Penn geophysicists Hugo Ulloa and Douglas Jerolmack and colleagues have uncovered Earth-sculpting processes that result from the formation of snowball-like aggregates they call “sandballs” that take on two shapes: peanut-shaped structures with liquid cores and stable, donut-shapes—with airy centers—that behave like rigid solids. Their findings provide fundamental insights into erosion and will broaden scientific understandings of landscape change, soil loss, and agriculture.

Researchers typically analyze images taken by geostationary satellites to identify regions of the sky where contrails form, but new research shows adding images taken by low-Earth-orbiting satellites would help identify many more such regions. Pilots could avoid these regions to reduce aviation’s climate impact. 

The Universitat Jaume I has joined the national STEAM Alliance for Female Talent, promoted by Spain’s Ministry of Education to encourage girls and young women to pursue studies in science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics, and to help close the gender gap in these fields. Membership requires submitting a project that promotes STEAM careers among girls and adolescents and passing a rigorous evaluation process.

The university’s application included three initiatives: "Sucre", which introduces computational thinking and programming in primary and secondary schools; "Ingeniera… ¿por qué no?", which raises awareness and provides resources to increase the presence of women in technical degrees; and "Connecta amb la ciència", a programme offering hands-on workshops and talks to secondary school students led by researchers from the university’s science and technology areas.