From the brightest lights, to the eeriest sounds, and finally...LIFE on Mars? What we learned about space this week

Scientists around the world are constantly striving to learn more about our universe. Discoveries from the utterly minute to the absolutely massive are made every day and this past week has seen some truly breathtaking highlights.

Here, RT details what we learned about space in the past week.

Sugar is the origin of life?

NASA, in collaboration with three Japanese universities, discovered extraterrestrial sugar molecules on two different meteorites which struck the Earth, leading some scientists to believe that the RNA component within the sugar may have been the early catalyst for life on our planet. 

Brightest light ever seen by mankind

Despite discovering them almost 50 years ago, scientists had to wait until this year to directly witness a gamma ray burst, a truly gargantuan event that emits more energy in seconds than our own sun would in 10 billion years. 

Haunting sound of a solar storm

Not content with extraordinarily bright lights, scientists used four earth-orbiting satellites to listen to the sound of a solar storm smashing into our planet’s magnetosphere with somewhat terrifying and disturbing results.

Musk the polluter

All was not well in low-Earth orbit, however, as the astronomical community was up in arms over Elon Musk and Space X’s Starlink project polluting the skies with unnecessary light while attempting to provide satellite internet to those back on terra firma.

With some 120 miniature satellites currently in orbit, and mass complaints already rolling in, it remains to be seen whether the light-polluting Musk will realize his goal of sending an additional 30,000 micro satellites into orbit in the future.

(Insect) life on Mars?

The outrage among the scientific community extended further into the solar system this week, after Ohio University Entomologist William Romoser claimed to have evidence of insect-like creatures living on the surface of Mars. So strong was the backlash to Romoser’s claims, in fact, that the he caved and requested that the initial press release be taken down (though copies still exist online). 

Biology professor at Oregon State University David Maddison claimed it was yet another case of pareidolia (where humans see faces and other shapes in inanimate objects). 

“The faculty member no longer wishes to engage with media regarding this research, so we have opted to remove the story from our website and EurekAlert,” Ohio University spokesperson Jim Sabin said in statement. 

A fifth force of nature

And finally, in a breakthrough that could solve one of the great mysteries of the universe, scientists at the Institute for Nuclear Research in Hungary published their latest findings after years of researching both beryllium and helium.

They now believe they have discovered a new boson, which they have named X17, and which may prove to be the missing link which will finally unravel the riddle of dark matter.

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