Science & Technology

Harnessing abundant electricity from the sun, and other CU �鶹ӰԺ science tapped for Genesis Mission

Megan M Rogers — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:52:17 +0000

Harnessing abundant electricity from the sun, and other CU �鶹ӰԺ science tapped for Genesis Mission Megan M Rogers Wed, 07/22/2026 - 06:52

CU �鶹ӰԺ has been selected for six highly competitive grants totaling over $2.4 million through the United States Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission—serving as lead institution on three and collaborating partner on three.

The project leads and awards are Professor David Bortz of Applied Mathematics ($750,000); Assistant Professor Yuan Shi of Physics ($729,800); and Associate Professor Keith Ulmer of Physics ($659,157).

Also, CU �鶹ӰԺ faculty are co-principal investigators on three awards led by other institutions, with over $320,000 going to CU �鶹ӰԺ. The co-recipients and their awards include Assistant Professor Zhi Li of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, partnering with the University of Maryland ($32,740); and Professor Jamie Nagle and Associate Professor Dennis Perepelitsa, both of Physics, in partnership with Baruch College ($161,000). Perepelitsa is also a co-recipient on an award in partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ($127,000).

"These awards reflect the strength of CU �鶹ӰԺ's research enterprise and our researchers’ ability to build ambitious, interdisciplinary collaborations needed to tackle some of our nation's most important scientific challenges," said Massimo Ruzzene, senior vice chancellor for research and innovation and dean of the institutes. "By applying advances in artificial intelligence to world-class research, our teams will help accelerate discovery in ways that will address complex challenges and benefit society."

The awards also highlight the strength of CU �鶹ӰԺ's research partnerships, which enable teams to pursue complex scientific challenges that no institution could address alone. They reflect collaborations across scientific disciplines as well as partnerships with industry, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations and universities across the country.

The scientific discovery of the awarded projects involve:

AI-driven real-time control of the plasma in fusion energy systems — the superheated ionized gas whose behavior must be steered to make fusion a practical source of abundant clean electricity
New approaches in quantum computing to simulate plasma, the ionized gas that fuels fusion reactions
Extremely fast AI that can handle an enormous rate of data input for discovering new fundamental particles in physics
An agentic AI framework that uses large models for hyperlocal water and flood predictions for U.S. energy planning and operations
A new AI-driven paradigm for extracting the physics of quark-gluon plasma from high-energy nuclear collisions
A massive AI system, called a foundation model, for experimental nuclear physics research in the U.S.

The grants represent communities of CU �鶹ӰԺ scientists, postdoctoral researchers and others—some of whom studied under the awardees, helped develop cutting-edge pathways and went on to national laboratories and other institutions to continue their research.

The Genesis Mission is a historic national initiative led by the Energy Department, which is building the world’s most powerful integrated science discovery platform. By uniting government, industry, academia and philanthropy, it is accelerating breakthroughs in energy, scientific discovery and national security through a new platform that combines AI, supercomputing, quantum systems and advanced scientific instruments.

The phase-one Genesis grants were announced at and livestreamed from a Washington, D.C., summit on July 22.

CU �鶹ӰԺ was awarded more than $2.4 million in grants for the U.S. Department of Energy's highly competitive Genesis Mission. The science behind the awards will involve controlling fusion energy from the sun, predicting hyperlocal flooding and more.

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Did flowering plants flourish only after dinosaurs went extinct? New fossils suggest no

Megan M Rogers — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 15:05:44 +0000

Did flowering plants flourish only after dinosaurs went extinct? New fossils suggest no Megan M Rogers Tue, 07/21/2026 - 09:05

Flowering plants, or angiosperms, now dominate Earth's flora, but biologists thought they truly took off only after an asteroid impact 66 million years ago. A "botanical Pompeii" containing fossilized seeds and fruits shows they prospered 10 million years earlier.

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From napkin sketch to operating room: Designing a safer hip surgery tool

Megan M Rogers — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 14:55:40 +0000

From napkin sketch to operating room: Designing a safer hip surgery tool Megan M Rogers Tue, 07/21/2026 - 08:55

A collaboration between CU �鶹ӰԺ and CU Anschutz researchers led to the CAP-LIFT cannula, a redesigned surgical instrument that is making arthroscopic hip procedures safer and more efficient.

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The mile-high city is short on shade

Yvaine Ye — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 15:02:23 +0000

The mile-high city is short on shade Yvaine Ye Fri, 07/17/2026 - 09:02

A park in the Central Park (previously known as Stapleton) neighborhood. (Credit: Nico Goda/CU �鶹ӰԺ)

Yvaine Ye

In a city that sits a mile closer to the sun, where thinner air allows more ultraviolet (UV) radiation to reach the ground, finding shade can be surprisingly difficult.

An ongoing study by a CU �鶹ӰԺ researcher has revealed that many of Denver’s public spaces, from playgrounds to bus stops, don't provide enough shade to protect people from potentially cancer-causing UV exposure and heat. Lower-income neighborhoods, communities of color and areas with a history of disinvestment bear the greatest burden.

“Currently, most of our cities have very minimal shade guidelines,” said Sara Tabatabaie, an associate teaching professor of environmental design who is leading the study. “As our population ages, planning for shade in public spaces is no longer a luxury but essential infrastructure. Providing adequate shade helps protect older adults, who are more susceptible to heat and UV exposure, and whose physical and mental well-being depends on safe access to outdoor public spaces.”

Excessive UV radiation can damage DNA in skin cells and lead to skin cancer, the most common cancer in the United States. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, one in five Americans will develop skin cancer by age 70.

Because of Denver’s high elevation, the city’s summer UV levels could easily reach the “very high” to “extreme” range on the UV index, which measures the intensity of the sun's radiation.

A playground with minimal shade in Denver's City Park. (Credit: Sara Tabatabaie/CU �鶹ӰԺ)

Funded by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), Sara Tabatabaie and her team have surveyed six Denver neighborhoods representing a range of demographic and socioeconomic backgrounds to evaluate their sun exposure and shade availability between 2023 and 2024.

The team first conducted area assessments of shade availability and where people are most likely to be active outdoors in these neighborhoods. They then used a geographic information system, a computer model, to simulate shade from trees and buildings across the city, using the field observations to calibrate and validate the analysis.

Taking these factors into consideration, the team developed a “sun risk index” that identifies how great a risk of sun exposure each neighborhood has. They then expanded the model to all 78 neighborhoods across the city.

The results show that about a quarter of Denver neighborhoods are categorized among “high” or “very high” sun risk, many of them located in historically redlined areas. After the Great Depression, the U.S. government implemented a racist and discriminatory policy that designated neighborhoods with racial and ethnic minority residents as high-risk for mortgage lenders, often outlining them in red, or redlining them, on maps.

In Denver, these neighborhoods lie along the city’s two major interstate highways, I-70 and I-25, and continue to have higher proportions of residents of color. Previous CU �鶹ӰԺ studies have found that residents in these historically redlined areas are also more likely to experience air pollution.

Many of the neighborhoods with the greatest sun risk, such as Ruby Hill in west Denver and Montebello in the east, also have large populations of children. For example, more than 30% of Montbello's residents are under the age of 18. Because much of the lifetime risk of melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer, is linked to episodes of sunburn and UV exposure during childhood, the lack of shade in these areas is particularly concerning, Tabatabaie said.

A sun-risk index map created by Tabatabaie and her team. Darker red colors indicate higher sun exposure risk, while larger circles represent areas with larger child populations. (Credit: Sara Tabatabaie/CU �鶹ӰԺ)

“While our study didn’t examine the reasons behind differences in shade coverage, historical patterns of disinvestment likely play an important role. Neighborhoods that experienced decades of underinvestment often had fewer resources to plant and maintain trees. We also found that neighborhoods transitioning from industrial to residential or mixed-use development, such as River North, tend to have limited tree canopy, because newly planted trees need time to mature after redevelopment,” Tabatabaie said.

Drawing on public health research, Denver's UV index and observations of how residents use these spaces, the team also proposed a set of shade thresholds tailored to the activities and users of each type of public space, including playgrounds, schoolyards, bus stops, streets, plazas and urban trails. For example, they recommend that playgrounds and schoolyards should maintain at least 50% to 65% shade.

Using computer simulations and community survey feedback, the team developed shade design guidelines that combine trees and shade structures, like pergolas, to meet the recommended shade thresholds.

"People often think trees are the only way to provide shade. But for neighborhoods that are already straining for resources, combining trees with shade structures can provide immediate protection. Shade structures are also easier to maintain.” Tabatabaie said.

The team is now looking for ways to translate these shade recommendations into urban planning and policy frameworks that can guide future investments in public spaces. They are also conducting a cost-benefit analysis, comparing the cost of installing shade with the health benefits of reducing heat and UV exposure.

As Denver's temperatures climb into the upper 90s this week, Tabatabaie said the work offers cities a practical roadmap for creating public spaces that are safer and more comfortable for people of all ages.

"When we think about public infrastructure, we usually think about roads and sidewalks," Tabatabaie said. "Shade should definitely be part of that conversation because it protects people's health."

The project is a partnership between the CDPHE, and Community Engagement, Design and Research Center (CEDaR) at CU �鶹ӰԺ.

A new study shows widespread exposure to harmful UV radiation and heat in many of Denver's public spaces. It also offers a roadmap for designing healthier neighborhoods.

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A park in the Central Park (previously known as Stapleton) neighborhood. (Credit: Nico Goda/CU �鶹ӰԺ)

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A park in the Central Park/Stapleton neighborhood. (Credit: Nico Goda/CU �鶹ӰԺ)

CU �鶹ӰԺ enters next phase to develop national quantum networking capabilities

Megan M Rogers — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 20:09:22 +0000

CU �鶹ӰԺ enters next phase to develop national quantum networking capabilities Megan M Rogers Wed, 07/15/2026 - 14:09

Engineering researchers have entered the design phase of an NSF-funded project to build a scalable long-distance quantum network, paving the way for advances in quantum computing, communications and sensing.

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Mystery of hillside staircases revealed. Hint: It really is the cows

Yvaine Ye — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 19:11:54 +0000

Mystery of hillside staircases revealed. Hint: It really is the cows Yvaine Ye Tue, 07/14/2026 - 13:11

Terracettes below Morgan's Hill in Wiltshire, England. (Credit: Derek Harper/Wikimedia)

Yvaine Ye

Moo…ve over. Cows may be the �鶹ӰԺ most underrated architects.

Grazing animals like cattle and sheep may be quietly reshaping the mountain slopes, according to a new study led by the �鶹ӰԺ. The animals’ simple foraging behaviors can lead to the formation of elaborate terracettes, the staircase-like ridges that stripe hillsides around the world.

The finding, published July 1 in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, challenges a long-held assumption that wandering livestock cannot restructure landscapes on such a large scale.

Terracettes are colloquially known as “cow trails” or “sheep tracks.” (Credit: Ben Seleb)

“It’s just another example that animals, even the humble and mundane cow, can change our environments in ways we don’t realize,” said Saad Bhamla, associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the BioFrontiers Institute.

Terracettes first piqued Bhamla’s interest when his former graduate student, Ben Seleb, described to him the large clusters of steps he encountered during a trip in the Swiss countryside.

For decades, scientists have debated how these patterns arise. Although terracettes are already colloquially known as “cow trails” or “sheep tracks,” the prevailing scientific theory has argued that they are actually a result of gravity slowly pulling soil downhill.

Scientists assumed animals couldn’t create these remarkably regular patterns alone, because they move randomly and independently across the land—or so it seemed.

As a cow lover and someone who aspires to their peaceful pastoral lifestyle, Seleb, now a postdoctoral engineer at the Rockefeller University in New York, suspected the animals deserved more credit.

“There has been increasing research in animals creating neat patterns in nature, from honeycombs to spider webs. It makes sense to me that cows can do it too. So I took it upon myself to defend the cows’ agency,” Seleb said.

To test the idea, the team built a computer model to simulate how grazing animals move across a slope.

Just like a real cow, the simulated animal chose its foraging path by constantly weighing two competing priorities: reaching grass while spending the least amount of energy.

The simulation showed the animal naturally preferred to travel on paths with minimal elevation change on a slope, because going uphill requires additional energy, and walking downhill is uncomfortable. The easiest and most efficient route, it turned out, was to walk horizontally across the hillside.

As the cow ate up the grass along one path, it would shift slightly up or down to reach fresh vegetation, carving another path parallel to the previous one.

"Imagine I have to mow a grassy hill by pushing a lawn mower," Seleb said. "I'd rather take these horizontal paths. But once I've already cut one path, I don't need to cut it again. So I'll take the smallest step up or down the slope to mow the next strip."

Over time, these individual but similar decisions made by many cows result in horizontal bands stretching across hillsides seen around the world without any intentional coordination among the animals, the study suggests.

Seleb said that gravity may still play a role in terracettes formation. But grazing animals alone can lead to these natural staircases.

“Sometimes the mundane turns out to be fascinating. We just have to keep an open mind and spend a little time looking,” Bhamla said.

Simple foraging behavior of grazing animals can produce the terracettes that stripe hillsides around the world, new CU �鶹ӰԺ research shows.

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Terracettes are the staircase-like ridges that stripe hillsides. (Credit: Ben Seleb)

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Terracettes are the staircase-like ridges that stripe hillsides. (Credit: Ben Seleb)

Using AI to improve flood prediction and personalize warnings

Megan M Rogers — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 14:39:41 +0000

Using AI to improve flood prediction and personalize warnings Megan M Rogers Thu, 07/09/2026 - 08:39

By combining AI with weather and terrain data, Assistant Professor Zhi Li's approach predicts flooding with unprecedented speed and precision, enabling more personalized warnings.

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If you could chat with an AI ghost, what would you want them to say? New study explores

Lisa Marshall — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 22:34:28 +0000

If you could chat with an AI ghost, what would you want them to say? New study explores Lisa Marshall Mon, 06/29/2026 - 16:34

Lisa Marshall

Inside a second-floor lab in CU �鶹ӰԺ’s Information Science building, Jack Manning and Jed Brubaker are quietly resurrecting the dead.

As the researchers look on, study volunteers log into Zoom and chat at length with AI-generated representations of lost grandparents, siblings, parents and family friends.

Some get emotional: “I can see her. I can feel her,” said one 32-year-old woman during a text-based conversation with her grandmother who died five years ago. “It just feels like I’m getting the closure I needed.”

Others plan the next visit: “It was so so powerful,” typed a 50-year-old woman to the ghost of her beloved. “I’d like for you to come to me again.”

These interactions, chronicled in a paper published this month by the Association for Computing Machinery, offer the first scientific glimpse at how people use “generative ghosts”—the increasingly popular AI agents trained on data about the deceased.

Among other things, the study found that participants preferred ghosts that spoke in the first person, acting as a resurrection rather than a representative. The more accurate and life-like the ghost’s emotional tone, dialect and conversational rhythm, the better.

“We originally thought it might feel very Black Mirror creepy to people and make them uncomfortable,” said first author Manning, a doctoral candidate in information science who found his way to the unusual field of study after losing his sister. “I ended up being completely wrong. People thought it was amazing.”

Jack Manning, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Information Science, presents his research findings at the ACM Designing Interactive Systems conference in Singapore. Credit: Jack Manning

Conjuring the dead

Once viewed as science fiction, generative ghosts, sometimes called “griefbots” or “deathbots,” are fast becoming a commercial reality.

Platforms like Project December and Séance AI use journal entries, social media posts and texts from the deceased to train text-based ghosts for surviving loved ones to chat with. Companies like HereAfterAI invite users to submit voice recordings and photos of themselves to create multimedia ghosts for their loved ones to interact with after they’re gone. Some start-ups have even created fully-immersive, virtual-reality options, enabling grieving clients to literally walk with a hologram of the dead.

Brubaker, an associate professor of information science who has spent most of his career at the intersection of tech and death, predicts it won’t be long before generative ghosts are a regular part of life as we know it.

But given their potential to both help and harm the grieving, he believes they should be designed with solid research as a guide.

That’s where his lab comes in.

“To our knowledge, we are conducting the first user experience studies of simulated AI ghosts,” said Brubaker.

Jang Ji-Sun interacts with an AI simulation of her late daughter Na Yeon in a documentary by a South Korean broadcaster. Credit: MBC Media/YouTube

Don't call me 'champ'

For their inaugural study, the research team recruited 16 people, ages 22–50, who had lost a close relative or friend.

Participants logged into Zoom for a brief on-camera interview with a facilitator, who gathered biographical information and other details about the deceased. Meanwhile, in the background, a second researcher plugged this information into a large language model (LLM), building a ghost in real-time.
Participants chatted with two iterations, each for about 20 minutes. One ghost spoke in first-person (“I remember going to the beach together.”) Another used third person. (“She loved going to the beach with you.”)

The facilitator stood by to intervene if things got uncomfortable, while the operator behind the scenes used the conversation details to fine-tune the ghost.

Subsequent interviews found that, across the board, participants preferred what the researchers called the “reincarnation” over the “representation,” even pivoting to address the latter as if they were their loved one.

For instance, if a ghost said, “Is there something you want your grandpa’s advice on?” the participant would respond: “Grandpa, what would you want to tell me if you were here?”

While people seemed willing to overlook occasional inaccuracies, or "hallucinations" spun up by AI, they cringed if the bot used the wrong term of endearment. (When the ghost of one participant’s stepfather called him "champ"—a term he would never have used—the participant nearly called off the session.)

“Maybe the chatbot didn’t know when exactly grandma was born, but if it used some slang or regional word choice that she used, it was extremely impactful,” said Brubaker.

Users also preferred shorter sentences with emojis rather than the rambling paragraphs that AI tends to produce.

In search of closure

Information Science Professor Jed Brubaker

Perhaps the most interesting finding came at the end, when participants were asked if they would use the technology again.

Surprisingly, everyone said yes (although some feared they would become overly reliant on it). But almost all added that they feared what would happen to their grieving loved ones if they got their hands on one.

“I just fear he would get addicted,” said one study subject about a brother still struggling with a loss.

Manning came to the study with skepticism.

He had lost his sister to a heart condition when they were kids and had longed for years for more meaningful ways to memorialize her.

“There were bake sales and concerts, all to try to create a place where we could come together to remember her, but it just seemed like a monumental task,” he said.

When he heard about AI ghosts, he was initially horrified—which is exactly why he felt he was a good fit to study them.

“I felt it was important for me to do the work because the people who are the largest fans might skip the empirical research and just make a product,” Manning said.

The lab has already begun the next studies, including one working with mental health professionals to analyze the benefits and risks of interacting with AI ghosts.

Along with their potential pitfalls, Manning now sees their promise, too.

“I think a lot about 11-year-old me. If I had access to ChatGPT and it started responding as my sister late at night without supervision…that is a very scary thought,” he said. “But as we have learned through this paper, it can also be an incredibly meaningful experience for people that enables them to get some closure and peace.”

The first user-experience study of "generative ghosts" offers insight into what people want—and don't want—from digital representations of their deceased loved ones.

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Seaweed-based ingredient can help turn dirt into 3D-printed walls

Yvaine Ye — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 10:44:50 +0000

Seaweed-based ingredient can help turn dirt into 3D-printed walls Yvaine Ye Mon, 06/22/2026 - 04:44

3D-printed earth-fiber objects by Lola Ben-Alon and the Natural Materials Lab were exhibited at the London Craft Week. (Credit: Dan Weill)

Yvaine Ye

An ingredient that gives ice cream a creamier texture could make natural earthen materials like clay and sand easier to 3D-print into durable structures, according to new research led by scientists at the �鶹ӰԺ.

The discovery could help turn construction waste into building materials with lower environmental impact.

“From termite mounds to adobe buildings, humans and animals have been building with earth since the dawn of time,” said Wil Srubar, professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering. “But there hasn’t been a lot of science to how earthen builders design the materials. So, we wanted to use scientific knowledge and tools to understand it.”

In nature, termites construct towering mounds. Wasps build intricate nests, and honeycomb worms create reef-like structures along coastlines. Rather than relying on cement, these organisms use biopolymers, which are large biological molecules that act like glue, often found in saliva, to bind natural materials like soil and clay together.

Inspired by nature’s designs, Srubar and his team, including researchers at Columbia University in New York, set out to investigate which biopolymer could bind earthen materials and make them 3D-printable.

The team tested five biopolymers, including legume-derived guar gum, locust bean gum and cassia gum. These compounds are commonly found in food products like salad dressings to keep oil and water from separating. They also studied sodium alginate, derived from seaweed, and xanthan gum, produced by fermenting sugar.

The researchers found that locust bean gum could hold earthen materials tightly together by binding soil particles into a stronger network. But that same effect made the material harder to push through a 3D-printer nozzle.

Sodium alginate, often found in ice cream and used to make spherical foods like popping boba, produced the opposite effect. Instead of functioning like a glue, the polymer changed the electrical charges on clay particles, causing them to repel one another, similar to how the same poles of two magnets push each other away.

As a result, adding sodium alginate to clay and sand produced materials that allowed the particles to suspend in a stable mixture while still flowing smoothly through a 3D printer.

Left: Earthen Rituals, exhibited at the 2026 Venice Architecture Biennial, is constructed with 3D-printed earthen materials. (Credit: Alessandro Terranova); Middle: Details of the earthen bricks. (Credit: Alessandro Terranova); Right: A vertical vessel with earthen materials. (Credit: Lola Ben-Alon and the Natural Materials Lab)

Then the team searched for the best formulation. To natural earth excavated from a granite quarry near Golden, Colorado, they added just 0.12% of sodium alginate, which produced a material that was both strong and printable. It could withstand 25% more pressure than earth without the biopolymer and could be printed 33% faster.

Using the formula, the team printed an 8-millimeter-thick (0.3-inch) wall that leaned outward at dramatic angles. They found that the structure could remain stable even when tilted to 60 degrees, far steeper than the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

While the current study focuses primarily on improving the printability of earthen materials, Srubar said scientists could use the same framework to test other biopolymers for enhanced properties such as strength and durability.

“There are some good indoor environmental benefits of having earth in a building,” said Samuel Armistead, a research associate in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering. “It can regulate indoor moisture and uptake air pollutants. It can also serve as a thermal insulator, keeping things cool in the summer and warm in the winter.”

Construction projects often generate large amounts of excavated soil when workers dig foundations, basements, or parking structures. Much of that material ends up in landfills.

“Our study suggests that there are ways to reuse waste earth material onsite, and that could largely reduce the environmental footprint of construction,” Armistead said.

Because clay and sand are widely available, Srubar said the team's findings could help builders around the world to tap into local resources.

“Clay and sand are among the most abundant building materials on Earth,” Srubar said. “The science and engineering we're developing can be applied almost anywhere in the world.”

Rebecca Mikofsky at CU �鶹ӰԺ, and Columbia University scientists Yierfan Maierdan, Olga Carcassi, Shiho Kawashima and Lola Ben-Alon also contributed to the work.

By studying how nature builds with dirt, CU �鶹ӰԺ researchers found a way to turn excavated soil into stronger and 3D printable building materials.

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3D-printed earth-fiber objects by Lola Ben-Alon and the Natural Materials Lab were exhibited at the London Craft Week. (Credit: Dan Weill)

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3D-printed earth-fiber objects by Lola Ben-Alon and the Natural Materials Lab were exhibited at the London Craft Week. (Credit: Dan Weill)

Rare meteorite provides evidence of giant early planet

Yvaine Ye — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 14:58:51 +0000

Rare meteorite provides evidence of giant early planet Yvaine Ye Mon, 06/01/2026 - 08:58

NWA 12774 under cross-polarized light. (Credit: John Kashuba)

Yvaine Ye

Four-and-a-half billion years ago, a massive world, possibly as big as the moon or even Mars, orbited our sun before crashing into another celestial body and shattering into rubble.

Now, in a paper published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, scientists report the first definitive evidence that this lost planetary embryo, or protoplanet, existed. Its unique geological makeup challenges long-held assumptions about how planets evolve.

A slice of NWA 12774.The green circle is an olivine crystal, a magnesium-rich mineral. (Credit: John Kashuba)

“It’s incredible to think there was once a world this large,” said Aaron Bell, an assistant research professor in the Department of Earth Science at CU �鶹ӰԺ. “We only know it existed because a few fragments of it happened to land on Earth. These meteorites preserved evidence of a completely different pathway through which early planets developed.”

What gave away the lost world’s secret was a piece of its debris uncovered on Earth in the Sahara Desert, known as the Northwest Africa (NWA) 12774 angrite meteorite.

Angrites are among the oldest known volcanic rocks in the solar system, forming within just a few million years after the solar system began about 4.56 billion years ago. They are also exceptionally rare. Out of more than 80,000 meteorites discovered on Earth, only 68 are angrites.

What makes angrites especially puzzling is their chemistry. Unlike Earth, Mars and other rocky planets, angrites contain very little silicon dioxide, or silica, which is a major ingredient in nearly every known terrestrial planet in the solar system.

For that reason, scientists thought angrites must always come from an asteroid, something with a radius of less than 200 kilometers (124 miles).

An X-ray image of NWA 12774. (Credit: Aaron Bell/CU �鶹ӰԺ)

When Bell and his colleagues were studying NWA 12774, they found the meteorite contained clinopyroxene, a mineral crystal commonly found in Earth's crust and mantle. In particular, NWA 12774’s clinopyroxene was exceptionally rich in aluminum, a telltale sign that the rock formed under enormous pressure deep underground.

The researchers then reconstructed the pressure conditions that might have been present for NWA 12774 to form.

To their surprise, the aluminum-rich clinopyroxene needed at least 17.5 kilobars of pressure. For comparison, the crushing pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest point on Earth, is only around 1 kilobar.

That level of pressure could not have existed inside a small asteroid. Instead, the calculations suggested that the body where angrites came from must have been at least 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) in radius.

Other clues in the meteorite pointed to an even more striking possibility. The crystals inside NWA 12774 still preserved sharp edges and delicate chemical patterns that would have been erased if they formed deep underground. This suggested that the crystals likely formed at relatively shallow depths inside the parent body, so the world had to be even larger.

Under that scenario, the angrite parent body might have stretched beyond 1,800 kilometers (1118 miles) in radius, making it comparable in size to Earth’s moon and possibly approaching a Mars-sized world, which has a radius of 3300 kilometers (2050 miles).

“There are many meteorites sitting in drawers that haven’t been thoroughly studied, so there were likely more of these protoplanets we don’t know about,” Bell said.

It remains unclear how the protoplanet met its end. One possibility is that a catastrophic event in the early solar system shattered it, with its fragments later become the building blocks of other terrestrial planets, including Earth.

“The materials that formed the angrite parent body are fundamentally different from the ingredients of Earth and Mars. It points to a distinct and separate evolutionary path in planetary formation in the early history of our solar system,” Bell said.

Core Facilities Enabling the Science

Core Facilities enabling the science

Specialized shared instrumentation enabled the detailed analysis behind this finding—just one example of how CU �鶹ӰԺ’s core facilities and shared instrumentation support research across disciplines.

Explore Shared Instrumentation at CU �鶹ӰԺ

A fragment of a lost world has provided the first direct evidence that a protoplanet in the early solar system could have been as large as Mars. The findings challenge assumptions about how early planets evolved.

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NWA 12774 under cross-polarized light. (Credit: John Kashuba)

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NWA 12774 under cross-polarized light. (Credit: John Kashuba)

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