Here are today’s most important updates from the realm of Science and Space.
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— NASA (@NASA) June 12, 2025
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Astronomers have used Earth-based telescopes to observe "Cosmic Dawn", which is the early period in the universe's history, around 800 million years after the Big Bang, when the first stars and galaxies formed, emitting light that ended the cosmic dark ages. This era was a significant milestone in the universe's evolution as massive stars and galaxies were formed and the universe's structure and composition were shaped. Scientists have used James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations of distant galaxies to get insights into the cosmic dawn. Computational models also help understand galaxy formation and evolution. The light from Cosmic Dawn is extremely faint as the wavelength is in millimetres, which is obvious as it has travelled to us for 13 billion years and more. The signal from polarised microwave light is about a million times fainter.
There are many ingredients for a “good” sunset, but the main three are clear skies, low humidity, and the Sun sitting low in the sky. In the middle of the day when the Sun is high in the sky, sunlight travels a more direct path through the atmosphere. But when the Sun is closer to the horizon, the path is less direct. This means that during sunrises and sunsets, sunlight travels through more of Earth’s atmosphere. And more atmosphere means more scattering. In winter, humidity is typically much lower than in the warmer summer months, meaning there’s less moisture in the air. Humid air often contains tiny water droplets, which can scatter incoming sunlight. In drier winter air, with fewer of these water droplets in the way, sunlight can travel through the atmosphere with less interference. This means the colours can shine through more vividly, making for crisper and more vibrant sunsets.
One trait that is unique to each individual is the breath that sustains us. Each person has an idiosyncratic pattern to the constant inhale-exhale that counts out our hours, days, and years on this planet. This 'respiratory fingerprint' could promote new ways to understand and treat physical and mental ailments. Researchers did not just find that an individual can be confidently identified based on their breathing pattern; the results also revealed what those breathing patterns can indicate about a person. There's the usual gamut of activities. A person at rest will have a distinct breathing pattern as opposed to someone out on a constitutional jog, for instance. The researchers also found that a person's breathing correlates with their BMI.
Earth's oceans are in worse condition than scientists thought, with acidity levels so high that our seas may have entered a "danger zone" five years ago, according to a new study. This ocean acidification damages marine ecosystems and threatens human coastal communities that depend on healthy waters for their livelihoods. The ocean acidification boundary would be breached when the oceans see a 20% reduction of aragonite (soluble forms of CaCO3) compared with preindustrial levels (estimated ocean acidification for 1750 and 1850). The 2023 study estimated that ocean acidification was at 19%, just below the boundary. Not all of the ocean is acidifying at the same rate. For example, the researchers determined that about 40% of the water at the surface had crossed the boundary, but that estimate rose to 60% for the waters below, down to about 650 feet (200 m).
