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Two new discoveries regarding chemical ingredients that are associated with the formation of life on Titan have been announced. With its dense nitrogen, methane and ethane atmosphere, and liquid hydrocarbon seas, Titan is currently of interest to scientists looking to study an environment resembling Earth’s primordial atmosphere, and also are hopeful that the Saturnian moon’s complex chemical soup will yield evidence of extraterrestrial life.
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In science’s quest to develop less polluting sources of energy, hydrogen gas has often been used as an example as a potential replacement for fossil fuels: aside from being the most abundant substance in the universe, it is also the most combustible natural substance known, and only produces pure water when burned with oxygen. Unfortunately, the chemical instability of its gaseous form means that storing it is inherently hazardous, and the extraction of the gas from hydrogen’s more stable forms, such as water or petroleum products, can be highly energy inefficient, or produce a disproportionate amount of waste pollutants.
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The study of space weather has taken on an increased importance in recent decades, as the importance of the effects of the day-to-day conditions of our immediate solar system continue to be uncovered, with the effects here on Earth ranging from the awe-inspiring beauty of an aurora borealis display, to the potential nightmare a large-scale solar flare could unleash on our technology.

However, in much the same way that human-based activity has affected Earth-based weather through climate change, it turns out that we’ve also been affecting the nature of space weather in the immediate vicinity around our planet, in the form of a forcefield-like bubble that has been pushing away the natural radiation bands that circle Earth, high in the magnetosphere.
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Astronomers at Canada’s University of Calgary have revealed a previously-uncatalogued, purple-colored luminous phenomenon in the sky, found through observations made by citizen scientists, and confirmed by satellite data. The phenomenon consists of a lighted band or ribbon that stretches across the sky, and although it is not actually a new phenomenon, nobody had bothered paying attention to it before now.

And for lack of a better name, the researchers called it ‘Steve’.
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