The University of Pennsylvania's Bo Zhen and postdoctoral researcher Li He developed a system for guiding light through tiny crystals in ways that allow it to navigate undeterred by bumps and defects. Their work could lead to sturdier lasers, faster data links, and light-based chips that don’t get tripped up by imperfections.

NASA’s Perseverance Rover spent three years exploring the floor of Jezero Crater, located just north of the Martian equator. This close-up look at what had previously been seen only from orbit revealed evidence of chemical reactions that shaped the planet billions of years ago. SETI Institute Senior Research Scientist Janice Bishop and University of Massachusetts Engineering Professor Mario Parente analyzed orbital hyperspectral images from the Compact Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, producing a detailed mineral map at the tens of meters scale of the crater documenting deposits of clays and carbonates signaling abundant water on ancient Mars. In a new Nature News & Views article, Bishop and Parente explore how these findings, combined with Perseverance’s confirmation of the minerals observed from orbit and discoveries of unusual minerals not detectable from orbit, suggest chemical reactions involving minerals, water, and possibly organic material could have created energy-rich environments on early Mars.

“Coordinating mineral detections from orbit at Mars with in situ detections by the Perseverance rover gives us a detailed look at ancient chemical reactions for a few small areas and a broader view across kilometers of the surface,” said Bishop.