Jessica Colarossi

2 months ago | phys.org | Jessica Colarossi

Microplastics—tiny shards of plastic debris—are all over the planet. They have made their way up food chains, accumulated in oceans, clustered in clouds and on mountains, and been found inside human bodies at alarming rates. Scientists have been racing to uncover the unforeseen impacts of so much plastic in and around us.

2 months ago | bu.edu | Jessica Colarossi

LEXI Moon Lander In a historic first for BU, the LEXI telescope is operating from the lunar surface and will image Earth’s magnetic shield Twitter Facebook On Sunday, March 2, at 2:30 am, a team of researchers gathered in a lab in Boston University’s College of Engineering. It was a moment they had anticipated for years: a BU-developed telescope, called the Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI), was moments from touching down on the surface of the moon. The telescope is attached...

Feb 13, 2025 | bu.edu | Jessica Colarossi

LEXI Moon Lander NASA’s Blue Ghost mission has finished orbiting Earth and is on its way to the moon Twitter Facebook After cruising around Earth for just over three weeks, a Boston University–developed telescope is en route to the moon. The Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI) is hitching a ride on NASA’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 spacecraft, which blasted off on January 15, and is on schedule to land on the moon in early March. “The spacecraft and LEXI continue to behave well in...

Feb 10, 2025 | bu.edu | Jessica Colarossi

An Arctic expert visited the remote Svalbard Global Seed Vault, where seeds are a symbol of scientific history and hope in a time of climate crisis History A BU Arctic expert studies the remote Svalbard Global Seed Vault, where seeds are a symbol of scientific history and hope in a time of climate crisis Twitter Facebook Adriana Craciun stood at the entrance to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a towering rectangular doorway jutting out of a snowy mountain, in the cold twilight of winter. Just...

Jan 29, 2025 | phys.org | Jessica Colarossi

Rising mountain peaks and sharp rock formations cover the ocean floor, with corals, sponges, fish, and tons of sea creatures clinging to their sides. Unlike mountains on land that dare climbers and hikers to brave their peaks, underwater mountains, called seamounts, are vastly underexplored. Submerged at often unfathomable depths, many are inaccessible to even the most experienced divers.