Science This Week | Breakthrough in nuclear fusion research, more than 25% biodiversity loss by 2100 and more

Find the latest news and discoveries from the world of science

This week has seen some significant events in the world of science. From US scientists announcing a major breakthrough in nuclear fusion research to the James Webb telescope detecting light from galaxies that are some of the most distant and earliest ever detected, find all the latest updates here.

The path to harnessing the power of nuclear fusion hit a major milestone this week with researchers from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, U.S., announcing that a fusion reaction produced more energy than was used to ignite it for the first time.

Researchers hope that the energy emitted from nuclear fusion, the process that powers the sun and stars, could one day produce clean, carbon-free energy and replace fossil fuels. This milestone is a significant step toward limitless energy, though powering homes and businesses from nuclear fusion is decades away, they added.

NASA’s Orion capsule re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere with temperatures hitting a scorching 2,760°C (5,000°F) at 32 times the speed of sound on December 11. It splashed down into the Pacific Ocean off Mexico, west of Baja California near Guadalupe Island.

The space agency needed a successful splashdown to stay on track for the next Orion flight around the moon, currently planned for 2024. The mission will be manned by four astronauts. This will be followed by a two-person lunar landing in as early as 2025. 

The James Webb telescope has found the earliest and most distant galaxy ever detected, estimated to be over 13.5 billion light years away. Webb’s detailed observations have not only allowed researchers to measure the distance light from the galaxy has covered, but also some of its properties. 

Researchers think that these galaxies were formed 350 million years after the Big Bang. As light from these galaxies has travelled from far away, it is extremely faint. It occupies the longer and redder portion of the light spectrum, which has been detected by both the Webb and the Hubble telescope.