Atmospheric Pressure Changes could be Driving Mars’ Elusive Methane Pulses

2024-01-24
New simulations are helping inform the Curiosity rover’s ongoing sampling campaign. Credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Simulations will help Curiosity search for signs of past or present life on the Red Planet. New research shows that atmospheric pressure fluctuations that pull gases up from underground could be responsible for releasing subsurface methane into Mars’ atmosphere; knowing when and where to look for methane can help the Curiosity rover search for signs of life.

“Understanding Mars’ methane variations has been highlighted by NASA’s Curiosity team as the next key step towards figuring out where it comes from,” said John Ortiz, a graduate student at Los Alamos National Laboratory who led the research team.

“There are several challenges associated with meeting that goal, an...

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Scientists Advance Affordable, Sustainable Solution for Flat-Panel Displays and Wearable Tech

Blue and green Eiffel Tower-shaped luminescent structures 3D-printed from supramolecular ink.
Eiffel Tower-shaped luminescent structures 3D-printed from supramolecular ink. Each 2-centimeter-tall device is fabricated from supramolecular ink that emits blue or green light when exposed to 254-nanometer ultraviolet light. (Credit: Peidong Yang and Cheng Zhu/Berkeley Lab. Courtesy of Science)

A research team led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has developed “supramolecular ink,” a new technology for use in OLED (organic light-emitting diode) displays or other electronic devices. Made of inexpensive, Earth-abundant elements instead of costly scarce metals, supramolecular ink could enable more affordable and environmentally sustainable flat-panel screens and electronic devices.

“By replacing precious metals with Earth-abundant materials, our supramolecular...

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Records of Cometary Dust Hitting the Asteroid Ryugu

A carbonaceous material found in the melt splash. The carbonaceous material shows spongy texture and contains small iron sulfide inclusions. This is similar to the primitive organic matters found in cometary dust. ©Megumi Matsumoto et al.

The Hayabusa2 mission that collected samples from the asteroid Ryugu has provided a treasure trove of insights into our solar system. After analyzing samples further, a team of researchers have unearthed evidence that cometary organic matter was transported from space to the near-Earth region.

Ryugu is a near-Earth asteroid that gained significant attention when the Japanese Hayabusa2 mission collected samples and returned them to Earth...

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Low-frequency Ultrasound can Improve Oxygen Saturation in blood

Research conducted by a team of scientists from Kaunas universities, Lithuania, revealed that low-frequency ultrasound influences blood parameters. The findings suggest that ultrasound’s effect on haemoglobin can improve oxygen’s transfer from the lungs to bodily tissues.

The research was undertaken on 300 blood samples collected from 42 pulmonary patients. The samples were exposed to six different low-frequency ultrasound modes at the Institute of Mechatronics of Kaunas University of Technology (KTU).

The changes in 20 blood parameters were registered using the blood analysing equipment at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LSMU) laboratories. For the prediction of ultrasound exposure, artificial intelligence, i.e...

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