Earth must have experienced something exceptional 10 million years ago. A strange increase in the radioactive isotope beryllium-10 was found in rock samples from the floor of the Pacific Ocean.
Recently Australian researchers found the first ever evidence of a plutonium radioactive isotope in the Earth's crust that originally came from outer space, namely a supernova.
Since element 99 - einsteinium - is very hard to create and it is exceptionally radioactive. A team of chemists has overcome these obstacles to report the first study characterizing some of its properties.
As it turns out, organic material, liquid water, sunlight and a large moon might not be enough to ensure an exoplanet’s habitability. It also may depend on whether enough radioactive elements are present in the planet’s core.
