By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Scientists have detected what they believe to be lightning on Mars by eavesdropping on the whirling wind recorded by NASA’s Perseverance rover.

The crackling of electrical discharges was captured by a microphone on the rover, a French-led team reported Wednesday.

The researchers documented 55 instances of what they call “mini lightning” over two Martian years, primarily during dust storms and dust devils. Almost all occurred on the windiest Martian sols, or days, during dust storms and dust devils.

Just inches (centimeters) in size, the electrical arcs occurred within 6 feet (2 meters) of the microphone perched atop the rover’s tall mast, part of a system for examining Martian rocks via camera and lasers. Sparks from the electrical discharges — akin to static electricity here on Earth — are clearly audible amid the noisy wind gusts and dust particles smacking the microphone.

Scientists have been looking for electrical activity and lightning at Mars for half a century, said the study’s lead author Baptiste Chide, of the Institute for Research in Astrophysics and Planetology in Toulouse.

“It opens a completely new field of investigation for Mars science,” Chide said, citing the possible chemical effects from electrical discharges. “It’s like finding a missing piece of the puzzle.”

The evidence is strong and persuasive, but it’s based on a single instrument that was meant to record the rover zapping rocks with lasers, not lightning blasts, said Cardiff University’s Daniel Mitchard, who was not involved in the study. What’s more, he noted in an article accompanying the study in the journal Nature, the electrical discharges were heard — not seen.

“It really is a chance discovery to hear something else going on nearby, and everything points to this being Martian lightning,” Mitchard said in an email. But until new instruments are sent to verify the findings, “I think there will still be a debate from some scientists as to whether this really was lightning.”

Lightning has already been confirmed on Jupiter and Saturn, and Mars has long been suspected of having it too.

To find it, Chide and his team analyzed 28 hours of Perseverance recordings, documenting episodes of “mini lightning” based on acoustic and electric signals.

Electrical discharges generated by the fast-moving dust devils lasted just a few seconds, while those spawned by dust storms lingered as long as 30 minutes.

“It’s like a thunderstorm on Earth, but barely visible with a naked eye and with plenty of faint zaps,” Chide said in an email. He noted that the thin, carbon dioxide-rich Martian atmosphere absorbs much of the sound, making some of the zaps barely perceptible.

Mars’ atmosphere is more prone than Earth’s to electrical discharging and sparking through contact among grains of dust and sand, according to Chide.

“The current evidence suggests it is extremely unlikely that the first person to walk on Mars could, as they plant a flag on the surface, be struck down by a bolt of lightning,” Mitchard wrote in Nature. But the “small and frequent static-like discharges could prove problematic for sensitive equipment.”

Related Articles

UN General Assembly chief says curbing climate change would make world more peaceful and safer

NIH funding cuts have affected over 74,000 people enrolled in experiments, a new report says

Arachnid super-web reveals the surprising ‘constant party’ life of cohabiting spiders

Zuckerberg, Chan shift bulk of philanthropy to science, focusing on AI and biology to curb disease

Solar storms bring colorful northern lights to unexpected places

These aren’t the first Mars sounds transmitted by Perseverance. Earthlings have listened in to the rover’s wheels crunching over the Martian surface and the whirring blades of its no-longer-flying helicopter sidekick, Ingenuity.

Perseverance has been scouring a dry river delta at Mars since 2021, collecting samples of rock for possible signs of ancient microscopic life. NASA plans to return these core samples to Earth for laboratory analysis, but the delivery is on indefinite hold as the space agency pursues cheaper options.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

By EDNA TARIGAN

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia has opened a criminal investigation into the suspected source of radioactive contamination that forced recalls of exports of shrimp and spices to the U.S. and sneakers to the Netherlands, authorities said Wednesday.

Related Articles

Under a cloud, the Olympic flame begins its journey to the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics

Sellers in other countries struggle to maintain US customers as holiday shopping season starts

Death toll in Hong Kong high-rise fire rises to 36, with 279 people reported missing

Kremlin confirms US envoy will visit as talks on ending war in Ukraine gain momentum

Israel returns 15 more Palestinian bodies to Gaza as first phase of ceasefire nears end

The probe is centered on a metal-processing factory at the Cikande Industrial Estate, in Banten province on the island of Java. The smelting company, called PT Peter Metal Technology, is believed to be China-owned, according to investigators.

“The police have launched the criminal investigation,” said Bara Hasibuan, a spokesperson for the investigating task force.

The discovery of cesium 137 began earlier this year with an initial report submitted by Dutch authorities over traces of radiation found in shipping containers from Indonesian. The report stated that several boxes of sneakers were found to be contaminated.

In August, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a safety alert warning consumers not to eat certain frozen shrimp imported from PT Bahari Makmur Sejati, a company close to the industrial estate trading as BMS Foods, after cesium 137 was detected in shipping containers sent to U.S. ports.

Around 20 factories linked to the Cikande industrial estate were affected, including facilities that process shrimp and make footwear, authorities say. Nine employees working on the industrial estate were detected to have been exposed to cesium-137. They have been treated at a government hospital in Jakarta and all contaminated facilities in the industrial area have been decontaminated.

The Associated Press was unable to locate contact details for PT Peter Metal Technology.

The FDA says while long-term, repeated low-dose exposure to cesium 137 increases health risks, the levels detected in the Indonesian products posed no acute risk to health.

Indonesian authorities have had difficulty conducting investigations as the management of PT Peter Metal Technology — which produces steel rods from scrap metal — has returned to China, Setia Diarta, director general of the Metal, Machinery, Transportation Equipment, and Electronics at Indonesia’s Ministry of Industry, told a hearing with lawmakers earlier this month.

Indonesian authorities say they are preventing goods contaminated with cesium 137 from entering Indonesia.

Port authorities earlier this month stopped eight containers of zinc powder from Angola that were contaminated. The containers are being held pending completion of the administrative process for re-export.

By DEREK GATOPOULOS and PETROS GIANNAKOURIS

ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece (AP) — The Olympic flame began its journey Wednesday to the Milan Cortina Winter Games — missing a little of its usual magic.

Bad weather lashing western Greece forced organizers to move the torch-lighting ceremony indoors, from Olympia’s ancient stadium and temples to a nearby museum.

The flame is lit by focusing the sun’s rays with a concave mirror. But with skies overcast, officials used a backup flame kindled during a brief spell of sunshine at Monday’s rehearsal.

Greek rower Petros Gaidatzis launched the torch relay, which, after reaching Italy, will be carried across the host country by about 10,000 runners before the Feb. 6–22 competition.

The sun ultimately made an appearance over rain-soaked OIympia on Wednesday during the indoor ceremony. “It’s incredibly memorable and a little bit emotional for me to be standing here,” said IOC President Kirsty Coventry, who was overseeing her first torch lighting after being elected to the post in March. “It feels like the past and the present are really coming together. We are extremely happy that today’s ceremony reminds us what the games stand for.”

Italy is hosting its third Winter Games, but preparations have been plagued by cost overruns and construction setbacks.

Organizers say there’s plenty for fans to look forward to: a program featuring 116 medal events, the debut of ski mountaineering, higher female participation and the return of NHL players to Olympic hockey.

After a short tour of Greece and a handover on Dec. 4, the flame will begin a 63-day, 12,000-kilometer relay through all 110 Italian provinces, highlighting cultural sites and host venues before reaching Milan’s San Siro Stadium for the opening ceremony.

“Over the next few weeks, the Olympic flame will pass through all the Italian provinces, 60 cities, 300 towns, 20 regions and all the UNESCO sites. It will travel from the northern peaks to the southern shores,” said Giovanni Malago, head of the Milan Cortina Organizing Committee. Speakers at Wednesday’s ceremony urged world leaders to recognize the spirit of the Olympic Truce – an ancient Greek tradition pausing conflicts during the games to allow safe participation.

“Today humanity is going through a time of multiple and parallel crises. Wars proliferate from Europe to the Middle East and from Asia to Africa. So we should honestly admit that a society at war is a failed society,” the mayor of Ancient Olympia, Aristidis Panayiotopoulos, said. “The flame allows us to again recall the values that guide humanity, values that were born and forged here.”

Despite moving indoors, Wednesday’s ceremony retained its traditional elements: sculptural dance gestures by performers dressed as priestesses and male kouroi, and invocations in Greek to the ancient gods.

Related Articles

UN urges all nations to observe a truce during the Winter Olympics in Italy

2026 Winter Olympics will be Jessie Diggins’ last. Here’s why

Curling: Team Peterson advances to final Olympic qualifier

Winter Olympics sports resist push to add cyclocross and cross-country running to their program

Track to open LA Olympics, with women’s 100-meter sprinters lining up three times in the same day

Artemis Ignatiou, the ceremony’s artistic director, said the team had prepared for the possibility of bad weather and that, despite the setback, “we gained something special: the energy of the museum and the archaeological space itself.”

Speaking to The Associated Press, Ignatiou said dancing among the statues “gave the ceremony a timeless feeling.”

A separate flame for the March 6–15 Winter Paralympics will be lit Feb. 24 at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England, the birthplace of the Paralympic movement.

By TODD RICHMOND, Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge said Wednesday that the trial for a Wisconsin judge charged with illegally helping an immigrant evade federal agents will go on as planned next month, brushing past talk of a possible plea agreement.

Related Articles

FBI surge leads to charges in 2020 killing in Native American community

At The Gentle Barn, turkeys are for snuggling, not stuffing at Thanksgiving

Kilauea displays lava fountains for the 37th time since its eruption began last year

Gratitude and doubt: The effects of the shutdown linger as families prepare for Thanksgiving

What’s open on Thanksgiving? Not much, as many stores rest — or prepare — ahead of Black Friday

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman told prosecutors and attorneys representing Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan during a hearing to assume the trial will begin as planned on Dec. 11 with jury selection.

Federal prosecutors charged Dugan in April with obstruction and concealing an individual to prevent arrest. According to court documents, Dugan was set to hear a state battery case in April against 31-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an immigrant who was in the country illegally. Federal agents learned he was scheduled to appear in her courtroom and traveled to the Milwaukee County Courthouse to apprehend him.

Dugan learned the agents were outside her courtroom and led Flores-Ruiz out through a private door, according to the documents. He found his way outside the courthouse but agents caught him after a foot chase. The Department of Homeland Security announced this month that he has been deported.

Dugan faces six years in prison if she’s convicted on both the obstruction and concealment charges. U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel said last week that plea negotiations were underway but Dugan wasn’t interested in a deal.

Her defense team has insisted she’s innocent and is preparing for trial, arguing that she was acting in her official capacity as a judge when she led Flores-Ruiz out of her courtroom. Still, Schimel’s remarks raised questions about what might happen next in the case.

No one from Schimel’s office or Dugan’s attorneys mentioned the prospect of a deal during Wednesday’s hearing, the last one scheduled ahead of Dugan’s trial. They instead focused on the logistics of jury selection and trial procedure.

Steven Biskupic, Dugan’s lead attorney, told Adelman that the two sides have already stricken 34 potential jurors based on responses to a questionnaire they sent out gauging their political biases. The two sides said they may need two days to select jurors from the pool of 90 or so remaining prospects.

Dugan’s indictment has intensified the clash between President Donald Trump’s administration and local authorities over the Republican’s sweeping immigration crackdown.

Democrats accuse the Trump administration of trying to blunt judicial opposition to the crackdown by making an example of Dugan. The administration has vilified Dugan on social media, posting photos of her being led out of the courthouse in handcuffs and labeling her an activist judge.

Biskupic said that he wants to make each potential juror fill out another questionnaire about their biases on the way into the courtroom on the selection days, saying publicity over the case is continuing. Adelman agreed.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Frohling told Adelman the government plans to call 25 to 28 witnesses, including federal immigration agents and witnesses who saw what happened in Dugan’s courtroom and in the courthouse. Biskupic told the judge that the government also plans to introduce about a half-hour’s worth of recordings made in Dugan’s courtroom.

The government’s case will take at least four days, Frohling said. Biskupic did not offer any details about his witnesses or the potential length of his side of the case.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys did not speak with reporters on their way out of the hearing. Dugan attended the proceeding but said nothing. She also left without speaking with reporters.