Science Think

Scientists from Brown University found evidence that rivers on Mars originated from the Lyot crater, a 7000-metter deep depression on the red planet’s surface. This discovery was made possible using high resolution images from a spacecraft orbiting Mars called the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Estimated to be around a billion years old, the Lyot crater contains buried glaciers. It has an average temperature of -16 degrees Celcius at the moment, but scientists think that its temperature could have gone as high as 15 degress Celcius during that time when the sun was more tilted to the sun than it is now. Planetary geologist Jay Dickson, head of the research team, says that that such temperature would have allowed the ice to melt and give birth to rivers. Dickson adds that the river valleys in the eastern half of the Lyot crater might be a good place to look for evidence of life in Mars.

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The robotic arm of space shuttle Atlantis has captured the Hubble Space Telescope today, May 13., at 1:14 pm EDT. Mission specialist K. Megan McArthur, the only woman in STS-125 mission, will now try to lower the Hubble into a special dock in Atlantis’ payload bay for servicing.

Selected members of the STS-125 crew will perform spacewalks during the mission, which is the final servicing mission to the Hubble. The first spacewalk is scheduled on May 14. Each spacewalk is designed to refurbish, restore and renew the Hubble Space Telescope. The crew will install rate sensing units, batteries, a Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, a Wide Field Camer, and a Fine Guidance Sensor. Repair of the Hubble’s Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph is also in the schedule.

Aside from McArthur, the other members of the crew are Michael J. Massimino, Michael T. Good, Gregory C. Johnson, John M. Grunsfeld and Andrew J. Feustel. Veteran astronaut Scott D. Altman is commanding this mission.

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Mark Polansky Goes a-Twitter

NASA astronaut Mark Polansky is tweeting updates about his training for the next space shuttle mission to the International Space Station. Together with five other astronauts, Polansky wil deliver the final portions of the space station’s Japanese laboratory aboard the space shuttle Endeavor. The mission is scheduled to launch on June 13.

As of writing Polansky has about 6,000 followers on Twitter. Through a video blog, he recently invited his followers to create 30-second video questions in Youtube and tweet the links to him. He will be selecting a video question each week, all of which will broadcast and answered from space during a special event that will air on NASA television. Answers will also be posted in Twitter and Youtube.

Polansky follows the steps of fellow astronaut Mike Massimino in using Twitter to update his followers about his training and space mission. To follow Polansky, check out his profile http://www.twitter.com/Astro_127

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Why would a professional baseball player take a women’s fertility drug? Every MLB fan out there certainly has this question in mind after the news broke out that the league suspended Manny Ramirez of the LA Dodgers for using human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). Those familiar with this hormone know that women get tested for HCG in the blood or urine when pregnancy is suspected.

Some athletes use HCG to stimulate testosterone production or to prevent testicular atrophy in athletes who abuse of anabolic steroids and androgens. In Ramirez’ case, he claims that his doctor prescribed him HCG for personal health reasons, not knowing that it is considered a performance enhancing drug. Medically speaking, the only reason why Ramirez would use this drug is if he has cryptorchidism (undescended testicle) or hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. If he suffers from any of these conditions, then he should just say so and present medical proof to support the diagnosis. This is better than being labeled a doper.

For now, the Dodgers have to do without Ramirez in their next 50 games.

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A team from the Spanish Scientific Research Council (CSIC) found more than 200 new frog species in Madagascar. All but one these new species are believed to be native to the island of Madagascar.

Eighty percent of mammals in Madagascar, the world’s fourth largest island, cannot be found anywhere else in the world. It is for this very reason that it is considered a biodiversity hotspot. However, political instability threatens the conservation of species there as stated by David Vieites, researcher at the Spanish National Natural Sciences Museum.

Miguel Vences,a member of the research team, said that the the majority of life forms on Earth are yet to be discovered by scientists. The findings of the study suggest that there is twice the number of scientifically known amphibians in the world.

The findings of this scientific exploration will be published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Archaeologists have discovered dozens of mummies near the Lahun pyramid in Egypt. The mummies, which are enclosed in brightly painted coffins, are believed to be 4,000 years old. This dates back to the time of pharaoh Senusret II, ruler of Egypt’s 12^th dynasty. The coffins were painted in bright hues of red, green, and white and some were inscribed with prayers to help the deceased.

Excavations at Lahun were first made in 19^th century. Archaeologist Abdul Rahman Al-Ayed, head of the current excavation project, wanted to return to the site because he feels that they could unearth more artifacts and, possibly, rewrite the history of that pyramid. He believes that their discovery could give more insight on Egyptian funerary architecture as well as funeral traditions from the Middle Pharaonic Kingdom to the Roman era.

Egypt will make an official announcement regarding the mummies discovered on site soon. Just recently, in February of this year, Egyptian officials announced the discovery of a rare intact mummy found at the Saqqara pyramid, near Cairo.

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A 13-man expedition team consists of British and Vietnamese explorers uncovered what could be the world’s largest cave, Hang Son Doong. The cave is one of 300 caves and grottoes located in north central Vietnam’s Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park.

The team believes that Hang Son Doong, or Mountain River Cave, is about twice the size of Malaysia’s Deer Cave, the current record holder, which measures 328 feet high and 295 feet wide. Adam Spillane, a member of the expedition team, revealed that the cave was originally discovered by Ho Khanh, a local guide, in 1991. He added that no one has dared to enter the cave before because it emitted wind and noise that frightened even the local jungle men.

The team spent five days exploring the cave, but is now back in UK to analyze the results of their preliminary survey. They will return to the cave later this year to conduct a full survey.

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Reported cases of swine flu infections in Asia, particularly in South Korea and the Philippines, has virologist Kennedy Shortridge worried. Shortridge, one of the researchers who investigated the H5N1 avian influenza pandemic in 1997, warned that the spreading of the virus can lead to mutation that may result in more lethal infections

The virologist explains that the farther the HN1 virus spreads, the higher the possibility that it will mix or re-assort with other flu viruses circulating in the Asian countries affected. If this happens, an unstable patched-up virus might emerge that might be more pathogenic or easily transferred between people.

Shortridge recommends that public health agencies in the countries affected start sequencing samples the Swine Flu virus, looking out for telltale changes in viral strains. Currently, the virus is a combination of human, swine, and avian viruses from North America, Europe, and Asia. T Any changes should be communicated with other agencies around the world. This will help manage and prepare for an influenza pandemic.

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Ready, get set, moo!

Scientists at the Baylor College of Medicine reported that a comparative study of the cow and the human genome showed that cows are more closely related to humans that dogs, man’s best friend. The researchers sequenced the genes of a Hereford cow and found that it has a lot of genes related to the immune function.  Richard Gibbs, head of Baylor’s sequencing center, said that this is probably due to the fact that cows have multiple stomachs that make it more susceptible to disease-causing microorganisms.

Meanwhile, the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s cow gene mapping project, the Bovine Haplotype Map, found that there is high genetic diversify among cows within the same breed. It also saw patterns related to whether a cow is suitable more suitable for meat or milk production. This would definitely have an impact on how cattle ranchers choose their breeding stock.

All in all, these gene mapping studies spell a bright future for cattle breeding.

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Astronomers Thierry Forveille and Stephane Udry of the Grenoble Observatory in France have announced the discovery of Gliese 581 “e”, the lightest exoplanet to date. The discovery was made using the HARPS spectrograph attached to the ESO telescope at La Silla, Chile. Exoplanets, also known as extrasolar planets, are planets found outside our very own solar system, orbiting another star other than the Sun.

Out of almost 350 exoplanets found, Gliese 581 “e” appears to best one to have abundant liquid water, the condition that made life possible on Earth. It has mass equivalent to double the mass of Earth. Like the Gliese 581 “d”, another possible Earth-like exoplanet, the Gliese 581 “e” falls within the habitable zone called the Goldilocks zone.

For sure, this new Earth-like planet will be under the radar in the coming years as scientists try to answer the question: is there life on other planets?