Gadget

In July 2025, the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter captured a high-resolution image of Acheron Fossae, a region marked by deep chasms and ridges on Mars’s surface. These features, created by ancient crustal stretching, split the terrain into raised horsts and sunken grabens. Valley floors reveal smooth surfaces carved by slow-moving, ice-rich rock glaciers, forming rounded knobs and mesas. Scientists believe these structures date back 3.7 billion years, during Mars’s most geologically active era. The presence of rock glaciers hints at ancient ice ages, suggesting the Red Planet once had climatic cycles capable of supporting frozen water flow over vast periods, reshaping its landscape.

A Physical Review Letters study likens deep neural network feature learning to spring-block mechanics, linking data simplification to spring extension and nonlinearity to friction. The model reveals how noise can balance separation across layers and help predict performance, offering a powerful tool to optimise training, improve generalisation, and enhance efficiency in large AI systems.

Astronomers have detected a dormant black hole with a mass equal to 36 billion Suns in the Cosmic Horseshoe system, 5 billion light-years away. Identified via gravitational lensing and stellar motion, it ranks among the largest known black holes. The discovery sheds light on the link between galaxy size and central black hole growth.

NASA’s latest wind tunnel tests on a tiltwing model are giving the advanced air mobility industry valuable data to improve air taxi and drone designs. By studying wing and propeller interactions in different conditions, NASA is helping create safer and more efficient next-generation aircraft.

University of Maryland researchers have designed self-adaptive electrolytes that dynamically expand their stability during charging, enabling safer and faster high-energy batteries. Inspired by the “salting-out” effect, the approach has shown improved performance in both lithium-metal and zinc-metal cells, paving the way for next-generation energy storage solutions.

Light pollution is brightening skies over observatories at an alarming rate, with artificial light growing by up to 10% each year. Astronomers caution that this glow, intensified by widespread LED use and urban expansion, is threatening the ability of telescopes to detect faint cosmic objects and diminishing humanity’s shared right to experience the night sky.

Directed by Justin Kelly, Pretty Thing is an erotic thriller movie that stars Karl Glusman and Alicia Silverstone in the lead roles. The movie revolves around an affair between Sophie and Elliot, which turns into a dark game of obsession, stalking, and threats. Watch now, only on Lionsgate Play.

Raphael Domjan, a Swiss eco-explorer, achieved an 8,224-meter altitude in his SolarStratos aircraft, edging closer to breaking the solar-powered flight record. The attempt, departing from Sion Airport, showcased the potential of renewable energy in aviation.

SUTD’s maple seed-inspired monocopter achieves a record 26-minute flight with a single rotor. Lightweight, efficient, and simple, it offers promising uses in environmental monitoring and research. The project reflects a 10-year journey from large endurance drones to compact, power-efficient designs.

On July 24, 2025, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured an image of a small, coral-shaped rock in Gale Crater using its ChemCam Remote Micro Imager. The light-colored, 1-inch (2.5 cm) formation likely formed billions of years ago when mineral-rich water seeped into tiny fractures in the rock, leaving behind hardened mineral veins after evaporation. Over time, relentless Martian winds sandblasted the surrounding material, revealing the rock’s intricate, branching structure. While its appearance closely resembles marine coral, scientists stress it is a geological artifact—known as a pseudofossil—rather than evidence of life. The discovery reinforces mounting evidence that ancient Mars had abundant liquid water and could have supported microbial life. Since landing in 2012, Curiosity has explored Gale Crater’s layered terrain, uncovering clues to the Red Planet’s wet history and its potential habitability in the distant past.