June 3, 20255 min readAre We Ready for Death in Space?NASA has quietly taken steps to prepare for a death in space. We need to ask how nations will deal with this inevitability now, as more people start traveling off the planetBy Peter Cummings edited by Lee Billings SciePro/Science Photo Library/Getty ImagesIn 2012 NASA stealthily slipped a morgue into orbit.No press release. No fanfare. Just a sealed, soft-sided pouch tucked in a cargo shipment to the International Space Station (ISS) alongside freeze-dried meals and scientific gear. Officially, it was called the Human Remains Containment Unit (HRCU). To the untrained eye it looked like a shipping bag for frozen cargo. But to NASA it marked something far more sobering: a major advance in preparing for death beyond Earth.As a kid, I obsessed over how astronauts went to the bathroom in zero gravity. Now, decades later, as a forensic pathologist and a perennial applicant to NASA’s astronaut corps, I find myself fixated on a darker, more haunting question:On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.What would happen if an astronaut died out there? Would they be brought home, or would they be left behind? If they expired on some other world, would that be their final resting place? If they passed away on a spacecraft or space station, would their remains be cast off into orbit—or sent on an escape-velocity voyage to the interstellar void?NASA, it turns out, has begun working out most of these answers. And none too soon. Because the question itself is no longer if someone will die in space—but when.A Graying CorpsNo astronaut has ever died of natural causes off-world. In 1971 the three-man crew of the Soviet Soyuz 11 mission asphyxiated in space when their spacecraft depressurized shortly before its automated atmospheric reentry—but their deaths were only discovered once the spacecraft landed on Earth. Similarly, every U.S. spaceflight fatality to date has occurred within Earth’s atmosphere—under gravity, oxygen and a clear national jurisdiction. That matters, because it means every spaceflight mortality has played out in familiar territory.But planned missions are getting longer, with destinations beyond low-Earth orbit. And NASA’s astronaut corps is getting older. The average age now hovers around 50—an age bracket where natural death becomes statistically relevant, even for clean-living fitness buffs. Death in space is no longer a thought experiment. It’s a probability curve—and NASA knows it.In response, the agency is making subtle but decisive moves. The most recent astronaut selection cycle was extended—not only to boost intake but also to attract younger crew members capable of handling future long-duration missions.NASA’s Space MorgueIf someone were to die aboard the ISS today, their body would be placed in the HRCU, which would then be sealed and secured in a nonpressurized area to await eventual return to Earth.The HRCU itself is a modified version of a military-grade body bag designed to store human remains in hazardous environments. It integrates with refrigeration systems already aboard the ISS to slow decomposition and includes odor-control filters and moisture-absorbent linings, as well as reversed zippers for respectful access at the head. There are straps to secure the body in a seat for return, and patches for name tags and national flags.Cadaver tests conducted in 2019 at Sam Houston State University have proved the system durable. Some versions held for over 40 days before decomposition breached the barrier. NASA even drop-tested the bag from 19 feet to simulate a hard landing.But it’s never been used in space. And since no one yet knows how a body decomposes in true microgravity (or, for that matter, on the moon), no one can really say whether the HRCU would preserve tissue well enough for a forensic autopsy.This is a troubling knowledge gap, because in space, a death isn’t just a tragic loss—it’s also a vital data point. Was an astronaut’s demise from a fluke of their physiology, or an unavoidable stroke of cosmic bad luck—or was it instead a consequence of flaws in a space habitat’s myriad systems that might be found and fixed? Future lives may depend on understanding what went wrong, via a proper postmortem investigation.But there’s no medical examiner in orbit. So NASA trains its crews in something called the In-Mission Forensic Sample Collection protocol. The space agency’s astronauts may avoid talking about it, but they all have it memorized: Document everything, ideally with real-time guidance from NASA flight surgeons. Photograph the body. Collect blood and vitreous fluid, as well as hair and tissue samples. Only then can the remains be stowed in the HRCU.NASA has also prepared for death outside the station—on spacewalks, the moon or deep space missions. If a crew member perishes in vacuum but their remains are retrieved, the body is wrapped in a specially designed space shroud.The goal isn’t just a technical matter of preventing contamination. It’s psychological, too, as a way of preserving dignity. Of all the “firsts” any space agency hopes to achieve, the first-ever human corpse drifting into frame on a satellite feed is not among them.If a burial must occur—in lunar regolith or by jettisoning into solar orbit—the body will be dutifully tracked and cataloged, treated forevermore as a hallowed artifact of space history.Such gestures are also of relevance to NASA’s plans for off-world mourning; grief and memorial protocols are now part of official crew training. If a death occurs, surviving astronauts are tasked with holding a simple ceremony to honor the fallen—then to move on with their mission.Uncharted RealmsSo far we’ve only covered the “easy” questions. NASA and others are still grappling with harder ones.Consider the issue of authority over a death and mortal remains. On the ISS, it’s simple: the deceased astronaut’s home country retains jurisdiction. But that clarity fades as destinations grow more distant and the voyages more diverse: What really happens on space-agency missions to the moon, or to Mars? How might rules change for commercial or multinational spaceflights—or, for that matter, the private space stations and interplanetary settlements that are envisioned by Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and other tech multibillionaires?NASA and its partners have started drafting frameworks, like the Artemis Accords—agreements signed by more than 50 nations to govern behavior in space. But even those don’t address many intimate details of death.What happens, for instance, if foul play is suspected?The Outer Space Treaty, a legal document drafted in 1967 under the United Nations that is humanity’s foundational set of rules for orbit and beyond, doesn’t say.Of course, not everything can be planned for in advance. And NASA has done an extraordinary job of keeping astronauts in orbit alive. But as more people venture into space, and as the frontier stretches to longer voyages and farther destinations, it becomes a statistical certainty that sooner or later someone won’t come home.When that happens, it won’t just be a tragedy. It will be a test. A test of our systems, our ethics and our ability to adapt to a new dimension of mortality. To some, NASA’s preparations for astronautical death may seem merely morbid, even silly—but that couldn’t be further from the truth.Space won’t care of course, whenever it claims more lives. But we will. And rising to that grim occasion with reverence, rigor and grace will define not just policy out in the great beyond—but what it means to be human there, too.

State-of-the-art models show human-competitive accuracy on AIME, GPQA, MATH-500, and OlympiadBench, solving Olympiad-level problems. Recent multimodal foundation models have advanced benchmarks for disciplinary knowledge and mathematical reasoning. However, these evaluations miss a crucial aspect of machine intelligence: physical reasoning, which requires integrating disciplinary knowledge, symbolic operations, and real-world constraints. Physical problem-solving differs fundamentally from pure mathematical reasoning as it demands models to decode implicit conditions in questions. For example, interpreting “smooth surface” as zero friction coefficient, and maintaining physical consistency across reasoning chains because physical laws remain constant regardless of reasoning trajectories. MLLM shows excellent visual understanding by integrating visual and textual data across various tasks, motivating exploration of its reasoning abilities. However, uncertainty remains regarding whether these models possess genuine advanced reasoning capabilities for visual tasks, particularly in physical domains closer to real-world scenarios. Several LLM benchmarks have emerged to evaluate reasoning abilities, with PHYBench being most relevant for physics reasoning. MLLM scientific benchmarks, such as PhysReason and EMMA, contain multimodal physics problems with figures, however, they include only small physics subsets, which inadequately evaluate MLLMs’ capabilities for reasoning and solving advanced physics problems. Researchers from the University of Hong Kong, the University of Michigan, the University of Toronto, the University of Waterloo, and the Ohio State University have proposed PHYX, a novel benchmark to evaluate the physical reasoning capabilities of foundation models. It comprises 3,000 visually-grounded physics questions, precisely curated across six distinct physics domains: Mechanics, Electromagnetism, Thermodynamics, Wave/Acoustics, Optics, and Modern Physics. It evaluates physics-based reasoning via multimodal problem-solving with three core innovations: (a) 3,000 newly collected questions with realistic physical scenarios requiring integrated visual analysis and causal reasoning, (b) Expert-validated data design covering six fundamental physics domains, and (c) Strict unified three-step evaluation protocols. Researchers designed a four-stage data collection process to ensure high-quality data. The process begins with an in-depth survey of core physics disciplines to determine coverage across diverse domains and subfields, followed by the recruitment of STEM graduate students as expert annotators. They comply with copyright restrictions and avoid data contamination by selecting questions without answers that are immediately available. Moreover, quality control involves a three-stage cleaning process including duplicate detection through lexical overlap analysis with manual review by physics Ph.D. students, followed by filtering the shortest 10% of questions based on textual length, resulting in 3,000 high-quality questions from an initial collection of 3,300. PHYX presents significant challenges for current models, with even the worst-performing human experts achieving 75.6% accuracy, outperforming all evaluated models and showing a gap between human expertise and current model capabilities. The benchmark reveals that multiple-choice formats narrow performance gaps by allowing weaker models to rely on surface-level cues, but open-ended questions demand genuine reasoning and precise answer generation. Comparing GPT-4o’s performance on PHYX to previously reported results on MathVista and MATH-V (both 63.8%), lower accuracy in physical reasoning tasks emphasizes that physical reasoning requires deeper integration of abstract concepts and real-world knowledge, presenting greater challenges than purely mathematical contexts. In conclusion, researchers introduced PHYX, the first large-scale benchmark for evaluating physical reasoning in multimodal, visually grounded scenarios. Rigorous evaluation reveals that state-of-the-art models show limitations in physical reasoning, relying predominantly on memorized knowledge, mathematical formulas, and superficial visual patterns rather than genuine understanding of physical principles. The benchmark focuses exclusively on English-language prompts and annotations, limiting assessment of multilingual reasoning abilities. Also, while images depict physically realistic scenarios, they are often schematic or textbook-style rather than real-world photographs, which may not fully capture the complexity of perception in natural environments. Check out the Paper, Code and Project Page. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also, feel free to follow us on Twitter and don’t forget to join our 95k+ ML SubReddit and Subscribe to our Newsletter. Sajjad AnsariSajjad Ansari is a final year undergraduate from IIT Kharagpur. As a Tech enthusiast, he delves into the practical applications of AI with a focus on understanding the impact of AI technologies and their real-world implications. He aims to articulate complex AI concepts in a clear and accessible manner.Sajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/Meta AI Introduces Multi-SpatialMLLM: A Multi-Frame Spatial Understanding with Multi-modal Large Language ModelsSajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/Can LLMs Really Judge with Reasoning? Microsoft and Tsinghua Researchers Introduce Reward Reasoning Models to Dynamically Scale Test-Time Compute for Better AlignmentSajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/NVIDIA AI Introduces AceReason-Nemotron for Advancing Math and Code Reasoning through Reinforcement LearningSajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/Researchers Introduce MMLONGBENCH: A Comprehensive Benchmark for Long-Context Vision-Language Models

May 28, 20257 min readWhy Is NASA Shuttering This Iconic Institute in New York City?Since 1966 NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies has been at the forefront of Earth and planetary science from its location in upper Manhattan. Now a Trump administration directive is ejecting its scientists to parts unknownBy Christopher Cokinos edited by Lee BillingsPhoto of the building housing NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, at the corner of Broadway and West 112th Street in New York City. Cirofono via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)In the early 1980s, then real estate developer Donald Trump famously tried to evict a group of New York City residents from a rent-controlled building that he wanted to replace with a luxury high-rise. The tenants eventually beat back the plan.Today President Trump is having more luck with NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS).Ensconced on six floors of a building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, GISS has been a small-but-mighty source of world-changing scientific research for more than a half-century. NASA scientists first moved into the building, which another federal agency leases from GISS’s institutional partner, Columbia University, in 1966. Last month, at the behest of the Trump administration, NASA officials told GISS it had to move out before the end of May. In response, more than 100 staffers have abandoned the facility, leaving its tastefully decorated halls and offices littered with boxes, papers and packing tape.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Although it may be best known to the public indirectly (its building often appeared in the hit sitcom Seinfeld as the site of “Monk’s Café”), GISS has been a leader in Earth science and climate research for decades. The work within its halls was crucial for sparking broader public awareness of anthropogenic climate change in the 1980s and has contributed to cutting-edge weather forecasting and multiple interplanetary missions, as well as the underpinnings of the past, present, and future habitability of Earth and other worlds.Yet now that rich legacy and prospects for further breakthrough research are at risk, GISS personnel say, jeopardized by the White House’s demands for notionally better government efficiency. Ironically, however, the effective eviction of GISS may well result in more costs to taxpayers rather than less.A Federal Mandate to “Institutionally Couch Surf”GISS itself has not been disbanded. But without a physical home and under the looming threat of a White House–proposed 50 percent cut to the entirety of NASA’s science for the 2026 federal fiscal year, the Institute’s future can only be called uncertain. Many of its staff are now operating as academic nomads—working remotely and scrambling to secure office space at other locations in the city.“We’re being told to institutionally couch surf,” says one senior GISS researcher, who, like many others in this story, asked not to be identified because of the possibility of reprisal.In April Makenzie Lystrup, director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, which technically includes GISS, e-mailed GISS personnel about the eviction, explaining it was part of White House efforts to review government leases.Sources familiar with the situation, however, tell Scientific American the termination was specifically set in motion earlier this spring by an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service (a newly minted federal entity that was, until recently, led by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk). That employee, the sources say, approached NASA administrators, who ultimately agreed to the move out of fear of losing their jobs.A GISS scientist recounts the sudden events: “On Wednesday afternoon of April 23, NASA GISS workers were informed that there would be an all-hands Thursday morning meeting (the next day) with folks from HQ ... the topic of which was not mentioned,” the scientist says. “The next morning, we were promptly told ... the decision was made to vacate our building by the end of May and that the decision was made as part of a broader DOGE assessment of federal leased spaces. They also mentioned that this decision was made by NASA within just a few days.” According to this scientist, the move deadline changed several times. This account is supported by others who spoke to Scientific American.Multiple GISS personnel consulted for this story say there will be no cost savings because the $3-million-per-year lease on the space remains in place through 2031. That lease is between Columbia and the General Services Administration (GSA), a federal agency that is tasked with providing workspace for some governmental employees. Even if a new tenant is found, the lease is likely to remain in force because terminating it will result in major financial penalties per the leasing agreement. The lease, they say, is about half the current commercial rate in New York City, and for now, the GSA continues to pay rent.“Columbia is fully committed to our longstanding collaboration with NASA and the scientific research at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies,” said Millie Wert, a spokesperson for the university, when reached for comment for this article.The suddenness of the move has stunned GISS researchers and personnel, one of whom calls the decision “idiocy.”“One hundred and thirty scientists must move all their books and office equipment,” the senior researcher told Scientific American shortly after GISS received the eviction notice. “A library and $400,000 in tech must be moved out. We also have historical items here: Where are we supposed to put them?” Much of this material is reportedly going into storage at warehouse space in New Jersey.Another staffer adds that “we have no information about what will be discarded.... Ironically, many of us decided not to accept new furniture [recently] because our existing 1950s furniture is perfectly good—and that would save the taxpayer money.”As GISS employees packed their belongings, they saw workers dismantling a recently renovated conference room and a brand-new security system, according to documents obtained by Scientific American from the departing staff. The documents also note that computers and servers are “at risk of damage while being moved in haste.”Two protest letters against the eviction that were sent from the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers (IFPTE) to particular congressional representatives and senators, respectively, noted that a recent renovation of GISS is nearly complete at a cost of more than $6 million. In the letter to members of the House of Representatives, IFPTE called the dispersal of staff and equipment “blatantly wasteful financially.”An Institutional “Diaspora”GISS is globally renowned for tracking and predicting climate conditions with GISTEMP (GISS Surface Temperature Analysis), along with other datasets and modeling that involve planetary science beyond Earth and that are focused on weather, fire and agriculture on our world. GISS also has played roles in missions across the solar system, the discovery of the big bang’s all-sky afterglow, and more.According to firebrand climate researcher and former GISS director James Hansen, now retired from NASA, the institute was deliberately located in New York City because physicist Robert Jastrow, its founder, wanted a NASA center that was not a closed campus. Being in the heart of a city with academia and industry outside the door has been an asset to GISS, according to Hansen and others. The process of developing GISS began modestly, with “Jastrow ... interviewing people in an office over a furniture store in Silver Spring, Md.,” Hansen says. “The ‘GISS Formula’ ... was to have a minimum government staff, which allowed the research focus to change with time as the need dictated.”One such focus was the high levels of carbon dioxide on Venus, which Hansen was studying decades ago. That led to his trailblazing work on what was then called “the greenhouse effect,” including his famous testimony before Congress on human-driven climate change in 1988.Climate modeling, says a different senior GISS researcher, “is what drove the development of supercomputing, [and] we continue to use the same Earth climate modeling to understand Venus and Mars and constrain their potential habitability.” From climate feedback loops to ocean heat transport, GISS is at the center of important science, its researchers say.But the GISS dispersal, along with other disruptions, such as frozen grants and proposed science budget cuts at NASA, the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, among other agencies, “represent a monumental step backwards,” a GISS scientist says, “not just for understanding a climate that will still change due to human activities ... but also for operational weather prediction that saves lives due to forecast and warnings, pollution and contamination assessments.”GISS’s current director Gavin Schmidt tells Scientific American that “the issue of whether to do something with the GISS lease goes back a year or two due to a shift in how these things are paid for at NASA.... [The agency] commissioned an external panel to look at [this], and they concluded (last year) that the status quo was the most efficient plan. I am not privy to who decided to raise that idea again in recent weeks.”Other GISS researchers complain that, to their knowledge, no administrators above Schmidt went to bat for keeping the institute in its building.“I think there was pushback initially at HQ,” Schmidt says, “but by the time we were told at GISS, it was a done deal.”Concerns now include the lack of in-person interaction and a general loss of support for postdoctoral researchers. “It’s pretty dire,” one scientist says.“I’m now watching people who have dedicated their entire careers to understanding the most pressing issues of our time deciding whether they might have to leave the place they’ve built their life around,” says Alessandra Quigley, an early-career scientist, who is affiliated with GISS. “This is the only positive takeaway I can find: the fact this administration cares so much about ending climate science just demonstrates how important [this science] is, and I hope the public comes to see that, too.”While Lystrup called GISS’s work “critical” and promised support during the transition in her e-mail, which was obtained by Scientific American , Schmidt says that “people are shell-shocked and anxious—and that is not conducive to doing high-quality science.”He adds that “we will nonetheless push through and try and make the GISS diaspora function as well as it can. We have been contacted with many offers to help.”Asked for comment by Scientific American, a NASA spokesperson referred to the situation as “part of the administration’s government-wide review of leases to increase efficiency.” While NASA “seeks and evaluates options for a new space for the GISS team,” the spokesperson added, the institute’s work remains “significant” and “critical.”But at least one GISS researcher isn’t convinced. Angry that the agency didn’t do more to stop the eviction and even had tasked officials with frequent check-ins to ensure the move was underway, the researcher says, simply, “NASA is the new thug.”

What if there were a battery that could release energy while trapping carbon dioxide? This isn’t science fiction; it’s the promise of lithium-carbon dioxide (Li-CO₂) batteries, which are currently a hot research topic. Li-CO₂ batteries could be a two-in-one solution to the current problems of storing renewable energy and taking carbon emissions out of the air. They absorb carbon dioxide and convert it into a white powder called lithium carbonate while discharging energy. These batteries could have profound implications for cutting emissions from vehicles and industry—and might even enable long-duration missions on Mars, where the atmosphere is 95% CO₂. To make these batteries commercially viable, researchers have mainly been wrestling with problems related to recharging them. Now, our team at the University of Surrey has come up with a promising way forward. So how close are these “CO₂-breathing” batteries to becoming a practical reality? Like many great scientific breakthroughs, Li-CO₂ batteries were a happy accident. Slightly over a decade ago, a U.S.-French team of researchers were trying to address problems with lithium air batteries, another frontier energy-storage technology. Whereas today’s lithium-ion batteries generate power by moving and storing lithium ions within electrodes, lithium air batteries work by creating a chemical reaction between lithium and oxygen. The problem has been the “air” part, since even the tiny (0.04%) volume of CO₂ that’s found in air is enough to disrupt this careful chemistry, producing unwanted lithium carbonate (Li₂CO₃). As many battery scientists will tell you, the presence of Li₂CO₃ can also be a real pain in regular lithium-ion batteries, causing unhelpful side reactions and electrical resistance. Nonetheless the scientists noticed something interesting about this CO₂ contamination: It improved the battery’s amount of charge. From this point on, work began on intentionally adding CO₂ gas to batteries to take advantage of this, and the lithium-CO₂ battery was born. How it works Their great potential relates to the chemical reaction at the positive side of the battery, where small holes are cut in the casing to allow CO₂ gas in. There it dissolves in the liquid electrolyte (which allows the charge to move between the two electrodes) and reacts with lithium that has already been dissolved there. During this reaction, it’s believed that four electrons are exchanged between lithium ions and carbon dioxide. This electron transfer determines the theoretical charge that can be stored in the battery. In a normal lithium-ion battery, the positive electrode exchanges just one electron per reaction. (In lithium air batteries, it’s two to four electrons.) The greater exchange of electrons in the lithium-carbon dioxide battery, combined with the high voltage of the reaction, explains their potential to greatly outperform today’s lithium-ion batteries. However, the technology has a few issues. The batteries don’t last very long. Commercial lithium-ion packs routinely survive 1,000 to 10,000 charging cycles; most LiCO₂ prototypes fade after fewer than 100. They’re also difficult to recharge. This requires breaking down the lithium carbonate to release lithium and CO₂, which can be energy intensive. This energy requirement is a little like a hill that must be cycled up before the reaction can coast, and is known as overpotential. You can reduce this requirement by printing the right catalyst material on the porous positive electrode. Yet these catalysts are typically expensive and rare noble metals, such as ruthenium and platinum, making for a significant barrier to commercial viability. Our team has found an alternative catalyst, caesium phosphomolybdate, which is far cheaper and easy to manufacture at room temperature. This material made the batteries stable for 107 cycles, while also storing 2.5 times as much charge as a lithium ion. And we significantly reduced the energy cost involved in breaking down lithium carbonate, for an overpotential of 0.67 volts, which is only about double what would be necessary in a commercial product. Our research team is now working to further reduce the cost of this technology by developing a catalyst that replaces caesium, since it’s the phosphomolybdate that is key. This could make the system more economically viable and scalable for widespread deployment. We also plan to study how the battery charges and discharges in real time. This will provide a clearer understanding of the internal mechanisms at work, helping to optimize performance and durability. A major focus of upcoming tests will be to evaluate how the battery performs under different CO₂ pressures. So far, the system has only been tested under idealized conditions (1 bar). If it can work at 0.1 bar of pressure, it will be feasible for car exhausts and gas boiler flues, meaning you could capture CO₂ while you drive or heat your home. Demonstrating that this works will be an important confirmation of commercial viability, albeit we would expect the battery’s charge capacity to reduce at this pressure. By our rough calculations, 1kg of catalyst could absorb around 18.5kg of CO₂. Since a car driving 100 miles emits around 18kg to 20kg of CO₂, that means such a battery could potentially offset a day’s drive. If the batteries work at 0.006 bar, the pressure on the Martian atmosphere, they could power anything from an exploration rover to a colony. At 0.0004 bar, Earth’s ambient air pressure, they could capture CO₂ from our atmosphere and store power anywhere. In all cases, the key question will be how it affects the battery’s charge capacity. Meanwhile, to improve the battery’s number of recharge cycles, we need to address the fact that the electrolyte dries out. We’re currently investigating solutions, which probably involve developing casings that only CO₂ can move into. As for reducing the energy required for the catalyst to work, it’s likely to require optimizing the battery’s geometry to maximize the reaction rate—and to introduce a flow of CO₂, comparable to how fuel cells work (typically by feeding in hydrogen and oxygen). If this continued work can push the battery’s cycle life above 1,000 cycles, cut overpotential below 0.3 V, and replace scarce elements entirely, commercial Li-CO₂ packs could become reality. Our experiments will determine just how versatile and far-reaching the battery’s applications might be, from carbon capture on Earth to powering missions on Mars. Daniel Commandeur is a Surrey Future Fellow at the School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering at the University of Surrey. Mahsa Masoudi is a PhD researcher of chemical engineering at the University of Surrey. Siddharth Gadkari is a lecturer in chemical process engineering at the University of Surrey. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Photo Credit: NASA New Study Uses AI to Reveal Dry Origins of Mars’ Mysterious Slope Streaks Highlights AI maps 500,000 Martian slope streaks with no signs of water New study links streaks to wind and dust, not liquid brines Findings reshape Mars exploration and contamination concerns Advertisement The origin of Recurring Slope Linea, the long, dark markings that stretches across the slopes of Martian surface for hundreds of feet, has been a topic of debate for a long time. They appear during warmer season and they were seen as one of the most compelling signs that liquid water might still exist on Mars, suggesting a rare pocket of habitability on an otherwise arid planet. However, this view has been challenged by a new study by a group of researchers Brown University and the University of Bern. Using machine learning and leveraging satellite images, they have found evidence about the dry processes being the origin of these streaks.Machine learning breakthrough brings new evidencesAccording to Adomas Valantinas, a postdoctoral researcher at Brown who coauthored the research with Valentin Bickel, a researcher at Bern, a big focus of Mars research is understanding modern-day processes on Mars, including the possibility of liquid water on the surface. This study reviewed these features but found no evidence of water. Their model favours dry formation processes.Valantinas and Bickel integrated over 86000 high-resolution satellite images with a machine learning algorithm for analysis. They created the first global map of Martian slope streaks, cataloguing over 500,000 individual features across the planet's surface. This database enables an unprecedented statistical analysis for the origin and location of these streaks.Researchers used the complete streak map to compare the locations of these features with environmental factors like wind speed, temperature, dust accumulation, and surface hydration. They did not find any correlation between the streaks and water or frost. Rather, these features are more common in areas with high wind activity and dust deposition.Future of Mars explorationThis study provides insights in understanding the surface activities of current Martian environment. The streak sites were used to be treated with caution because of environmental contamination concerns. Ruling out the possibility of liquid water as origin of streaks, the study almost cancels out the probable risk of Earth based contamination. For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube. Further reading: Mars, Recurring Slope Lineae, RSL, NASA, Brown University, University of Bern, Machine Learning, Planetary Science, Mars Exploration, AI in Astronomy, Dust Activity, Martian Habitats Gadgets 360 Staff The resident bot. If you email me, a human will respond. More Related Stories

In February 2024, CNN reported, “A finance worker at a multinational firm was tricked into paying out $25 million to fraudsters using deepfake technology to pose as the company’s chief financial officer in a video conference call.” In Europe, a second firm experienced a multimillion-dollar fraud when a deepfake emulated a board member in a video allegedly approving a fraudulent transfer of funds. “Banks and financial institutions are particularly at risk,” said The Hack Academy. “A study by Deloitte found that over 50% of senior executives expect deepfake scams to target their organizations soon. These attacks can undermine trust and lead to significant financial loss.”  Hack Academy went on to say that AI-inspired security attacks weren’t confined to deepfakes. These attacks were also beginning to occur with increased regularity in the form of corporate espionage and misinformation campaigns. AI brings new, more dangerous tactics to traditional security attack methods like phishing, social engineering and the insertion of malware into systems. For CIOs, enterprise AI system developers, data scientists and IT network professionals, AI changes the rules and the tactics for security, given AI’s limitless potential for both good and bad. This is forcing a reset in how IT thinks about security against malicious actors and intruders. Related:How Bad Actors are Exploiting AI What exactly is IT up against? The AI tools that are available on the dark web and in public cyber marketplaces give security perpetrators a wide choice of AI weaponry. Also, IoT and edge networks now present much broader enterprise attack surfaces. Security threats can come in videos, phone calls, social media sites, corporate systems and networks, vendor clouds, IoT devices, network end points, and virtually any entry point into a corporate IT environment that electronic communications can penetrate. Here are some of the current AI-embellished security attacks that companies are seeing: Convincing deepfake videos of corporate executives and stakeholders that are intended to dupe companies in pursuing certain actions or transferring certain assets or funds. This deep faking also extends to voice simulations of key personnel that are left as voicemails in corporate phone systems.  Phishing and spearfishing attacks that send convincing emails (some with malicious attachments) to employees, who mistakenly open them because they think the sender is their boss, the CEO or someone else they perceive as trusted. AI supercharges these attacks because it can automate and send out a large volume of emails that hit many employee email accounts. That AI continues to “learn” with the help of machine learning so it can discover new trusted sender candidates for future attacks.   Related:Adaptive messaging that uses generative AI to craft messages to users that correct grammar and that “learn” from corporate communication styles so they can more closely emulate corporate communications that make them seem legitimate. Mutating code that uses AI to change malware signatures on the fly so antivirus detection mechanisms can be evaded. Data poisoning that occurs when a corporate or cloud provider’s AI data repository is injected by malware that alters (“poisons”) so the data produces erroneous and misleading results.  Fighting Back With Tech To combat these supercharged AI-based security threats, IT has number of tools, techniques and strategies it can consider. Fighting deepfakes. Deepfakes can come in the form of videos, voicemails and photos. Since deepfakes are unstructured data objects that can’t be parsed in their native forms like real data, there are new tools on the market that can convert these objects into graphical representations that can be analyzed to evaluate whether there is something in an object that should or shouldn’t be there. The goal is to confirm authenticity.  Related:Fighting phishing and spear phishing. A combination of policy and practice works best to combat phishing and spear phishing attacks. Both types of attacks are predicated on users being tricked into opening an email attachment that they believe is from a trusted sender, so the first line of defense is educating (and repeat-educating) users on how to handle their email. For instance, a user should notify IT if they receive an email that seems unusual or unexpected, and they should never open it. IT should also review its current security tools. Is it still using older security monitoring software that doesn’t include more modern technologies like observability, which can check for security intrusions or malware at more atomic levels?  Is IT still using IAM (identity access management) software to track user identities and activities at a top level in the cloud and on top and atomic levels on premises, or has it also added cloud identity entitlements management (CIEM), which gives it an atomic level view of  user accesses and activities in the cloud? Better yet, has IT moved to identity governance administration (IGA), which can serve as an over-arching umbrella for IAM and CIEM plugins, plus provide detailed audit reports and automated compliance across all platforms? Fighting embedded malware code. Malware can lie dormant in systems for months, giving a bad actor the option to activate it whenever the timing is right. It’s all the more reason for IT to augment its security staff with new skillsets, such as that of the “threat hunter,” whose job is to examine networks, data and systems on a daily basis, hunting down malware that might be lurking within, and destroying it before it activates. Fighting with zero-trust networks. Internet of Things (IoT) devices come into companies with little or no security because IoT suppliers don’t pay much attention to it and there is a general expectation that corporate IT will configure devices to the appropriate security settings. The problem is, IT often forgets to do this. There are also times when users purchase their own IoT gear, and IT doesn’t know about it. Zero-trust networks help manage this, because they detect and report on everything that is added, subtracted or modified on the network. This gives IT visibility into new, potential security breach points. A second step is to formalize IT procedures for IoT devices so that no IoT device is deployed without the device’s security first being set to corporate standards.  Fighting AI data poisoning. AI models, systems and data should be continuously monitored for accuracy. As soon as they show lowered levels of accuracy or produce unusual conclusions, the data repository, inflows and outflows should be examined for quality and non-bias of data. If contamination is found, the system should be taken down, the data sanitized, and the sources of the contamination traced, tracked and disabled. Fighting AI with AI. Most every security tool on the market today contains AI functionality to detect anomalies, abnormal data patterns and user activities. Additionally, forensics AI can dissect a security breach that does occur, isolating how it happened, where it originated from and what caused it. Since most sites don’t have on-staff forensics experts, IT will have to train staff in forensics skills. Fighting with regular audits and vulnerability testing. Minimally, IT vulnerability testing should be performed on a quarterly basis, and full security audits on an annual basis. If sites use cloud providers, they should request each provider’s latest security audit for review. An outside auditor can also help sites prepare for future AI-driven security threats, because auditors stay on top of the industry, visit many different companies, and see many different situations. An advanced knowledge of threats that loom in the future helps sites prepare for new battles. Summary AI technology is moving faster than legal rulings and regulations. This leaves most IT departments “on their own” to develop security defenses against bad actors who use AI against them.  The good news is that IT already has insights into how bad actors intend to use AI, and there are tools on the market that can help defensive efforts. What’s been missing is a proactive and aggressive battle plan from IT. That has to start now. 

In February 2024, CNN reported, “A finance worker at a multinational firm was tricked into paying out $25 million to fraudsters using deepfake technology to pose as the company’s chief financial officer in a video conference call.” In Europe, a second firm experienced a multimillion-dollar fraud when a deepfake emulated a board member in a video allegedly approving a fraudulent transfer of funds. “Banks and financial institutions are particularly at risk,” said The Hack Academy. “A study by Deloitte found that over 50% of senior executives expect deepfake scams to target their organizations soon. These attacks can undermine trust and lead to significant financial loss.”  Hack Academy went on to say that AI-inspired security attacks weren’t confined to deepfakes. These attacks were also beginning to occur with increased regularity in the form of corporate espionage and misinformation campaigns. AI brings new, more dangerous tactics to traditional security attack methods like phishing, social engineering and the insertion of malware into systems. For CIOs, enterprise AI system developers, data scientists and IT network professionals, AI changes the rules and the tactics for security, given AI’s limitless potential for both good and bad. This is forcing a reset in how IT thinks about security against malicious actors and intruders. Related:How Bad Actors are Exploiting AI What exactly is IT up against? The AI tools that are available on the dark web and in public cyber marketplaces give security perpetrators a wide choice of AI weaponry. Also, IoT and edge networks now present much broader enterprise attack surfaces. Security threats can come in videos, phone calls, social media sites, corporate systems and networks, vendor clouds, IoT devices, network end points, and virtually any entry point into a corporate IT environment that electronic communications can penetrate. Here are some of the current AI-embellished security attacks that companies are seeing: Convincing deepfake videos of corporate executives and stakeholders that are intended to dupe companies in pursuing certain actions or transferring certain assets or funds. This deep faking also extends to voice simulations of key personnel that are left as voicemails in corporate phone systems.  Phishing and spearfishing attacks that send convincing emails (some with malicious attachments) to employees, who mistakenly open them because they think the sender is their boss, the CEO or someone else they perceive as trusted. AI supercharges these attacks because it can automate and send out a large volume of emails that hit many employee email accounts. That AI continues to “learn” with the help of machine learning so it can discover new trusted sender candidates for future attacks.   Related:Adaptive messaging that uses generative AI to craft messages to users that correct grammar and that “learn” from corporate communication styles so they can more closely emulate corporate communications that make them seem legitimate. Mutating code that uses AI to change malware signatures on the fly so antivirus detection mechanisms can be evaded. Data poisoning that occurs when a corporate or cloud provider’s AI data repository is injected by malware that alters (“poisons”) so the data produces erroneous and misleading results.  Fighting Back With Tech To combat these supercharged AI-based security threats, IT has number of tools, techniques and strategies it can consider. Fighting deepfakes. Deepfakes can come in the form of videos, voicemails and photos. Since deepfakes are unstructured data objects that can’t be parsed in their native forms like real data, there are new tools on the market that can convert these objects into graphical representations that can be analyzed to evaluate whether there is something in an object that should or shouldn’t be there. The goal is to confirm authenticity.  Related:Fighting phishing and spear phishing. A combination of policy and practice works best to combat phishing and spear phishing attacks. Both types of attacks are predicated on users being tricked into opening an email attachment that they believe is from a trusted sender, so the first line of defense is educating (and repeat-educating) users on how to handle their email. For instance, a user should notify IT if they receive an email that seems unusual or unexpected, and they should never open it. IT should also review its current security tools. Is it still using older security monitoring software that doesn’t include more modern technologies like observability, which can check for security intrusions or malware at more atomic levels?  Is IT still using IAM (identity access management) software to track user identities and activities at a top level in the cloud and on top and atomic levels on premises, or has it also added cloud identity entitlements management (CIEM), which gives it an atomic level view of  user accesses and activities in the cloud? Better yet, has IT moved to identity governance administration (IGA), which can serve as an over-arching umbrella for IAM and CIEM plugins, plus provide detailed audit reports and automated compliance across all platforms? Fighting embedded malware code. Malware can lie dormant in systems for months, giving a bad actor the option to activate it whenever the timing is right. It’s all the more reason for IT to augment its security staff with new skillsets, such as that of the “threat hunter,” whose job is to examine networks, data and systems on a daily basis, hunting down malware that might be lurking within, and destroying it before it activates. Fighting with zero-trust networks. Internet of Things (IoT) devices come into companies with little or no security because IoT suppliers don’t pay much attention to it and there is a general expectation that corporate IT will configure devices to the appropriate security settings. The problem is, IT often forgets to do this. There are also times when users purchase their own IoT gear, and IT doesn’t know about it. Zero-trust networks help manage this, because they detect and report on everything that is added, subtracted or modified on the network. This gives IT visibility into new, potential security breach points. A second step is to formalize IT procedures for IoT devices so that no IoT device is deployed without the device’s security first being set to corporate standards.  Fighting AI data poisoning. AI models, systems and data should be continuously monitored for accuracy. As soon as they show lowered levels of accuracy or produce unusual conclusions, the data repository, inflows and outflows should be examined for quality and non-bias of data. If contamination is found, the system should be taken down, the data sanitized, and the sources of the contamination traced, tracked and disabled. Fighting AI with AI. Most every security tool on the market today contains AI functionality to detect anomalies, abnormal data patterns and user activities. Additionally, forensics AI can dissect a security breach that does occur, isolating how it happened, where it originated from and what caused it. Since most sites don’t have on-staff forensics experts, IT will have to train staff in forensics skills. Fighting with regular audits and vulnerability testing. Minimally, IT vulnerability testing should be performed on a quarterly basis, and full security audits on an annual basis. If sites use cloud providers, they should request each provider’s latest security audit for review. An outside auditor can also help sites prepare for future AI-driven security threats, because auditors stay on top of the industry, visit many different companies, and see many different situations. An advanced knowledge of threats that loom in the future helps sites prepare for new battles. Summary AI technology is moving faster than legal rulings and regulations. This leaves most IT departments “on their own” to develop security defenses against bad actors who use AI against them.  The good news is that IT already has insights into how bad actors intend to use AI, and there are tools on the market that can help defensive efforts. What’s been missing is a proactive and aggressive battle plan from IT. That has to start now. 

Save this picture!Pitaya House / Taller General + Jose María Sáez. Image © JAG StudioIn partnership with the European Cultural Center (ECC), ArchDaily has launched its inaugural exhibition as part of the seventh iteration of Time Space Existence, an architectural showcase occurring concurrently with the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale. Open from May 10 to November 23, 2025, in various locations throughout Venice, this edition centers on the theme of "Repair, Regenerate, and Reuse," promoting innovative and sustainable approaches in architecture. ArchDaily's contribution is located at Palazzo Mora, complementing other venues like Palazzo Bembo, Marinaressa Gardens, and Palazzo Michiel. Save this picture!Save this picture!Aligned with the broader theme of the event, the exhibition focuses on six emerging practices that were previously selected as part of ArchDaily's ongoing series "Best New Practices." Initiated in 2020, this annual award aims to recognize innovative professionals across various fields related to architecture, highlighting the diversity of approaches and innovations brought by creatives working at the intersection of architecture and other related domains. With over 85 teams and professionals selected to date, representing contributions from 32 countries, the initiative reflects a commitment to geographical diversity and the inclusion of regions often overshadowed in the global architectural discourse. By highlighting firms from areas such as Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, the initiative brings attention to unique architectural expressions and solutions emerging from these contexts and contributing meaningfully to the global debate.Save this picture!The six selected practices illustrate this variety by addressing all phases of the design process, introducing innovations from the roots of material sourcing to the potential of rethinking urban rooftops. Estudio Flume in Brazil exemplifies how transforming organic waste into sustainable building materials supports regional development and cultural preservation. Willow Technologies in Ghana advocates for circular economy strategies by reusing agricultural by-products to repair ecosystems and foster biodiversity. Taller General in Ecuador promotes social inclusion through collaborative architecture that reuses existing structures and materials. Studio Zewde in the U.S. integrates ecological and cultural history into landscape design. Wiki World in China democratizes architecture by engaging communities and children in the creative process. Meanwhile, Roofscapes in France focuses on retrofitting existing urban surfaces to adapt cities to climate challenges, transforming rooftops into ecological and social assets. Related Article ArchDaily's 2024 Best New Practices Collectively, these studios showcase how thoughtful intervention at the local level can foster resilient, sustainable environments, making a significant impact through bottom-up strategies aligned with the "root to roof" philosophy.Identifying and Leveraging Local ResourcesEstudio Flume, Noelia Monteiro [São Paulo, Brazil]Save this picture!Estudio Flume, founded in 2015 by Noelia Monteiro and Christian Teshirogi, uniquely addresses the intersection of environmental sustainability and community empowerment by transforming organic waste from Amazonian açaí production into locally created construction materials. Focusing on discarded açaí seeds, the studio collaborates closely with local harvesters to develop particleboard panels that serve as sustainable, locally made materials for community-driven designs. This approach not only reduces waste and preserves traditional practices but also provides economic benefits to communities reliant on açaí harvesting. Through participatory workshops and tailored material research, Estudio Flume emphasizes culturally sensitive, environmentally responsible design solutions that support regional development.Save this picture!Their work exemplifies how innovative reuse of natural resources can foster community resilience and promote ecological balance within the Amazon. The transformation and repurposing of waste from a process essential to local communities demonstrate a grassroots approach for working within local contexts while also illustrating a particular interpretation of the themes of "Repair, Regenerate, and Reuse." The studio helps regenerate ecological balance within the Amazon, turning waste into a catalyst for both environmentally and socially responsible building practices.Restoring Balance with Circular Economy Practices Willow Technologies, Mae-ling Lokko [Accra, Ghana]Save this picture!Founded by Ghanaian-Filipino scientist and architect Mae-Ling Lokko in 2017, Willow Technologies conducts material research and pioneers circular and bio-based technologies that root material development into regional agricultural practices. Their initiatives take a holistic look at the broader needs of local communities, not only reusing discarded bio-based waste such as coconut husks into new building materials, but also employing these materials to provide essential services. One example is their collaboration with Global Mamas to employ moringa seed press cake—a by-product of oil extraction—as a water filtration system that treats toxic textile wastewater, providing safe water for municipal disposal.Save this picture!Furthermore, their focus on repairing and regenerating environmental systems is evident in their efforts to develop solutions that reduce waste, improve soil health, and restore ecological balance. Projects like transforming wastewater treatment by-products into usable masonry and creating stormwater management systems demonstrate how contamination risk is minimized and ecosystems are regenerated. By closing resource loops and promoting community involvement, Willow Technologies advocates for materials and practices that repair environmental damage, support biodiversity, and foster sustainable development.Enhancing Spaces through Collective WorkTaller General [Quito, Ecuador]Save this picture!Taller General, founded in 2017 in Quito, Ecuador, uniquely approaches architecture through the lens of collaborative work and social transformation, while not disregarding environmental responsibility. Acting within regions defined by informal urban growth, the studio's practice understands construction as a continuous process of learning through community engagement and resource reuse. Projects such as the Pitaya House feature laminated pine from certified forests, highlighting innovations in sustainable material sourcing and reducing ecological impact, while San Tola Cohousing rehabilitates and reuses existing structures to revitalize Quito's historic center.Save this picture!Taller General's initiatives extend beyond physical buildings—they promote social inclusion through programs like Femingas, which encourages women and diverse groups' participation in construction. Their work demonstrates how architecture can repair urban and social landscapes while regenerating local ecosystems and communities, fostering a more inclusive and sustainable future. By blending traditional practices with innovative materials and collaborative processes, Taller General exemplifies a holistic approach to addressing urgent social and environmental challenges through architecture.Grounded Connections to Land and CultureStudio Zewde [New York, United States]Save this picture!US-based Landscape architecture and urban design Studio Zewde integrates both ecological and cultural roots into their approach to landscape design. Their work begins with understanding the land's history, indigenous relationships, and natural systems, as seen in their Cuyahoga Valley project, which reconnects underrepresented communities with the site's ecological richness and cultural legacy. The studio's design interventions organize the environment with the aim of celebrating local histories and restoring habitat and human connections grounded in regional knowledge.Save this picture!Exemplifying a different aspect of the "Repair, Regenerate, and Reuse" theme, Studio Zewde actively repairs ecological and social systems through thoughtful interventions that foster community participation and cultural continuity. Their work not only regenerates natural habitats and urban environments but also reimagines the landscape as a platform for civic imagination and memory. It demonstrates the power of dynamic participation and the potential of landscape architecture to promote lasting social and environmental resilience.Harnessing Collective Intelligence in ArchitectureWiki World [Wuhan, China]Save this picture!Wiki World proposes a transformative approach to architecture and architecture education rooted in community involvement and sustainability. Based in Wuhan, China, the studio democratizes the building process by engaging local residents, especially children, in designing and constructing their environments. Their projects, such as the Wiki Tribe community cabins, showcase how participatory methods can foster a sense of ownership, cultural preservation, and environmental harmony. Using traditional craftsmanship and local materials, they minimize ecological impact while revitalizing regional techniques and providing economic opportunities for artisans.Save this picture!By starting from the community's needs, cultural context, and local resources, the studio acts not as the creator but as a facilitator in the process of design, creating spaces that reflect collective identity. Their use of modular, prefabricated materials allows for rapid deployment, adapting to rural landscapes and seasonal activities like harvest festivals. Through a process of repair, regeneration, and reuse, Wiki World creates resilient spaces that strengthen community bonds and nurture ecological awareness, highlighting the potential of participatory design to shape culturally rich environments worldwide.Urban Roofs for Climate AdaptationRoofscapes [Paris, France]Save this picture!Roofscapes exemplifies an integrated approach to urban climate adaptation by proposing solutions for the transformation of urban surfaces, especially roofs, into elements that can regulate the microclimate and create a more resilient and comfortable urban environment. The studio focuses on underutilized rooftops, particularly in European cities like Paris, thinking of solutions to adapt an urban infrastructure originally created to conserve heat into one that actively mitigates it, thus adapting to the changing climate conditions of contemporary times. The roofing system is reimagined to incorporate green technologies such as shaded areas, vegetation, and permeable surfaces. These strategies address heat accumulation and foster cooling from the ground up, starting with the building envelope—its "roof"—and extending to urban microclimates and ecological systems.Save this picture!The studio's work highlights the potential for retrofitting and reimagining existing structures rather than demolition and rebuild, prioritizing sustainability and cultural preservation. By repairing and reprogramming rooftops with green infrastructure, Roofscapes not only mitigates urban heat but also regenerates biodiversity, manages stormwater, and creates accessible outdoor spaces. This comprehensive approach demonstrates how adaptive reuse and nature-based solutions serve as vital tools in shaping resilient, climate-adapted cities, further showcasing the "root to roof" approach of repair, regeneration, and reuse.Save this picture!Credits: Curators: Christele Harrouk, Daniela Porto, and Romullo Baratto Editorial and Project Management: Romullo Baratto Visual Concept: Miwa Negoro and Victor Delaqua Diagram Concept: Miwa Negoro We invite you to check out ArchDaily's comprehensive coverage of the 2025 Venice Biennale.This article is part of the ArchDaily Topics: What Is Future Intelligence?, proudly presented by Gendo, an AI co-pilot for Architects. Our mission at Gendo is to help architects produce concept images 100X faster by focusing on the core of the design process. We have built a cutting-edge AI tool in collaboration with architects from some of the most renowned firms, such as Zaha Hadid, KPF, and David Chipperfield.Every month, we explore a topic in-depth through articles, interviews, news, and architecture projects. We invite you to learn more about our ArchDaily Topics. And, as always, at ArchDaily we welcome the contributions of our readers; if you want to submit an article or project, contact us.

Images sent back by NASA's Viking spacecraft in the 1970s revealed some unusual streaks stretching across the arid landscapes of Mars.The sighting had scientists excited about the possibility of free-flowing water on an otherwise desolate planet. The streaks — which, at times, were thousands of feet long — appeared much darker, contrasting against the mostly monotonal, surrounding hills, looking as if somebody had spilled an enormous glass of water on a patch of hilly sand.But decades later, we've got copious amounts of new data to rely on, suggesting we were entirely wrong about the features all along. As detailed in a new paper published in the journal Nature Communications, a team of planetary scientists concluded that the streaks didn't have anything to do with flowing water."A big focus of Mars research is understanding modern-day processes on Mars — including the possibility of liquid water on the surface," said coauthor and Brown University postdoctoral researcher Adomas Valantinas in a statement. Our study reviewed these features but found no evidence of water. Our model favors dry formation processes."For decades, the streaks had intrigued scientists, inspiring theories about salt buildups that could allow water to flow on the predominantly dry Martian surface, which only rarely peaks above freezing temperatures. The theory suggested these streaks could therefore be a great place to not only look for Martian life, but possibly inhabit as well.But new insights have thrown cold water on the idea, if you will. A detailed global Martian map, in particular, revealed over half a million streak features lining the planet's surface, allowing scientists to get a much broader look at the phenomenon."Once we had this global map, we could compare it to databases and catalogs of other things like temperature, wind speed, hydration, rock slide activity and other factors," said coauthor and University of Bern researcher Valentin Bickel in a statement. "Then we could look for correlations over hundreds of thousands of cases to better understand the conditions under which these features form."The researchers found that the streaks were not associated with other factors tied to liquid water or frost, such as slope orientation, surface temperature, or humidity levels.According to the data, they concluded that the streaks were far more likely to have been formed by high wind speeds and areas with plenty of dust accumulation.Their theory: the streaks were the result of layers of fine dust suddenly slipping down steep slopes, the result of shockwaves caused by meteorite impacts and marsquakes.In other words, the streaks aren't a great place to inhabit after all, despite plenty of optimism.On the other hand, given that microbial life surviving on these slopes is looking extremely unlikely, NASA may be more prone to explore the area with spacecraft since the risk of contamination by an extraterrestrial organism is low.Share This Article

We may earn a commission from links on this page.The only thing I didn’t love about the Mammotion Luba robot lawn mower I tested last summer was its size. It’s a hulking four-wheel-drive robot and I live in the city, where we don’t have huge lawns. Enter the Luba Mini, a halved version of the Luba meant for smaller lawns (and tighter budgets). In fact, if you paid attention this spring, miniaturized versions of some of my favorite technology were everywhere. These mini-me versions seem to be driven, according to the companies themselves, by two market needs. While smart home tech is incredible in terms of functionality and independence, it often comes at a steep cost. But it’s not just price driving the shrinking of our tech; many companies realized was that many folks wanted the automation even when they didn’t have an acre of lawn to mow or a wall of windows to clean. Here’s how a few of my favorite pieces of technology have shrunk themselves to become more accessible and affordable.Mini lawn mowers Yuka full size on the left and mini on the right Credit: Amanda Blum Mammotion released mini models of both the Luba (AWD) and Yuka (2WD) robot mowers, and I’ve been testing them for the last month. In terms of size, they’re perfect for most suburban and urban lawns under ¼ acre and have almost the same functionality as the larger models. That's the point, according to Senior Product Manager David Cheng, who told me, "We weren’t just shrinking our existing models—we were filling a real gap in the market for homeowners seeking smart, perimeter wire-free lawn care that fits smaller outdoor spaces."Mammotion’s mowers require an RTK tower, which is a highly accurate GPS method that allows for triangulation between the mower, the tower and satellites. Using your phone as a remote control, you walk the robot around the perimeter of your lawn to set up zones, and create pathways between zones so the robot can navigate on its own. The minis have a new benefit, which is the ability for them to map spaces on their own, without you walking them around. If your yard has clear borders, I found it worked as well as mapping the area on your own.   The larger Yuka comes with a hopper for grass clippings, which you can teach to dump the clippings anywhere you like—the mini doesn’t have that option. Still, I didn’t find the hopper very usable on the large version, so no loss there.  I did find the minis had trouble, regardless of which version of mapping you used, getting to some edges of the yard. If there were overhanging shrubs casting a long shadow, the AI would interpret that as a no-go zone, avoiding it altogether. Still, that was the only degradation of features I found between the models. The mini has another benefit: It’s a lot less conspicuous parked at the dock, given the size. While you can install a 4g chip in your robot and set up notifications in case someone grabs it and goes, you just know where someone has absconded with it to.  The models use the same app, and the minis mowed as well as the original models. At a dramatically lower price point, this gives you an excuse to invest in a robot mower if the thing holding you back was how large or expensive they are. Mammotion Luba full size robot mower at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now at Amazon Mammotion Luba Mini robot lawn mower $1,999.00 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $1,999.00 at Amazon Mammotion Yuka mini robot lawn mower $999.00 at Amazon $1,098.00 Save $99.00 Shop Now Shop Now $999.00 at Amazon $1,098.00 Save $99.00 Mammotion Yuka 2000 robot lawn mower $2,448.00 at Amazon Get Deal Get Deal $2,448.00 at Amazon SEE 1 MORE   Smaller smart grills The original Brisk It Origin Credit: Amanda Blum Last summer I tested all the smart grills on the market, and my favorite was the Brisk It Origin. Through the fall, winter, and this spring, I have used it extensively because it turns smoking (a merciless task that involves a lot of overnight grill babysitting) into a flawless, hands-off experience. You tell the grill what you want to make, and AI kicks in to tell the grill how to make it, and it will notify you when it's time to flip things over or add a baste; when it's done, the grill turns itself off.You can, of course, edit the smoking program, create one on the fly, or just use the smoker manually as a grill. I went from someone who never rarely smoked on the grill to someone who does so once a week. On my recommendation, a BBQ devotee up the block added a Brisk It to their three-smoker lineup and revealed to me that it has become their favorite. Still, the original Brisk It clocks in just under $600 so I was excited to test the Zelos, a smaller, less expensive Brisk It with all the functionality of the Origin, albeit with less real estate. My experience isn't that unique, according to Christopher Huang, CEO at Brisk It. "Over 70% of U.S. adults say they want to cook more at home, but cite time and effort as their biggest barriers...and while more than half of home cooks express interest in smart kitchen tech, only 15% actually use it regularly." the mini has about 80% of the space of the original, seen here. I fit a whole rack of ribs plus a tray of chicken, but couldn't fit two racks of ribs. Credit: Amanda Blum Even as a highly enthusiastic home cook willing to put in the time, I cannot deny how much utility I get out of smart home automation in the kitchen. A smart grill is out of this world, since the notifications and temperature reporting of the grill and food means I don't have to stand over the grill. Brisk It even helps control the stall that barbecued meats often experience. Last month, I set up the Zelos (a thirty-minute affair) and invited neighbors over. I was worried about the smaller grill space (the Origin has 580 inches of grill space to the Zelos' 450 inches). While I could fit more racks of ribs on the Origin, the Zelos accommodated a full rack, plus a whole tray of chicken thighs, and I used the upper rack to smoke an array of vegetables. It didn't escape my attention that because the smaller grill uses less fuel (both are powered by pellets, although the control unit requires electricity), I'd be more likely to use it more often. Again, the app experience is the same on both models, and is highly functional and, dare I say, pretty fun. The AI the program uses is great for finding new recipes, a function I find underwhelming in practice on other products. At a reduced price, the Zelos makes an awfully appealing Father's Day gift, since it will also free up Dad from watching the grill all day. Brisk It Origin 940 Smart Smoker and Grill $849.99 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $849.99 at Amazon Brisk It Origin 580 Smart Smoker and Grill $549.99 at Amazon $599.99 Save $50.00 Shop Now Shop Now $549.99 at Amazon $599.99 Save $50.00 Brisk It Zelos Smart Smoker and Grill $449.99 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $449.99 at Amazon SEE 0 MORE A smaller window-washing robot In full disclosure, the only reason I haven't tested a Winbot, the window washing robot, is that I simply don't have the window real estate. The Winbot is about 13 inches square, and works by suctioning itself to your window and then putting it through a four-step wash process. I know people with Winbots, and if you have large square or rectangular windows, particularly those where some portion of the window is out of reach, it seems worthwhile. If you've got arched windows, though, the Winbot struggles with shapes that don't match the design of the robot itself, which has 90-degree angles. The Winbot also isn't for curved glass. These may seem like a lot of limitations, but I spent the winter in Arizona looking at a lot of glass patio doors, patio rooms, and walls of dusty windows and thought, "Ah...this is what the Winbot is for." Except now, there's a Winbot Mini, with an 8.5-inch square footprint. At that size, almost all my windows are fair game, so I'm excited to try it out. That was the point, according to Michelle Jones, U.S. spokesperson for ECOVACS, who said, "We saw an opportunity to bring the power of our larger window-cleaning robots to homeowners in the U.S. who have smaller or segmented window panes and don’t need a fixed cleaning station."But Ecovacs also points to a more specific problem that a lot of smart tech products suffer from, in my opinion: By the time the company has worked out the tech, the solution is often overly complicated. Ecovacs recognized that, as well, and simplified the offering in the Winbot Mini. The Mini ditches the rubber bumpers of the larger model, but that means better edge-to-edge cleaning. The mini also gains more portability by not having a heavy station like the full size model. What the mini lost seems like a worthwhile tradeoff for the price: The large Winbot has twice as many cleaning programs and more safety features (12 to the Mini's 9), but in both cases, what the Mini has seems sufficient. Priced around $250, the WinBot Mini feels like a luxurious piece of tech within reach for most folks. [add to list https://www.amazon.com/ECOVACS-WINBOT-Window-Cleaning-Robot/dp/B0DR8W696Y] Ecovacs Winbot W2 Pro Omni $499.99 at Amazon $599.99 Save $100.00 Shop Now Shop Now $499.99 at Amazon $599.99 Save $100.00 Ecovacs Winbot Mini $199.99 at Amazon Learn More Learn More $199.99 at Amazon SEE -1 MORE The Shelfy Lite the original Shelfy Credit: Amanda Blum For the last six months, I've had a Shelfy installed in my fridge. A small, charegable device, the Shelfy uses a catalyst on a ceramic filter, activated by LED lights in the device to mimic chlorophyll photosynthesis. To simplify, it purifies the air in your fridge to remove ethylene gas that ripens vegetables, and it removes odors and prevents cross contamination.I can confirm that it works to make your fridge smell better, and while I can't confirm the additional twelve days of freshness in vegetables that Shelfy claims, it has definitely added some shelf life to my fruits and vegetables.In particular, I notice the change in fruit. I buy strawberries and blueberries with some regularity year round, so I know traditionally how long they'd last before starting to form mold (two to four days). As long as I have Shelfy charged, I can get a full week out of strawberries and ten days out of blueberries. That's a huge difference that creates savings in my food budget. The CEO of Shelfy, Paolo Ganis, put a number to the savings, explaining that "the average family throws away approximately $1,996 worth of food each year—money that could easily be saved with better food preservation." Vitesy Smart Refrigerator Device | Extends Food Freshness $149.99 at Walmart Learn More Learn More $149.99 at Walmart Shelfy isn't large or particularly expensive (it's just under $150) but Vitesy has just introduced a Kickstarter for the Shelfy Lite, which will only be $66 (the project is already funded). "Through a number of user surveys, we consistently heard that people loved the idea behind Shelfy but wanted a version that was more accessible: smaller, more affordable," Ganis said.The Lite adds multiple modes to the device, one for the general fridge, one for the crisper drawer and a power mode for when someone buys a particularly stinky cheese. The Lite improves on the battery charging and performance over the original model, and comes in some additional accent colors, if you care about that sort of thing. The Lite is only marginally smaller than the original Shelfy, but at less than half the price, that seems immaterial.What I've enjoyed about the Shelfy is that there are no filters to replace; you simply wash and wet the ceramic filter when you recharge the device every few weeks. If you don't recharge it, there are no annoying beeps or notifications—it's been a quiet helper.A smart home hub for lessSometimes even I forget there are smart home hubs outside of Samsung, Amazon, Apple, and Google. But Homey, a hub that keeps all your connections local, has gained traction over the last few years since its introduction. Homey has a specific focus on automation through its "Flow" platform, which is a version of routines or automatons in any other platform. Homey fans claim Flow has far more flexibility, and although I've never found Alexa or Google Home difficult, Homey is noted for its appeal to beginner smart home fans. Still, at just under $400, the Homey Pro hub was an expensive way to dive into smart home tech, compared to other platforms. Jasper Foppele, head of marketing at Homey, was transparent about their strategy, explaining that their usage data and feedback made clear they had to rethink their offering. Instead of trying to offer everything (the Homey Pro supports 60 apps), the Homey product team chose the core technology they saw being used in the U.S. market (Matter, Thread, Zigbee) and winnowed the app coverage to the most common 25. "This approach allowed us to significantly reduce cost and complexity," Foppele said, "a privacy-first, locally running smart home hub priced at $199."The Homey Pro Mini still prioritizes local first connection, including backups, but it has an option for cloud backup. The Mini is on pre-order and will ship sometime this month.