Thursday, November 20, 2025

Day in Review: NASA's Mars Fleet Gets a Close-Up of Comet 3I/ATLAS | Cassini Finds 'Fresh' Ingredients for Life on Enceladus

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November 19, 2025

Mars

NASA's Mars Spacecraft Capture Images of Comet 3I/ATLAS

On a largely black background, interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS appears as a white smudge with a semicircular shape at its core. A transparent white cloud extends slightly from the comet toward the bottom left of the image and, to a lesser extent, toward the r

Two orbiters and a rover captured images of the interstellar object — from the closest location any of the agency's spacecraft may get — that could reveal new details. Full Story, Images, and Animation

NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured dramatic plumes, both large and small, spray water ice out from many locations along the famed 'tiger stripes' near the south pole of Saturn's moon Enceladus.

Solar System

NASA Cassini Study Finds Organics 'Fresh' From Ocean of Enceladus

Researchers dove deep into information gathered from the ice grains that were collected during a close and super-fast flyby through a plume of Saturn's icy moon. Read More

Today in Science: A fast fix for postpartum depression

November 19, 2025—A new drug for postpartum depression, birds that sound like R2-D2, and Harvard University launches an investigation into scholars associated with Jeffrey Epstein.

—Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor

TODAY'S NEWS

A split image; on left is the Star Wars droid R2-D2; on the right is a starling.

Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images (left); Gary Chalker/Getty Images (right)

Some birds can learn to tweet like R2-D2, and some are better at it than others. You MUST click through to listen to the uncanny results. | 2 min read
Harvard University has launched an investigation into former university president and influential economist Larry Summers and almost a dozen other scholars over their ties to Jeffrey Epstein. | 1 min read
Experts think they've solved last year's Baltimore bridge crash. It may have happened because of the tiniest thing. | 1 min read
A lot of people use melatonin supplements to help them sleep. But is it safe? Experts explain the benefits and risks. | 4 min read
Last week, a lot of us (sadly, not me, again) were treated to stunning auroras lighting up the night sky. We asked a heliophysicist what's in store next for the sun. | 3 min read

More News

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A Lifesaving Intervention

In 2023, the FDA approved a new drug, called zuranolone, to treat postpartum depression. In one study, 153 women with severe postpartum depression were randomly selected to take either zuranolone or a placebo pill every evening for 14 days. At the end of the trial, participants on the drug reported a remarkable drop in their depression symptoms. And the effects were fast: several patients experienced improvement within three days.

Why this matters: Each year, some 500,000 women in the U.S. experience postpartum depression, and experts estimate that the true number could be much higher (many with mild cases likely don't report them). Mental health problems are the leading cause of death in postpartum women, surpassing hemorrhaging and infection.

How it works: Levels of progesterone and a related hormone, allopregnanolone, rise significantly during pregnancy. After delivery, those levels fall off a cliff. Some women are particularly sensitive to this drop, which can disrupt the brain circuitry that regulates mood. Zuranolone is a synthetic mimic of allopregnanolone and it helps to regulate the function of receptors in the brain that influence mood. In clinical trials, 60 percent of participants had a notable reduction in depression symptoms.

What the experts say: That may not sound like magical drug performance (and researchers are still trying to figure out why the pill doesn't work for everyone), but for new moms in desperate need, it's a game-changer. "We had women in the studies who wanted to die; really their hopelessness was at a point where they believed they were burdens to their family," says Kristina Deligiannidis, a reproductive psychiatrist who led the above trial. Yet after treatment those self-destructive thoughts disappeared for many. The medication "can be a lifesaving intervention."

FROM THE ARCHIVE

Black-and-white photographs of two women were retouched so that each woman had large pupils in one photograph and small pupils in the other.

Scientific American, Vol. 233, No. 5, November 1975

From the November 1975 issue: "Photographs of two women were retouched so that each woman had large pupils in one photograph and small pupils in the other. Male subjects were shown eight different pairs of the photographs and were asked in which picture did the woman appear to be more sympathetic, selfish, happier, angrier and so on. When the question concerned a positive attribute, subjects tended to choose the woman with the large pupils; for a negative attribute, they tended to choose the small pupils."

WHAT WE'RE READING

The USDA is discounting critical details that might lead to a bird flu pandemic. | ProPublica
Tech moguls want to build data centers in space. | The Wall Street Journal
How the Internet became a miserable place. | Galaxy Brain

When I listen to those R2-D2 birds I feel a mix of emotions. First, there's the awe that these wild creatures can shape their calls to mimic something so alien to the natural world. But then comes the sadness: our noise, our technologies, our constant presence are seeping into the quiet places where evolution once had the final word. And these birds—whose voices were honed over millions of years—are now forced to tune themselves to us.

Thanks for reading: newsletters@sciam.com. See you tomorrow!

—Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor

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Wednesday, November 19, 2025

Did JWST find the universe's 1st stars? | New 'Project Hail Mary' trailer | Euclid Telescope's findings 1 year out

Can the EU's space missions survive NASA budget cuts? | What happens to the cores of dead stars?

Created for ceo.studentlike.spuniv@blogger.com | Web Version

November 19, 2025

Something amazing every day

The Launchpad

Did we find the universe's first stars?

In an exciting update for astronomy, experts believe that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) may have already found the first generation of stars born shortly after the Big Bang. These long-sought after stars reveal more about our early universe and the processes of star formation.

Other stories for today include a new 'Project Hail Mary' trailer, what the Euclid telescope has found in its first year of operations and a new museum exhibit all about the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs.

We have all that and more for your daily read.

Keep looking up,
Kenna
Content Manager, Space.com

James Webb may have found universe's first stars

"We really needed the sensitivity of JWST. We also needed the 100 times magnification from gravitational lensing from a galaxy cluster between us and LAP1-B."

Euclid Telescope has mapped 1.2m galaxies in 1 year

The data is starting to reveal how galaxies and their black holes evolve.

Space quiz! What is the name of the impact crater created by the dinosaur-killing asteroid?

Click here for the answer!

Spaceflight

Can EU space missions withstand NASA budget cuts?

"By the middle of next year, we expect to be in a position to decide on the way forward, with clarity on NASA funding and member state ambition and funding."