✈️ Organic compounds on Mars, Airbus and Boeing ditch aluminum, quantum 'superhighway'

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In a breakthrough discovery, researchers have found the largest organic compounds ever seen on Mars, offering new clues about whether life once existed on the Red Planet.

Buried within a 3.7-billion-year-old rock sample, the largest organic compounds ever found on Mars have been uncovered by NASA’s Curiosity rover—a six-wheeled lone explorer traversing the planet.

The discovery was made in Yellowknife Bay, a former lakebed that once held all the right conditions for life to emerge. Dive deeper into this Must-Read.

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MUST-READ

🌱 Largest organic compounds ever found on Mars, hope rises for ancient life

Tests conducted onboard the rover suggest that the rock contains long-chain alkanes—organic molecules believed to be remnants of fatty acids.

While these compounds can form through non-biological chemical reactions, they are also essential building blocks of cell membranes in all living organisms on Earth.

The researchers, however, have not reported finding a biosignature—defined as any ‘characteristic, element, molecule, substance, or feature’ that serves as evidence of past or present life.

✈️ Boeing, Airbus ditch aluminum: Next-gen jets to fly on lightweight thermoplastics

In a quiet yet significant shift, Airbus and Boeing are rethinking their approaches to aircraft manufacturing in preparation for the next generation of passenger jets.

Both companies have set ambitious production targets designed to transform the aerospace landscape, focusing on new materials and advanced manufacturing processes that could redefine how airplanes are built.

Currently, popular models like the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 families continue to dominate the market, confirming their substantial order books.

🖥️ US engineers create quantum ‘super highway’ for instant processor communication

Quantum computers are expected to solve problems far beyond the reach of today’s most advanced supercomputers.

For these machines to work on a large scale, their individual processors need to communicate with each other quickly and accurately.

Right now, most methods of connecting quantum processors rely on “point-to-point” links, where information passes step by step from one processor to the next.

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