NASA’s Clear Pictures of Uranus’s Rings and Satellites with Webb Space Telescope

NASA used the Webb Space Telescope to take extremely clear pictures of Uranus’s rings, some satellites, and atmospheric features.

Absolutely stunning new images of Uranus – PAO

— Amy Shira Teitel (@AmyShiraTeitel) December 21, 2023

The Webb Space Telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) adds additional wavelength coverage for a more detailed look. The research team pointed out that compared with the latest images of Uranus released in April this year, “one of the most striking ones is the planet’s seasonal Arctic cloud cover,” bright polar regions and dim equatorial belts. area, several bright storms are also visible near and below the southern boundary of the polar cap.

watch video

Because Uranus spins sideways at an inclination of nearly 98 degrees, it has the most extreme seasons in the solar system. For nearly a quarter of Uranus’s year, the sun shines on one pole, trapping the other half of the Earth for up to The dark winter of 2021.

As Uranus will usher in its next summer solstice in 2028, astronomers are eager to observe any changes that may occur in these characteristic structures. They look forward to Webb’s help in unraveling the seasonal and meteorological effects that affect Uranus’ storms and helping astronomers understand its complex atmosphere.

New research in the United States shows that modern people’s biological clock that “wakes up at sunrise” was inherited from Neanderthals.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), a study in the journal Gene Sequencing Biology and Evolution pointed out that the extinct Denisovans had a certain impact on the genetic inheritance of modern humans.

Neanderthals were morning people, a new study suggests. And some humans today who like getting up early might credit genes they inherited from their Neanderthal ancestors.

— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 15, 2023

The study compared the health and genetic information of hundreds of thousands of Europeans with the fossil remains of Neanderthals and Denisovans and found 246 genes related to the circadian clock, including dozens Genetic mutations are linked to modern waking and sleeping habits. Among modern Europeans, some self-proclaimed “early risers” have mutations derived from Neanderthal genes.

Neanderthals may have been morning people, says new study

— Phys.org (@physorg_com) December 14, 2023

The researchers note that this effect needs to be considered in the context of hundreds of other genetic interactions, but the sunrise-waking phenomenon has special significance in humans. The study compared the genes of modern humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans to look for patterns in evolution. Mating occurred between these two extinct groups, allowing our ancestors to adapt to environmental changes as they migrated around the world.

Serena Tucci, assistant professor of anthropology and evolutionary biology at Yale University, said that the research by Capra’s team showed that the human genome was built by different ancestors, and after thousands of years of evolution and mating, it formed its current appearance. Even though some of our ancestors have become extinct, their genes are still present in us and have an impact on our bodies.

Joshua Akey, a geneticist at Princeton University, believes that the sequence of genes inherited from Neanderthals may have led to the pattern of our biological clocks today.