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Discovery of 2017 OF201 is significant, as it challenges hypothesis of Planet Nine, a hypothetical planet thought to exist in the outer Solar System.

Astronomers have indeed discovered a potential new dwarf planet in the outer reaches of our solar system, far beyond Pluto. This object, named 2017 OF201, is estimated to be approximately 700 kilometres (435 miles) in diameter, which could qualify it as a dwarf planet. Its extreme orbit takes around 25,000 years to complete, with its closest point being 44.5 times the Earth’s distance from the Sun and its farthest point being over 1,600 times the Earth’s distance.

As per a news release, Cheng made the discovery alongside colleagues Jiaxuan Li and Eritas Yang from Princeton University, using advanced computational methods to identify the object’s distinctive trajectory pattern in the sky. The new object was officially announced by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Centre on May 21, 2025, and in an arXiv preprint shared on May 21.

According to astrophysicist Sihao Cheng of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, “The object’s aphelion-the farthest point on the orbit from the Sun-is more than 1600 times that of the Earth’s orbit,” explains Cheng. “Meanwhile, its perihelion-the closest point on its orbit to the Sun-is 44.5 times that of the Earth’s orbit, similar to Pluto’s orbit.”

This extreme orbit, which takes the object approximately 25,000 years to complete, suggests a complex history of gravitational interactions. “It must have experienced close encounters with a giant planet, causing it to be ejected to a wide orbit,” says Yang. “There may have been more than one step in its migration. It’s possible that this object was first ejected to the Oort Cloud, the most distant region in our solar system, which is home to many comets, and then sent back,” Cheng adds.

“Many extreme TNOs have orbits that appear to cluster in specific orientations, but 2017 OF201 deviates from this,” says Li.

The post-mortem reports of some of the bodybuilders showed signs of thickening or enlargement of the heart and coronary artery disease.

Bodybuilders push their limits through intense exercise, strict diets, and in some cases, the abuse of performance-enhancing drugs. While the result is a sculpted body, it comes at a cost, and as per a recent study, the tradeoff is the human life being cut short.

Researchers found that those who built extreme levels of muscle over the years, i.e. the professional bodybuilders, were twice as likely to die from sudden cardiac death, compared to the general population. Some 40 per cent of the deaths among all bodybuilders studied were sudden and heart-related.

The research, published on Tuesday (May 20) in the European Heart Journal, looked for reports of deaths among 20,286 male bodybuilders who had competed in at least one bodybuilding event between 2005 and 2020. The reported deaths were cross-referenced using multiple sources, verified and later analysed by doctors to establish the cause of death.

The researchers found 121 deaths among 20,000 professional builders, with the average age at death being 45 years. The findings showed that bodybuilders experienced a fivefold greater risk of cardiac death compared to amateurs.

“Most dead athletes were from North America (40.5 per cent, mostly from the USA), followed by Europe (38.8 per cent), Asia (7.4 per cent), Africa (6.6 per cent), South America (5 per cent), and Oceania (1.7 per cent),” the study highlighted.

The post-mortem reports of some of the bodybuilders showed signs of thickening or enlargement of the heart and coronary artery disease. Some also abused anabolic substances, which put significant strain on the heart, leading to structural changes over time.

“Bodybuilding involves several practices that could have an impact on health, such as extreme strength training, rapid weight loss strategies including severe dietary restrictions and dehydration, as well as the widespread use of different performance-enhancing substances,” said study co-author Marco Vecchiato, an expert in sports medicine at the University of Padova.

“While striving for physical excellence is admirable, the pursuit of extreme body transformation at any cost can carry significant health risks, particularly for the heart,” he added.

The research also pointed out the mental aspect of bodybuilding at the highest level. The pressure to achieve social ideals of muscularity may contribute to psychological distress, body dissatisfaction, and athletes may develop or worsen body dysmorphic disorders.

According to scientists, that slow-motion drift will one day result in the total closure of the Pacific Basin and the birth of a new supercontinent.

Scientists from Curtin University in Australia and Peking University in China have used advanced supercomputing models to predict that a new supercontinent may emerge within the next 200 to 300 million years. As the Pacific Ocean gradually shrinks and eventually closes, Earth’s tectonic plates are set to converge, potentially creating a massive landmass that will reshape the planet’s geography. 

These groundbreaking findings were published in the journal National Science Review.

“Our new findings are significant and provide insights into what would happen to Earth in the next 200 million years,” said Dr Chuan Huang, a researcher in the Earth Dynamics Research Group and the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Curtin University and the Key Laboratory of Orogenic Belts and Crustal Evolution at Peking University.

“Over the past two billion years, Earth’s continents have collided together to form a supercontinent every 600 million years, known as the supercontinent cycle.”

“This means that the current continents are due to come together again in a couple of hundred of million years’ time.”

The resulting new supercontinent has already been named Amasia because some believe that the Pacific Ocean will close – as opposed to the Atlantic and Indian oceans – when America collides with Asia.

Australia is also expected to play a role in this important Earth event, first colliding with Asia and then connecting America and Asia once the Pacific Ocean closes.

“By simulating how the Earth’s tectonic plates are expected to evolve using a supercomputer, we were able to show that in less than 300 million years’ time it is likely to be the Pacific Ocean that will close, allowing for the formation of Amasia, debunking some previous scientific theories,” Dr. Huang said.

The Pacific Ocean is what is left of the Panthalassa superocean that started to form 700 million years ago when the previous supercontinent started to break apart.

It is the oldest ocean we have on Earth, and it started shrinking from its maximum size since the dinosaur time.

A Harvard-trained dermatologist warns that persistent pimples and spots that bleed easily could be signs of basal cell carcinoma.

Skin cancers are the most common type of cancer around the world, with millions of cases each year. In 2022, the World Health Organisation reported about 330,000 new cases of melanoma, a serious type of skin cancer, and nearly 60,000 people died from it. Melanoma rates vary a lot in different countries, and men are more often affected than women in most places. A skin doctor trained at Harvard warns that some spots or blemishes on the skin, which may look harmless, could actually be cancer. 

Dr Daniel Sugai urges patients with persistent pimples that last longer than a month to seek treatment.

“If you have a pimple that won’t go away in four weeks, please see your dermatologist,” he said this week on TikTok.

Another sign it’s time to get checked? Spots that bleed.

“Another complaint I hear patients say is that, ‘I just washed my face, and there’s this one spot that keeps bleeding, and it does this bleed-scab cycle,’ ” said Sugai, who is based in the Seattle area.

“If you have a spot that’s not fully healing or is very fragile with gentle trauma, like washing your face, definitely see your dermatologist.”

According to The New York Post, Sugai shared that both symptoms could be signs of basal cell carcinoma (BCC), the most common type of cancer. Some 3.6 million Americans are diagnosed with BCC each year, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.

As the name implies, this skin cancer starts in basal cells, which produce new skin cells as the old ones die off, according to the Mayo Clinic. 

“I diagnose these every day, and I actually treat them surgically every day,” said Sugai.

BCCs develop “tree-like blood vessels” to aid their growth, making them especially prone to bleeding.

BCC can manifest as a pimple that doesn’t appear to heal, a shiny, skin-coloured bump, a white or waxy lesion, a flat, scaly patch or a lesion that is black, brown or blue.

Addressing patients of colour, Sugai noted that BCC commonly presents as pigmented.

“It’s usually hyperpigmented with some red mixed in, and with time, it will start to be an eroded plaque that will bleed easily,” he said.

It’s very important not to ignore any unusual changes or marks on your skin. Early detection can save lives.

People who attract more mosquitoes produce significantly more carboxylic acids in their skin emissions.

Mosquitoes are a nuisance for everyone, but some people seem to attract them more than others. Once these pesky insects find any exposed skin, they use their needle-like proboscises to suck blood. But what is the science behind certain people being more exposed to mosquitoes? It might have something to do with smell.

As per a 2022 study by researchers at the Rockefeller University, published in the journal Cell, individuals who have higher levels of certain acids on their skin are 100 times more attractive to the female Aedes aegypti, responsible for the spread of diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika.

For the study, researchers collected natural scent from people’s skin using nylon stockings on the arms. Afterwards, they were cut into two-inch pieces and placed behind two separate trap doors where mosquitoes were flying.

As per Leslie Vosshall, the lead researcher behind the study, mosquitoes were particularly attracted to one sample, described as being from ‘subject 33’.

Subject 33 won a hundred games. They were totally undefeated. Nobody beat them,” said Ms Vosshall.

She added that chemical analysis revealed that ‘subject 33’ or highly attractive people, produce significantly more carboxylic acids in their skin emissions.

“The link between elevated carboxylic acids in “mosquito-magnet” human skin odour and phenotypes of genetic mutations in carboxylic acid receptors suggests that such compounds contribute to differential mosquito attraction,” the study highlighted.

It remains unclear why mosquitoes are particularly attracted to this chemical, but a person’s unique skin climate is believed to play a major role.

Limitations and scope

The researchers pointed towards the limitations of the study as well, stating that they could not remove carboxylic acids from the skin of highly attractive human subjects to establish necessity.

“Human skin odour is a complex blend of several classes of chemical compounds, each of which requires its own specialised analytical detection methods. Our study exclusively focused on compounds with carboxylic acid groups,” the study stated.

Since mosquito-borne diseases impact about 700 million people per year, the study could provide insights into what skin odorants are most important to the mosquito and subsequently help in developing more effective repellents.

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