Digest explores week’s latest new in the realm of science
Welcome to your weekly space and science digest.
Maybe you wanted to be an explorer when you were a kid.
The CNN Space and Science team is lucky enough to experience genuine awe — the eye-opening, can’t-stop-thinking-about-it kind — on a weekly basis.
May we never lose the wonder and curiosity.
Across the universe
The mystique of Mars is one that humans can’t seem to resist. The red planet has captivated us for centuries — and has been the subject of robotic exploration since the 1960s.
Mars is the second most accessible place in our solar system to send missions beyond the moon. It also may have once been a lot like Earth — meaning it’s a great place to search for ancient life.
“Mars is the most Earthlike planet in our solar system,” said acting NASA administrator Steve Jurczyk. “That’s really intriguing because by studying the geological and climate history of the planet and how it evolved, we can also inform how Earth has evolved and how it will evolve in the future.”
The capable robots exploring Mars now lay the groundwork for landing human missions on the red planet later, Jurczyk said.
One day, the wheel tracks of rovers will follow beside the boot prints of humans on the windswept Martian surface.
We are family
Ancient DNA is helping to unravel the story of how Neanderthals and modern humans mixed together — and it turns out those interactions were a lot more common than we thought.
The oldest known remains of modern humans in Europe have been identified in the Bacho Kiro Cave in Bulgaria, dating back as far as 45,930 years ago.
The Neanderthal DNA in East Asians today can be traced back to interactions between Neanderthals and early modern humans in Europe 45,000 years ago, new research has revealed.
Another skull recovered in the Czech Republic, from a similar time frame but a different population, is likely the oldest reconstructed modern human genome to date.
Together, these findings suggest that Europe was settled by two different groups of modern humans earlier than 45,000 years ago.