A new study from Monash University has delivered the most complete and accurate digital map of Earth’s windblown sand dunes to date. The research, published in Nature Communications, answers long-standing questions about why dunes form where they do, unlocking key insights into climate conditions on Earth and other planets.

The mission to save NASA’s sinking Swift Observatory was called off Wednesday, dooming the telescope to a fiery reentry later this year.

Remember the “Wow!” signal? That high-energy radio signature occurred in 1977, when Earth was much “quieter” in the radio band. If it happened today, it probably wouldn’t even move the needle on the background noise of human radio chatter. Signals from satellites, radar and other human technology have crowded out extraterrestrial radio signals, limiting our ability to monitor the heavens for signals like the still-unexplained one received in 1977. What’s more, the ionosphere partially blocks lower-frequency radio signals, making them even harder to detect from the ground.

Some of Earth’s microbes likely to hitch a ride to space with human explorers could survive in the shaded nooks and crannies of the moon’s South Pole region, NASA scientists say.

Before people can mine resources on the moon, asteroids or Mars, they need to answer a few key questions: What is there? How much is there? And where can it be found? A team led by SETI Institute research scientist Pablo Sobron is looking into a new way to answer these questions without having to land, drill or bring samples back to Earth.