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Recent years have been a boon for exoplanets, many of which are in the so-called “Goldilocks zone” where conditions make liquid water and life-as-we-know-it possible. So far, the water part has been hard to come by. Until now that is. According to NASA, the Hubble telescope spotted a distant planet called K2-18b. According to the NASA website, “For the first time, researchers have detected water vapor signatures in the atmosphere of a planet beyond our solar system that resides in the “habitable zone,” the region around a star in which liquid water could potentially pool on the surface of a rocky planet.” In other words, it was raining on the planet. https://go.nasa.gov/2ZW6ojP
For some time, researchers believed Jupiter’s moon Io to be filled with liquid magma. Well, now a new study suggests that take might have been erroneous. Unfortunately, “recent research suggests that the same variations could be caused by interactions between Jupiter’s magnetic field and Io’s volcano-fed atmosphere. A magma ocean on Io, while not ruled out, is therefore not required, the study reports.” http://bit.ly/2NVAIUp
There’s been some not so positive news on the cancer therapy front. A new study suggests that current cancer therapy drugs are ineffective because they may be targeting the wrong thing. According to a report in Nature, “An analysis of ten drugs — including seven now in clinical trials — found that the proteins they target are not crucial for the survival of cancer cells. The results could help to explain why many cancer drugs fail in clinical trials.” https://go.nature.com/2ZURQks
IMAGE SOURCE: Creative Commons
