Created through collaboration among pediatric patients, their doctors, and children’s author and illustrator Hey Gee, each book in the series dives into the mind and imagination of a child patient at Mayo Clinic to explain how children experience illness, challenges, and recovery.

Series titles:
My Life Beyond Autism – Softcover
My Life Beyond Bullying – Softcover
My Life Beyond Depression – Hardcover
My Life Beyond Diabetes – Softcover
My Life Beyond Leukemia – Softcover
My Life Beyond Neurofibromatosis – Softcover
My Life Beyond Sickle Cell Disease – Hardcover
My Life Beyond Vaccines – Softcover

Mayo Clinic Press Kids creates empowering health and wellness content in partnership with pediatric experts. Proceeds from the sale of every book go to benefit important medical research and education at Mayo Clinic.

Samples taken from the asteroid Ryugu contain traces of comet particles, which some researchers say could be the “seeds of life.” The samples were originally collected from Ryugu by Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission, which returned to Earth in 2020. Since then, scientists have been analyzing the samples to learn more about what the asteroid is made of.

And, because asteroids are basically leftovers from the formations of our solar system, these samples can teach us a lot about the conditions of our solar system in its earliest days. One particular area that scientists are interested in is determining how organic molecules were delivered through the early days of the solar system.

The hope is that this can teach us more about where and how life emerged and perhaps even teach us about the origins of life on Earth. A recent study on the samples has showcased evidence of micrometeoroid impacts, which left patches of melted minerals and glass behind.

The micrometeoroids that caused the impacts are believed to have possibly left behind primitive organic matter, which could help us find the “seeds of life,” as the researchers refer to it. And since Ryugu doesn’t have an atmosphere of any kind, there isn’t anything to cause weathering or erosion, so these impacts should act as mini snapshots into the early days of the solar system.

What’s more intriguing, though, is that these impacts seem to suggest they happened while Ryugu was in a near-Earth orbit. This could provide more details about our planet’s earliest days, including a mixture of Ryugu’s hydrous silicates and cometary dust. Small voids found in the material could have been caused by the release of water vapor, which was captured in the melted pieces found in the samples.

It’s an intriguing find, and if this water vapor can showcase the seeds of life, it may very well blow open our understanding of the solar system’s earliest days. Or, the research could point us in other directions. At this point, it’s hard to say for sure.

SEATTLE—Amazon is crediting a “record-breaking holiday shopping season” for its strong fourth quarter and fiscal year performance.

Net sales for the quarter were up 14% to $170 billion compared with the fourth quarter in 2022. Adjusted for favorable foreign exchange rates, net sales were up 13% for the quarter, the same percentage growth experienced by North America sales, which hit $105.5 billion.

Net income rose to $10.6 billion for Q4, or $1 per diluted share. Operating income for the quarter came in at $13.2 billion compared with $2.7 billion the previous year’s Q4.

“This Q4 was a record-breaking holiday shopping season and closed out a robust 2023 for Amazon,” said CEO Andy Jassy. During the earnings call, Jassy pointed out that “customers responded to our continued focus on selection, price and convenience. Being sharp on price is always important but particularly in an uncertain economy, where customers are careful about how much they’re spending.

Jassy pointed to several key metrics for Amazon, such as regionalization of its U.S. fulfillment network, which led to fastest-ever delivery to Prime members; new AI capabilities such as Bedrock, Q and Trainium; and improvements in advertising services, which was up 26% year-over-year.

“While we made meaningful revenue, operating income and free cash flow progress, what we’re most pleased with is the continued invention and customer experience improvements across our businesses,” he said.

“As we enter 2024,” Jassy said, “our teams are delivering at a rapid clip, and we have a lot in front of us to be excited about.”

For the full year, net sales rose 12% to $574.8 billion. North America sales were also up 12% year-over-year to $352.8 billion. Fiscal year operating income was $36.9 billion, and net income for the year ended at $30.4 billion, or $2.90 per diluted share. Operating cash flow for the trailing 12 months was up 82%, reaching $84.9 billion.

Looking ahead, Amazon’s guidance for the first quarter of 2024 shows net sales between $138 billion and $143.5 billion, which translates to 8% to 13% growth over Q1 2023. Operating income is expected to be $8 billion to $12 billion, which compares with $4.8 billion in Q1 2023.

Amazon sold more than 1 billion items during its 11 days of deals in 2023, and throughout the holiday season, customers purchased more on Amazon than any previous holiday.

Among other highlights from the year were the introduction of Rufus, a generative AI-powered conversational shopping experience, and the launch of Sequoia, a robotic inventory system that helped cut order processing time by 25%.

See also:

Ace Frehley has released “Walkin’ on the Moon,” the second single from his upcoming album 10,000 Volts.

You can watch the video, in which a spacesuit-wearing Frehley meets dancing aliens, below.

“Walkin’ on the Moon” features KISS‘ original Spaceman in fine form, pairing a perfectly “ragged but right” guitar riff with his trademark off-kilter vocals. The lyrics find Frehley professing his love in cosmic terms: “You’re out of this world to me / And you’ve got my heart consumed / When I wake up you’re all I see / You’ve got me walking on the moon.”

10,000 Volts, which hits stores Feb. 23, will be Frehley’s 10th solo album, and his first collection of original music since 2018’s Spaceman. He co-wrote many of the album’s songs with Steve Brown of Trixter. “It’s probably the best record I’ve ever done,” Frehley enthused when announcing the album. “I’m very excited about it.”

READ MORE: Ace Frehley Mocks KISS’ Avatars: ‘It’s Not Rock ‘N’ Roll’

Frehley recently told UCR that expanding his already impressive guitar collection – which currently stands at about 120 – has helped his songwriting.  “I keep collecting guitars, I don’t know why. When I was on tour with Alice Cooper a couple years ago, I bought 35 guitars on that tour. Every time I buy a new guitar, a lot of times, I’ll write a song on the guitar. So that’s a good excuse. I’ll go in a pawnshop and buy a guitar then I’ll sit back at the hotel room and start playing it. I’ll set it up, tune it up and all of the sudden, I’ll write a song. It’s almost like there’s a song in every guitar I own.”

Ace Frehley’s “Walkin’ on the Moon” Music Video