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NASA Scientists Find Evidence of Water in Meteorite, Reviving Debate Over Life on Mars

By Guest PostMarch 5, 2014Scienceallan hills, ancient mars, antarctic research expedition, Antarctica, biogenic evidence, david mckay, everett gibson, Houston, japanese, jet propulsion laboratory, Johnson Space Center, kathie thomas keprta, martian atmospheric gases, martian carbon, martian meteorite, martian samples, nasa scientists, oxygen atoms, yamato 000593, yamato glacier

A team of scientists at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., has found evidence of past water movement throughout a Martian meteorite, reviving debate in the scientific community over life on Mars.

In 1996, a group of scientists at Johnson led by David McKay, Everett Gibson and Kathie Thomas-Keprta published an article in Science announcing the discovery of biogenic evidence in the Allan Hills 84001(ALH84001) meteorite. In this new study, Gibson and his colleagues focused on structures deep within a 30-pound (13.7-kilogram) Martian meteorite known as Yamato 000593 (Y000593). The team reports that newly discovered different structures and compositional features within the larger Yamato meteorite suggest biological processes might have been at work on Mars hundreds of millions of years ago. (more…)

Germs in Space: Preventing Infection on Long Flights

By Guest PostOctober 22, 2012Health, Scienceair filtration, antimicrobial resistance, astronaut, brown university, charles hobaugh, deep space, duane pierson, earth, energy budget, Environment, environmental cleaning, germs, harmful pathogen, hazardous vapors, hepa, hospital disinfectants, hygiene product, immune system, infection, infectious disease, janet kavandi, Johnson Space Center, leonard mermel, long spaceflight, mars, meningococcus, microbiologist, microgravity, microorganisms, NASA, outbreak, pneumoccocus, pneumococcus, purell, rhode island hospital, salmonella, Science, space life, spacecraft, steven lindsey, vaccinating astronauts, vitamin

On a long spaceflight unique conditions including microgravity could give microbes the upper hand, but not if astronauts and their spacecrafts are properly prepared. In a new paper, infectious disease expert Dr. Leonard Mermel brings together a broad base of research to come up with specific recommendations for keeping astronauts safe in deep space.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — The cabin of a spacecraft halfway to Mars would be the least convenient place — one cannot say “on earth” — for a Salmonella or Pneumococcus outbreak, but a wide-ranging new paper suggests that microgravity and prolonged space flight could give unique advantages to germs. What’s a space agency to do? Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital infectious disease expert Dr. Leonard Mermel offers several ideas.

And no, they are not to add more Vitamin C to the Tang, or to give each crew member a bottle of Purell. It’s a lot more complicated than that. (more…)

The ‘Crazy Rasberry Ants’

By ShamsMay 15, 2008Environmentant killers, crazy rasberry ants, Houston, Johnson Space Center, ladybugs, NASA, pesticides

Well they have ‘engineering brain’ and they do follow a ‘sustainable strategy’ – when their fellows get killed by pesticides they simply use the ‘corpses’ as bridges to safely move over the surface treated with pesticides 🙂 . The complaints against them are piling up daily. Our subject is an ‘ant’. No not one, they are many – they are the ‘crazy rasberry ants’ of Texas.

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Tag Archives: Johnson Space Center

NASA Scientists Find Evidence of Water in Meteorite, Reviving Debate Over Life on Mars

Germs in Space: Preventing Infection on Long Flights

The ‘Crazy Rasberry Ants’