Science: A plane that crashed in Antarctica on 23 January has been located, and it has been determined that none of the three men onboard survived. The Twin Otter research plane had been traveling with its crew of two pilots and one mechanic, all Canadian, from a US base at the South Pole to an Italian research base. Rescue efforts were hampered by bad weather until Saturday, when two helicopter crews managed to survey the crash site from the air. The plane “appears to have made a direct impact that was not survivable,” said the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand, which has led the search, in a statement on its website. Because of the remote location of the crash in the Queen Alexandra mountain range, recovering the bodies may be difficult.
The finding that the Saturnian moon may host layers of icy slush instead of a global ocean could change how planetary scientists think about other icy moons as well.
Modeling the shapes of tree branches, neurons, and blood vessels is a thorny problem, but researchers have just discovered that much of the math has already been done.
January 29, 2026 12:52 PM
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