail, bogged down with red tape, legal requirements, and political caution.When Andreessen recently told a skeptical interviewer that DOGE had specific plans that were light years beyond anything Ive ever heard of before, and added that Musk, the conceptual genius of our time across multiple domains, has put all of his intellect into this, more scoffing ensued.But what Trumps team has done with its first week-plus in power suggests we are indeed seeing just the first steps of a highly ambitious and aggressive plan perhaps not a plan that will actually cut government spending by $2 trillion, as Musk suggested, but a plan that will reshape the federal workforce in consequential and enduring ways.Indeed, Musk and the tech right have far more experience at actually bringing about major change in the real world than any of Trumps first-term appointees. The Silicon Valley founder mindset is to think in terms of action and power, not law and procedure. They view legal constraints as pesky annoyances think about how Uber (whose founder advised DOGE transition planning) disregarded local taxi requirements to establish itself in various jurisdictions.There is much we still dont know about Musks plans with DOGE. But already Ive been struck by their effort to reinvent the US Office of Personnel Management. OPM has historically been a sleepy, process-oriented office overseeing hiring, benefits, and HR for the civil service. But Trumps team is now using it as an instrument of control over the federal workforce. It was OPM that quickly ordered federal employees working on DEI be put on administrative leave and asked them to snitch on any colleagues whod been renaming such programs. OPM also sent out the fork in the road email asking for voluntary resignations, which resembles an email Musk sent to Twitter employees after he took over that company.Indeed, while a colleague of Andreessens awaits confirmation as OPMs director, several Musk allies appear to be effectively in charge of the office, and Musk himself visited its building on Friday. The Tech Right is indeed running the show.Do Trump and the tech right have the same goal?Yet one major question is whether Trump and the tech right actually want the same thing or whether their goals will inevitably clash.Trump wants to sweep aside constraints on his personal power and to be freed from any pesky investigations hence his ordering the firing of 17 inspectors general, the appointees in charge of unearthing fraud and abuse at agencies. He, as ever, wants loyalty.What the tech right wants depends on who you ask. Some are likely more interested in clearing away regulation of their businesses. But others at least claim to envision a remade federal workforce full of talented high-achievers that will help America build again, make things actually work, and accomplish amazing goals like going to Mars. But the tech rights diagnosis of the problems in the existing system is important to understand. They point the finger at a permanent managerial class of elite-credentialed bureaucrats and middle managers, blaming them for both the Great Awokening era of social justice politics and for holding back brilliant capitalists from achieving great things.In an X post quoting that Trumps term ends the long 20th century, Andreessen said that that periods unifying theme was managerialism. Systems at scale, run by expert managers credentialed by elite institutions. A method now increasingly exposed as ineffective, corrupt, moribund, stagnant, rotten. Demoralizing and demoralized. Time for change.Several tech-right figures, including Andreessen, have also cited the influence of the blogger Curtis Yarvin. Yarvin, who I profiled in 2022, claims that US democracy has grown bloated and incompetent, with the president basically powerless to achieve his agenda, constrained by the deep state bureaucracy and laws that tie his hands. The extreme solution Yarvin advocates for is the overturning of American democracy and its replacement with a monarchical dictatorship. None of the prominent right-wing figures who praise Yarvins work have gone so far as openly advocating that. But Yarvin argues for it in terms that sound appealing to the tech right saying, shouldnt the federal government be run more like a business? and arent companies essentially monarchies accountable to a CEO?This is the Venn diagram overlap between Trumps self-interested desires and the tech rights diagnosis of whats ailing America both concur that the president should take more power away from institutions that currently check his authority, like the career civil service, Congress, or existing laws. But the similarities quickly start to vanish. The tech right loves to talk a big game about hiring only based on merit, but Trump demands total political loyalty above all. Many of Trumps firings seem mainly designed to let him get away with corruption, and he hopes to turn the Justice Department against his political enemies. The tech right has done quite well for themselves in the system we have, yet they seem set on helping Trump smash its safeguards and eliminate its checks on authoritarian power on moving fast and breaking the guardrails. Though dealing with woke critics and government regulators was surely unpleasant, perhaps they should dwell on what can befall CEOs in China and Russia, where politicized investigations and prosecutions have been normalized. The tech right might also be advised to dwell on how Trump treats one-time allies hes soured on. Do they want a system where their continued wealth and freedom depends on the favor of the sovereign? But perhaps the groveling of Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos to Trump, in hopes of avoiding politicized payback, shows that were already there.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: Politics

Asteroid Bennu not only held water at some point in its distant past but also contains briny residue that harbors some of the crucial building blocks for life, according to a team of scientists that studied samples of the space rock. The brine contains compounds that have never been previously observed in asteroid samples, including compounds of sodium carbonate. The brine can also be distinguished from brine samples on Earth, as it is much richer in phosphorusan element abundant on asteroids but uncommon on Earth. The teams findings shake up the story of Bennu, whose rocky bits were valiantly collected by NASA in 2020, and hint at the ways life may have taken root from the chemical cocktail of the cosmos. Two studies published today in Nature and Nature Astronomy reveal some of the first analyses done of the Bennu samples. The papers describe briny residue found in the samples, which differs from the composition of Earths brines, as well as protein-building amino acids and the five nucleobases that form the building blocks of RNA and DNA. In other words, the sample contains a wealth of material showing that critical ingredients for life as we know it exist on a space rock roughly the same age as Earth. The only thing missing, it would seem, were little green men. The OSIRIS-REx mission scooped the samples from Bennu when the asteroid was about 200 million miles (322 million kilometers) from Earth. NASA successfully brought the samples to Earths surface andafter some difficultiesopened the canister containing the rocky bits. An artists impression of OSIRIS-REx digging into Bennu. Image: NASA The OSIRIS-REx team collected more than twice the amount of asteroid material they had initially hoped to gather (4.29 ounces, or 121.6 grams), meaning that scientists have plenty to work with as they seek to decipher the history of our solar system and the origins of life itself.We now know from Bennu that the raw ingredients of life were combining in really interesting and complex ways on Bennus parent body, saidTim McCoy, the curator of meteorities at the Smithsonians National Museum of Natural History, and co-lead author on the Nature paper, in a Smithsonian release. We have discovered that next step on a pathway to life. When asteroids enter Earths atmosphere, they undergo extreme conditions, and when they land, the space rocks are inevitably covered in Earths own chemical cocktail. Bennus samples are especially useful because the asteroid is not tainted by Earths chemistry, similar to the samples collected from asteroid Ryugu during the Hayabusa2 mission.Bennu is actually a broken-off chunk of a larger asteroid that is about 4.5 billion years oldroughly the same age as our solar system. That asteroid probably contained pockets of liquid water, scientists believe, and the recent evidence of brine on Bennu seems to affirm that theory. As the sodium-rich water on Bennu evaporated, it left behind crusty mineral residue. The water is long gone, but the briny crudminerals rich in sodium, carbon, sulfur, phosphorus, chlorine, and fluorineremain. Scanning electron microscope image of trona, or soda ash, in the Bennu sample. Image: Rob Wardell, Tim Gooding and Tim McCoy, Smithsonian. The scientists who scrutinized the samples suggest that brines like those found in the asteroid bits probably also exist on other bodies in our solar system, including Saturns moon Enceladus and the dwarf planet Ceres. Enceladus is an exciting venue for astrobiologythe search for extraterrestrial lifebecause it is thought to harbor a subsurface ocean of liquid water and has been caught spitting up other ingredients for life, including hydrogen cyanide and phosphorus.In 2023, astrobiologists told Gizmodo just how significant the Bennu samples could be for understanding the building blocks of life and how water arrived on our primordial world. The new findings add promise and intrigue to that hype. This is the kind of finding you hope youre going to make on a mission, McCoy said. We found something we didnt expect, and thats the best reward for any kind of exploration.The wealth of samples taken from Bennuagain, nearly double what scientists had planned forwill continue to provide valuable insights into the history of our solar system and the distribution of key ingredients for life within it. So far, the samples are delivering on the promise that made OSIRIS-REx such a compelling mission, and our understanding of the cosmos is all the better for it.

Looking to upgrade your PC without breaking the bank? Microsofts Windows 11 Pro is currently available at its lowest price that seems almost too good to be true. At a time when software licenses can feel like a luxury purchase, this deal makes premium computing accessible to almost everyone. And it also lets you keep a copy of Windows on the backburner, just in case you need to use one at some point.See at StackSocialYoure thinking of the right software, thats for sure. Windows 11 Pro is now just $18 at StackSocial, down from its regular price of $199. Thats a whopping 90% discount, saving you $181 on Microsofts most capable operating system. While software licenses typically command premium prices, this deal brings professional-grade computing within reach for anyone looking to upgrade.Windows 11 at your beck and call for lessWindows 11 Pro may be super easy to use and familiar to boot, but its a lot more than that. Youre getting advanced security features like biometric login and TPM 2.0, professional tools including Hyper-V and BitLocker encryption, and productivity enhancements like snap layouts and improved virtual desktops. For gamers, DirectX 12 Ultimate ensures you can run the latest titles at their full potential.The professional features set this version apart from the standard Windows 11 Home. Azure AD integration, Windows Sandbox for secure testing, and enhanced encryption tools make this the go-to choice for anyone who needs more than just basic computing. The built-in Microsoft Teams integration and improved voice typing show Microsofts commitment to modern work habits.But even more importantly than that, think about all the times youve had to reboot your computer only to have problems. Many times, those problems evolved into needing a fresh install for Windows. If you often run into that issue, its a good idea to stock up on Windows keys, especially if you have to fix others computer issues. The fact that you can get a key for less than $20 will cement you as their technical wizard, and youll be able to handle just about any PC situation that happens to arise. And thats a good feeling to have.Best of all, this isnt a subscription its a lifetime license. At this lowest price point (90% off), youre essentially getting professional-grade software for the cost of a casual dinner out. Whether youre building a new PC, upgrading an existing system, or just want the security of having a spare license, this deal makes Windows 11 Pro an easy recommendation.See at StackSocial

The Old Byre Home / Gianni Botsford ArchitectsSave this picture! Schnepp RenouArchitects: Gianni Botsford ArchitectsAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:170 mYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2023 PhotographsPhotographs:Schnepp RenouManufacturersBrands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers: RODECA GMBH, Swisspearl Lead Architects: Stephanie Aue, Gianni Botsford, James Eagle, Oli Martin More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. Set on a ridge amid acres of pasture above West Cowes, Isle of Wight, near shipyards and light industry, The Old Byre is a conversion of two farm buildings into a home that also affords residency and working spaces for visiting artists.Save this picture!Insulated and wrapped in corrugated cement board on the outside, the project leaves the interior of the old barns largely intact, prioritizing retention over demolition.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Seen from the outside, The Old Byre appears indistinguishable from other farm buildings nearby. From the central courtyard on the other hand, where drift seeds and weeds grow in the cracks of the original surface and drains, a complex domestic exterior unfolds, framed by a translucent polycarbonate facade punctuated by large glazed aluminum doors which provide a separate entrance to each of the living and working spaces inside.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The two buildings that make up The Old Byre have been purposefully left disconnected. Daily life is animated by passages and crossings between private and social spaces, through the cool morning air, rain, and summer heat. At night, the facade glows, intimating activities on the inside. In the older barn, a house within a house has been built from spruce plywood. A back alley connects the more intimate, private interiors it harbors, tempered and modulated by full-height doors without traditional handles or locks.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!A concrete plinth supports the facade, frames the courtyard, and continues into the interior, providing the connecting ground for the transformation within. Animals used to live here, now humans. The archetypes that animate the design of The Old Byre are the piazza, the archive, the sound of work and industry, the demand of the environment, the social, the sharing of food, and care.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessAbout this officePublished on January 29, 2025Cite: "The Old Byre Home / Gianni Botsford Architects" 29 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1026175/the-old-byre-home-gianni-botsford-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! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

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Climate change is wreaking havoc across the globe, upending weather patterns and the Earths hydrological cycle with often dramatic effects on some of the largest water bodies. 2024 was the hottest year on record, and there are concerns that these pressures on the Earths water system are likely to increase as the climate crisis continues.One classic example is the Aral Sea. Once one of the largest lakes in the world, it has shrunk to only a fraction of its size. In 2016, this lake was less than 10 percent of its previous extent in 1960, says Fangfang Yao, a climate scientist with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at University of Colorado Boulder. Climate change is one factor that has driven that loss, along with diversion for irrigation and agriculture.Bodies of Water Across the GlobeThe Aral Sea is far from alone. The Caspian Sea, the worlds largest inland water body, is shrinking as temperatures rise and rainfall drops. Studies suggest that by the year 2100, water levels might plummet by as much as 30 meters. Lake Chad is another prominent example. In the past, it was one of Earths largest freshwater bodies. Between 1963 and 1990, however, it shrunk by an enormous 90 percent, partly due to reduced rainfall in the surrounding region.In Bolivia, Lake Titicaca, the largest freshwater body in South America, has also faced climate change impacts. A prolonged drought between 2022 and 2023 devastated the lake, heavily affecting local communities and indigenous peoples who rely upon it for daily life. At its worst point, the enormous lakes water level dropped by around 19 inches. Greenhouse Gases Lakes and other water bodies are affected in many other ways by climate change. Researchers such as Yao also note that in colder climates, some lakes face fewer ice-covered days which can further enhance water loss. Climate change-induced extreme heat combined with pollution can also trigger problems like toxic algal blooms. Extreme weather also means many lakes are facing drastic fluctuations in their water levels, year after year. The drying out of some bodies of water can become a source of climate change-fueling greenhouse gas emissions. A study published in 2024 found that Utahs Great Salt Lake which has lost around 70 percent of its water mass released an estimated 4.1 million tons of CO2 and other greenhouse gases from dried out portions of the lakebed.Past research suggested that climate change is only partly responsible for around 10 percent of of the Great Salt Lakes decline, with water use and extraction from the rivers that feed it a primary culprit. But a recent paper suggests that increasing temperatures driving evaporation may be responsible for as much as one third of the lakes recent decline in volume.Read More: Is the Euphrates River Drying Up?How Can We Manage the Water Decline?These lakes and water bodies are just a few high-profile examples of a much wider problem, says Yao. His team published a study in 2023 that analyzed satellite data and found that more than 50 percent of the worlds large natural lakes and reservoirs have dried up, having shrunk in size since 1990. Thats due to a confluence of climate change, human use, including withdrawals for freshwater, agriculture, and industrial uses. Together, these water bodies are losing an estimated 22 gigatons of water every year, his study found. We were kind of surprised that about one quarter of the global population live in a basin with a large drying lake, says Yao. We find three major factors, that is warming climate, human over consumption and sedimentation are largely responsible for the observed total losses across the globe.When people think about lake water decline, they maybe think the Aral Sea or Great Salt Lake, but we found that more than half of the largest water bodies in the world were drying based on nearly 30 years of satellite observations, says Yao, adding that a different approach of water management is needed as well as efforts to tackle climate change.Integrated water management and including lakes is key to ensuring sustainability. If we think about the water supply as a system, from the river flow to lakes to groundwater, it could be a sustainable way to maintain healthy water levels, he says.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:NASA Earth Observatory. The Caspian Seas Shrinking CoastlineNature Reviews. Global lake responses to climate changeBangor University. Lakes in hot water, climate change creating a cauldron of issuesSean Mowbray is a freelance writer based in Scotland. He covers the environment, archaeology, and general science topics. His work has also appeared in outlets such as Mongabay, New Scientist, Hakai Magazine, Ancient History Magazine, and others.