Asahi Shuzo, the esteemed Japanese sake manufacturer renowned for the celebrated brand Dassai, is venturing into the final frontier with an audacious plan: to ferment sake in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station (ISS). This pioneering endeavor aims to create a sake so exclusive that a mere 100ml bottle, if the experiment succeeds, will be priced at a staggering 100 million yen, approximately $653,000. This astronomical price tag transforms a standard 80ml serving into a luxurious indulgence, a sip of which would set one back by a small fortune.

NASA's Juno spacecraft, on its mission to orbit and observe Jupiter and its moons since July 2016, has made significant flybys of Io, Jupiter's fiery moon, that are unraveling the enduring enigma of why this small satellite is the most volcanically active body in our solar system. Io, similar in size to Earth's moon, is home to an estimated 400 volcanoes that continuously release plumes and lava, coating its surface in a fiery embrace.

In the frozen expanses of Siberia, a remarkable discovery has captured the imagination of paleontologists worldwide: a mummified ice age cub, the first known mummy of a saber-toothed cat. This extraordinary find provides a unique window into the past, offering unprecedented insights into the physiology and potential hunting strategies of these ancient predators.

In the eons before dinosaurs roamed the Earth, and tens of millions of years prior to the emergence of the first mammals, the land was ruled by distant relatives of mammals, known as gorgonopsians. These formidable carnivores, characterized by their long, serrated canine teeth, were the apex predators of their time. However, the earliest members of this lineage had long eluded the fossil record—until now. The discovery of a newly identified gorgonopsian, the oldest saber-toothed animal ever found, is bridging a significant gap in our understanding of this group's history.

In the early days of the dinosaurs' existence, around 230 million years ago, they were unremarkable creatures sharing the supercontinent with a myriad of other ancient reptiles. However, a mere 30 million years later, dinosaurs rose to dominance, exhibiting a plethora of forms and sizes while many of their reptilian contemporaries declined. The secret to their evolutionary triumph has long been an enigma, but recent research points to clues hidden within their remains —specifically, dinosaur droppings.

The Parker Solar Probe made history with a record-breaking encounter with our star, soaring within 3.8 million miles (6.1 million kilometers) of the sun's surface, marking the closest approach to a star ever achieved by humankind. The mission operations team, based at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, confirmed the successful flyby on Friday morning after receiving a signal from the spacecraft just before midnight on Thursday. Although the team was unable to communicate with the spacecraft during its closest pass to the sun, they are now anticipating more detailed data on the spacecraft’s status, expected to arrive on Earth on January 1.

A marine heatwave has led to a devastating loss in Alaska's common murre population, resulting in the largest recorded die-off of a single species in modern history, according to research. This catastrophic event underscores the broader changes occurring in marine environments due to rising ocean temperatures, which are rapidly altering ecosystems and affecting the survival of species.

In 2024, the veil of history was parted by scientific revelations that shed new light on figures from the past, both renowned and obscure. Ancient DNA analysis played a pivotal role in filling gaps in our knowledge and challenging long-standing beliefs. A case in point is the archaeological site of Pompeii, where genetic research has reshaped understanding of the Roman town entombed by ash since Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79. Previously, a famous image was interpreted as a mother clutching her child in their final moments; however, genetic traces from the bones revealed an unrelated adult male offering solace to a child, dispelling long-held assumptions.

Once, our solar system was home to nine planets, a fact that was etched in the minds of students and astronomers alike. However, this classification was challenged by the groundbreaking work of astronomer Mike Brown, who earned the moniker "the man who killed Pluto." Brown, a planetary astronomy professor at Caltech, uncovered a distant world named Eris in the Kuiper Belt, a region teeming with icy relics from the solar system's formation, located beyond Neptune's orbit. This revelation in 2005 sparked a sequence of events that led to Pluto's controversial降级 from planetary status in 2006.

In November, as a piece of orbital debris threatened the International Space Station (ISS), the crew of seven astronauts prepared for potential impact. A Russian spacecraft docked to the ISS ignited its engines for a brief five-minute burst, nudging the station's path and steering the massive laboratory to safety. Had the ISS not altered its course, the debris could have come within a close 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) of its flight path, as stated by NASA. A collision could have been catastrophic, potentially causing depressurization and forcing the astronauts to make an emergency return to Earth. This near-miss is not an isolated incident; the ISS has had to perform such evasive maneuvers numerous times since its first occupation in November 2000. The risk of collisions is escalating annually due to the increasing number of objects in Earth's orbit. Space traffic experts have long warned about the growing congestion in space. Collisions, explosions, and weapons tests have resulted in thousands of trackable pieces of debris, with possibly millions more that are beyond the reach of current detection technology. The risks are not just to astronauts but also to satellites and space-based technologies that are integral to our daily lives, including GPS, broadband, high-speed internet, and television services.

For half a century, the scientific realm has been wrestling with a perplexing enigma: the universe appears to be lacking in visible matter. The entirety of observable matter—comprising stars, planets, interstellar dust, and everything else—falls short of explaining the universe's behavior. According to NASA, there should be a fivefold increase in this matter for the researchers' observations to align with theoretical predictions. This unseen mass is termed "dark matter," as it neither engages with light nor is it perceptible. In the 1970s, American astronomers Vera Rubin and W. Kent Ford substantiated the existence of dark matter by scrutinizing the motion of stars at the periphery of spiral galaxies. They observed that these stars were orbiting at velocities too high to be maintained by the galaxy's visible matter and its gravitational pull; they should have been dispersing instead. The sole plausible explanation was the presence of a substantial amount of unseen matter, holding the galaxy together. Rubin remarked at the time, "What you see in a spiral galaxy is not what you get." Her research expanded on a hypothesis proposed in the 1930s by Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky and ignited the quest for this elusive substance. Since then, scientists have endeavored to directly observe dark matter and have even constructed sizable instruments to detect it—yet, to no avail. At the onset of this search, the renowned British physicist Stephen Hawking theorized that dark matter might be concealed within black holes—the central focus of his research—formed during the Big Bang. Now, a novel study by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has reignited interest in this theory, shedding light on the composition of these primordial black holes and potentially uncovering an entirely novel class of exotic black holes in the process. "It was really a delightful surprise," remarked David Kaiser, one of the study's authors. "We were leveraging Stephen Hawking's renowned calculations concerning black holes, particularly his significant finding regarding the radiation emitted by black holes," Kaiser stated. "These exotic black holes emerge from our attempts to address the dark matter conundrum—they are an unexpected consequence of elucidating dark matter."

Every day, a silent yet vital ballet unfolds high above our heads, as radio waves emitted by critical communication and navigation satellites traverse the ionosphere, a layer of Earth's atmosphere that plays a crucial role in maintaining various aspects of life on our planet. This atmospheric zone, situated between 50 to 400 miles (80 to 643 kilometers) above the Earth's surface, lies just below the lowest orbits of some communication satellites, harboring a realm of enigmatic phenomena that could potentially disrupt the smooth functioning of the radio signals essential for our daily lives.

After an arduous and prolonged journey, the Perseverance rover has successfully summited Jezero Crater on Mars, marking a significant milestone in its exploration of the Martian landscape. This region is unlike any other the rover has experienced throughout its 3.5-year expedition on the red planet. The robotic explorer is now poised to study some of the most ancient rocks on Mars, which could unveil the enigmatic history of the planet and possibly indicate whether its ancient environments were conducive to life. The rover's mission is to ascertain the existence of life on Mars by gathering samples that may harbor remnants of ancient microorganisms.

The Parker Solar Probe is set to make a historic pass by the sun on Tuesday, marking the closest approach to a star ever achieved by humankind. It will come within a mere 3.8 million miles (6.1 million kilometers) of the sun's surface, traveling at an astonishing speed of 430,000 miles per hour (692,000 kilometers per hour). This velocity is so swift that it could transport one from Washington, D.C., to Tokyo in less than a minute, as stated by NASA. This record-breaking speed has earned the probe the title of the fastest man-made object in history, a fact revealed by the agency during a NASA Science Live presentation on December 16th on YouTube.

Burnt to a crisp, the multitude of fragile ancient scrolls would disintegrate at the slightest touch, rendering any script nearly indecipherable. Despite their unopened state, the Herculaneum scrolls have yielded their secrets, thanks to the remarkable capabilities of artificial intelligence. In 2023, a team of three researchers utilized AI and high-resolution X-rays to decipher over 2,000 characters from these tightly rolled documents—marking the first time full passages from papyri that survived the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 have been revealed.

As the year approaches its twilight, the heavens prepare to offer one final, dazzling spectacle—the Ursid meteor shower. This celestial event, while not as grand or widely celebrated as its more famous counterparts, holds a quiet, understated beauty that is no less captivating for those who take the time to witness it. The Ursids serve as a fitting exclamation point to the year's meteor showers, a gentle reminder that even as one chapter ends, the universe continues to unfold its wonders before our eyes.

Astronomers have recently identified seven additional instances of a mysterious cosmic phenomenon referred to as dark comets, which may provide valuable insights into whether these celestial bodies played a role in transporting essential elements such as water to Earth during its early formation. This discovery has effectively doubled the previously known count of these enigmatic objects within our solar system. They exhibit characteristics of both asteroids and comets, yet they lack the distinctive tail that is typically associated with comets. The findings, published on December 9th in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, have also revealed the existence of two separate groups of these objects. The increased number of identified dark comets has led astronomers to conclude that they are not as rare as was once thought. "Studying small celestial bodies like asteroids and comets is crucial for understanding how materials are distributed throughout the solar system," explained Darryl Seligman, the lead researcher and a postdoctoral fellow in physics and astronomy at Michigan State University, East Lansing. "Dark comets, which may contain water, represent a new potential source for the delivery of materials to Earth that were vital for the emergence of life. The more we learn about them, the better we can comprehend their significance in the origins of our planet."

Over the past few years, our home planet has faced significant challenges, from the global spread of a pandemic to unprecedented heatwaves and natural disasters. These events underscore the rationale behind the futuristic concept of establishing extraterrestrial habitats, with advocates arguing that lunar or Martian outposts could serve as a safeguard against potential extinction events or human-induced catastrophes. However, our understanding of the human capacity to survive and reproduce in space is limited, particularly concerning the ability to procreate. Recent research involving freeze-dried mouse sperm aboard the International Space Station (ISS) aims to shed light on the potential for mammalian reproduction off-planet.

A groundbreaking discovery has been made within a Martian meteorite, revealing the presence of water on Mars dating back an astonishing 4.45 billion years. This revelation comes from the analysis of a zircon grain, which may hold the oldest direct evidence of ancient, hot water on the red planet. Such an environment, reminiscent of Earth's hot springs, could have been conducive to life. This finding not only broadens our understanding of Mars' ancient habitability but also corroborates the observations made by spacecraft currently exploring Mars, which have detected signs of past rivers and lakes on its surface. However, the precise timing of water's emergence on Mars and its subsequent evolution and disappearance remain enigmatic.

NASA's Juno spacecraft has been unraveling the enigma of Jupiter's volcanically active moon, Io, through its close encounters. Io, akin in size to our own moon, is home to approximately 400 volcanoes that persistently emit plumes and lava, coating its surface. Since July 2016, Juno has been in orbit around Jupiter, observing the gas giant and its moons. In December 2023 and February, it executed exceptionally close flybys of Io, coming within a mere 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) of the moon's surface to collect images and data. These flybys have offered an unprecedented view of Io, including the first-ever observations of its polar regions. The findings from the analysis of this data were presented by researchers at the American Geophysical Union's annual gathering in Washington, DC, and a paper detailing some of these insights was published in the journal Nature.