Category Environment/Geology

Gale Crater on surface of Mars was once filled with liquid water for 10,000 to 10 million years, according to findings from the Mars Science Laboratory (MLS). A new study from Penn State scientists suggests dramatic climate cycles may have produced warm periods long enough to thaw the planet and create the water features on the surface today. From Topographic evidence for lakes in Gale Crater, abstract, 44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2013). Credit: William Dietrich / University of California Berkley

Dramatic climate cycles on early Mars, triggered by buildup of greenhouse gases, may be the key to understanding how liquid water left its mark on the planet’s surface, according to a team of planetary scientists...

Researchers have developed a specialized type of glowing metal organic framework, or LMOF (molecular structure at center), that is designed to detect and remove heavy-metal toxins from water. At upper left, mercury (Hg) is taken in by the LMOF. The graph at lower left shows how the LMOF’s fluorescence is turned off as it binds up the mercury. Its properties make this LMOF useful for both detecting and trapping heavy-metal toxins. Credit: Rutgers University

X-ray study explores atomic structure of tiny traps for heavy metals. Tiny, glowing crystals that detect and capture heavy-metal toxins such as lead and mercury could prove to be a powerful new tool in locating and cleaning up contaminated water sources...

Capt. James Cook found a wall of ice blocking his passage farther north in the summer of 1778. (Seattle Times / TNS)

Passengers simmered in Jacuzzis and feasted on gourmet cuisine this summer as the 850-foot cruise ship Crystal Serenity moved through the Northwest Passage. But in the summer of 1778, when Capt. James Cook tried to find a Western entrance to the route, his men toiled on frost-slicked decks and complained about having to supplement dwindling rations with walrus meat. The British expedition was halted north of the Bering Strait by “ice which was as compact as a wall and seemed to be 10 or 12 feet high at least,” according to the captain’s journal...

A femtosecond X-ray pulse from an X-ray free electron laser intersecting a droplet that contains photosystem II crystals, the protein extracted and crystallized from cyanobacteria. Credit: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

The living machinery of photosynthesis is still not fully understood. One of its molecular mysteries involves how a protein complex, photosystem II, harvests energy from sunlight and uses it to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. This process generates the oxygen in the air that we all breathe. New X-ray methods at the DOE SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have captured the highest resolution room-temperature images of this protein complex, which allows scientists to closely watch how water is split during photosynthesis at ambient temperature...