2026-09-03の世界

Have you ever wondered what astronauts actually do outside a spacecraft? On September 1, 2026, NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot stepped outside the International Space Station for a spacewalk that lasted 6 hours and 49 minutes. Working 400 kilometers above Earth, the pair installed a new retroreflector on the station's Harmony module. This small device will help future spacecraft navigate safely during docking. They also replaced a high-definition camera on the station's outer truss and swabbed the exterior surface to check for microorganisms. In addition, they partly finished installing jumper cables for the station's electrical system and began preparing the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer for a future radiator replacement. During the spacewalk, Adenot's spacesuit glove heater harness caught on her sleeve, limiting her shoulder movement, but the crew solved the problem by loosening the joint. This was Meir's seventh spacewalk and Adenot's third. It was also the 284th spacewalk supporting the space station's assembly, maintenance, and upgrades since construction began.

Why do snakes always coil the same way before they even hatch? Scientists led by Dr. Tetsuto Miyashita at the Canadian Museum of Nature may finally have an answer. His team, including lead author Alexandra Weber, examined more than 900 embryos from 39 species of snakes and other limbless reptiles. Using CT scans, they found that a snake's gut grows more slowly than its rapidly lengthening body. Because the gut stays attached at both ends, it acts like a tether inside the growing embryo. As the body keeps stretching, it buckles and twists around this tether, similar to how a strap twists when you shorten it. Early on, the yolk sits on the left side of the embryo, which forces the body to spiral in a right-handed direction. Later, as muscles mature and the young snake gains more control, some embryos even recoil the opposite way. The Cape house snake was one clear example used to show developing muscle blocks during this process. The idea for the study began during COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, when Miyashita needed a project his students could work on from home. The findings were published on August 31, 2026, in the journal Current Biology.

Can two world records fall on the same athletics track within 40 minutes? At the Weltklasse meeting in Zurich, Switzerland, on August 27, 2026, that is exactly what happened. Brazil's Alison dos Santos won the men's 400m hurdles in 45.80 seconds, breaking the previous world record of 45.94 seconds set by Norway's Karsten Warholm at the Tokyo Olympics. Less than 40 minutes later, American hurdler Masai Russell ran the women's 100m hurdles in 12.09 seconds, beating the old record of 12.12 seconds held by Nigeria's Tobi Amusan. The Diamond League meeting produced several other outstanding results that night. Switzerland's Audrey Werro thrilled her home crowd by winning the women's 800m in 1 minute 53.70 seconds, setting a new Diamond League record. Sweden's Mondo Duplantis cleared 6.25 meters in the pole vault, the best mark in the world so far this year. Commentators called it one of the most exciting nights in the history of the Diamond League, with warm, still weather helping athletes push their bodies to new limits.

What might be hiding nearly 6,000 meters under the Pacific Ocean? Right now, a NOAA research team is trying to find out. From August 20 to September 17, 2026, the ship Okeanos Explorer is exploring deep waters around American Samoa as part of an expedition called EX2606. Using two connected robots named Deep Discoverer and Seirios, scientists are diving to depths between about 2,000 and 6,000 meters, or roughly 1.2 to 3.7 miles below the surface. Their targets include underwater mountains called seamounts, deep-sea coral and sponge communities, and rock-like clusters known as polymetallic nodules, which contain metals used in modern technology. On August 24, the team sent their robots down nearly 2,400 meters to explore a seamount near the border between American Samoa and the Cook Islands. The mission is a partnership between NOAA Ocean Exploration, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa. Anyone with an internet connection can join the adventure. Live video from the ocean floor streams almost every day between 8 AM and 8 PM Samoa time, letting viewers around the world watch new discoveries as they happen.