Two high school students have identified four new planets in distant space about 200-light-years from Earth, making them “the youngest astronomers” to make such a discovery.

Kartik Pingle,16, and Jasmine Wright, 18, who both attend schools in Massachusetts, participating in the Student Research Mentoring Program (SRMP). Along with the help of Tansu Daylan, an MIT doctor for Astrophysics and Space Research, the students studied and analyzed data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Together they focused on Tess Object of Interest (TOI) 1233, a nearby, bright sun-like star and here they found four planets rotating around the star. “We were looking to see changes in light over time,” Pingle explained. “The idea is that if the planet transits the star, or passes in front of it, it would periodically cover up the star and decrease its brightness.”

While studying 1233, Pinglé and Wright had at least hoped to find one planet, but were overwhelmed with joy when a total of four were spotted. “I was very excited and very shocked. ” Wright said. “We knew this was the goal of Daylan's research, but to actually find a multiplanetary system, and be part of the discovering team, was really cool. "

Three of the newly discovered planets are considered as "sub-Neptunes”, which are gaseous, but smaller to the Neptune that lives in our solar system. While observing the planets, the team determined each one completes their orbit around 1233 every six to 19.5 days. However, the fourth planet is labeled a “super-Earth” for its large size and rockiness-this one orbits around the star in just under four days.

“We have long been studying planets beyond our solar system and with multi-planetary systems, the two young students are kind of hitting the jackpot. They are really blessed. ” Daylan said. “The planets originated from the same disk of matter around the same star, but they ended up being different planets with different atmospheres and different climates due to their different orbits.                                 So, we would like to understand the fundamental processes of planet formation and evolution using this planetary system.”

Daylan added that it was a “win-win" to work with Pinglé and Wright on the study. “As a researcher, I really enjoy interacting with young brains that are open to experimentation and learning and have minimal bias.” he said. “I also think it is very beneficial to high school students, since they get exposure to cutting-edge research and this prepares them quickly for a research career.”

The term “bird brain” is frequently used to describe a person’s lack of intelligence and good decision-making ability. However, some scientists believe it should be considered a compliment (恭维), given that many birds can perform tasks that were once considered uniquely within humans. These include manufacturing and using tools, solving problems. and planning for future needs. Now, Griffin, an African Grey parrot, has proved that birds may even have better visual memories than human adults and children.

The study, led by Hrag Pailian, a postdoctoral (博士后)fellow at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, had the parrot compete in the shell game against twenty-one undergraduate students and twenty-one 6-to-8-year-old children. For those not familiar, the popular challenge involves hiding a small object under one of three, or more, upturned cups or nutshells, which are moved around. Participants are required to accurately identify the cup or nutshell under which the object lies.

The Harvard team began by placing different-colored pom-poms (绒球)under four cups and moving them randomly around. To make the task more challenging, the researchers required participants to track two, three, and four pom-poms at the same time. The cup positions were moved between zero to four times far each of the combinations. Griffin and the undergraduate students conducted 120 tests, while the children did 36.

An analysis of the results showed that Griffin outperformed the 6-to-8-year-olds across all levels on average. Even more impressive, the “bird brain” performed as well as, or slightly better than, the 21 Harvard students on 12 of the 14 trials! It was only in the final two tests, which had the most pom-poms and most movement, that the parrot lagged behind the adults. However, Griffin’s performance never dipped below that of the children. “Think about it: Grey parrot outperforms Harvard undergraduates. That’s pretty awesome.” said a delighted Pailian.

Now many countries work towards a carbon-neutral future, hoping to achieve the real green growth and change. The current UK government had originally set out plans to become carbon-zero by 2050. And in a new announcement regarding the UK’s green economic recovery, the Prime Minister has committed to accelerating offshore wind by 2030.

In a recent speech, Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the government will invest in clean energy, promising that £160m will be dedicated to building wind turbines (涡轮机)to help the country “build back greener”. It’ll create 2,000 jobs in construction, and support 60,000 more, by upgrading ports and factories to build the turbines. He announced that “we believe that in 10 years’ time offshore wind will be powering every home in the country.”

In Boris Johnson’s speech, he said the UK would become “the world leader in clean wind energy” and perhaps also in its further green recovery plans. Attention has been paid to wind, as it is a limitless resource on the island that is Britain. Plans included employing new floating offshore technology, where large farms could be placed further out to sea.

Before this announcement, climate activists and organizations have been urging world governments to include climate change concerns in their economic recoveries. Organizations such as the International Energy Agency worked out a sustainable energy plan that provided a blueprint on how governments could encourage economic growth with climate change in mind, by moving towards areas such as clean energy and creating jobs within this area. In the UK’s economic recovery plan, the government rolled out a scheme that allowed home owners to access a grant that would enable them to upgrade their homes with energy-saving improvements.

Reported in The Guardian, executive director of the environmental NGO Greenpeace UK, John Sauven, said: “If carried through, the commitment would help strengthen the UK’s global leadership in this key technology. We now need to see the Prime Minister’s newly-found enthusiasm is followed through by knocking down all the barriers that the offshore wind industry faces in delivering its ambition.”