Onboard the International Space Station (ISSInternational Space Station), the Extant Life Volumetric Imaging System, dubbed ELVIS, is not about resurrecting rock-n-roll legends but pioneering scientific discovery. Using innovative holographic technology to deliver detailed 3D views of cells and microbes, the system allows scientists to study the adaptability and resilience of life under extreme conditions. Knowledge gained could reveal how life might persist on distant moons and planets, significantly enhancing our search for life outside Earth.

This study conducts a comparative analysis of the standard-sample-bracketing (SSB) method and the double-spike (DS) method, aiming to provide practical recommendations to researchers for selecting optimal analytical approaches for natural samples. The DS method shows greater potential to reveal subtle Mg isotope fractionations in processes such as equilibrium inter-mineral Mg isotope fractionation, partial melting of magma, and the possible fractionation during crystallization differentiation. Continuous optimization efforts will further improve the versatility and accuracy of the DS method, particularly through expanding its application scope to incorporate more diverse standard samples. Such expansion is critical for thoroughly investigating the fundamental causes of analytical discrepancies between DS and SSB methods in Mg isotope studies.

The paper advocates drilling intact oceanic crust to determine the Moho's petrological nature and resolve crustal composition misconceptions, highlighting China's new drilling vessel's role. 

Around 250 million years ago, Earth experienced its most severe mass extinction event. Over 80% of marine animals became extinct, but the impact of this event on terrestrial ecosystems is less understood—until now. New findings published in GSA Bulletin unveil how this extinction impacted plant communities and shaped their recovery. 

Astronomers have discovered a planet that orbits at a 90-degree angle around a rare pair of strange stars. The brown dwarfs produce eclipses of one another, as seen from Earth, making them part of an ‘eclipsing binary’, and the findings are published today (16 Apr) in Science Advances.