Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Feb 05, 2026
Life on Earth has traditionally been viewed as running on two main energy sources, sunlight captured by photosynthesis and chemical energy derived from reactions such as microbes feeding on reduced compounds in soils, sediments, and oceans. A new review introduces a third, largely overlooked energy source that may help drive global biogeochemical cycles, mechanical force converted into usa

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Feb 05, 2026
Physicists have traditionally divided all elementary particles in three dimensional space into just two categories, bosons and fermions, depending on how systems of identical particles behave when the particles exchange places. In standard quantum theory, experimental observations in three dimensions point to a strict binary: when two identical particles swap positions, the combined quantum stat

Video: 00:03:58

ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot is preparing to launch to the International Space Station for her first space mission: εpsilon.

After years of intensive training — from emergency procedures to spacewalk simulations — the countdown has begun. Flying alongside astronauts from NASA and Roscosmos, Sophie will join an international crew living and working together in space.

Aboard the ISS, Sophie will live and work in microgravity, conducting scientific research and performing a range of European- and French-led experiments that advance knowledge for life on Earth and in space.

Join us live on YouTube to watch the launch of Sophie Adenot.

Image: With the 2026 Winter Olympics officially opening today, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission brings us a striking view of northern Italy, highlighting several key Olympic venues.

With fewer cars on the road, planes in the air and factories running, the skies seemed cleaner during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, while there was a decline in pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, scientists were surprised to see that methane surged in the early 2020s and then dropped – and now they know why.

ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher joined French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace for an event celebrating the first spaceflight of ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot.