The presence and distribution of preserved organic matter on the surface of Mars can provide key information about the Martian carbon cycle and the potential of the planet to host life throughout its history. Several typesof organic molecules have been previously detected in Martian meteorites1 and at Gale crater, Mars2-4. Evaluating the diversity and detectability of organic matter elsewhere on Mars is important for understanding the extent and diversity of Martian surface processes and the potential availability of carbon sources1,5,6. Here we report the detection of Raman and fluorescence spectra consistent with several species of aromatic organic molecules in the Maaz and Seitah formations within the Crater Floor sequences of Jezero crater, Mars. We report specific fluorescence-mineral associations consistent with many classes of organic molecules occurring in different spatial patterns within these compositionally distinct formations, potentially indicating different fates of carbon across environments. Our findings suggest there may be a diversity of aromatic molecules prevalent on the Martian surface, and these materials persist despite exposure to surface conditions. These potential organic molecules are largely found within minerals linked to aqueous processes, indicating that these processes may have had a key role in organic synthesis, transport or preservation.

Providing affordable and nutritious food to a growing and increasingly affluent global population requires multifaceted approaches to target supply and demand aspects. On the supply side, expanding irrigation is key to increase future food production, yet associated needs for storing water and implications of providing that water storage, remain unknown. Here, we quantify biophysical potentials for storage-fed sustainable irrigation-irrigation that neither depletes freshwater resources nor expands croplands but requires water to be stored before use-and study implications for food security and infrastructure. We find that water storage is crucial for future food systems because 460 km(3)/yr of sustainable blue water, enough to grow food for 1.15 billion people, can only be used for irrigation after storage. Even if all identified future dams were to contribute water to irrigation, water stored in dammed reservoirs could only supply 209 +/- 50 km(3)/yr to irrigation and grow food for 631 +/- 145 million people. In the face of this gap and the major socioecologic externalities from future dams, our results highlight limits of gray infrastructure for future irrigation and urge to increase irrigation efficiency, change to less water-intensive cropping systems, and deploy alternative storage solutions at scale.

Atmospheric CO2 concentration measured across a network of towers in North America shows that continent- and biome-scale measurements of the temperature sensitivity of ecosystem respiration are lower than have previously been estimated from plot-level studies.

We present extensive optical photometry of the afterglow of GRB 221009A. Our data cover 0.9-59.9 days from the time of Swift and Fermi gamma-ray burst (GRB) detections. Photometry in rizy-band filters was collected primarily with Pan-STARRS and supplemented by multiple 1-4 m imaging facilities. We analyzed the Swift X-ray data of the afterglow and found a single decline rate power law f(t) proportional to t(-1.556 +/- 0.002) best describes the light curve. In addition to the high foreground Milky Way dust extinction along this line of sight, the data favor additional extinction to consistently model the optical to X-ray flux with optically thin synchrotron emission. We fit the X-ray-derived power law to the optical light curve and find good agreement with the measured data up to 5-6 days. Thereafter we find a flux excess in the riy bands that peaks in the observer frame at similar to 20 days. This excess shares similar light-curve profiles to the Type Ic broad-lined supernovae SN 2016jca and SN 2017iuk once corrected for the GRB redshift of z = 0.151 and arbitrarily scaled. This may be representative of an SN emerging from the declining afterglow. We measure rest-frame absolute peak AB magnitudes of M-g = -19.8 +/- 0.6 and M-r = - 19.4 +/- 0.3 and M-z = -20.1 +/- 0.3. If this is an SN component, then Bayesian modeling of the excess flux would imply explosion parameters of M-ej = 7.1(-1.7)(+2.4) M-circle dot, M-Ni = 1.0(-0.4)(+0.6) M-circle dot, and nu(ej) = 33,900(-5700)(+5900) km s(-1), for the ejecta mass, nickel mass, and ejecta velocity respectively, inferring an explosion energy of E-kin similar or equal to 2.6-9.0 x 10(52) erg.

The majority of the Milky Way's stellar halo consists of debris from our galaxy's last major merger, the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus (GSE). In the past few years, stars from the GSE have been kinematically and chemically studied in the inner 30 kpc of our galaxy. However, simulations predict that accreted debris could lie at greater distances, forming substructures in the outer halo. Here we derive metallicities and distances using Gaia DR3 XP spectra for an all-sky sample of luminous red giant stars, and map the outer halo with kinematics and metallicities out to 100 kpc. We obtain follow-up spectra of stars in two strong overdensities-including the previously identified outer Virgo Overdensity-and find them to be relatively metal rich and on predominantly retrograde orbits, matching predictions from simulations of the GSE merger. We argue that these are apocentric shells of GSE debris, forming 60-90 kpc counterparts to the 15-20 kpc shells that are known to dominate the inner stellar halo. Extending our search across the sky with literature radial velocities, we find evidence for a coherent stream of retrograde stars encircling the Milky Way from 50 to 100 kpc, in the same plane as the Sagittarius Stream but moving in the opposite direction. These are the first discoveries of distant and structured imprints from the GSE merger, cementing the picture of an inclined and retrograde collision that built up our galaxy's stellar halo.

A group of diseases have been shown to correlate with a phenomenon called microbiome dysbiosis, where the bacterial species composition of the gut becomes abnormal. The gut microbiome of an animal is influenced by many factors including diet, exposures to bacteria during post-gestational growth, lifestyle, and disease status. Studies also show that host genetics can affect microbiome composition. We sought to test whether host genetic background is associated with gut microbiome composition in the Norwegian Lundehund dog, a highly inbred breed with an effective population size of 13 individuals. The Lundehund has a high rate of a protein-losing enteropathy in the small intestine that is often reported as Lundehund syndrome, which negatively affects longevity and life-quality. An outcrossing project with the Buhund, Norrbottenspets, and Icelandic sheepdog was recently established to reintroduce genetic diversity to the Lundehund and improve its health. To assess whether there was an association between host genetic diversity and the microbiome composition, we sampled the fecal microbiomes of 75 dogs of the parental (Lundehund), F1 (Lundehund x Buhund), and F2 (F1 x Lundehund) generations. We found significant variation in microbiome composition from the parental Lundehund generation compared to the outcross progeny. The variation observed in purebred Lundehunds corresponded to dysbiosis as seen by a highly variable microbiome composition with an elevated Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio and an increase in the prevalence of Streptococcus bovis/Streptococcus equinus complex, a known pathobiont that can cause several diseases. We tracked several other environmental factors including diet, the presence of a cat in the household, living in a farm and the use of probiotics, but we did not find evidence of an effect of these on microbiome composition and alpha diversity. In conclusion, we found an association between host genetics and gut microbiome composition, which in turn may be associated with the high incidence of Lundehund syndrome in the purebred parental dogs.

We present the discovery of two exoplanets transiting TOI-836 (TIC 440887364) using data from TESS Sector 11 and Sector 38. TOI-836 is a bright (T = 8.5 mag), high proper motion (similar to 200 mas yr(-1)), low metallicity ([Fe/H]asymptotic to-0.28) K-dwarf with a mass of 0.68 +/- 0.05 M-? and a radius of 0.67 +/- 0.01 R-?. We obtain photometric follow-up observations with a variety of facilities, and we use these data sets to determine that the inner planet, TOI-836 b, is a 1.70 +/- 0.07 R-circle plus super-Earth in a 3.82-d orbit, placing it directly within the so-called "radius valley'. The outer planet, TOI-836 c, is a 2.59 +/- 0.09 R-circle plus mini-Neptune in an 8.60-d orbit. Radial velocity measurements reveal that TOI-836 b has a mass of 4.5 +/- 0.9 M-circle plus, while TOI-836 c has a mass of 9.6 +/- 2.6 M-circle plus. Photometric observations show Transit Timing Variations (TTVs) on the order of 20 min for TOI-836 c, although there are no detectable TTVs for TOI-836 b. The TTVs of planet TOI-836 c may be caused by an undetected exterior planet

Both volcano-tectonic (VTs) and deep long-period earthquakes (DLPs) have been documented at Akutan Volcano, Alaska and may reflect different active processes helpful for eruption forecasting. In this study, we perform high-resolution earthquake detection, classification, and relocation using seismic data from 2005 to 2017 to investigate their relationship with underlying magmatic processes. We find that the 2,787 VTs and 787 DLPs are concentrated above and below the inferred magma reservoir respectively. They both are clustered as swarms and occur preferentially during inflation episodes with no spatial migrations. However, moment release rates of DLP swarms show a stronger correlation with inflation and their low-frequency content is likely a source instead of a path effect. Therefore, we infer that DLPs are directly related to unsteady magma movement through a complex pathway. In comparison, repeating events are observed in VTs. Thus, we conclude that they represent fault rupture triggered by magma/fluid movement or larger earthquakes.

Elucidating biological processes has relied on the establishment of model organisms, many of which offer advantageous features such as rapid axenic growth, extensive knowledge of their physiological features and gene content, and the ease with which they can be genetically manipulated. The unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has been an exemplary model that has enabled many scientific breakthroughs over the decades, especially in the fields of photosynthesis, cilia function and biogenesis, and the acclimation of photosynthetic organisms to their environment. Here, we discuss recent molecular/technological advances that have been applied to C. reinhardtii and how they have further fostered its development as a "flagship" algal system. We also explore the future promise of this alga in leveraging advances in the fields of genomics, proteomics, imaging, and synthetic biology for addressing critical future biological issues.