Mon NASA’s InSight Detects Two Sizable Quakes on Mars

The InSight Lander
This artist’s concept shows the InSight lander, its sensors, cameras and instruments. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s InSight lander has detected two strong, clear quakes originating in a location of Mars called Cerberus Fossae—the same place where two strong quakes were seen earlier in the mission. The new quakes have magnitudes of 3.3 and 3.1; the previous quakes were magnitude 3.6 and 3.5. InSight has recorded over 500 quakes to date, but because of their clear signals, these are four of the best quake records for probing the interior of the planet.

Studying marsquakes is one way the InSight science team seeks to develop a better understanding of Mars’ mantle and core...

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Regenerating Hair Follicle Stem Cells

Mouse hair follicle.
Underneath the mouse hair follicle, dermal papilla cells (green) produce the Gas6 molecule that activates hair follicle stem cells. Credit: Hsu Laboratory, Harvard University

Harvard University researchers have identified the biological mechanism of how chronic stress impairs hair follicle stem cells, confirming long-standing observations that stress might lead to hair loss.

In a mouse study published in the journal Nature, the researchers found that a major stress hormone causes hair follicle stem cells to stay in an extended resting phase, without regenerating the hair follicle and hair...

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Smart Glass has a Bright Future

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Micromirrors in open and closed scenario, shown in (a), (b) schematics and (c), (d) SEM micrographs, respectively. The smart glass pane is integrated into a double insulation glazing in Ar atmosphere and sealed by butyl.

Light modulation via optical MEMS microshutter and micromirror arrays could provide huge energy savings. Substituting the inefficient glazing areas of buildings with energy-efficient smart glazing windows has great potential to decrease energy consumption for lighting and temperature control.

Buildings are responsible for 40 percent of primary energy consumption and 36 percent of total CO2 emissions. And, as we know, CO2 emissions trigger global warming, sea level rise, and profound changes in ocean ecosystems...

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Early Earth’s Hot Mantle may have led to Archean ‘Water World’

An artist’s rendering of Earth during the Archean eon, with a hazy atmosphere, few landmasses and a global ocean. Credit: Alec Brenner, Harvard University

Earth’s sea level has remained fairly constant during the last 541 million years, but a new study suggests the planet may have been covered by a vast global ocean 4 to 3.2 billion years ago.

The new findings challenge earlier assumptions that the size of the Earth’s global ocean has remained constant over time and offer clues to how its size may have changed throughout geologic time, according to the study’s authors.

Most of Earth’s surface water exists in the oceans. But there is a second reservoir of water deep in Earth’s interior, in the form of hydrogen and oxygen attached to minerals in the mantle.

A new study in AGU ...

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