New balloon-mounted space radiation probes developed by the Surrey Space Center at the University of Surrey have captured their first measurements of a major solar storm, confirming the research team's model, which indicates the flare caused the highest levels of radiation at aviation altitude in almost two decades.

The solar flare—classified as an X5 event—triggered a rare Ground Level Enhancement (GLE) on 11 November 2025, in which solar energetic particles penetrated deep into Earth's atmosphere and caused a radiation surge that was detectable even at ground level. Within an hour, the UK Met Office and their counterparts at KNMI in the Netherlands began launching a sequence of weather observation balloons equipped with Surrey's sensors to measure the storm in real time—right up to commercial aircraft altitudes and into regions used by business jets and supersonic transport.

Radiation levels and aviation impact
Early analysis shows that radiation levels at 40,000 feet rose to their highest since 2006, reaching almost ten times normal background levels for a short period. Although this event did not pose any immediate health concern, larger storms in future could be more worrying, not least because they have the potential to disturb on-board aircraft electronic systems. During the storm's peak, the team estimate that single-event upsets—bit-flips in onboard computer memory caused by energetic particles—could have reached around 60 errors per hour per gigabyte.

Professor Clive Dyer, an expert in space weather at Surrey Space Center, University of Surrey, said, "This was the strongest Ground Level Event we've seen since December 2006. Neutron monitors around the world measured significant increases and, in conjunction with newly installed UK monitors at Lerwick, Guildford and Camborne, these will enable us to map the footprint of the event across the globe.

"Our sensors have given the clearest picture yet of how rapidly conditions can change at aviation altitudes. We know from historical observations that significantly bigger events are possible, and we need to be ready."

A rock on Mars spilled a surprising yellow treasure after Curiosity accidentally cracked through its unremarkable exterior.

When the rover rolled its 899-kilogram (1,982-pound) body over the fragile lump of mineral in May of last year, the deposit broke open, revealing yellow crystals of elemental sulfur, known as brimstone.

Although sulfates are fairly common on Mars, this represented the first sulfur in its pure elemental form found on the red planet.

What's even more exciting is that the Gediz Vallis Channel, where Curiosity found the rock, is littered with objects that look suspiciously similar to the sulfur rock before it got fortuitously crushed – suggesting that, somehow, elemental sulfur may be abundant there in some places.

A low-dose blend of zinc, serine, and branched-chain amino acids dramatically improved brain signaling and social behavior across three different mouse models of autism.

Even brief treatment sparked real-time changes in neural connectivity, making this nutrient cocktail an intriguing path for future exploration.

Low-Dose Nutrient Blend Shows Potential in Autism Mouse Models
Researchers led by Tzyy-Nan Huang and Ming-Hui Lin at Academia Sinica in Taiwan have found that a small-dose combination of zinc, serine, and branched-chain amino acids may ease behavioral problems in several mouse models of autism.

The work, published December 2nd in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, suggests that these three supplements, when taken together, help strengthen communication between neurons and improve social interactions in the animals.

A research team at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has shown that a nanoparticle-based vaccine can successfully prevent melanoma, pancreatic cancer, and triple-negative breast cancer in mice. Depending on the cancer type, as many as 88 percent of vaccinated mice remained free of tumors (depending on the cancer), and the approach reduced—and in some instances entirely blocked—the spread of cancer in the body.

“By engineering these nanoparticles to activate the immune system via multi-pathway activation that combines with cancer-specific antigens, we can prevent tumor growth with remarkable survival rates,” says Prabhani Atukorale, assistant professor of biomedical engineering in the Riccio College of Engineering at UMass Amherst and corresponding author on the paper.

Atukorale’s earlier work found that her nanoparticle-based drug design could shrink or eliminate existing tumors in mice. The new results reveal that the same technology also works as a preventative strategy.

This photo of Earth, dubbed the Blue Marble, was taken by the Apollo 17 crew #OTD in 1972 as they traveled to the Moon.

It soon became one of the most widely-distributed photographs in history.