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Adam Frank Takes a Deep Dive into the Possibilities of Water on Uranus, Neptune

Dec 3, 2024

1 min

Adam Frank


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Adam Frank recently interviewed with national media about the potential for water to exist on the farthest planets in our solar system, Uranus and Neptune. Is it true that where there's water, the possibility for life often follows? Does this study mean that humans or other developed life forms could some day inhabit these neighboring planets? What about microbes? What do these vast oceans look like and how deep are they?

“We’ve been asking the question about life in the universe for more than 2,000 years and we’re finally on the cusp of getting data that will tell us one way or the other."


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Adam Frank

Adam Frank

Professor of astrophysics, science commentator, and popular author

Frank is a leading expert on how stars form and how they die, as well as civilizations before humans

Extraterrestrial LifeSpace DiscoveriesLife on Other PlanetsCivilizations and climate changeTheoretical Astrophysics

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Back-to-school stress? Here’s how it can be a good thing.

As America heads back to school, the renewed whirlwind of expectations for students and parents — from demanding coursework to social dynamics and balancing pick-up-and-drop-off schedules — can trigger anxiety for students and parents alike. Jeremy Jamieson, associate professor of psychology who leads the University of Rochester’s Social Stress Lab, studies how social stressors affect decisions, emotion, and achievement and how embracing, rather than battling, those reactions can boost resilience. “We’re not passive receivers of stress,” Jamieson told National Public Radio last year. “We’re active agents in actually making our own stress response.” Jamieson’s research reveals that stress can be helpful when it is reframed as a mobilizer of energy and focus. In a study of students preparing for the GRE, for instance, those who were primed to view physical stress symptoms (like a racing heart) as beneficial outperformed their peers who didn’t reframe those symptoms. As students confront the fall’s demands, a simple shift in mindset can make all the difference. Jamieson’s research has so many practical applications that he is regularly sought out by media outlets on a wide variety of topics. In the last year, he has talked to Golf Digest about battling the “yips,” to The Atlantic about the rise of “anxiety-inducing” television, and to New York Magazine about the stress some people feel when talking on the phone. He is available to discuss his research and to help explain and navigate seasonal pressures. Connect with him by clicking on his profile.

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