Antarctica developed a continental-scale ice sheet 34 million years ago while Earth was about 5°C warmer than today — helped by slow-moving mantle waves that had spent more than 100 million years lifting its interior high enough for permanent ice to survive.
Before JWST began science operations, a dust-sized particle struck one segment of its 6.5-metre mirror at hypervelocity and left an uncorrectable deformation — damage revealed because Webb can detect nanometre-scale changes in its own optical surface.
Voyager 2’s three surviving instruments are part of humanity’s only direct scientific presence in interstellar space—and with no approved successor under development, engineers remotely reconfigured the 49-year-old probe’s power system in July 2026, completing a delicate operation across a 39-hour command-and-response delay that should preserve its science for at least another year.