Deep layers of molten rock inside some super-Earths could generate powerful magnetic fields—potentially stronger than Earth’s—and help shield these exoplanets from harmful radiation. Credit: University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics / Michael Franchot

This week, a new analysis of Jupiter’s atmosphere estimated that the gas giant has 1.5 times more oxygen than the sun. Researchers in Brazil identified a protein that allows pancreatic cancer to infiltrate nerves and spread early in the course of the disease. And scientists at Duke-NUS Medical School discovered how exercise helps aging muscles regain their ability for self-repair.

Plus: How super-Earths may generate their magnetic fields; why superagers are so cognitively agile; and a scientific look at the intense grief of losing a pet.

Field theory

It stands to reason that life-supporting super-Earths would require a magnetic field to shield life forms from the harms of stellar and cosmic radiation. Our planet, a nonsuper-Earth, generates its magnetic field via the motion of its liquid iron outer core. Larger rocky planets like super-Earths are theorized to have either solid or fully liquid cores that can’t function as dynamos.

But researchers from the University of Rochester recently published a study suggesting that super-Earths could have an alternative mechanism: a basal magma ocean, sustained by the higher internal pressures within these planets. Under the intense pressure within super-Earths that are more than three to six times the size of unremarkable Earth, deep-mantle rock becomes electrically conductive, potentially generating stronger and more enduring magnetic fields than ours.

Old body, young brain

APOE-ε4 is a gene variant that exposes people to higher genetic risk of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. But there’s another variant of the same gene, APOE-ε2, that seems to confer protection from Alzheimer’s. A new study from researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center measured the frequency of APOE-ε4 (the bad one) in superagers compared to people in the same age group with AD dementia.

Superagers are people 80 years or older who retain the cognitive abilities of much younger people. They found that superagers were 68% less likely to carry APOE-ε4, and 19% less likely to carry it than cognitively normal people in the same age group.

Leslie Gaynor, who led the study, said, "This was our most striking finding—although all adults who reach the age of 80 without receiving a diagnosis of clinical dementia exhibit exceptional aging, our study suggests that the superager phenotype can be used to identify a particularly exceptional group of oldest-old adults with a reduced genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease."

Can confirm 😞

A new survey finds that for 1 in 5 people, losing a pet is more emotionally devastating than losing a human loved one. The study, involving 975 British pet owners, found that 21% of pet owners found greater difficulty grieving a pet than a close human, and 7.5% of people who lost pets meet the clinical criteria for prolonged grief disorder, comparable to the rate following human deaths.

The researchers believe that diagnostic criteria for prolonged grief are not accounting for the quality of relationships with the deceased; additionally, pet death often involves a decision by the owner to euthanize their pet, which can itself generate trauma; trauma heightens the risk of prolonged grief disorder.

Written for you by our author Chris Packham, edited by Gaby Clark, and fact-checked and reviewed by Robert Egan—this article is the result of careful human work. We rely on readers like you to keep independent science journalism alive. If this reporting matters to you, please consider a donation (especially monthly). You’ll get an ad-free account as a thank-you.

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Citation: Saturday Citations: Super-Earths; superagers; how we grieve pets (2026, January 17) retrieved 17 January 2026 from https://phys.org/news/2026-01-saturday-citations-super-earths-superagers.html

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