George Petras

6 days ago | usatoday.com | George Petras |Janet Loehrke

The strongest-yet indication of extraterrestrial life – in the form of organically produced chemicals, not an alien civilization – may have been found on a giant exoplanet 124 light-years from Earth, researchers announced in a new study on April 17. Atmospheric analysis of K2-18b, a planet a bit smaller than Neptune, has revealed two biologically produced compounds from the same chemical family, dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide.

6 days ago | mycentraljersey.com | George Petras |Janet Loehrke

The strongest yet indication of extraterrestrial life – in the form of organically produced chemicals, not an alien civilization – may have been found on a giant exoplanet 124 light-years from Earth, researchers announced in a new study on April 17. Atmospheric analysis of K2-18b, a planet a bit smaller than Neptune, has revealed two biologically produced compounds from the same chemical family, dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide.

1 week ago | usatoday.com | George Petras |Stephen Beard

El Salvador’s infamous CECOT prison is a maximum-security facility built to hold the country’s worst criminals in eight buildings across a space equal to seven football stadiums. The Center for the Confinement of Terrorism is where Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident and Salvadoran native who was granted legal protection to stay in the U.S., is being held. He was deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration following an “administrative error” on March 15.

1 week ago | usatoday.com | George Petras

• The VIX, or "fear gauge," measures expected stock market volatility over 30 days. Stock market uncertainty from President Donald Trump’s tariffs has even casual investors anxiously watching the VIX, commonly called Wall Street’s panic index or fear gauge. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index – known as VIX – measures market expectations of stock price changes over the next 30 days, according to Cboe Global Markets, which manages the index.

1 week ago | usatoday.com | Janet Loehrke |George Petras

We know the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in the cold North Atlantic with the deaths of more than 1,500 people in April 1912, yet the ship still haunts and fascinates us – and now, a new full-size digital replica is offering more details into the 113-year-old disaster.