Science News Roundup: Subsurface ocean on Jupiter's moon Europa; Bear-sized wombat cousin roamed Australia and more

Planets around nearby star are intriguing candidates for extraterrestrial life Up to three planets - potentially rocky like Earth - have been spotted around a star located relatively near our solar system - a planetary system offering astronomers intriguing possibilities in the search for signs of extraterrestrial life.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Subsurface ocean on Jupiter's moon Europa deemed potentially 'habitable'

Scientists have figured out how the subsurface ocean on Jupiter's moon Europa may have formed and determined that this vast expanse of water may have been able to support microbial life in the past. Europa, with an ocean hidden beneath a thick shell of ice, long has been viewed as a potential habitat for extraterrestrial life in our solar system, alongside other candidates such as Mars and Saturn's moon Enceladus. A new study presented on Wednesday at a geoscience conference underscores its potential.

Bear-sized wombat cousin roamed Australia 25 million years ago

A powerfully built relative of modern wombats that was the size of a black bear roamed Australia's woodlands about 25 million years ago, possessing shovel-shaped hands and strong forelimbs indicating it was an adept digger, scientists said on Thursday. The plant-eating mammal called Mukupirna nambensis, known from the fossil of a partial skull and much of the skeleton unearthed at Lake Pinpa in northeastern South Australia state is one of the earliest-known large-bodied Australian marsupials, they said.

Siberian heat wave is a 'warning cry' from the Arctic, climate scientists say

Pine trees are bursting into flames. Boggy peatlands are tinderbox dry. And towns in northern Russia are sweltering under conditions more typical of the tropics. Reports of record-breaking Arctic heat – registered at more than 100 Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) in the Siberian town of Verkhoyansk on June 20 – are still being verified by the World Meteorological Organization. But even without that confirmation, experts at the global weather agency are worried by satellite images showing that much of the Russian Arctic is in the red.

Planets around nearby star are intriguing candidates for extraterrestrial life

Up to three planets - potentially rocky like Earth - have been spotted around a star located relatively near our solar system - a planetary system offering astronomers intriguing possibilities in the search for signs of extraterrestrial life. The planets orbit Gliese 887, a so-called red dwarf star half the sun's mass located 11 light years from Earth - right in our backyard in cosmic terms, researchers said on Friday. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).

(With inputs from agencies.)