WASHINGTON, Aug. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ —  A team of scientists from various institutions including the Universities Space Research Association have determined that a newly discovered martian meteorite is 1.27 billion years old, and it originated from a previously unsampled, pristine source on Mars. Their work was recently published in the journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.

Dr. Robert “Willie” Nicklas of Universities Space Research Association’s Lunar and Planetary Institute, who was part of the team, used high-precision isotopic techniques to date the sample to approximately 1.273 billion years ago, making it the first such discovery of its kind.

Dr. Nicklas conceived the study, secured the meteorite sample, and supervised Boston College graduate student and lead author Dylan Seal throughout the isotopic analyses and preparation of the manuscript.

Because rocks from Mars reach Earth only when impacts eject them from the planet’s surface, researchers have access to a relatively limited collection of approximately 400 martian meteorites for study. Dated samples from the most common group of igneous martian rocks — the shergottites — are almost entirely geologically young, less than 600 million years old.

Between that point in time and the next oldest characterized shergottites, dating back 2.4 billion years, there is an approximately 1.8-billion-year gap in understanding the geology and history of Mars, a period for which no shergottite samples exist to provide information about geological activity on Mars. And that makes the research more challenging.

Dr. Nicklas stated, “We were fortunate to have access to such an unusual shergottite. This study demonstrates that the diverse collection of Martian meteorites, many of which remain undated, continues to provide valuable insights into the geologic history of the Red Planet.”

According to Dr. Seal, Mars formed very quickly, less than approximately 5 million years after the birth of the solar system, and it does not have plate tectonics like Earth, allowing these early-formed compositions to remain pristine.

In addition to its age of 1.27 billion years, its chondritic initial isotope composition was equally surprising, providing important new boundaries on the processes that occurred in the very early solar system as Mars formed.

The work will be continued by Seal during his postdoctoral fellowship at the Carnegie Institution in Washington September, and it will extend martian meteorite isotope research in several new and exciting directions.

The research team included lead author Dylan M. Seal (Boston College), along with co-authors Melody Z. Chen (Boston College), Robert W. Nicklas (Lunar and Planetary Institute), Ethan F. Baxter (Boston College), James M.D. Day (Scripps Institution of Oceanography), Ben G. Rider-Stokes (The Open University), Anthony B. Love (Appalachian State University), and James Malley (The Open University).

DOI: 10.1016/j.gca.2026.06.035 

About USRA

Founded in 1969, the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) is an independent, nonprofit organization that advances space- and Earth-related science, engineering, and technology through innovative research, education, and workforce development programs. USRA partners with government agencies, academic institutions, and industry to address some of the nation’s most complex scientific and technical challenges. For more information, visit www.usra.edu.

PR Contact:
Suraiya Farukhi
sfarukhi@usra.edu
443-812-6945

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SOURCE Universities Space Research Association

Seasoned customer experience executive brings 19+ years of retail, CPG, and supply chain leadership to accelerate customer growth and adoption

ATLANTA, Aug. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ketteQ, the supply chain orchestration company powered by Free-Range AI™, today announced the appointment of Jennie Vandegrift as Chief Customer Officer (CCO). In this role, Vandegrift will lead ketteQ’s global customer delivery, success, support, and services organization as the company continues to scale its rapidly expanding customer base worldwide.

Vandegrift joins ketteQ at a pivotal moment in the company’s growth journey, following a track record of 100% successful customer deployments and accelerating momentum behind Quintus™, ketteQ’s AI agent, Free-Range and fully governed. As CCO, she will be responsible for driving customer retention, adoption, and long-term value across ketteQ’s expanding portfolio of enterprise and mid-market clients.

“I’m thrilled to join ketteQ at such an exciting phase of the company’s growth journey,” said Jennie Vandegrift, Chief Customer Officer, ketteQ. “The team has built something rare: a track record of 100% successful customer deployments, now being supercharged by Quintus™, our Free-Range AI™. I’m looking forward to partnering with our customers to help them realize even greater value as we scale together.”

Vandegrift brings extensive experience building and leading customer success organizations at high-growth technology companies serving the retail, apparel, and consumer goods industries. Most recently, she served as Chief Customer Officer at Nuqleous, a private equity-backed retail intelligence platform backed by Rubicon Technology Partners, where she led a global post-sale organization spanning implementation, customer success, support, and professional services, and was accountable for gross revenue retention, churn, and adoption metrics reported directly to the board and investors.

Prior to Nuqleous, Vandegrift spent three years as Senior Director of Client Management at o9 Solutions, a supply chain planning platform company, where she oversaw the end-to-end client journey for a portfolio of high-profile retail and apparel clients. She led supply chain transformation strategy for these clients, generating significant annual upsell and expansion revenue, while building and mentoring a global team of supply chain experts, engagement leads, and implementation consultants.

Earlier in her career, Vandegrift spent seven years at E2open, most recently as Director of Demand Signal Management, where she oversaw the full customer lifecycle for a portfolio of global CPG clients, including Kellogg’s, Mars, and Campbell’s. Under her leadership, the business grew 40% year-over-year and generated more significant incremental professional services revenue. Vandegrift began her career in retail operations and merchandising at Target Corporation, where she spent eight years in roles of increasing responsibility, including leading a $1 billion Boys Toys and Board Games business to an 11% sales lift and owning end-to-end strategy and P&L for a $500 million Dog Accessories business.

“Jennie has spent her career on the front lines of customer success in retail and supply chain technology, and she knows exactly what it takes to turn deployments into long-term, expanding customer partnerships,” said Mike Landry, Chief Executive Officer, ketteQ. “As we scale to meet demand from our rapidly growing customer base around the world, Jennie’s experience building high-performing, metrics-driven customer organizations makes her exactly the right leader for this moment.”

Vandegrift holds a Bachelor of Science in Apparel Merchandising from South Dakota State University.

About ketteQ
ketteQ is the supply chain orchestration company powered by Free-Range AI™. Quintus™, its AI intelligence, is the only supply chain AI that reasons over any question, executes any action, and addresses any use case, unscripted, unconstrained, and fully governed, across Planning Solutions and Execution Solutions, above any ERP or planning platform the customer already runs. Powered by PolymatiQ™, ketteQ’s patent-pending agentic solvers that runs unlimited constrained planning scenarios simultaneously and returns the optimal answer in seconds, Quintus™ deploys in four to eight weeks with no rip and replace. ketteQ was founded in 2018 and has been running AI-native supply chain planning and orchestration in production before the category had a name. For more information, visit ketteQ.com.

Media Contact

Nicole Taylor | Nicole.Taylor@ketteQ.com | 770.633.1754

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SOURCE ketteQ Holdings Inc.

Key Takeaways:

New and existing customers who currently qualify for Spectrum’s low-income Internet Assist can enjoy all the benefits of Prime, included with their Internet subscription, at no additional cost.Prime is now included for legacy Spectrum customers with the benefit coming soon for qualified legacy Cox customers.

STAMFORD, Conn., Aug. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Spectrum announced it is bringing Amazon Prime benefits to eligible Spectrum Internet customers. Existing and new customers who currently qualify for Spectrum Internet Assist, affordable internet for low-income customers with speeds up to 50 Mbps, can receive Prime membership included with their Internet subscription – at no extra cost.

Qualified Spectrum Internet customers can now enjoy everything Prime has to offer, including exclusive grocery savings and convenience, delivery benefits that saved members an average of $550 in delivery fees last year, award-winning entertainment through Prime Video, and so much more. Valued at $14.99 per month or $139 per year, qualifying Spectrum Internet customers can sign up for Prime through Spectrum’s simplified onboarding experience to get started and enjoy instant savings.

“Our goal at Spectrum is to give customers more value from the services they already count on every day,” said Adam Ray, Executive Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer for Spectrum. “That value already includes the fastest mobile service at the lowest prices, and our inclusion of programming apps in our video services at no extra charge. And that value now extends to including Prime for low-income customers to help make everyday life a little easier while delivering incredible savings and entertainment – reflecting just a part of our ongoing investment to ensure the communities we serve can thrive.”

Qualified Spectrum Internet customers can now enjoy all of Prime’s savings, convenience, and entertainment. That includes everyday low prices and free delivery on 300 million items across 35 categories, tens of millions of which can be delivered the same or next day in eligible areas, including everyday essential grocery items like pantry staples, breakfast items, canned goods, baby foods, and more. Prime members also get free Same-Day Delivery on perishable grocery orders over $25 in most places, and members in more than 2,300 cities and towns can get fresh groceries, alongside electronics, books, pantry staples, snacks, and everyday household essentials like paper towels and toothpaste, delivered within hours. Plus, members enjoy exclusive deals every day and shopping events like Prime Day, fast, free delivery of prescription medications through Amazon Pharmacy, and exclusive savings on restaurant delivery and fuel.

Prime Video serves as an entertainment destination, offering unlimited streaming of movies and shows, plus access to must-see live sports including NBA, WNBA, NASCAR, and Thursday Night Football. Members also enjoy ad-free listening of 100 million songs and millions of podcast episodes with Amazon Music, cloud gaming with Amazon Luna, unlimited photo storage with Amazon Photos, and Alexa+, Amazon’s next-gen AI assistant that enhances the Prime experience, making it easy to shop, discover new entertainment, and manage photo content through natural conversation. With Amazon Family, members can also share a wide range of these benefits with one adult in their household, plus digital content with up to four children in their household.

More information is available at spectrum.com/AmazonPrime.

About Spectrum  
Spectrum is a suite of advanced communications services offered by Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR), the leading broadband and video company in the nation and the fastest growing mobile provider in its footprint, with services available to more than 70 million homes and small to large businesses across 45 states. Founded in 1993, Charter has evolved from providing cable TV to streaming, and from high-speed Internet to a converged broadband, WiFi and mobile experience. Over the Spectrum Fiber Broadband Network and supported by our 100% U.S.-based employees, the Company offers Seamless Connectivity and Entertainment with Spectrum Internet®, Mobile, TV and Voice products.

More information can be found at corporate.charter.com. 

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SOURCE Charter Communications, Inc.