👽 Signs of life on Mars, hidden hydrogen below Lake Superior, Apple’s secret BYD collaboration

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While evidence for life on Mars has never been found, a new NASA study proposes that microbes could find a potential home beneath frozen water on the planet’s surface.

Through computer modeling, the study’s authors have shown that the amount of sunlight that can shine through water ice would be enough for photosynthesis to occur in shallow pools of meltwater below the surface of that ice.

Similar pools of water that form within ice on Earth have been found to teem with life, including algae, fungi, and microscopic cyanobacteria, all of which derive energy from photosynthesis. Dive deeper into this Must-Read.

🔥Today’s job of the day as featured on jobs.interestingengineering.com:

> Senior Software Engineer- Android
> Software Engineer II (MERN, AWS)

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MUST-READ

👽 NASA discovers signs of life on Mars, could be hidden beneath icy surface 

Mars has two kinds of ice: frozen water and frozen carbon dioxide. Khuller and colleagues looked at water ice, large amounts of which formed from snow mixed with dust that fell on the surface during a series of Martian ice ages in the past million years. That ancient snow has since solidified into ice, still peppered with specks of dust.

Although dust particles may obscure light in deeper layers of the ice, they are key to explaining how subsurface pools of water could form within ice when exposed to the Sun: Dark dust absorbs more sunlight than the surrounding ice, potentially causing the ice to warm up and melt up to a few feet below the surface.

Mars scientists are divided about whether ice can melt when exposed to the Martian surface. That’s due to the planet’s thin, dry atmosphere, where water ice is believed to sublimate — turn directly into gas — the way dry ice does on Earth.

⚛️ US scientists explore hidden hydrogen treasure 5,000 feet below Lake Superior

Researchers believe the Midcontinent Rift may be a clean energy treasure trove. It stretches from beneath Lake Superior and covers parts of Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas.

Now, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln researchers say that this rift may be a rich source of natural hydrogen. The team is exploring ways to study and access the hydrogen produced in the rift. However, knowledge about it is currently limited.

Five years ago, researchers drilled a well to assess the feasibility of hydrogen production in the Midcontinent Rift. The data collected from this well has revealed promising signs of hydrogen accumulation, suggesting the potential for significant extraction.

🚘 Apple’s secret BYD collaboration pioneered long-range EV battery technology

Apple partnered with Chinese automaker BYD for several years as part of its now-shelved car project, focusing on the development of long-range batteries.

This collaboration, which remained under wraps until recently, played a key role in shaping current battery technologies, according to sources familiar with the project, as per various reports.

The partnership began around 2017. Both companies worked together on a battery system using lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells. Their goal was to create safer and more efficient electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

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