This week, the eleventh session of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Research Board considered critical developments in Artificial Intelligence for weather forecasting under the leadership of Board Chair Professor Amanda Lynch.

NASA has announced a new strategy review team, including DEEPS Professor Jack Mustard, to assess potential architecture adjustments for the agency’s Mars Sample Return Program. The program aims to bring back scientifically selected samples from Mars, and is a key step in NASA’s quest to better understand our solar system and help answer whether we are alone in the universe.

A recent Brown Daily Herald poll found that female students are less likely than their male counterparts to study the physical sciences at Brown. DEEPS Chair, Professor Meredith Hastings discussed how representation and the “leaky pipeline" contribute to this issue, and highlighted ways it is being addressed. “We definitely have seen the numbers go up across the board,” Hastings said, adding that more work is yet to be done, such as addressing exclusionary behaviors.

The Europa Clipper spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral on October 14th to find out whether the icy ocean of Jupiter's moon is habitable. “We’ll be able to describe what that habitable environment is like,” says Associate Professor Ingrid Daubar, who works on Clipper for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

Following the catastrophic damage caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, scientists warn that the Atlantic hurricane season is far from over. Assistant Professor Chris Horvat commented, “The Gulf (of Mexico) remains fairly anomalously warm even at this point in the year, so we shouldn’t relax."

IBES Director and DEEPS Professor Kim Cobb noted that Hurricanes Helene and Milton "should serve 'as a wake up call' for emergency preparedness, resilience planning and the increased use of fossil fuels."

DEEPS Assistant Professor James Dottin is featured in the latest installment of PBS's award-winning documentary series, NOVA. The five-part series premiers on October 2nd, and will focus on the solar system.

Physics Today contacted early-career faculty in the physical sciences to discuss the unexpected challenges of their new role, including securing funding, building labs, teaching, and recruiting students—often without formal training. Assistant Professor James W. Dottin shared his experience setting up his lab.

The endeavour to leverage mycotecture – called the Mycotecture Off Planet Structures at Destination project – has recently been awarded a Phase III contract with NASA, meaning it will receive the funding necessary to continue. The mycotechnology has the support of prominent NASA figures such as DEEPS Professor Jim Head, who once trained astronauts for the Apollo lunar exploration programme, and Apollo 15 commander David Scott.

This summer, DEEPS Assistant Professor Emily H. G. Cooperdock, graduate student Anahi Carrera, and Columbia University Professor Steven L. Goldstein visited the island of Unalaska to collect samples that will help interpret data from a 2015 NSF GeoPRISMS campaign, as well as pave the way for future research.

Professor Jan Tullis, a beloved member of the Brown University community, passed away on September 15, 2024.

Professor Greg Hirth has been awarded the 2024 Harry Hess Medal from the American Geophysical Union. The Harry H. Hess Medal is given annually to a senior scientist in recognition of outstanding achievements in research on the constitution and evolution of the Earth and other planets.

Each year, AGU celebrates individuals who have made significant contributions to the Earth and space sciences. This year, DEEPS graduate student Manar Al Asad was honored with the 2024 Study of the Earth's Deep Interior Section Award for Graduate Research.

A new paper published earlier this year by alumn Benjamin Boatwright PhD’22 and Professor James Head PhD’69 proposes new refinement to current imagining technologies using a method they call “shape-from-shading.”

Logan Tullai ’25 oversaw the creation of large-scale cyanotype prints using two rolls of NASA Lunar Orbiter film, decommissioned from the repository of NASA data and images once housed within DEEPS. “I thought it would be cool to use the sun’s UV to make pictures of the moon,” Tullai said.

Brown offers transformational opportunities for students to conduct summer research with faculty colleagues and present results at the Summer Research Symposium. Impact: Research at Brown shared highlights from the event, including a quote from WaTae Mickey Jr. ’26, whose ultimate goal is to plan missions to space.

Many researchers describe public outreach as a labour of love, often carried out in their spare time. But some funders reward these activities. In an interview with Nature, Voss Postdoctoral Research Associate Lina Pérez-Angel described her insight and experience with science communication, noting “Science communication is as real and as hard as doing research.”

Voss Postdoctoral Research Associate Lina Pérez-Angel discussed the rapid acceleration of climate change in an interview with The Guardian, saying “there’s nothing in Earth’s history that shows a change happening this quickly.”

From missions to the Moon & Mars, to lake sediments, to climate modeling, many undergraduate students worked on groundbreaking research in DEEPS this summer break. This year, we are excited to showcase these diverse research projects through a special combination of art, writing, and photography developed by Claire Xu ‘27.

In a recent study published in the PLanetary Science Journal, researchers describe an odd surface feature that supports the presence of underground caves termed subsurface voids. DEEPS professor and study co-author James Head indicated that the relatively low lunar gravity likely allowed big bubbles of gas to form in magma, leaving behind subsurface voids.

In a recent study published in Science Advances, DEEPS PhD candidate Manar Al Asad and Assistant Professor Harriet Lau demonstrate that Earth's early tectonic activity was likely very different from what we see today. They propose a 'sluggish-lid' mode, where the Earth's outer layer moved slowly and was partially disconnected from the mantle. The new model addresses previous challenges in understanding Earth's thermal history and tectonic evolution, offering new insights into how Earth's magnetic field is maintained throughout most of Earth's history.