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    • NASA replicates Mars 'spiders' in lab in groundbreaking experiment

    These formations similar to the Red Planet’s "spiders" appeared within Martian soil simulant during experiments in JPL’s DUSTIE chamber. Carbon dioxide ice frozen within the simulant was warmed by a heater below, turning it back into gas that eventually cracked through the frozen top layer and formed a plume. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) These formations similar to the Red Planet’s "spiders" appeared within Martian soil simulant during experiments in JPL’s DUSTIE chamber. Carbon dioxide ice frozen within the simulant was warmed by a heater below, turning it back into gas that eventually cracked through the frozen top layer and formed a plume. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
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    NASA scientists have successfully replicated spider-like shapes found on the surface of Mars in a laboratory setting for the first time.

    The planetary phenomenon known as "spiders" — scientifically referred to as "araneiform terrain" — is unique to Mars and created by processes involving carbon dioxide ice.

    Researchers' findings, , reveal the experiment to recreate those "spider" formations in simulated Martian temperatures and air pressure.

    What are Mars 'spiders'?

    Mars spiders are landforms found primarily in the planet's south polar regions. They consist of branched, circular spots on the surface resembling spider legs that can stretch more than one kilometre.

    In the study, scientists say when the planet's carbon dioxide ice caps begin to sublimate — transition directly from solid to gas — pressure builds up beneath the surface and bursts through to create these radial patterns.

    This process, described as the Kieffer model, is unique to Mars due to the planet's thin atmosphere and cold temperatures.

    Recreating Mars 'spiders'

    To better understand how these spiders form, NASA scientists conducted lab experiments simulating the conditions found on Mars.

    In their experiments, researchers used a specialized wine-barrel-size chamber to replicate the low-pressure and cold environments of Mars. A Martian soil simulant was chilled in the container, which was submerged in liquid nitrogen.

    Here's a look inside of JPL's DUSTIE, a wine barrel-size chamber used to simulate the temperatures and air pressure of other planets – in this case, the carbon dioxide ice found on Mars' south pole. Experiments conducted in the chamber confirmed how Martian formations known as "spiders" are created. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

    CO2 gas was introduced, and ice formed over three to five hours. The study said it took many attempts before researchers found the right conditions for the ice to become thick and translucent.

    A heater was used to warm the simulant, causing the ice to crack and release gas plumes similar to those seen on Mars.

    The dark plumes created holes in the soil and spewed dust for up to 10 minutes.

    Scientists said it came as a surprise that ice formed between the grains of the soil, cracking it open. This may explain why spiders have a more "cracked" appearance.

    "These experiments will help tune our models for how they form," lead researcher Lauren Mc Keown in a on NASA's website.

    Mc Keown is said to have been working to make a plume for five years.

    What is next?

    According to the study, the next step is to try the same experiment with simulated sunlight from above rather than a heater below.

    This could reveal the conditions under which plumes and soil ejection might occur.

    Spider-shaped features called araneiform terrain are found in the souther hemipshere of Mars, carved into the landscape by carbon dioxide gas. This 2009 image by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows several of these distinctive formations within an area three-quarters of a mile (1.2 kilometres) wide. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Unversity of Arizona)

    Scientists admit that some questions remain unanswered, including why the spiders form in some places on Mars and not others and don't grow in size or number.

    The study also acknowledges that these spider-like shapes could have existed for a long time and were created when the climate on Mars was different. 

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    The University of Ottawa's special advisor on antisemitism says he has resigned following posts he made on social media celebrating the pager explosions in Lebanon this week.

    Quebec Premier Francois Legault is calling on the Bloc Quebecois to topple the Trudeau government next Wednesday and trigger a federal election.

    The mayor of Fort Saskatchewan apologized on Thursday for comments she made earlier this week about killing feral cats.

    Canada

    • The University of Ottawa's special advisor on antisemitism says he has resigned following posts he made on social media celebrating the pager explosions in Lebanon this week.

    • The mayor of Fort Saskatchewan apologized on Thursday for comments she made earlier this week about killing feral cats.

    • Lacing up skates to hit the ice on any one of Canada's lakes may be a common winter pastime for some, but a new study suggests it may be increasingly 'potentially unstable and unsafe' to play a game of pick-up hockey on the frozen water.

    • The Red Bridge, a historic landmark in Kamloops, B.C., was completely destroyed by fire early Thursday morning.

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    • Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko says he's been working his way back from a rare lower-body muscle injury since being sidelined in last season's playoffs.

    • Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette returned to the 10-day injured list Thursday due to a right middle finger fracture.

    Autos

    • Video of a brazen daylight auto theft which shows a suspect running over a victim in a stolen luxury SUV has been released by police west of Toronto.

    • The plant was expected to produce batteries for a million electric vehicles a year. Once up and running, it was supposed to create hundreds of permanent jobs in a small southeastern Ontario municipality. But two years later, spending on the construction of the Umicore plant has been delayed in what the company calls a "significant worsening of the EV market context."

    • A Winnipeg man is asking for help after a classic car that has been a part of his family since the 1950s was stolen from his garage.

    Local Spotlight

    Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

    The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

    The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

    It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

    A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

    David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

    Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.

    A daytrip to the backcountry turned into a frightening experience for a Vancouver couple this weekend.

    If you take a look to the right of Hilda Duddridge’s 100th birthday cake, you’ll see a sculpture of a smiling girl extending her arms forward.

    • In one of the final speeches he makes before the provincial election campaign period formally begins, Premier David Eby promised a gathering of B.C.'s mayors that he would continue to work closely with them if he's returned to government, but didn't make any last-minute spending announcements.

    • The Union of B.C. Municipalities is asking the provincial government to make transit free for teenagers.

    • The Red Bridge, a historic landmark in Kamloops, B.C., was completely destroyed by fire early Thursday morning.

    • Toronto police are asking for the public's help identifying a person who is suspected to be involved in Tuesday's fatal double shooting in North York.

    • Students across York Region will once again see uniformed officers at school, however police and board officials say they will only be stopping by for the occasional safety presentation.

    • Police have identified the two men killed in an early Wednesday morning shooting at a park north of Toronto. York Regional Police (YRP) say officers were called to Bayview Park, near Bayview and Lowndes avenues in Keswick, Ont., just before 7:30 a.m. for a report of shots fired.

    • The Parole Board of Canada says a man who assaulted a young pregnant woman and left her for dead remains too dangerous to be released into the community.

    • City of Calgary crews are finalizing work filling the Bearspaw feeder main following repairs.

    • A Calgary pharmacist has been suspended by the Alberta College of Pharmacy (ACP) after they found she had accessed a person's electronic health records (Netcare) without "any authorized purpose."

    • The daughter of a man accused of killing her mother and of trying to kill her in a stabbing attack in Ottawa's west end in June 2021 took the stand at his trial Thursday.

    • Two teenage girls are facing assault charges and three other girls will be "facing consequences" under the Youth Criminal Justice Act following the assault of a girl at a Pembroke, Ont. school, according to police.

    • The University of Ottawa's special advisor on antisemitism says he has resigned following posts he made on social media celebrating the pager explosions in Lebanon this week.

    • Quebec Premier Francois Legault is calling on the Bloc Quebecois to topple the Trudeau government next Wednesday and trigger a federal election.

    • Friends and strangers have set up a makeshift memorial outside the home of a five-year-old boy who was found dead yesterday in Coteau-du-lac.

    • Public services in Quebec are becoming dehumanized, warns Quebec Ombudsman Marc-André Dowd in his 2023-2024 annual report, which is filled with concrete examples.

    • The mayor of Fort Saskatchewan apologized on Thursday for comments she made earlier this week about killing feral cats.

    • Canadian National Railway will be moving its rail operations from Jasper, the town in the national park of the same name that was recently devastated by a wildfire, to Hinton, Alta., says the union representing workers.

    • A 26-year-old man was killed in an impaired driving crash in Jasper National Thursday morning, RCMP say.

    • New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has called for a provincial election. Voters will go to the polls on Oct. 21, as prescribed by the province's fixed-date election law.

    • The head of a committee monitoring the government's response to the inquiry into the 2020 Nova Scotia mass killing says she's pleased with progress made so far.

    • Police are asking people to avoid the Dartmouth Commons area in Dartmouth, N.S., as they assist with a wildlife call for a bear.

    • Shamattawa RCMP are searching for a missing six-year-old boy who hasn’t been seen since Wednesday morning.

    • After a soggy, chaotic few days in Manitoba, more severe thunderstorms could be on the way to parts of the province on Thursday.

    • The Southern Chiefs' Organization (SCO) is launching a Charter challenge to have Lake Winnipeg declared a living being, claiming that the province and Manitoba Hydro are damaging the lake with development.

    • Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) has confirmed a tornado touched down Wednesday evening near Langbank, Sask.

    • The rain didn't put a damper on YWCA Regina's annual Walk a Mile in Their Shoes event Thursday.

    • Following the success of their 'I Gotch You' campaign, Rally Around Homelessness officially launched a new program called 'Fresh Start.'

    • New details have been shared about a missing family that was last seen on Sept. 1 in Kitchener, Ont.

    • Ontario Provincial Police shared photos Thursday of a clandestine drug lab discovered in Walkerton.

    • A police officer in Brantford has been charged with obstructing justice, stemming from incident in 2022.

    • Thomas Hamp says he believed secret police were out to kidnap, torture, and kill him when he fatally stabbed his girlfriend Emily Sanche in February of 2022.

    • A 14-year-old student who allegedly set her classmate on fire is facing a new charge.

    • Police have arrested and charged two women following an armed robbery at a store in Saskatoon Thursday morning.

    • Fire officials in Greater Sudbury are concerned about a recent increase in the number of wildfires in the area.

    • One person is dead and another is in hospital with serious, life-threatening injuries after a crash involving a commercial and passenger vehicle on Highway 101 west of Timmins on Wednesday afternoon.

    • James Bay Ontario Provincial Police have charged four commercial vehicle drivers with impaired, including one who was hauling 36,000 kilograms of ammonia hydrate.

    • Police were focusing their attention on the northeast corner of Richmond and Horton, with members of the emergency response unit taking up positions at the scene.

    • On Tuesday, September 10, an investigation had led police to the rural property on Huron-Bruce Road. It was there that a vehicle attempted to evade officers by driving through a field.

    • Pediatric oncology nurses Kaitlyn Earley and Kaeleigh Wightman have walked the hallways of the children's hospital many times - not just as employees but as patients too.

    • Two men from Barrie have been charged after a deadly shooting at a park in Keswick on Wednesday.

    • Police closed an area in Orillia to investigate reports of a suspicious man walking with a gun Thursday morning.

    • A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

    • SERVEONE Canada, a global procurement solution company, has begun Canadian operations in Tecumseh.

    • An active investigation is underway on Ottawa Street, east of Kildare Road.

    • Windsor firefighters responded to a vacant building fire on Wednesday night.

    • The Union of B.C. Municipalities is asking the provincial government to make transit free for teenagers.

    • An agreement between First Nations and the British Columbia government will see thousands of homes made available in Vancouver at 40-per-cent below cost.

    • The Red Bridge, a historic landmark in Kamloops, B.C., was completely destroyed by fire early Thursday morning.

    • The Red Bridge, a historic landmark in Kamloops, B.C., was completely destroyed by fire early Thursday morning.

    • Animal protection officers in British Columbia have rescued three pit bulls – including one that gave birth to 10 puppies – from a rat-infested home in Kelowna.

    • More than a year after a missing Kamloops, B.C., woman’s body was found, her son has been arrested and charged with her murder, Mounties announced Friday.

    • A Lethbridge couple got a good reminder as to why you should keep your vehicle doors locked at all times.

    • Lethbridge residents who live near the police range can expect to hear plenty of shots fired Wednesday and Thursday.

    • The City of Lethbridge's encampment response team continues to see a rise in the number of people experiencing homelessness throughout the summer months.

    • North Bay Police Service says one person has died following an industrial accident at the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission Rail Yard on Tuesday.

    • Three northern Ontario residents are charged with drug trafficking after the vehicle they were in got stuck along a bush road off Highway 17 on Monday.

    • A 50-year-old man in the Sault has been charged following an assault on Saturday that involved the use of a hammer.

    N.L.

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