It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
(RNS) — In recent weeks, Christian men in Texas and Florida have reportedly harassed praying Muslim students. The hecklers were trying to interrupt the prayers in Jesus’ name. “Kaaba 2.0 Jesus is Lord,” one of their signs read, implying that the Christian God should replace the Kaaba in Mecca, the holiest place in Islam, toward which Muslims pray.
“You need Jesus,” the harassers said.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump reinforced Islamophobic sentiment by calling the American Somali community “garbage” and by significantly restricting the processing of immigration visas for Afghans following a shooting committed by an Afghan immigrant. This week, he launched into a vitriolic tirade against U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, falsely accusing her of being in the U.S. “illegally” and mocking her name and her hijab.
The men who harassed the Muslim students might be surprised to learn that these Muslim students already know Jesus, whose birth story and life are described in the Quran. Muslims venerate Jesus as a prophet but do not believe him to be God. Muslims also know Mary, who is exalted in the Quran. Perhaps these Christian men would insist that the Muslim Jesus is not their Jesus. Fair enough: As a Baptist minister, I say that a Jesus who inspires tormenting others is not my Jesus.
I am tempted to say, further, that this is not real Christianity and that these men are not real Christians. But that would be disingenuous: Christians have a long history of hostility toward Muslims. The fact that Warriors for Christ, a group that livestreamed the disruption of the Muslim prayers and has been designated as a hate group by Southern Poverty Law Center, is just the latest example.
Three men disrupt Muslim teenagers offering their evening prayer outside the Original Mocha coffee house in Murphy, Texas. (Video screen grab)
In one of the earliest recorded Christian responses to Islam, John of Damascus described the new faith as an “Ishmaelite heresy.” His treatise, “The Fount of Knowledge,” written about 743, helped shape negative Christian attitudes toward Islam for centuries. Another eighth-century text, “Storia de Mahometh,” presented for the Christian reader a sort of counter-biography of the Prophet Muhammad, freely mixing fact with highly disparaging fiction. Many such works followed, sowing seeds of anti-Muslim prejudice early on.
These early Christian polemics were produced before the Quran was translated into Latin. Peter the Venerable, the abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, who believed that Muhammad was the precursor of the antichrist and the successor of Arius, commissioned the first Latin translation to Robert of Ketton. This 1143 work, “Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete,” was not meant to help build bridges. Rather, its creators hoped to use it to convert Muslims to Christianity.
The first printed Latin publication of the Quran, in 1542, was produced with similar aims. Its preface was written by none other than Martin Luther, the father of the Protestant Reformation, whose goal was to “expose” the Quran as “a work full of lies, fables, and abominations in comparison to Christian scripture,” writes Franzvolker Greifenhagen, a professor at Luther College University of Regina, Canada. Luther, whose view of Islam as Satan’s ploy and, at the same time, divine punishment intended to spur Christian repentance, further entrenched anti-Muslim rhetoric in Christian thought and helped cement it into Protestant identity.
These polemics should be relics of an embattled mindset of medieval and Reformation times, but unfortunately the notions of Islam as an existential threat to Christianity continue to echo across generations and reverberate in vitriolic political rhetoric. Former New York Mayor Andrew Cuomo, who lost to Mamdani in New York City’s mayoral primary and the general election, suggested in the waning days before the election that Mamdani would fail New Yorkers if terrorists attacked while he is mayor: “God forbid another 9/11,” Cuomo said. “Can you imagine Mamdani in the seat?”
Days later, Republican Congressmen Randy Fine of Florida and Andy Ogles of Tennessee demanded that the U.S. Department of Justice investigate Mamdani’s naturalization for fraud. Fine invoked the notion of the “enemy within,” clarifying that he meant “people who have come to this country to become citizens [and] to destroy it.”
Slovakian historian Tomaž Mastnak wrote in his 2002 book, “Crusading Peace: Christendom, the Muslim World, and Western Political Order,” that before the crusades, Christian hostility was directed at all non-Christian peoples. Palestine, once the “Promised Land,” was recast as “Holy Land,” necessitating extermination of Muslims and other non-Christians who inhabited it. Mastnak cites the 12th-century saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who wrote that “a pagan’s death was a Christian’s glory, because, in it, Christ was glorified.”
Bernard’s notion that Christ could be glorified in the suffering of Muslims is likely not consciously driving those who shoot and stab Muslims in the United States and Europe. Their violence can’t be separated from this ancient idea that some places are inherently Christian or that Muslims are inherently evil. The man who murdered 6-year-old Wadea al Fayoume a week after Hamas attacked southern Israel in 2023 shouted, “You devil Muslim, you must die!” as he attacked the boy’s mother.
Islamophobia among Christians of all denominations surveyed by the Institute of Social Policy and Understanding is on the rise. Compared to 2022, in 2025 white evangelical Christians gained 15 points, Catholics 12 points, and Protestants 7 points on the National Islamophobia Index, ISPU’s instrument measuring Islamophobia. The Index is based on the respondent’s level of agreement with five anti-Muslim stereotypes.
In a survey of American Baptist clergy I conducted for a forthcoming book I co-wrote with the Rev. Michael Woolf, “Challenging Islamophobia in the Church: Liturgical Tools for Justice,” more than half of respondents said they had no formal education about Islam. These clergy were less likely to teach about Islam in their congregations, engage with Muslim communities or address Islamophobia in their communities than their peers who had studied Islam in seminary. Some claimed that teaching about a non-Christian faith in church would be heresy and talking about Islam would dilute Christian faith.
In the book, I argue that, on the contrary, learning about Islam can make one a better and more knowledgeable Christian. Learning about Muslim critiques of Christian theological concepts can refine one’s understanding of Christianity. I also argue that standing up for one’s Muslim neighbors is Christian witness and an expression of discipleship.
Such discipleship is embodied by my colleague’s critique of Donald Trump’s recent description of American Somalis as “garbage.” The Rev. G. Travis Norvell, pastor of Judson Memorial Baptist Church in Minneapolis, wrote recently, “I hope the president soon learns that God doesn’t make garbage. God only makes beautiful things. And my Somali neighbors are beautiful.”
The Muslim students who were harassed in Texas and Florida deserve more than legal remedies. They cannot depend solely on state institutions when political leaders spew demeaning rhetoric about Muslims and immigrants. They need and deserve support from neighbors, teachers and fellow students. Christians should be the first to stand with them in solidarity, defend their right to pray in peace and openly reject the acts of hate carried out in the name of Jesus. Our history does not have to define our present or our future.
Anna Piela. (Courtesy photo)
(Anna Piela, an American Baptist Churches USA minister, is a visiting scholar of religious studies and gender at Northwestern University and the author of “Wearing the Niqab: Muslim Women in the UK and the US.” The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)
Friday, December 05, 2025
Russian neo-Nazi group 'Rusich' regularly posts images of war crimes
IDENTICAL IDEOLOGY AS UKR. NEO NAZI'S
Russian neo-Nazi paramilitary group Rusich took to Telegram in mid-November to post a photo of one of its fighters posing in front of three bodies of Ukrainian soldiers. It is thought to be the tip of the iceberg in terms of war crimes committed by this group, which is currently deployed on the Ukrainian front.
WARNING: SOME OF THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE MAY BE UPSETTING
In the photo, the Russian fighter, wearing a ski mask and a bulletproof vest and carrying a Kalashnikov, poses proudly in front of three bodies on the ground. The three dead men are all dressed in the military fatigues – complete with a yellow armband – worn by Ukrainian soldiers, though they have been stripped of their weapons. The photo, which was posted on Telegram on November 15, is captioned: “Take this as an example. That’s how an army of victors takes photos, not victims.”
According to pro-Russian blogger ButusovPlus, the photo was taken in the region of Pokrovsk, though it is impossible to independently verify this location.
A few hours later, the photo was followed by a second post, this time one that called on followers to send similar images in order to obtain an unspecified sum of cryptocurrency.
The message goes on to become even more macabre. “We are announcing a competition. The first three people who send a photo of prisoners who have clearly been executed will get a crypto money reward from Rusich.”
The post has since been deleted by the administrator of the Telegram channel.
The Telegram channel that has been sharing these photos is unfortunately well-known. Since it was created, it has featured content promoting war crimes, including decapitations, the humiliation of prisoners and executions.
These atrocities are the hallmark of Rusich, a group of Russian mercenaries who regularly display neo-Nazi references. They became well-known in Donbas in 2014, then acted alongside the Russian mercenary operation, the Wagner Group. Currently, members of this group are active on the Ukrainian front. While it is difficult to estimate how many of them there are, analysts agree that Rusich had a few dozen fighters in 2022. ‘Their aim is to terrorise their adversary’
Today, Rusich has become a byword for terror, says Candace Rondeaux, a professor at Arizona State University:
"Rusich is one of the pillars of the irregular warfare that the Kremlin has been engaged in since 2014. Their aim is to terrorise their adversaries by showing off their brutality.
Rusich was close to the Wagner universe and that of the Redut group (Editor’s note: a Russian mercenary group with close links to the intelligence services); they intervened in Syria but also in Libya. It is also a paramilitary group that operates with the blessing of the GRU (Editor’s note: the Russian military intelligence service) and recruits within the Russian ultra-nationalist movement and amongst former Russian parachutists (Editor’s note: also called the VDV).
Since it was created in 2014, Rusich has been seen as a force that carries out complex operations, including reconnaissance missions, sabotage or sniping. Some of their forces are operating behind enemy lines in Ukraine.” Neo-Nazi ideology
The members of the unit regularly show off ultra-nationalist and neo-Nazi symbols on Telegram. Case in point: the badge worn by members of the unit, which features an ultra-nationalist symbol called the Kolovrat superimposed on top of the Russian imperial flag (black, yellow and white).
Ricardo Parreira, an expert in far-right symbols, says that the Kolovrat has become a sort of banner for neo-Nazi groups in Eastern Europe:
“This is a symbol that was supposedly used by Slavic civilisations, as far back as the 11th century, but there are very few artefacts that document this. After the end of the Second World War, it was adopted by several neo-Nazi groups in Eastern Europe and in Russia, like the neo-Nazi party Russian National Unity.
When the war in Ukraine began in 2014, the Kolovrat symbol gained more recognition and was then picked up by international far-right groups. Both Russian and Ukrainian nationalist groups wore this symbol during the conflict, even though they were enemies."
The men in Rusich also wear other symbols favoured by neo-Nazis around the world. Rusich fighters often flaunt the Tyr and Odal runes from Norse mythology.
Parreira says that these symbols are used by many ultra-nationalist groups around the world:
"These days, all of these runes are references to a white supremacist and neo-Nazi ideology. But they were also used by Nazis, back in the day, as well as by some pagan movements, some of which are racist.
These symbols are meant to perpetuate the myth of a white people with Indo-European roots, supposedly the ancestors of both the Slavs and people from the Nordic countries. So they are symbols of an ethnopluralism (Editor’s note: a political ideology that promotes distinct ethnic and cultural groups living side by side but not mixing) that appears as frequently amongst the French extreme right (Institut Iliade, Nouvelle Droite) as in Russian supremacist circles."
Rusich members also seem to enjoy making references to the Third Reich. In a Telegram post from May 30, 2025, fighters from the unit wished one of their fellow fighters a happy birthday by adding an SS symbol to the wing of a drone.
One of the founders and the current leader of Rusich, Alexey Milchakov, stated publicly in an interview that he considers himself a Nazi and not a patriot or a nationalist.
He also called for the extermination of Ukrainians, “so they can no longer raise their children”. Ukrainian investigative group Molfar reported that Milchakov is believed to have cut off the ears of Ukrainian fighters in 2014 before publishing images of these atrocities on VKontakte.
According to the pro-Ukrainian ButusovPlus, Milchakov is actually deployed with the 417th Reconnaissance Battalion of the 42nd Guards Motor Rifle Division within the Russian army. According to the Institute for the Study of War, Milchakov’s unit was active to the west of the town of Zaporizhzhia in October 2025. War crimes posted on social media
Throughout its existence, the Rusich group’s cruelty has set it apart from other Russian mercenary groups. In 2017, one of its members posed proudly holding the severed head of a man near Palmyra, Syria.
The administrators of the Rusich Telegram channel continue to post scenes of horror. On November 26, 2024, the account posted an image of a severed head with a severed hand stuffed into its mouth. We don’t know where this image was taken.
In July 2024, the group posted an image of the body of a man lying in the middle of the street with a sword stuck into his chest. The body is partially dressed in Ukrainian Army military fatigues. An image that the account said was a “surprise for its followers”.
Similar photos and videos of crimes posted on social media were used in the trial of one of Rusich’s leaders, Yan Petrovsky. Petrovsky was arrested in Finland on July 20, 2023. He was sentenced to life in prison in Finland for four war crimes that he committed in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
‘Rusich perpetuates the idea that you can act in total impunity’
For Rondeaux, these posts are part of a well-planned communication strategy within the group:
“Communication has been part of the very DNA of Rusich since 2014. Back then, the group had its own Instagram account, its own YouTube channel and it was also very active on VKontakte (Editor’s note: a Russian social media network).
Rusich is carrying out psychological warfare on social media by publishing images of its crimes. It perpetuates the idea that the Kremlin and its troops can act in total impunity.
That serves a particular narrative, certainly now when Ukraine and Russia are considering a peace agreement that would not include any kind of system of reparations for Russian war crimes.”
Image of the newly discovered spiral galaxy Alaknanda (inset) as observed in the shorter wavelength JWST bands. Several bright galaxies from the foreground Abell 2744 cluster are also seen.
A spiral galaxy, shaped much like our Milky Way, has been found in an era when astronomers believed such well-formed galaxies could not yet exist. Two astronomers from India have identified a remarkably mature galaxy just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang—a discovery that challenges our understanding of how galaxies form and evolve.
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a powerful telescope capable of detecting extremely faint light from the early Universe. Using JWST, researchers Rashi Jain and Yogesh Wadadekar spotted a galaxy remarkably similar to our own Milky Way. Yet this system formed when the cosmos was barely 1.5 billion years old—roughly a tenth of its present age. They named it Alaknanda, after the Himalayan river that is a twin headstream of the Ganga alongside the Mandakini—fittingly, the Hindi name for the Milky Way.
Classic spiral galaxies like ours—with two clear, symmetric arms (called a ‘grand-design’ spiral)—were thought to take billions of years to form. The prevailing view held that early galaxies should appear irregular and disordered—still in the chaotic process of assembly rather than settled into the graceful spirals we see so often in the nearby Universe. Building a grand spiral requires time: gas must flow in steadily from surrounding space (called ‘gas accretion’), settle into a rotating disk, then slow-moving waves (called ‘density waves’) may perturb the disk to sculpt the spiral arms, and the whole system needs to remain undisturbed by violent collisions with other galaxies.
Alaknanda defies these expectations. It already has two sweeping spiral arms wrapped around a bright, rounded central region (the galaxy’s ‘bulge’), spanning about 30,000 light-years across. Even more impressively, it is annually churning out new stars, their combined mass roughly equivalent to 60 times the mass of our Sun. This rate is about 20 times that of the present-day Milky Way! About half of Alaknanda’s stars appear to have formed in only 200 million years—a blink in cosmic time.
"Alaknanda has the structural maturity we associate with galaxies that are billions of years older," explains Rashi Jain, the study's lead author. "Finding such a well-organised spiral disk at this epoch tells us that the physical processes driving galaxy formation—gas accretion, disk settling, and possibly the development of spiral density waves—can operate far more efficiently than current models predict. It's forcing us to rethink our theoretical framework."
A cosmic magnifying glass
Alaknanda lies in the direction of a massive galaxy cluster called Abell 2744, also known as Pandora's Cluster. The cluster's enormous gravity bends and magnifies light from distant cosmic objects in its background, much like a magnifying glass. Called gravitational lensing, this effect made Alaknanda appear twice as bright, allowing JWST to capture its spiral structure in stunning detail.
Jain & Wadadekar analysed JWST images of the galaxy taken through as many as 21 different filters, each revealing a different part of its light. This wealth of data—part of JWST's UNCOVER and MegaScience surveys—allowed them to estimate with unusual precision the galaxy's distance, dust content, how many stars the galaxy contains, and how quickly new stars have been forming over time.
Rewriting the cosmic timeline
The discovery adds to a growing body of evidence from JWST that the early Universe was far more mature than astronomers expected. Several disk-shaped galaxies have now been found at similarly vast distances, but Alaknanda stands out as one of the clearest examples of a textbook "grand-design" spiral (a galaxy with two prominent, symmetric arms) at such an early epoch.
"Alaknanda reveals that the early Universe was capable of far more rapid galaxy assembly than we anticipated," says Yogesh Wadadekar, the study's co-author. "Somehow, this galaxy managed to pull together ten billion solar masses of stars and organise them into a beautiful spiral disk in just a few hundred million years. That's extraordinarily fast by cosmic standards, and it compels astronomers to rethink how galaxies form.”
Scientists will now debate how Alaknanda's spiral arms arose. One possibility is that the galaxy grew steadily by pulling in streams of cold gas, allowing density waves to naturally carve out spiral patterns. Another is that a gravitational encounter with a smaller companion galaxy triggered the arms—though such tidally induced spirals tend to fade quickly. Future observations with JWST's own spectroscopic instruments or the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) telescope in Chile could measure how fast the galaxy is rotating and whether its disk is moving in an orderly way (dynamically "cold") or is more turbulent (dynamically "hot"), helping to distinguish between these scenarios.
What does this mean for us?
This discovery is more than a pretty picture from the distant past. It forces astronomers to reconsider the cosmic timeline—the story of how stars, galaxies, and ultimately planets like Earth came to be. If galaxies could mature this quickly, the early Universe was a far more dynamic and fertile place than we imagined, and the conditions for forming worlds like ours may have arisen earlier than anyone thought.
As JWST continues to peer deeper into space and time, more galaxies like Alaknanda are sure to emerge—each one a new clue to the Universe's surprisingly rapid early development.
The early Universe was far more capable of building complex and stable structures than previously believed—and Alaknanda is compelling evidence of that being the furthest disk-dominated grand-design spiral galaxy ever discovered.
Left panel: Image of Alaknanda in rest-frame near-ultraviolet filters. The star-forming regions in the spiral arms form a beads-on-a-string pattern, characteristic of UV emission from massive stars in star-forming regions. Right panel: Alaknanda as seen in rest-frame optical filters. The spiral arms are less prominent and the underlying disk is clearly seen.
The ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has been observing the Sun for 30 years. In that time, SOHO has observed nearly three of the Sun’s 11-year solar cycles, throughout which solar activity waxes and wanes.
Credit: Credit: SOHO (ESA & NASA) Acknowledgements: F. Auchère & ATG Europe
On 2 December 1995 the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) blasted into space – on what was supposed to be a two-year mission.
From its outpost 1.5 million km away from Earth in the direction of the Sun, SOHO enjoys uninterrupted views of our star. It has provided a nearly continuous record of our Sun’s activity for close to three 11-year-long solar cycles.
"It is testament to the ingenuity of our engineers, operators and scientists, and to international collaboration, that this mission has exceeded all expectations," says Prof. Carole Mundell, ESA Director of Science. "SOHO has overcome nail-biting challenges to become one of the longest-operating space missions of all time."
"The SOHO mission is a great example of the incredible partnerships between NASA and ESA,” adds Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Congratulations to the NASA and ESA teams on an amazing thirty years working together."
The mission has not been without drama. Two-and-a-half years after launch, the spacecraft suffered a critical error, spinning out of control and losing contact with Earth. An international rescue team worked tirelessly for three months to locate and recover it.
Then, in November & December 1998, the spacecraft’s stabilising gyroscopes failed and a new race to save the mission began. By February 1999, new software enabled the spacecraft to fly without the need for gyroscopes, and it has been revolutionising solar science ever since.
“SOHO pioneered new fields in solar science. It is a game-changer in the study of space weather, providing real-time monitoring of the Sun to forecast potentially dangerous solar storms heading towards Earth, and its legacy continues to guide future missions,” says Daniel Müller, ESA Project Scientist for SOHO and Solar Orbiter.
“SOHO is still producing high-quality data on a daily basis, and with hundreds of papers being published every year, its scientific productivity remains very high.”
Here are five highlights from the last five years:
1. A single plasma conveyor belt
SOHO led the way in ‘helioseismology’. Akin to studying how seismic waves traverse Earth during an earthquake, helioseismology probes the inside of the Sun by studying how sound waves reverberate through it. Early in its career, SOHO provided the first images of plasma flows (electrically charged material) beneath the Sun’s surface, offering a unique window into its layered interior.
Thanks to SOHO’s long lifetime, scientists have used helioseismology to solve an enduring mystery: plasma flows along a single loop, or cell, in each of the Sun's hemispheres – not multiple cells as previously thought.
The data show that it takes about 22 years for plasma to complete an entire loop around this single ‘conveyor belt’, flowing from the surface near the equator up to the poles, then traveling back down deep inside towards the equator. This matches the timeline of the Sun’s magnetic cycle, explaining how sunspots – regions where intense magnetic fields break through the Sun’s surface – emerge progressively closer to the equator over the solar cycle.
The amount of energy that floods out of the Sun is a fundamental quantity in understanding the impact of solar heating on Earth’s atmosphere and climate. SOHO’s three decades of data, in combination with older measurements, provide unrivalled measurements spanning nearly fifty years.
The total energy output of the Sun changes very little – on average, by only 0.06% over the solar cycle. By contrast, the variation in extreme ultraviolet radiation is substantial, doubling between solar minimum and maximum. Solar extreme ultraviolet radiation significantly influences the temperature and chemistry in Earth’s upper atmosphere, but is not a direct driver of the global warming trends observed near Earth’s surface.
3. Solar storm monitoring made law
SOHO has played such a pivotal role in the development of real-time space weather monitoring systems that it was signed into United States law in October 2020.
The ‘Promoting Research and Observations of Space Weather to Improve the Forecasting of Tomorrow’ (PROSWIFT) act specifically mentions SOHO's Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) instrument.
LASCO is a coronagraph, a telescope with a disc masking the centre of view. By blocking out the direct light coming from the Sun, the instrument can see light from the surrounding atmosphere, called the corona. This allows us to see coronal mass ejections – large eruptions of solar material and magnetic fields – as they set off from the Sun, providing up to three days warning of potentially disruptive incoming space weather reaching Earth.
The telescope’s prowess as a comet hunter was unplanned, but turned out to be an unexpected success. Thanks to the screening effect of SOHO’s coronagraph, ‘sungrazer’ comets – those that approach the Sun at very close distances – also become visible.
Not all comets seen by SOHO are sungrazers. For example, it also beautifully captured Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS, also called the Great Comet of 2024, a non-periodic comet from the outer reaches of the Solar System.
SOHO discovered its 5000th comet in March 2024, making it the most prolific comet-discoverer in history. Most of these have been found by citizen scientists worldwide through the Sungrazer Project. The observations have provided valuable data on the movement, composition and dust production of comets.
5. Enabling future discoveries
SOHO’s success has shaped the next generation of solar observatories, both in terms of their technology and scientific objectives, as well as being a role model for open data policies and international collaboration.
For example, the ESA-led Solar Orbiter mission is imaging the solar poles from higher latitude and flying much closer to the Sun, with many of its instruments being successors of SOHO's. Similarly, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory carries improved versions of SOHO’s instruments to continue the legacy that SOHO began in areas of full-disc imaging and helioseismology. Moreover, SOHO frequently contributes to ‘multipoint’ measurements, providing essential context for Solar Orbiter and NASA’s Parker Solar Probe as they fly along their own unique orbits around the Sun.
Even more recently, ESA’s Proba-3 took to the skies to open up new views of the Sun’s faint corona, while the Agency’s upcoming Vigil mission will be the first to monitor the Sun from the ‘side’, detecting solar storms before they roll into SOHO’s line-of-sight.
“SOHO is an all-round shining success, thanks to the dedication of the teams keeping this incredible machine flying,” says Daniel. “Its science remains valuable and relevant, serving generations of scientists, and I’m certain that its legacy will continue to guide solar science for decades to come.”
Launched on 2 December 1995, the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has been observing the Sun for 30 years. This graphic highlights some of the mission’s impressive numbers to date, which will continue to increase over the coming years.
[Image description: Infographic showing cartoon icons and related numbers. In the centre, an image of the Sun has ‘30 years’ written inside it and the SOHO spacecraft partially overlapping its left side. Clockwise from the top, the graphic lists: 3 solar cycles, 24 million images, 300 PhD theses, 7000 papers published, 60 TB data in the SOHO archive, 2.8 million command blocks sent, 18 years on ground stations, 5000 comets and 40 000 coronal mass ejections. The bottom right of the graphic adds a note ‘...and counting’.]
Credit
Credit: SOHO (ESA & NASA) Acknowledgements: ATG Europe
Humanity had a dream: the alien world we hope to call home
Since humanity’s first steps on the Moon, the aspiration to extend human civilization beyond Earth has been a central objective of international space agencies, targeting long-term extraterrestrial habitation. Among the celestial bodies within our reach, Mars is considered our next home. The Red Planet, with its stark landscapes and tantalizing similarities to Earth, beckons as the frontier of human exploration and settlement. But establishing a permanent foothold on Mars remains one of humanity’s boldest dreams and the most formidable scientific and engineering challenge.
The Red Planet, once draped in a thick atmosphere, has undergone dramatic transformation over billions of years. Its protective blanket vanished, leaving behind an environment nearly unrecognizable to terrestrial life. Today, its air is whisper-thin and rich in carbon dioxide, pressure is less than one percent of Earth’s, and temperatures swing wildly from a freezing –90°C to a mild 26°C. Add to this constant cosmic radiation and the absence of breathable air, and it becomes clear: creating shelter on Mars is about much more than building walls. It’s about crafting a life-supporting sanctuary that stands strong against an alien world. Transporting building materials from Earth is prohibitively expensive and impractical. The solution? Learning to build using what Mars itself offers. In situ resource utilization (ISRU), harnessing local materials, is the key to unlocking sustainable human presence on Mars.
As samples gathered by NASA’s Perseverance rover from Jezero Crater, an ancient Martian riverbed, may hold traces of primordial life, it invites us to dream beyond discovery. Could the same microbial fingerprints that once thrived on Mars also help us build on it?
From Earth to Mars
Once upon a time, life on Earth began with humble microorganisms in shallow pools and seas. These silent engineers transformed our planet, from filling the skies with oxygen to building resilient coral reefs that stand to this day. Now, as humanity’s gaze shifts skyward, these tiny creators may hold the key to turning a barren world into a vibrant home.
Our research pioneers a bold path, drawing inspiration from Mother Nature. In an internationally cross-disciplinary effort, we came together to harness a natural wonder: biomineralization. This phenomenon, which unfolds when microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, and microalgae) produce minerals as part of their metabolism, has shaped Earth’s landscapes for billions of years. These microorganisms that thrive not only in familiar waters but also in extreme environments like acidic lakes, volcanic soils, and deep caves may reveal the versatility needed for Martian adaptation.
Guided by data from Mars rovers regarding the Martian soil (regolith) composition, our research explores multiple microbial mineralization pathways to discover which can forge strong building materials for Mars habitats without posing an interplanetary pollution risk. Among them, biocementation, which uses microorganisms to generate natural cement-like materials like calcium carbonate at room temperature, shines as the most promising. At the core of our research is a collaborative effort between two remarkable bacteria: Sporosarcina pasteurii, a well-known bacterium that produces calcium carbonate via ureolysis, and Chroococcidiopsis, a resilient cyanobacterium known for surviving extreme environments, including simulated Martian conditions. Together, they form a powerful partnership. Chroococcidiopsis breathes life into its surroundings by releasing oxygen, creating a welcoming microenvironment for Sporosarcina pasteurii. Moreover, the extracellular polymeric substance secreted by Chroococcidiopsis shields Sporosarcina pasteurii from harmful UV radiation on the Martian surface. In turn, Sporosarcina secretes natural polymers that nurture mineral growth and strengthen regolith, turning loose soil into solid, concrete-like material.
We envision this bacterial co-culture mixed with Martian regolith as feedstock for 3D printing on Mars. At the intersection of astrobiology, geochemistry, material science, construction engineering, and robotics, this synergistic system could revolutionize the potential for construction on the Red Planet, redefining the design-for-manufacturing on Mars.
But this microbial partnership offers benefits beyond construction. Chroococcidiopsis, with its ability to produce oxygen, could support not just habitat integrity but also the life-support systems for astronauts. Over longer timescales, the ammonia produced as a metabolic byproduct of Sporosarcina pasteurii might be used to develop closed-loop agricultural systems and potentially help in Mars's terraforming efforts.
One step at a time
Yet the journey is just beginning. Although international agencies plan to build the first human habitat on Mars in the 2040s, the Mars sample return is facing recurring delays, constraining experimental validation of Mars-specific construction technologies. As space agencies prepare for crewed Mars missions in the coming decade, we must advance our understanding of bio-derived extraterrestrial construction to be ready for the day to come.
From an astrobiology perspective, we must unravel how these microbial communities interact with Martian regolith and survive stressors from the planet’s hostile environment. Laboratory regolith simulants offer a pragmatic approach to testing co-cultures in conditions that echo those on Mars and to building predictive models for biocementation performance. On the robotics front, one major challenge is replicating Martian gravity on Earth to test 3D printing processes and optimize autonomous construction control for future Mars missions. Therefore, we must develop robust control algorithms and tailored protocols that will enable us not only to build more efficiently but also to redefine manufacturing methods for Mars’s unique environment. The journey is vigorous, but step by step, every discovery, each successful trial and tested protocol, brings us closer to the day when humanity will call Mars our home.
Videos posted on social media by the Rusich paramilitary group feature pagan rituals, heavy machine guns and Nazi salutes and promote violence and supremacist ideology. © Telegram / dshrg2 - Molfar.Institute
This message was posted on Rusich Telegram channel on November 15. It calls on followers to send images of Ukrainian soldiers who have been executed in exchange for payment. © Telegram / dshrg2
