The building blocks of life, amino acids, are believed to have been synthesized in the extreme conditions that prevail in space, starting from simple molecules containing hydrogen, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen. However, the fate and role of amino acids when they are subjected to similar processes largely remain unexplored. Here we report, for the first time, that shock processed amino acids tend to form complex agglomerate structures. Such structures are formed on timescales of about 2 ms due to impact induced shock heating and subsequent cooling. This discovery suggests that the building blocks of life could have self-assembled not just on Earth but on other planetary bodies as a result of impact events. Our study also provides further experimental evidence for the ‘threads’ observed in meteorites being due to assemblages of (bio)molecules arising from impact-induced shocks.

Boulder falls are an archives of recent surface activity on Mars, however, determining how recently they fell remains elusive. Our multitemporal HiRISE image analysis shows that new tracks are characterized by a herringbone‐like ejecta pattern at each boulder bounce that we call boulder fall ejecta (BFE). First systematic survey of BFE revealed ∼4,500 tracks whose total integrated track length is ∼900 km. Our BFE longevity analysis reveals that these tracks likely formed in the last few decades. From few examples we also observed slope streaks originating from BFE tracks, providing additional evidence favoring a dry origin theory. BFE fade in as little as ∼2 to 4 Mars years, whereas, others can persist >6 Mars years suggesting differential weathering. Nearly 30% of BFE are observed in the Cerberus Fossae region, which suggests it is one of the most seismically active regions. Thus, BFE can be used to recognize very recent surface processes on planetary surfaces.

We report new exposures of water ice along the scarps wall located within craters in the northern midlatitude region of Mars using high‐resolution imagery and spectral data of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The exposed water‐ice deposits are shallower and exhibit 1.5 and 2 μm absorption. These scarps are located on the pole‐facing walls and equator‐facing wall origin floor deposits which formed over the latitude dependent mantle. Our observations advance in bracketing the younger ice deposits through the crater size‐frequency distributions of host craters, which formed around ~25 and ~95 Myr and exposed around ~1 Myr. This reveals that ice transportation, accumulation, compaction, and ice‐dust mixing occurred in recent epochs. Our study complements the earlier studies that shallow water ice is spatially widespread and consistent with subsurface water‐ice detection by neutron spectrometer. We interpret the ice remnants likely to preserve in craters pole‐facing wall and equator‐facing wall‐associated floor deposits, which demonstrates widespread water‐ice resources on Mars.

Theaflavins are major polyphenols in black tea which is the most widely consumed tea in the world. They possess a broad spectrum of biological activities, such as antioxidant, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, and cardio-protective effects. The present study was aimed to evaluate the protective effect of theaflavin on glycoprotein content and tricorboxylic acid cycle enzymes in high-fat diet and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats as there was no study on this aspect. Diabetes was induced in male albino Wistar rats by feeding them with high-fat diet and injecting them intraperitoneally with streptozotocin (40 mg/kg b.wt). Different doses of theaflavin (25, 50, and 100 mg/kg b.wt /day) were administered orally to high-fat diet and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats for 30 days for fixing the glucose lowering dose. However, the dose at 100 mg/kg b.wt showed a significant reduction in the levels of plasma glucose and Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance with concomitant elevation of insulin when compared to the other two doses (25 and 50 mg/kg b.wt). Hence, 100 mg/kg b.wt was fixed as an effective dose and used for further analysis. Theaflavin administration restored the altered glycosylated hemoglobin, hemoglobin and glycoproteins (Hexose, hexosamine, fucose, and sialic acid) and TCA cycle enzymes (isocitrate dehydrogenase, α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase, succinate dehydrogenase, and malate dehydrogenase) near the normal levels by correcting hyperglycemia. Improved histological changes were observed in the pancreas of diabetic rats upon treatment with theaflavin which supported the biochemicals investigated. The effect produced by the theaflavin on various parameters was comparable to that of metformin—a reference antidiabetic drug. These findings suggest that theaflavin can replace the commercial drugs which could lead to reduction in toxicity and side effect caused by the later as well as reduce the secondary completions.

Jezero crater is the landing site for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. We report 63 boulder fall tracks within the crater using High‐Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) images. The boulder tracks have both fresh and faded morphologies similar to those reported elsewhere on Mars, but reported for the first time in Jezero crater. We combine observations from 16 boulder‐tracks on the western delta deposit with 47 in the surrounding regions to infer possible process(es) of boulder destabilization, which can be tested with rover observations. This newly found hazard should be taken into account for rover operations. Boulders associated with tracks are geologically “recent falls,” so it is possible that the surfaces of these boulders may provide an opportunity to sample material less exposed to radiation than other rocks at the martian surface and could be ideal targets to analyze for organics.