In 2024, researchers turned up possible evidence of ancient life on Mars, hints that Alzheimer’s disease can spread from person-to-person and a slew of other scientific findings that could be a big deal — if they’re the real deal.
Martian microbes, maybe
Alien microbes may have once made their home on Mars (SN: 8/24/24, p. 6). In July, NASA’s Perseverance rover uncovered a rock on the Red Planet that sports white spots with black rings laced with iron phosphate (see Page 28). On Earth, such specks have been linked to ancient microbial life. But they’re not surefire signs of microbes. The only way to know for certain is to bring the rock back to Earth for closer inspection.
Sparking superconductivity
Light may be the secret ingredient for making superconductors that don’t require frigid conditions. In an experiment, blasting a copper and oxygen compound with a laser caused the material to throw off magnetic fields. That magnetism, the scientists say, is a smoking gun for superconductivity — the ability to ferry electricity with no resistance (SN: 8/10/24, p. 6). But skeptics contend that those magnetic fields might have arisen from some other, unknown physics.
Ancient engineering
Builders used a water-powered elevator to construct Egypt’s first pyramid nearly 4,700 years ago, researchers propose (SN: 9/7/24 & 9/21/24, p. 11). That controversial idea is based on a computer model of structures in and around the Step Pyramid of Djoser. Controlling the flow of floodwater in and out of a shaft inside the pyramid could have lifted and lowered a block-hoisting platform, the model shows. But critics argue that occasional rains wouldn’t have supplied enough water to sustain such a system.
Tectonic shake-up
Plate tectonics got off to an early start in Earth’s history, a rock in South Africa suggests. Layers in the rock bear scars of 3-billion-year-old landslides that may have been caused by an earthquake…
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