Space & Earth Science

1. KiDS dataset doesn't shake up cold dark matter model after all, say researchers

   Data from 41 million galaxies does not shake up the standard cosmological model after all. To that conclusion, to their own surprise, comes an international team of researchers including Koen Kuijken, professor at the Leiden Observatory.

2. Lunar polar regions could have microbes, modeling study suggests

   Could microbes survive in the permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) of the moon? This is what a recent study presented at the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC 2025) hopes to address as a team of researchers from the United States and Canada investigated the likelihood of long-term survival for microbes in the PSR areas of the moon, which are craters located at the poles that don't see sunlight due to the moon's small axial tilt.

3. Sampling the plumes of Jupiter's volcano moon, Io

   What can a sample return mission from Jupiter's volcanic moon, Io, teach scientists about planetary and satellite (moon) formation and evolution? This is what a recent study presented at the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC 2025) hopes to address as an international team of more than two dozen scientists discussed the benefits and challenges of a mission to Io with the goal of sampling its volcanic plumes that eject from its surface on a regular basis.

4. How can we find cryovolcanoes on Europa?

   In the 1970s, NASA's Voyager probes passed through Jupiter's system and snapped pictures of its largest moons, also known as the Galilean moons. These pictures and the data they gathered offered the first hints that a global ocean may be beneath Europa's icy crust. Moreover, planetary models indicated that Europa's interactions with Jupiter's powerful gravity could lead to tidal flexing in the moon's interior. In short, scientists learned that Europa could have all the necessary ingredients for life in its interior.