Scientists Debate if Pebbles Create Rocky Planets Like Earth

Math and Science News from Quanta Magazine View this email in your browser PLANETARY SCIENCE | ALL TOPICS   Researchers Revise Recipe for Building a Rocky Planet By JONATHAN O'CALLAGHAN Over the past decade, researchers have completely rewritten the story of how gas giants such as Jupiter and Saturn form. They're now debating whether the same process might hold for Earth and the other inner planets. Read the article POLYNOMIALS   Surprising Limits Discovered in Quest for Optimal Solutions By MAX G. LEVY Algorithms that zero in on solutions to optimization problems are the beating heart of machine reasoning. New results reveal surprising limits. Read the article Related:  A Classical Math Problem Gets Pulled Into the Modern World by Kevin Hartnett (2018) EVOLUTION   Sponge Genes Hint at the Origins of Neurons and Other Cells By VIVIANE CALLIER A new study of gene expression in sponges reveals the complex diversity of their cells and possibly ancient connections between the nervous, immune and digestive systems. Read the blog Related:  World's Simplest Animal Reveals Hidden Diversity by Charlie Wood (2018) Q&A   Her Machine Learning Tools Pull Insights From Cell Images By ESTHER LANDHUIS; Video by EMILY BUDER The computational biologist Anne Carpenter creates software that brings the power of machine learning to researchers seeking answers in mountains of cell images. Read the interview | Watch the video Related:  Wanted: More Data, the Dirtier the Better by Esther Landhuis (2017) Around the Web Close Encounter A refrigerator-sized asteroid almost grazed Earth in a near-miss — and scientists never saw it coming, Mindy Weisberger reports for Live Science. Asteroid collisions are a regular occurrence in our geological era, but this wasn't always the case. By studying impact craters on Earth and the moon, scientists have discovered a less violent time in our cosmic past, as Joshua Sokol reported for Quanta in 2019. Start From Zero New research may explain why we don't inherit our parents' biological age: Shortly after conception, embryonic cells turn back the clock to get younger again. Erin García de Jesús reports for Science News on this rejuvenation process discovered in mice. There are many remaining mysteries about how aging happens throughout life. In 2019 Veronique Greenwood reported for Quanta on a link between overactive neurons and shorter lifespans. Follow Quanta Simons Foundation 160 5th Avenue, 7th Floor New York, NY 10010 Unsubscribe | About Quanta Privacy Policy | Terms | Contact Us   Copyright © 2021 Quanta Magazine, an editorially independent division of the Simons Foundation