Welcome to this edition of Over a Cup of Coffee!

In this newsletter

• China finds water on the Moon!

• Why do women live longer than men?

• Why are sharks high on cocaine?

China finds water on the Moon!

Last month, China’s Chang’e 6 mission returned with samples from the far side of the moon but back in December 2020, the Chang’e 5 mission returned after collecting samples from up to a meter deep on the lunar surface.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences analyzed these samples and have confirmed that the unknown lunar mineral (ULM-1) contains ammonia molecules and up to 40 percent water by mass.

This is in stark contrast to NASA’s claims from the Apollo mission when samples brought back by its astronauts suggested that the Moon was completely dry.

In recent decades, India’s Chandrayaan Mission detected traces of water on the Moon and now the Chinese mission has confirmed it.

The researchers studied the chemical composition of the water molecules and, through isotope analysis, confirmed that the water was not contaminated by a rocket or carried from the Earth in the first place.

The research finding is also special because the samples were collected from a higher latitude on the Moon, an area that had not been scanned before.

The results were published in Nature Astronomy.

If you missed our last newsletter that has more space news, here’s the link.

Before we move on to the next story, a quick poll to help us pick the right stories for you.

Why do women live longer than men?

This question has long remained unanswered, and the answer could be as simple as sperm versus egg cells.

Experiments on worms have previously shown that removing germ cells—cells that can develop into sperm or eggs depending on the species' sex —increases the worms' lifespan.

Since these experiments cannot be replicated in humans or other vertebrates, researchers at the Osaka University in Japan used turquoise killifish as a model for their study.

Females generally outlive the males in killifish, so when researchers removed the germ cells, they found that the lifespan of female killifish dipped while that of male killifish increased.

The team attributed this to a dip in estrogen levels of the female fish, but why did the lifespan of the males increase? Not just lifespan, but without sperm in their bodies, killifish had better muscles, bone health, and even skin!

It turns out that improved health in males was due to higher vitamin D production. So, when the team injected vitamin D into both sexes, their lifespans were better.

While the exact role of Vitamin D is still unclear, researchers believe that it could unlock strategies for healthy human ageing.

The research findings were published in Science Advances.

If you are enjoying this post, you will love The Aurorean as well.

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Why are sharks high on cocaine?

Researchers at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Brazil dissected 13 wild sharp nose sharks found near Rio de Janeiro and found that all of them had high levels of cocaine in their muscles and liver.

The concentrations were 100 times higher than those reported for aquatic creatures before, and since sharks do not indulge in such behavior by themselves, this is a sign of chronic exposure to the drug.

One plausible reason commonly cited is drug traffickers at sea tossing the contraband overboard when at risk of being caught by officials. However, the researchers who worked on the study believe that the source of the drug is the wastewater from Rio de Janeiro.

When humans use the drug, it is metabolized and discharged through urine and feces which is part of the wastewater. The other contributor is illegal refining labs that are processing the drug for human consumption.

Exposure to cocaine can alter animal behavior and studies have shown that eels have trouble mating when exposed to cocaine. It can also impact migration patterns that are essential for the animal’s survival.

This report first appeared on NPR.

Thanks for reading.
Until next time,
Ameya