Monday, October 5, 2026

NASA Adds New Science Investigations for Moon Base

Artist’s rendering depicting astronauts, habitats, rovers, power systems, and cargo operations supporting sustained human activities at the Moon Base near the lunar South Pole.

Credit: NASA

Editor’s note: This release was updated on Oct. 2, 2026, to correct the full names of the DISCO and GIMLI payloads.

NASA selected three new scientific investigations and their payload suites to advance our knowledge of the Moon and help pave the way for building humanity’s first lunar outpost, Moon Base.

The suite of science instruments and technologies was selected through NASA’s Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) program and will fly to the lunar surface using the CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative as part of the agency’s Moon Base Program. The payloads will help researchers understand lunar resources, map natural shelters, and assess environmental hazards, laying the foundational groundwork for a safe and sustained human presence under the agency’s Artemis and Moon Base programs. 

“NASA Science is building the ultimate interplanetary survival guide to ensure that science goes first to the lunar surface to provide our future astronaut crews with the vital information, resources, and safety precautions needed ahead of time to survive the night on the Moon,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “These PRISM selections will directly help NASA minimize risks to our astronauts while maximizing our agency goals as we set up humanity’s first lunar outpost in preparation for sending the first astronauts to Mars.”

The three payload suites are:

Lunar Environment Monitoring Station – South Pole (LEMS-SP):

  • The autonomous LEMS-SP instrument suite will serve as a long-term environmental and hazard monitoring station. The instrument will be designed to help build a picture of the lunar environment by monitoring falling micrometeoroids and tracking the abundance of volatiles, or materials that can easily shift into gas, that drift into the Moon’s thin outer layer of gases. Using a short‑period seismometer to detect seismic events, the instrument could deliver the critical hazard assessments needed to ensure the physical safety of Moon Base hardware.

Principal Investigator: Dr. Mehdi Benna, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

  Geophysical Instruments for Marius Lunar pit Investigation (GIMLI):  

  • The GIMLI payload will be deployed at the Marius Hills Pit on the lunar surface to hunt for subterranean lava tubes and aid in our understanding of fundamental lunar volcanic processes. The payload will scan beneath the Moon’s surface to see whether the Marius Hills Pit leads into a large underground lava tube. If it does, these natural underground spaces could offer future astronauts ready‑made protection from extreme temperatures and harmful radiation — important groundwork for safe, long‑term living on the Moon. Confirming these void spaces now could shift future habitat planning, offering natural, ready-made shelters that provide crucial thermal stability and shielding from deadly ionizing radiation and micrometeoroid bombardment.  

Principal Investigator: Dr. Nathaniel Putzig, Planetary Science Institute

Depth Imager with Spectral and Color Optics (DISCO):  

  • The DISCO payload will provide the first direct, on-the-ground measurements of ice hidden in lunar micro-cold traps and also will lay the groundwork for lunar resource utilization and surface operations. The payload will study how the lunar surface behaves, from how rocket exhaust disturbs the ground to how stable it is for mobility, while also pinpointing where ice exists and how much of it is there. Together, this information will help NASA design safe surface operations and develop the technologies needed to turn ice into a usable resource for the future Moon Base.

Principal Investigator: Dr. Ariel Deutsch, NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley

“Each new PRISM selection strengthens our ability to deliver ambitious, transformative science to the lunar surface,” said Brad Bailey, director of the Exploration Science Strategy Integration Office in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “These investigations exemplify how Artemis and Moon Base are expanding the frontier of lunar exploration, advancing innovative technologies, deepening our understanding of the Moon’s environment, and paving the way for future astronaut missions.”

NASA is increasing its cadence of lunar missions to build a Moon Base, delivering science investigations and technology payloads that contribute to American scientific preeminence, strengthen a sustained presence on the Moon, and advance future human exploration.

NASA’s CLPS initiative supports the Moon Base Program, as the agency works with American companies to deliver scientific, exploration, and technology payloads to the Moon’s surface and orbit.

For more information, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/lunar-science

Tiffany Blake
Headquarters, Washington
 

Source: NASA Adds New Science Investigations for Moon Base - NASA 

New weight-loss injection targets fat cells: CBL-514 selectively induces apoptosis of fat cells - medicalxpress

Details of a new injection that targets fat cells will be released at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Milan, Italy (Sept. 28–Oct. 2). Studies show that the new drug, CBL-514, reduces levels of subcutaneous and visceral fat. The data also suggest that it helps limit weight regain after people stop taking GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs (GLP1-RAs), says Dr. W. Timothy Garvey of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

CBL-514 selectively induces apoptosis (self-destruction) of adipocytes, or fat cells, while leaving other cells untouched.

In phase 2 clinical trials, the drug reduced the volume of subcutaneous adipose tissue—the layer of fat that lies just beneath the skin and can be "pinched"—with 69.6% of treated participants achieving a reduction of at least 150 mL at the eight-week follow-up, compared with 0% of those receiving a placebo.

In preclinical studies (animal models), it reduced weight and levels of subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue (VAT). Visceral fat is hidden deep within the abdomen, wrapped around the internal organs. It is very metabolically active and a key driver of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and cardiometabolic conditions such as heart attacks and strokes.

More weight was lost when the drug was given along with the GLP1-RA tirzepatide. In addition, rats given CBL-514 and tirzepatide regained less weight when tirzepatide was stopped than rats given tirzepatide alone.

The hypothesis is that the reduction in fat cells limits the amount of fat that can be reaccumulated, slowing weight regain.

While GLP1-RAs are highly effective for weight loss, many people regain weight after stopping treatment. The hope is that CBL-514 will help people keep weight off—allowing them to sustain the health benefits of weight loss, such as improvements in blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol, says Garvey. However, research is needed to prove this.

For the latest analysis, Garvey and Yu-Fang Ling of the drug's developer, Caliway Biopharmaceuticals, in New Taipei City, Taiwan, used data on a subgroup of participants from the phase 2 trials (CBL-0204 and CBL-0205) to assess CBL-514's effect on visceral fat in human subjects. They focused on trial participants for whom MRI data were available.

The participants (BMI 22–30 kg/m2) (age range 36.4 years to 42.4 years) received injections of up to 600 mg of CBL-514 (n=23) or placebo (n=17) into the lower abdomen every three weeks for up to 12 weeks. The exact number of injections depended on the thickness of their abdominal fat.

The number of injections was reduced as the participant's fat thickness decreased, and injections were stopped when the thickness reached a low enough level. MRI scans were used to measure visceral adipose tissue at baseline, four weeks after the last treatment and eight to 12 weeks after the last treatment.

VAT volume was similar in the two groups at baseline: 563.85 ml in the CBL-514 group and 659.81 ml in the placebo group. It then decreased in those receiving the drug and increased in those given the placebo.

Four weeks after the last treatment, average VAT volume had decreased by 12.01% from baseline in the CBL-514 group, while it had increased by 5.68% in the placebo group, representing a between-group difference of 17.69 percentage points.

At the later follow-up—eight weeks after the last treatment in CBL-0205 and 12 weeks after the last treatment in CBL-0204—average VAT volume was 10.45% lower than at baseline in the CBL-514 group, while it had increased by 11.76% in the placebo group, representing a between-group difference of 22.21 percentage points.

Other than mostly mild to moderate and transient injection-site reactions, such as pain, swelling and redness, CBL-514 was generally well tolerated, with no serious adverse events reported.

The researchers conclude that CBL-514 significantly reduced abdominal VAT volume compared with placebo—and that the research as a whole shows that the drug can reduce both visceral and subcutaneous fat.

Garvey says, "We expect that patients will be pleased by the cosmetic effects, such as the flatter stomach that can come with subcutaneous fat loss. But it is the reduction in body weight, loss of visceral fat and the improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol and the like that should be associated with this that will be important for health."

He adds that liposuction and abdominoplasty only address subcutaneous fat and are more invasive.

"This is a highly innovative approach to obesity pharmacotherapy that has produced some remarkable results in early human trials," says Garvey.

Recruitment for the first of two phase 3 trials is underway. These randomized placebo-controlled studies will evaluate the safety and efficacy of CBL-514 for nonsurgical abdominal fat reduction, with the first results expected at the end of next year. 

Source: New weight-loss injection targets fat cells: CBL-514 selectively induces apoptosis of fat cells 

Solar-powered trashcan lid insert gets rid of garbage stink - Energy & Green Tech - Hi Tech & Innovation

Garbage left outside starts smelling unpleasant very quickly, especially in warm, humid climates that accelerate food decay. In ACS' Environmental Science & Technology, researchers report a solar-powered lid insert that fits onto standard wheeled trash bins and helps combat the stench. In tests with real food, the lid insert efficiently breaks down acetic acid, the main culprit released from rotting waste that's responsible for its odors, and continues working for more than a month.

Sunlight targets odors at the source

Household waste is often unwanted food that rapidly degrades in bins on neighborhood curbs, producing strong-smelling compounds such as acetic acid (vinegar), an astringent-smelling compound often associated with stinky garbage. Placing filters with activated charcoal, also called activated carbon, under the lid can help keep the stink contained, but they don't work well in hot and humid environments.

Another option is to harness sunlight that hits outdoor garbage bins to remove odor-causing chemicals. "Our motivation was therefore very practical. We wanted to address the odor at its source, inside the bin itself, instead of letting it escape into the street," says Wang, a corresponding author of the study.

An inexpensive catalyst like manganese oxide (MnO2) could help—when activated with sunlight, it both adsorbs volatile organic acids and breaks the chemical bonds of acetic acid. So, Wang and colleagues wanted to develop a MnO2-based catalyst and integrate it into a lid insert made from a transparent membrane that concentrates sunlight onto the catalyst. 


A boosted catalyst passes outdoor tests

The team ionically bonded lithium to MnO2 as a kind of electronic booster, creating a refined catalyst that is more effective at breaking down acetic acid than MnO2 alone or activated carbon in simulated sunlight conditions in the lab. The catalyst also performed well in humid conditions.

For a real-world test, the team developed a transparent, gas-permeable insert containing a lens that concentrated light onto a layer of the catalyst. The removable module fit onto the lid of a standard wheeled trash bin. The catalyst insert continuously and efficiently broke down acetic acid generated by decaying fruit, bread and wine for more than 40 days in natural sunlight, demonstrating its long-term stability.

"Conventional catalytic odor abatement relies on electrical heating to activate the catalyst, but we use light instead," says Wang. The authors anticipate their results could someday provide a sustainable solution for odor control in waste management.

Source: Solar-powered trashcan lid insert gets rid of garbage stinky

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Saturday, October 3, 2026

NASA’s Webb Provides Crash Course on Planet-Shattering Collisions

In the early history of our solar system, scientists theorize that a Mars-sized object called Theia smashed into the infant Earth, vaporizing massive amounts of rock and blasting it into space. Some of that material coalesced into the Moon, where NASA’s Artemis program is returning humans, preparing for Mars, and shaping the future of space exploration.

That long-ago, violent collision reshaped our home planet. Astronomers have used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to examine a class of young stellar systems that show signs of similar upheavals, providing clues to the amount of energy in their collisions. The results offer insights into the composition and evolution of these chaotic systems.

The team’s findings published Thursday in The Astrophysical Journal.

Image: Extreme Debris Disk (Artist’s Concept)

The types of collisions within young stellar systems known as extreme debris disks are relevant to scientists’ understanding of our own solar system, which is thought to have undergone similar impact events that created our Moon and shaped Earth’s initial state.

Artwork: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)

The environment surrounding a star changes as it ages, beginning with a juvenile, gas-rich protoplanetary disk where forming planets can reside, before evolving to a gas-poor debris disk. During its mission lifetime, NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope examined the debris disk stage and discovered a subclass termed extreme debris disks. These systems harbor unusually large amounts of warm dust close to the star, in the region comparable to where rocky planets orbit in our solar system. A team of astronomers led by Kate Su of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado investigated these intriguing objects with Webb.

Contrary to theoretical predictions, which suggest we should observe many extreme debris disks, observations indicate that these environments are rare. Scientists estimate roughly only 1% of young stars show observable signatures of this phase based on the data collected so far, including possibly our own solar system during its formation. Despite their rarity, the team was able to compile a sample of 21 extreme debris disks, including five from Spitzer’s archival data and 16 from Webb, with 12 newly observed disks and follow-up observations on four of Spitzer’s.

“This is the first time we have gathered enough systems to truly understand this subclass that we call extreme debris disks,” said Su, lead author of the paper. “Before Webb, we had limited information. We knew that they are weird and very different from the typical cold debris disks that we know, like Vega and Fomalhaut. Now that we have more data, we can pin down what these disks represent for planet formation and evolution.”

The team confirmed that extreme debris disks share three key properties: smaller dust grains than those in protoplanetary or classic debris disks, a high concentration of warm dust, and irregular brightness variations, all revealed by mid-infrared spectra from Webb and Spitzer.

To determine the driving factor for these qualities, the team studied the mineralogical makeup of the disks. They found that their sample could be categorized into silica-rich and silica-poor disks. Volcanic glass like obsidian is one example of silica-rich material found on Earth, whereas the silica-poor mineral forsterite appears as green sand grains on some beaches in Hawaii. An extreme debris disk’s category relays information on the type of collisions producing the impact debris and may help account for its variability in infrared brightness.

“To just see their mid-infrared emission and beautiful spectral features with Webb, which allowed us to identify their compositions, was the most exciting thing for me,” said Agnes Kospal of Konkoly Observatory in Budapest, Hungary, and a coauthor of the study. “We have no other way to study these planetary embryos directly because they are too small.”

Of their sample, about one-third is silica-rich, suggesting these disks are produced by high-energy impacts between Mars-sized bodies where a significant portion of the material is vaporized. The remaining two-thirds of their sample is silica-poor, indicating that the collisions are occurring on smaller scales, like grazing, between Moon-sized objects. Silica-rich disks are found only around stars younger than 300 million years, while silica-poor disks persist across a broad range of ages and often show greater brightness variability. The team proposes that this variability is driven by the rapid evolution of fresh debris through orbital changes and additional impacts.

Their findings can be applied to our own solar system, which may have experienced more than one extreme debris disk phase.

“How rocky planets formed and giant planets evolved are part of the broader story of the solar system’s formation. It’s all one story,” said Su. “Our work on extreme debris disks helps us bring together the big picture of what we currently understand.”

Image: Composition of Extreme Debris Disks Across Time

By investigating the compositions of extreme debris disks, scientists inferred that silica-rich disks are produced by high-energy impacts of Mars-sized objects, while silica-poor disks are created by less energetic events from Moon-sized bodies.

Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)

Simulations suggest that terrestrial planets, such as Earth, should form within the first few hundred million years of a solar system’s formation. This period fits with the ages of silica-rich extreme debris disks observed so far and aligns with the estimation that Earth and the Moon formed around 100 million years after the Sun formed, with the Moon likely being the result of a collision between Earth and a Mars-sized object.

As for whether our Sun underwent a silica-poor extreme disk phase, if older silica-poor disks and their random intervals of infrared brightness do reflect orbital instability, this would be broadly consistent with the Late Heavy Bombardment hypothesis for our solar system. In that scenario, the gas giant planets migrated significant distances, gravitationally disrupting the orbits of smaller bodies and triggering catastrophic collisions that generated the short-lived, dust-rich phases observed in extreme debris disks.

“Of course, there’s many things we still don’t know about these disks,” said Attila Moor of Konkoly Observatory, a coauthor of the study. “We expect no silica-rich systems among older extreme debris disks. We only have three disks in our sample that fit that age criteria, so it’ll be nice to observe more of these systems to confirm our hypothesis.”

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).


To learn more about Webb, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/webb 

Source: NASA’s Webb Provides Crash Course on Planet-Shattering Collisions - NASA Science

Glucosamine and Alzheimer’s: Why Scientists Are Asking Questions About a Popular Joint Supplement

Glucosamine is one of the most popular over-the-counter supplements for achy joints, especially among older adults. A new study from the University of Florida now suggests it deserves a closer look in people who already have memory and thinking problems. The researchers stress that the results are preliminary and do not show that the supplement causes harm.

What the researchers found in patient records

The team, led by senior author Ramon Sun, used artificial intelligence to analyze deidentified UF Health records from 2012 to 2024. They focused on patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia (ADRD) and on patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a stage where memory or thinking problems are greater than expected for a person’s age but don’t necessarily disrupt daily life.

In both groups, about 8% of patients reported taking glucosamine. That amounted to 1,896 people with ADRD and 2,750 people with MCI. After adjusting for age, sex and demographics, two patterns stood out:

·         Among people with MCI, glucosamine use was associated with a 25% higher likelihood of progressing to dementia.

·         Among people who already had ADRD, glucosamine use was associated with a 25% higher risk of death over a defined period. This was not seen in the MCI group, which hints that any effect may be stronger once dementia is established.

This kind of analysis can only show associations. People who take a supplement may differ from those who don’t in ways the study couldn’t fully account for, so the records alone cannot show that glucosamine speeds up disease.

A possible mechanism: too many sugar tags

The researchers also looked for a biological explanation. Cells routinely attach sugar structures to proteins, a process that helps proteins fold correctly, reach the right location and do their jobs. The team found signs that this sugar-tagging system is overactive in Alzheimer’s disease. The study’s title calls the problem hyperglycosylation and describes it as a metabolic driver of the disease.

Glucosamine is a sugar-related molecule that can cross the blood-brain barrier and feed into the pathways that build these sugar structures. Supplements can be made from shellfish shells or corn. The researchers suggest that the same molecule may act differently in a healthy brain than in one affected by Alzheimer’s, and that the Alzheimer’s brain may be especially vulnerable to this pathway.

Evidence from mice and human brain tissue

To test the idea, the team turned to genetically modified mice that model Alzheimer’s disease. Glucosamine markedly increased the attachment of sugars to proteins inside cells, and the treated mice performed worse on a test of social memory, the ability to recognize other animals. When the researchers used a chemical treatment to suppress the sugar attachment, memory performance improved. That suggests excessive sugar tagging may play a direct role in the memory problems rather than just appearing alongside them.

Human brain tissue told a similar story. Samples from people with Alzheimer’s disease, provided by the UF Neuromedicine Brain and Tissue Bank, showed significantly more sugar attachment than tissue from people without the disease. A spatial technology developed in Sun’s lab, which can map thousands of molecules in tissue, helped reveal these metabolic changes.

Beyond plaques and tangles

Much Alzheimer’s research has focused on amyloid plaques between brain cells and tau tangles inside neurons. This work adds to a growing body of evidence that disrupted metabolism may also drive the disease. Sun suggests that correcting the metabolic defect could complement treatments aimed at plaques and tangles, and that the overactive sugar-tagging pathway could become a drug target in its own right.

What this does and doesn’t mean

The study raises an important clinical question, but it does not establish that people should stop taking glucosamine. A controlled human clinical trial will be needed to determine whether the supplement directly accelerates Alzheimer’s progression and, if so, which patients are most at risk. In the meantime, anyone with memory concerns who takes glucosamine may want to talk with their doctor about it rather than making changes on their own.

Sources

Press release: UF Health, via ScienceDaily

Original paper: Hawkinson TR, et al. Hyperglycosylation is a metabolic driver of Alzheimer’s disease. Nature Metabolism, 2026; 8(6): 1410. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-026-01538-4 

Source: Glucosamine and Alzheimer’s: Why Scientists Are Asking Questions About a Popular Joint Supplement 

Rare Infections During Pregnancy Are Linked to Autism and Intellectual Disability

Most infections a pregnant woman catches never reach her baby. A small group of pathogens, however, can slip across the placenta and infect the foetus directly. A new study from Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet, published in JAMA Pediatrics, shows that when this does happen, the consequences for the child’s brain development can last a lifetime.

What are TORCH infections?

TORCH is an acronym for a group of infections that can be passed from mother to foetus: Toxoplasmosis, Other (including syphilis), Rubella, Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Herpes simplex virus. Unlike most everyday infections, these agents can cross the placental barrier. It has long been known that they can cause intellectual disability, but their relationship to autism has been much less clear, largely because earlier studies were small.

Three decades of national data

The researchers used Swedish national registers covering 3.7 million people born between 1987 and 2021. Of these, 975 had been diagnosed with a congenital TORCH infection. Participants were followed for up to 30 years to see who later received an autism or intellectual disability diagnosis, and how they fared at school. It is the largest study of its kind to date.

What they found

·         Children with a congenital TORCH infection were roughly three times more likely to be diagnosed with autism.

·         Their likelihood of an intellectual disability diagnosis was more than seven times higher, and the risk of severe to profound intellectual disability was up to 30 times higher.

·         The team estimates that around one in five children born with a TORCH infection may go on to develop autism.

·         No clear links emerged with other neuropsychiatric conditions such as ADHD or obsessive-compulsive disorder.

·         Even children without an autism or intellectual disability diagnosis had somewhat lower school grades on average than peers who were not infected.

Is it the infection, or the family?

A fair question with any observational study is whether something else, such as genetics or the home environment, explains the pattern. To test this, the researchers compared children who had a TORCH infection with their own siblings who did not. The results were similar, which suggests the associations cannot be explained solely by factors shared within families.

Big relative risk, small population impact

It is important to keep the numbers in perspective. Congenital TORCH infections are rare, so despite the high relative risks, they account for very little of the overall picture. The authors estimate that they are linked to about 1.2% of all cases of severe intellectual disability in Sweden and only about 0.034% of autism cases. As study contributor Reneé Gardner stresses, transmission from mother to child is unusual, but for the children affected the elevated risk is clear.

Why it matters: prevention

The encouraging part is that several of these infections can be prevented. Rubella, for example, has virtually disappeared in Sweden since national vaccination programmes were introduced, which the researchers see as a strong argument for keeping those programmes going. The Karolinska team also outlines practical measures for each TORCH group:

·         Toxoplasma: avoid raw or undercooked meat, wash vegetables well, and take care when handling cat faeces.

·         Other (e.g. syphilis): screening during pregnancy and antibiotic treatment.

·         Rubella: vaccination (MMR) before pregnancy.

·         Cytomegalovirus: good hand hygiene, and avoiding contact with young children’s saliva and urine.

·         Herpes simplex: identifying and treating infection during pregnancy; a caesarean section is sometimes performed if genital herpes is active before delivery.

The takeaway

This study does not suggest that infections explain autism in general; the vast majority of autism cases have no connection to TORCH infections. What it does show is that certain infections passed to the foetus can leave long-term marks on brain development, and that vaccination, screening and simple hygiene measures during pregnancy are worthwhile public health tools. The research was funded by the Swedish Research Council.

News release: Karolinska Institutet

Original paper: Sjöqvist H, Dalman C, Mataix-Cols D, Gardner RM, Karlsson H. “Congenital TORCH infections and neurodevelopmental outcomes: A population- and sibling-based cohort study.” JAMA Pediatrics, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2026.4229 

Source: Rare Infections During Pregnancy Are Linked to Autism and Intellectual Disability