An image of Venus, made with data recorded by Japan’s Akatsuki spacecraft in 2016, shows swirling clouds in the planet’s atmosphere.
Credit: PLANET-C Project Team/JAXA

Could there be microscopic life in the clouds of the planet Venus? The idea may seem far-fetched, but in 2020, scientists discovered a tantalizing hint that it could be true, in the form of a strange gas in Venus’s atmosphere. They are still studying to see what the planet might be hiding!

Venus has been called Earth’s twin. It’s next door to Earth, about the same size as Earth, and covered by an atmosphere of thick, swirling clouds. All of these features made it a tempting target during the early exploration of space. Speculators even imagined dense jungles covering the planet’s surface. When the first landers visited Venus in the 1970’s, however, they revealed a searing environment of 870 °F (465 °C) with pressures 90 times greater than that at Earth’s surface. Clouds of sulfuric acid filled the sky. The search for other life within the solar system quickly shifted to the more temperate Mars.

The new evidence was discovered by an international team of scientists that was actually more interested in exoplanets, planets orbiting distant stars. The team was led by Jane Greaves at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom. Scientists are constantly looking for ways to study exoplanets for signs of alien life. One way is to study the spectra (ranges of light) reflected by exoplanets for clues to chemicals in their atmosphere. One such chemical may be the gas phosphine. On Earth, phosphine is produced by microbes in anaerobic environments—places without oxygen. The gas is short-lived, so to be present in a planet’s atmosphere, it must be replenished continually. So, the presence of phosphine in an exoplanet’s atmosphere could be a sign of ongoing alien life.

The team recorded atmospheric data from Venus in an attempt to establish a benchmark for the spectral signature of an Earth-sized planet without phosphine. To their surprise, their findings indicated that the Venusian atmosphere did contain phosphine. After asking another team of scientists to double-check their results and studying the planet with a more powerful telescope, the evidence of phosphine was confirmed. Scientists do not yet know of a nonbiological way for phosphine to arise on Venus, pointing to the amazing possibility that Venus may harbor microscopic life. If such life exists, it is likely to be found in Venus’s clouds, where conditions are less hellish than those on the surface.

Greaves and her team emphasized that scientists are a long way from determining that there is life on Venus. The authors noted, for example, that sulfur dioxide produces a similar spectral signature to phosphine under certain conditions, raising the possibility that other molecules may mimic phosphine.

Female California condors, an endangered species, are able to reproduce without male partners, in a process known as parthenogenesis.
© Claudio Contreras, Nature Picture Library

Even after years of study, the California condor surprises researchers. In 2021, two of the giant birds were discovered to have been born through parthenogenesis, a form of reproduction in which an unfertilized egg still hatches. Parthenogenesis is a type of asexual reproduction. Human beings and almost all other animals reproduce sexually, through mating between a male and a female. In asexual reproduction, a new organism (living thing) develops from parts of, or parts produced by, one organism. This example of parthenogenesis is particularly noteworthy because the condor is a critically endangered species. At its lowest population in 1982, only around 20 California condors were alive, in the wild and in captivity.

In 1982, researchers launched a program to save the condors, and over the next few decades, the population grew to over 500. The researchers also studied the condors in captivity. They were able to collect DNA samples from feathers and eggshells and could pay close attention to the birds’ reproductive habits. They discovered that two of the male condors did not have any genetic indication of having been fathered by the other condors in captivity. Despite having only one parent, the condors were not clones (genetically identical copies) of the mother. Rather, through fusion between the unfertilized egg and another reproductive cell in the mother’s body, the offspring end up with a unique mixture of the mother’s genetic material. Female condors can only produce male offspring through parthenogenesis, due to the way sex is determined by chromosomes among birds.

While parthenogenesis is fairly rare, it is not unheard of, even in birds. Some species of turkey and domestic pigeons also have been known to reproduce in this way. Additionally, birds are far from the only animals that can undergo parthenogenesis. Parthenogenesis has been seen in species of sharks—including the hammerhead and bamboo shark—as well as some species of snakes and lizards. Some insects, like aphids and stick insects, can also reproduce asexually. However, parthenogenesis has not been documented in mammals.

Most scientists thought that parthenogenesis only happened in populations that lacked males. For example, a female shark recently surprisingly gave birth after living 10 years in an Italian aquarium where no male sharks were kept. But the female condors had males in captivity with them. Other female condors nested and produced chicks after mating with the local males.

California condors are the largest flying land birds in North America, with a wingspan of 8 to 9 1/2 feet (2.4 to 2.9 meters). They weigh up to 23 pounds (10.4 kilograms). In the wild, condors spend much of the day resting on high perches. Condors do not build nests. Instead, their eggs are laid in caves, in holes, or among boulders. A female California condor lays just one egg every two years. Condors are powerful, graceful fliers. They can soar and glide for long distances, flapping their wings an average of only once an hour. They may search the ground for food as they fly. Like other vultures, condors eat the remains of dead animals.

The growth of urban areas has posed a major threat to condor survival. The condor’s way of life requires vast areas of open, hilly country, and urban growth destroys such habitat.

Cuban cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez
Credit: Intercosmos

People in the United States observe National Hispanic Heritage Month each year from September 15 to October 15. During this period, Latin American countries celebrate their independence. These countries include Cuba, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.

Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez is a Cuban cosmonaut and politician. In Russia and the other former republics of the Soviet Union, astronauts are called cosmonauts. In 1980, Tamayo became the first Black person in space, when he spent a week docked at the Soviet Salyut 6 space station. That same year, he became a member of Cuba’s National Assembly.

Tamayo was born on Jan. 29, 1942, in Guantánamo. After being orphaned as a baby, he was raised by his maternal aunt and uncle. As a child, Tamayo worked many odd jobs, for example shining shoes, selling vegetables, and working as an apprentice carpenter.

After the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista fled the country in 1959, Tamayo joined the country’s Revolutionary Army (see Cuba (The Castro revolution). In 1961, he completed studies at the Technical Institute to be an aviation technician. He was then selected to continue studying in the Soviet Union. Tamayo learned how to pilot fighter jets at the Yeisk Higher Military Aviation School in Russia, on the Sea of Azov. He returned to Cuba in 1962 to become a flight instructor for the Cuban Revolutionary Guard. During the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, he participated in reconnaissance missions. He also served in the Vietnam War (1957-1975). By 1976, Tamayo had reached the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Cuban air force.

The Soviet Union selected Tamayo to participate in its Intercosmos program in 1978. The program was established to send non-Soviets into space on Soviet spacecraft. Tamayo spent two and a half years training at the Yuri Gargarin Soviet Space Center. On Sept. 18, 1980, Tamayo and the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko blasted off on the Soyuz 38 mission. Tamayo became the first person from the Caribbean, the first Cuban, the first Latin American, and the first Black person in space. On the space station Salyut 6, the crew of Soyuz 38 joined other cosmonauts and carried out various experiments designed by Cuban scientists. The mission lasted a little over a week.

Tamayo and Romanenko were both awarded honors after landing. Tamayo became the first person ever awarded the Hero of the Republic of Cuba medal. Additionally, he received medals for Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin. Tamayo continued his military service, eventually attaining the rank of brigadier general and serving as director of Cuba’s civil defense. His space suit is displayed in the Museum of The Revolution in Havana.

Katie Bouman is known for her work in compiling the first images of an event horizon—the “surface” of a black hole.
Credit: © Caltech

March is Women’s History Month, an annual observance of women’s achievements and contributions to society. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature woman pioneers in a variety of areas.

Women achieve great things around the world every day. However, not many women craft an algorithm to create the first-ever picture of a black hole. American computer scientist Katie Bouman worked on compiling the first images of an event horizon—the “surface” of a black hole. A black hole is a region of space whose gravitational force is so strong that nothing can escape from it. At the event horizon, the pull of gravity becomes so strong that nothing known can escape. Capturing the event horizon was considered an amazing feat of astronomical imaging. Bouman has helped us understand the universe’s greatest mystery.

Katherine Louise Bouman was born May 9, 1989, in West Lafayette, Indiana. While in high school, she volunteered at Purdue University, conducting imaging research. She attended the University of Michigan from 2007 to 2011, where she graduated summa cum laude (with highest distinction) with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. She received her Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2017.

Bouman joined the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project in 2013. The EHT is a global network of ground-based telescopes established to produce images of black hole event horizons. At MIT, she worked to develop the mathematical framework used to assemble images of black holes from radio telescope data. She led the development of the Continuous High-Resolution Image Reconstruction using Patch priors (CHIRP) algorithm. An algorithm is a step-by-step mathematical procedure, often carried out by a computer. The CHIRP algorithm takes images of one object from multiple sources and uses computer vision techniques to produce a single sharper image of the object. Computer vision is the use of computers to recognize patterns in images, a major topic in artificial intelligence.

In 2017, radio telescopes participating in the EHT project observed the M87 galaxy. The following year, Bouman headed one of the four EHT teams that used the data gathered to produce possible images of the supermassive black hole astronomers suspected to be at the center of M87, called M87*. Two teams, including Bouman’s, used algorithms similar to CHIRP. Two other teams used an algorithm traditionally used in radio astronomy. The teams then checked their images against one another.

In 2019, EHT released the combined image of M87*. At that time, two photographs of Bouman garnered significant media attention. The first showed her reaction as her team’s results were compiled for the first time. The second showed her posing with the hard drives of data used to compile the image of M87*. This photograph drew comparisons to a 1969 image of the American computer scientist Margaret Hamilton standing next to a stack of volumes containing the printed computer code for the Apollo lunar missions.

Henrietta Lacks’ cancer cells, called HeLa, are used around the world for medical experiments.
Credit: © Pictorial Press Ltd, Alamy Images

February is Black History Month, an annual observance of the achievements and culture of Black Americans. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature Black pioneers in a variety of areas.

A mother and a medical marvel with a lasting legacy, Henrietta Lacks has saved nearly 10 million lives. Lacks was an African American woman born in Roanoke, Virginia, on August 1, 1920. Lacks unknowingly became a donor of a line of cells widely used in medical research. Those cells, known as HeLa cells, became one of the most important advances in medical science. HeLa stands for Henrietta Lacks. Lacks only lived 31 years, but her cells are still alive today.

Lacks was born Loretta Pleasant. She later changed her name to Henrietta and married David Lacks in 1941. The couple moved to Baltimore, Maryland, in the 1940’s. In 1951, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. She died on October 4 of that year, leaving behind her five children. Before her death, doctors removed a sample of cancer cells during a medical examination. The sample was taken without her knowledge.

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University used the sample to establish the HeLa cell culture. A cell culture is a population of cells grown under controlled conditions for research. The usefulness of cell cultures is often limited because the cells die after a certain number of divisions. However, the HeLa cells divided indefinitely without dying.

HeLa cells grow faster than other cell cultures. They survive shipment by mail, enabling them to be sent to laboratories around the world. The unique qualities of HeLa cells led to many scientific discoveries and a greater understanding of biological processes. One of the first uses of HeLa cells was to test the safety and effectiveness of a vaccine for the disease polio. HeLa cells have also contributed to treatments for Parkinson’s, HIV, and AIDS, as well as vaccines for the flu, HPV, and COVID-19. Her cells have been used in nearly 75,000 studies.

The World Health Organization honored Henrietta Lacks in 2021. The city of Roanoke, Virginia, is replacing a statue of confederate general Robert E. Lee with a bronze statue of Lacks. Nearly 72 years after her death, Lacks will be memorialized in her hometown for years to come. Author Rebecca Skloot wrote about Henrietta’s life and her medical contribution in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks released in 2010. The story was adapted into a movie in 2017 starring Oprah Winfrey.

HeLa cells were also used to produce the first cellular clones. Cellular clones are a group of cells descended from a single cell. They are genetically identical, enabling scientists to study entire populations of cells with a particular genetic trait.

HeLa cells remain an essential tool in laboratories throughout the world. They have been used to develop drugs and other therapies worth billions of dollars. However, Henrietta Lacks and her family received no compensation for the use of her cells. In medical ethics, her case is often cited as a classic example of failure to obtain informed consent from a tissue donor. Informed consent means that participants fully understand and accept the known risks and possible benefits of a medical procedure. Today, researchers regularly obtain consent from patients before taking tissue samples.

In 2013, the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH), a government agency that conducts and supports a broad range of biomedical research, made a historic agreement with the surviving family of Henrietta Lacks. NIH researchers must now obtain permission from a special review panel before they can view and use detailed genetic information of HeLa cells. Members of the Lacks family are included on the review panel. NIH also requested that researchers studying HeLa cells include an acknowledgment to the Lacks family when the research is published.

Beekeepers wear protective veils. Light-colored clothes help provide protection from stings. A few experienced beekeepers handle the bees and honeycombs with their bare hands.
Credit: © Shutterstock

You may have heard the phrase “Save the bees” before, but a vaccine for bees? That is something new! Honeybees in the United States have faced diseases and pests that have decimated the population. Bees are important and affect our daily lives. Bees pollinate plants and flowers, giving us food, medicine, and of course, pretty flowers. Recently, scientists at the Dalan Animal Health based in Athens, Georgia, created a vaccine to save the bees for real!

What is the vaccine for? We know about vaccines for the flu and COVID-19, this vaccine protects bees against American foulbrood. Since American foulbrood is caused by bacteria, the scientists figured out how to put the dead bacteria in the vaccine. When American foulbrood infects a hive, it causes the larva to be darker and gives the entire hive a rotten smell. American foulbrood can spread from hive to hive, wiping out colonies of 60,000 bees.

How do the scientists give the bees the vaccine? No, it isn’t a shot, and they will not have to invent little bandaids for the bees. The scientists put the dead bacteria into royal jelly, which is a sugar feed the queen bees eat. This process exposes the queen bee’s future offspring to the bacteria so the bees can make antibodies. Antibodies are proteins that help the immune system fight off bacteria and viruses.

A typical honey bee colony may include tens of thousands of workers. This photograph shows workers tending to honey stored in the cells of a honeycomb.
Credit: © StudioSmart/Shutterstock

Honeybees are important. They are vital to agriculture around the world. Without bees, the world would deal with more food scarcity. During their food-gathering flights, bees spread pollen from one flower to another, thus pollinating (fertilizing) the plants they visit. This allows the plants to reproduce. Numerous wild plants and such important food crops as fruits and vegetables depend on bees for fertilization. Honeybees pollinate nearly one-third of all food crops grown in the United States. Popular crops like almonds, apples, cherries, and pears require pollination from bees. Nearly three-quarters of all flowering plants rely on pollination from bees and other pollinators like butterflies and moths.

American foulbrood isn’t the only bee enemy. Bees are also declining in population due to climate change, disease, habitat loss, and pesticides. Beekeepers have given entire hives antibiotics to fight off diseases. However, the use of antibiotics can decrease beneficial bacteria and weaken the bees. Animals, mites, and human activities all threaten bees worldwide. There is also a disorder called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), an unusual condition that destroys hundreds of thousands of honey bee colonies each year in the United States. While the vaccine protects against American foulbrood, bees are also in danger of dying from European foulbrood. Diseases caused by fungi, such as Nosema disease, are also a threat to bees. Scientists hope the success of this vaccine will lead to others protecting the future of the bees!

A chamber lift in the National Ignition Facility.
Credit: Damien Jemison, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Limitless, pollution-free energy is one step closer to becoming a reality. On Dec. 5, 2022, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, conducted a controlled nuclear fusion reaction that produced more energy than it consumed.

Nuclear fusion is the combining of two atomic nuclei to form the nucleus of a heavier element. Fusion reactions between low-mass (light) nuclei release a great amount of energy. Fusion produces the energy of the sun and other stars and the explosive force of thermonuclear weapons.

Nuclear fusion releases large amounts of radiation. Fusion occurs when the nuclei of two lightweight elements join to form the nucleus of a heavier one. In the example shown here, nuclei of deuterium and tritium unite and form a helium nucleus.
Credit: World Book illustration by Mark Swindle

The NIF uses a technique called inertial confinement fusion (ICF). In ICF, several extremely powerful lasers hit a fuel pellet about the size of a pencil eraser. The lasers heat the pellet to millions of degrees, causing the nuclei within it to undergo fusion and release energy. In this experiment, the lasers heated the pellet with 2.05 megajoules of energy and the pellet released 3.5 megajoules. NIF scientists and engineers improved the design of the fuel pellet and increased the power of the lasers to make this breakthrough.

If the NIF experiment produced energy, why can’t the facility simply be rebuilt all over the world to provide unlimited power? Although the reaction produced more energy than the energy in the laser light, the lasers themselves are too inefficient for a power plant. The lasers used hundreds of megajoules to produce those 2.05 megajoules of energy in the form of laser light. Furthermore, NIF can only perform up to 3 shots per day in its current configuration. Scientists and engineers estimate that a similar ICF facility will need to perform 10 shots per second to become profitable.

Where, then, does this leave fusion development? NIF scientists and engineers will work to improve their energy gains through fine-tuning their fuel pellets and laser output. But the facility was never meant to be a power plant. NIF was designed for research, particularly into the effects of nuclear weapons. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty prohibits the testing of nuclear weapons, but with NIF, scientists can mimic the conditions of a nuclear blast to develop more efficient nuclear weapons.

Many environmentalists have an uneasy relationship with fusion, in part due to its connection with nuclear weapons research. Some also think that functional fusion power plants will come too late to help slow the progression of global warming. Even with this breakthrough, experts predict that commercial fusion plants are likely at least 40 years away. People also worry that fusion research is taking resources away from research into grid energy storage and is detracting from such financially viable alternatives as wind and solar power.

But the prospective benefits of fusion are too great to ignore. Limitless, pollution-free energy is closer than it ever has been—even though it’s still pretty far away. What will people do with all that power?

Engineer at a wastewater treatment plant
Credit: © kittirat roekburi/Shutterstock

In 2020, at the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic, officials began testing wastewater for the virus. This tool soon helped officials track where the virus was spreading and whether cases were dropping in certain communities. What is wastewater and why is it used to track viruses? Wastewater comes from residential purposes such as bathing, laundry, and dishwashing. Most of the water in our homes is used to carry away wastes. This water, and the wastes it carries, is called sewage. Recently, scientists have employed this water for another purpose –virus tracking! It might not wear a cape, but it is helping officials prepare for outbreaks and provide information for residents on COVID-19, monkeypox, and polio. All three of these viruses are spreading in the United States.

In most U.S. cities, a piping system under the streets carries away the sewage from homes, factories, hotels, and other buildings. A system of pipes that carries sewage from buildings is called a sanitary sewerage system. Sewage has a bad odor. But more important, it contains disease-producing bacteria. Most cities have treatment plants that clean sewage water and kill the bacteria in it. The treated water can then be returned to a river, stream, or lake.

Almost all of the sewage in the United States undergoes some type of sewage treatment. Only a little of the sewage is dumped untreated into rivers. The dumping of untreated sewage causes serious problems for the environment and for cities downstream that take their water from the same rivers. Untreated sewage looks and smells foul, and it kills fish and aquatic plants.

Water treatment can also help scientists and disease experts track harmful viruses. Lately, officials have been testing wastewater for COVID-19, monkeypox, and polio. Officials are trying to control the spread of viruses to prevent epidemics. An epidemic is an outbreak of disease that attacks many people at about the same time. An epidemic may last a few hours, a few weeks, or many years. A disease that spreads throughout the world is pandemic. Public health agencies are responsible for the control of epidemics. Immunizations can prevent epidemics of some infectious diseases. Vaccines are available for COVID-19, monkeypox, and polio. Other epidemics are prevented by maintaining clean food and water supplies, or by controlling insects and other animals that spread disease. Informing people about the causes of epidemics and methods of prevention is crucial in the control of epidemics.

The next time you walk by a smelly sewer, remember not all heroes wear capes or smell good. When you see the case numbers or affected areas, tell your family and friends we have our wastewater and many dedicated scientists to thank!

Plants grown in simulated lunar soil on the left and in Apollo sample on the right, seen 16 days after planting.
Credit: Tyler Jones, UF/IFAS

Well, not exactly. Scientists recently grew plants in lunar soil for the first time in history. The lunar soil, also called moon dust, was brought back from three Apollo missions. Scientists from the University of Florida planted thale cress in the moon dust and compared the growth to materials found on Earth’s surface, such as volcanic ash. Thale cress is a small, bitter-tasting plant similar to broccoli, cauliflower, and kale. After two days, the seeds had germinated (grown). However, the plants in moon soil did not thrive compared to the plants in Earth soil after six days.

Lunar soil is very different from the soil on Earth. Soil is the mixture of minerals, organic matter, and other materials that covers most of Earth’s land. Soil is a storehouse of nutrients and the decayed remains of organisms (living things). Lunar soil is more dusty and is not made up of decayed organisms, so it does not contain as many nutrients compared to soil found on Earth. Impacts of micrometeoroids (tiny meteoroids‘) grind the surface rocks into a fine, dusty powder known as regolith. Regolith overlies all the bedrock on the moon. Because regolith forms as a result of exposure to space, the longer a rock is exposed, the thicker the regolith that forms on it.

National Aeronautics and Space Association (NASA) granted the scientists 12 grams of lunar soil for the experiment because it is precious and cannot be wasted. The soil brought back from Apollo 11 was not as strong as the soil brought back from Apollo 12 and 17. The scientists believe soil from Apollo 11 was damaged by cosmic rays and radiation from solar wind on the moon’s surface. Scientists have already started planning where they could find better moon soil where lava flow has enriched the soil.

For years, scientists have wondered whether the moon could support life. If humans were to survive on the moon permanently, they would need to grow plants for food. Although the experiment did not prove that the moon could sustain life, it gives hope that there could be vegetation on the moon someday. We are one step closer to growing an herb garden on the moon!

A particle detector helps scientists study subatomic particles. Physicists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., use this detector to record information about particles produced in collisions between beams of protons and beams of antiprotons.
Credit: Fermilab Visual Media Services

Particle physicists are buzzing about a hefty discovery. In April 2022, researchers at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (also known as Fermilab) announced that a particle called the W boson appears to have slightly more mass than expected. Their results were published in the journal Science.

Bosons are particles that transmit forces between other particles. As particles go, bosons are much less popular than their cousins the fermions, which make up matter. The W boson carries the weak nuclear force, which is involved in the decay (breakdown) of some radioactive atoms.

A particle accelerator helps scientists study electricity and the building blocks of matter. The accelerator at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, accelerates protons to almost the speed of light in an underground tunnel, shown here.
Credit: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

So who cares about a chunky boson? Physicists do. Modern physics is based largely on a theory called the Standard Model. The Standard Model includes a family tree of particles and can be used to make predictions about their properties. Most of these predictions have turned out to be highly accurate. A deviation in the mass of the W boson, if confirmed, could hint at the existence of unknown particles or other revisions to the Standard Model.

Physicists study particles in giant devices called particle accelerators. As the name suggests, these devices accelerate particles to extremely high speeds. They then smash them together to study any particles created in the collision.

The experiments in question were conducted in an accelerator called the Tevatron. The device smashed positively charged particles called protons into anti-protons, their antimatter counterparts. About one in 10 million such collisions create a W boson. It took the scientists 10 years to collect enough data.

The Tevatron was shut down in 2011. But it took another 10 years to properly analyze all that data. The results suggest that the W boson is 0.1 percent heavier than expected. That’s about as much as your weight might vary if measured before and after lunch. But for extremely precise particle measurements, it may be just enough to alter our understanding of the universe.