The planet Mars is home to thick layers of clay that can span hundreds of feet. Since they need water to form, these outcrops have long been of interest to scientists looking for signs of past life on the Red Planet.

In a new study in Nature Astronomy, scientists from The University of Texas at Austin and collaborators took a closer at these clay terrains and found that most formed near standing bodies of surface water, which were common on Mars billions of years ago. This environment would help foster the chemical weathering needed to create thick, mineral-rich layers of clay and could have provided the right mix of water, minerals and a calm environment for life to develop.

A sweeping new review reveals how satellites are helping scientists track a quiet but widespread shift in global agriculture: the abandonment of cropland.

Satellite data used by archaeologists to find traces of ancient ruins hidden under dense forest canopies can also be used to improve the speed and accuracy to measure how much carbon is retained and released in forests. Understanding this carbon cycle is key to climate change research.

In a recent study published in Engineering, researchers have developed an exact algorithm for placement optimization in mixed-cell-height (MCH) circuits, addressing key challenges in modern chip design such as non-overlapping constraints, voltage drain drain (VDD)/voltage source substrate (VSS) alignment, and minimum implantation area rules. The work presents a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model and a Benders decomposition (BD)-based approach to minimize placement cost while enhancing space utilization, validated through numerical experiments on benchmark datasets to demonstrate its efficiency for practical circuit design applications.