The Particle That Almost Broke Physics to Were Early Galaxies Different?

Today’s stories include The Top 5 Places and Times We Are Likely to Discover Extraterrestrial Life to Why Our Universe May Not Be Special, and much more.

Were galaxies much different in the early universe? asks the UC Berkeley. "Their data suggest that early galaxies contained very few elements besides hydrogen and helium, unlike our galaxies today. “This is moving toward a potentially revolutionary technique in cosmology. Once you can get down to the sensitivity you need, there’s so much information in the data,” said Joshua Dillon, a research scientist in the University of California, Berkeley’s Department of Astronomy and lead author of the paper.

The 50-year quest to find the particle that almost broke physics--When physicists first discovered a form of a radioactivity called beta decay it seemed to violate the laws of physics. It took 50 years to work out what was going on, reports New Scientist.

Where is Physics Headed (and How Soon Do We Get There)?--Two leading scientists discuss the future of their field, reports New York Times Out There.

Astronomers can't wait to search for signs of life and massive black-hole mergers, reports Briley Lewis for Space.com. 'From black holes to the search for life, scientific breakthroughs are on the horizon."

The Top 5 Places and Times We Are Likely to Discover Extraterrestrial Life, reports The Debrief. From the clouds of Venus to technosignatures the vastness of the Milky Way.

Why This Universe? Maybe It’s Not Special—Just Probable--Two physicists find that our universe has a higher entropy—and is therefore more likely—than alternative possible universes, reports Wired.com. 

Exotic green comet not seen since stone age returns to skies above Earth--Comet C/2022 E3, which orbits the sun every 50,000 years, reports The Guardian. "The comet, which comes from the Oort cloud at the edge of the solar system, will come closest to Earth on Wednesday and Thursday next week when it shoots past the planet at a distance of 2.5 light minutes – a mere 27m miles.

JWST has seen building blocks of life in a dark, cold cloud in space, reports New Scientist. "The James Webb Space Telescope has observed a frigid cloud of dust and gas where stars are forming, and it found frozen elements that are crucial for the development of life."

Cataclysmic Collisions May Explain ‘Forbidden’ Exoplanets, reports  Daniel Leonard for Scientific American. A new model could explain the scarcity of certain planet sizes.

Earth’s inner core seems to be slowing its spin--This isn’t the beginning of the end times. Instead the findings stoke debate about how the core influences some of the most fundamental parts of our planet, reports The Washington Post. "The provocative findings come after years of research and deep scientific disagreements about the core and how it influences some of the most fundamental aspects of our planet, including the length of a day and fluctuations in Earth’s magnetic field."

Astronomers Just Realized The Milky Way Is Too Big For Its Surroundings, reports Science Alert. "Specifically, it appears to be too large for the neighborhood it sits within known as the Local Sheet. This flattened arrangement of galaxies share similar velocities, bounded by relatively empty space called voids on either side."

How Our View of the Ancient Universe Could Slowly Fade Away--The worsening climate crisis may soon obstruct the eyes of our ground-based telescopes: "We will literally have less to look at," reports CNET.