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NASA Rover Finds Conditions Once Suited for Ancient Life on Mars

By Guest PostMarch 12, 2013Scienceancient life, ancient wet environment, bedrock, calcium sulfate, carbon, chemical energy source, chemical ingredients, chemin, chlorinated forms, condition, david blake, gale crater, hydrogen, instruments, john grotzinger, john klein, life, living microbes, mars, mars exploration program, methane, michael meyer, micro-organisms, mildly alkaline, mudstone, nasa rover, neutral, nitrogen, oxygen, paul mahaffy, phosphorus, powder, presence, red planet, rocknest, sam, soil, stream bed, sulfur, yellowknife bay

PASADENA, Calif. –– An analysis of a rock sample collected by NASA’s Curiosity rover shows ancient Mars could have supported living microbes.

Scientists identified sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon — some of the key chemical ingredients for life — in the powder Curiosity drilled out of a sedimentary rock near an ancient stream bed in Gale Crater on the Red Planet last month.

“A fundamental question for this mission is whether Mars could have supported a habitable environment,” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “From what we know now, the answer is yes.” (more…)

Pacific Locked in ‘La Nada’ Limbo

By Guest PostFebruary 8, 2013Environmentbill patzert, climate forecasters, data, el niño, el nino conditions, equatorial pacific ocean, evolving state, global climate, interannual ocean signal, jason 2, key indicator, la nada state, la nina conditions, la nina events, NASA, neutral, normal sea level, ocean circulation, satellite, sea surface height, seasonal variations

Sea-surface height data from NASA’s Jason-2 satellite show that the equatorial Pacific Ocean is still locked in what some call a neutral, or ‘La Nada’ state. This condition follows two years of strong, cool-water La Nina events.

A new image, based on the average of 10 days of data centered on Jan. 26, 2013, shows near-normal conditions (depicted in green) across the equatorial Pacific. The image is available at: https://sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/images/latestdata/jason/2013/20130126P.jpg . (more…)

Researchers Highlight Growing Problem of Ocean Acidification

By Guest PostSeptember 27, 2012Environmentatmosphere, carbon biogeochemistry, carbon dioxide, CO2, co2 conditions, co2 world, earth, emission, eucidaris tribuloides, faq, global issue, hole, institution, logarithmic, monterey, neutral, oa, ocb, ocean, ocean acidification, oceanographic, pencil urchins, ph, ph scale, ph unit, sarah cooley, tropical, web version, whoi, woods

An international group of scientists, including researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, are working to improve communication about ocean acidification to help the public better understand the pressing global issue.

The term “ocean acidification” (OA) describes the changes that occur in the ocean as a result of increased emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into the atmosphere. The rising acidic level in the ocean puts certain organisms at risk and threatens the overall health of the ocean. (more…)

First Stars, Galaxies Formed more Rapidly than Expected

By Guest PostSeptember 9, 2012Scienceanalysis, anisotropy probe, Antarctica, astronomer, background, Berkeley, california, christian reichardt, cmb, cosmic microwave, cosmological evolution, data, earth axis, electron, Epoch, Galaxy, geographic, herschel satellite, high resolution, hydrogen atom, image, john carlstrom, kavli foundation, microwave, millimeter wavelength, national, neutral, neutral gas, oliver zahn, period, plasma, polar plateau, proton, radiation, reionization, s chandrasekhar, science foundation, south pole, star, telescope, ultraviolet light, universe, university, wilkinson

Analysis of data from the National Science Foundation’s South Pole Telescope, for the first time, more precisely defines the period of cosmological evolution when the first stars and galaxies formed and gradually illuminated the universe. The data indicate that this period, called the epoch of reionization, was shorter than theorists speculated — and that it ended early.

“We find that the epoch of reionization lasted less than 500 million years and began when the universe was at least 250 million years old,” said Oliver Zahn, a postdoctoral fellow at the Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics at the University of California, Berkeley, who led the study. “Before this measurement, scientists believed that reionization lasted 750 million years or longer, and had no evidence as to when reionization began.” (more…)

Tag Archives: neutral

NASA Rover Finds Conditions Once Suited for Ancient Life on Mars

Pacific Locked in ‘La Nada’ Limbo

Researchers Highlight Growing Problem of Ocean Acidification

First Stars, Galaxies Formed more Rapidly than Expected