Chinese researcher recalls pleasant surprise of discovering new lunar mineral

A Chinese researcher has recalled the pleasant surprise of discovering a new lunar mineral changesite-(Ce) from samples brought back to the Earth by China's Chang'e-5 mission.

Along with magnesiochangesite-(Y) and magnesiochangesite-(Ce), changesite-(Ce) is one of three new lunar minerals recently identified from the samples.

A research team from the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences took the lead in discovering changesite-(Ce).

The discovery came unexpectedly in September last year, when the team was examining lunar samples under a scanning electron microscope. Their original goal was to investigate why the merrillite mineral group, which has been found on asteroids, Mars and the moon, has disappeared from the Earth's surface.

"We scanned the samples on the first day and discovered that there were abundant merrillites of multiple varieties. Under the electron microscope, we could see that they contain thousands upon thousands of tiny granules," said Qu Kai, a member of the Committee on New Mineral Naming and Classification of the Chinese Society for Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry.

But as they systematically screened the countless granules, something unusual caught their attention.

Some granules have a different composition from changesite-(Y), a lunar mineral discovered in 2022 that is rich in heavy rare earth elements. The new granules were enriched in light rare earths -- a strong signal that they might represent a mineral never before identified in nature.

"Dr. Wang Yanjuan quickly realized this could be a new mineral. The study of new minerals is often described as the 'Olympics of mineralogy' -- whoever submits a proposal to the International Mineralogical Association first gets the priority to name it. So we immediately shifted our research focus to fully proving that this is a new mineral," Qu said.

Through systematic mineralogical study, the research team ultimately found changesite-(Ce), a phosphate mineral rich in the light rare earth element cerium.

Chinese researcher recalls pleasant surprise of discovering new lunar mineral

Spanish health authorities on Friday identified a second monitored contact linked to the hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship MV Hondius after tracing a woman living in Catalonia who had shared a flight with a Dutch traveler died from the virus.

Spain's Center for Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies said the woman is asymptomatic and was initially missed during contact tracing because of a seat change on the aircraft.

According to health authorities, the woman now meets the criteria for monitored contact under a newly approved national surveillance protocol and will remain under medical observation.

This came after the suspected case of hantavirus detected in Alicante. Spanish Secretary of State for Health Javier Padilla said on Friday that the health authorities had taken relevant measures.

In addition, Padilla confirmed that all 14 Spanish passengers aboard the MV Hondius had agreed to undergo voluntary quarantine measures in order to minimize the risk of further transmission.

The Dutch-operated expedition cruise ship, currently heading toward Spain's Canary Islands, has so far been linked to three deaths.

Padilla said a team from the Spanish Health Ministry would travel to Tenerife on Saturday ahead of the ship's expected arrival on Sunday.

Passengers are expected to disembark by small boats before being transferred under strict isolation measures. Spanish citizens aboard the vessel will be transported to Madrid for quarantine observation.

The British Health Security Agency announced Friday that a suspected hantavirus case has been detected on the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha, linked to the ongoing outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship.

The vessel stopped at Tristan da Cunha between April 13 and 15.

Spain identifies second suspected hantavirus case linked to cruise ship outbreak