Science News
A 15-year study led by Carnegie’s Robert Hazen and Shaunna Morrison details the origins and diversity of every known mineral on Earth, a landmark body of work that will help reconstruct the history of life on our planet, guide the search for new minerals and ore deposits, predict possible characteristics of future life, and aid the search for habitable exoplanets and extraterrestrial life.
Read more...Unraveling A Meteorite Mystery Reveals Solar System Origin Story
The violent event that likely preceded our Solar System’s formation holds the solution to a longstanding meteorite mystery, says new work from Carnegie’s Alan Boss published in The Astrophysical Journal.
Read more...The Path To Pure Polynitrogen—New Compound A Crucial Step Toward Revolutionary Energy Storage
New work from an international team led by Carnegie’s Alexander Goncharov synthesized a new material composed of six nitrogen atoms in a ring, bringing scientists one step closer to creating a long-theorized, pure-nitrogen solid that could revolutionize energy storage and propulsion.
Direct images of young exoplanet points to controversial disk instability theory
A recent study published in Nature Astronomy may have revealed the first visual evidence confirming the formation of a gas giant planet via the controversial disk instability method, which was first proposed by Carnegie’s Alan Boss in 1997.
Read more...Revealed: Water Determines Magma Depth. Finding Upends Long-Held Understanding Of Volcanic Storage.
New work from a Smithsonian-led team, including Carnegie’s Diana Roman, revealed what could be the most-important factor controlling the depth at which magma is stored under a volcano, upending long-held theories about the molten material’s upward journey through the Earth’s crust. Their findings—which could inform the creation of detailed models that more accurately forecast volcanic eruptions—are published in Science.
Read more...Discovered: An Easier Way To Create Flexible Diamonds
Recently, a team of scientists led by Carnegie’s Samuel Dunning and Timothy Strobel developed an original technique that predicts and guides the ordered creation of strong, yet flexible, diamond nanothreads, surmounting several existing challenges. The innovation will make it easier for scientists to predict and synthesize the nanothreads—an important step toward applying the material to practical problems in the future. The work was recently published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
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