Here are today’s most important updates from the realm of Science and Space.
Latest photo of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS suggests that it might be changing its colour as it journeys through our solar system. Astrophotographers Michael Jager and Gerald Rhemann captured the comet over Namibia during the recent total lunar eclipse, with images suggesting a surprising change in its colour. It glowed green. The transformation is likely linked to the comet's increasing proximity to the sun. The greenish hue could also be the result of chemicals emitted from the comet as it gets closer to the Sun, possibly due to dicarbon (diatomic carbon) or even cyanide detected in its coma. However, further investigation is required to know the exact reason. Initially, some experts claimed that it's an alien technology. However, NASA explained that the object has been categorised as interstellar because of the hyperbolic shape of its orbital path.
The Moon is getting 1½ inches (3.8 centimeters) farther away from the Earth every year. Scientists measure the distance to the Moon by bouncing lasers off mirrors placed there by space probes and astronauts. The distance to the Moon actually changes over a single month as it goes around the Earth. The Moon is typically 239,000 miles (385,000 km) away from the Earth, but its orbit is not a perfect circle and changes by about 12,400 miles (20,000 km) as it orbits the Earth. This change is why some full moons are a bit bigger than others; these are called supermoons. The motions of the Earth and Moon have many interesting consequences, and studying how they move over time can help researchers better understand how each has changed over the 4½ billion years since the Earth and Moon formed.
Common among people in their 40s and older, presbyopia is a form of long-sightedness which occurs when the lens of the eye becomes less flexible, leading to difficulty in focusing on close-up objects. Glasses or surgery can fix the issue, but many find wearing spectacles a nuisance and not everyone can afford an operation. The new eye drops, however, might provide a simple solution. An hour after the drops were administered, the patients showed an average improvement of 3.45 lines on the Jaeger eye chart (the measurement used for testing near visual acuity). Researchers, while presenting the work at European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS) in Copenhagen, mentioned that most significant result showed rapid and sustained improvements in near vision for all three concentrations.
A recently published study has found that residents of municipalities located near Brazil's Amazon forest on indigenous lands are better protected from diseases, particularly respiratory and cardiovascular conditions. Researchers noted that these diseases are often caused by inhaling smoke from forest fires, an increasingly frequent occurrence due to climate change or transmitted by animals and insects. Between 2001 and 2019, the Amazon region recorded roughly 30 million cases of fire-related, vector-borne, or zoonotic diseases. The study concludes that forests maintained by indigenous communities could help prevent up to 15 million cardiovascular and respiratory infections annually.
