INFORMATION:
WSU undergrad helps develop method for detecting water on Mars
Findings appear in top journal
2014-10-03
(Press-News.org) PULLMAN, Wash.—A Washington State University undergraduate has helped develop a new method for detecting water on Mars. Her findings appear in Nature Communications, one of the most influential general science journals.
Kellie Wall, 21, of Port Orchard, Wash., looked for evidence that water influenced crystal formation in basalt, the dark volcanic rock that covers most of eastern Washington and Oregon. She then compared this with volcanic rock observations made by the rover Curiosity on Mars' Gale Crater.
"This is really cool because it could potentially be useful for not only the study of rocks on Earth but on Mars and other planets," said Wall.
She is the lead author of the article in Nature Communications. Among multidisciplinary science journals, it has the third-highest impact factor, a measure of its influence, after the journals Nature and Science, according to the 2013 Journal Citation Reports.
Co-authors include Michael Rowe, a former WSU research professor now at New Zealand's University of Auckland, and Ben Ellis, a former WSU post-doctoral researcher now at the Institute of Geochemistry and Petrology in Zurich, Switzerland. The other authors are Mariek Schmidt of Brock University in Canada and Jennifer Eccles of the University of Auckland.
Wall was fascinated by volcanoes as a child, touring the Cascade mountain range with her father and marveling at features like the lava tubes under Mount St. Helens.
"I was really excited because I thought that just on the other side of the walls there could be lava," she said.
Still, she started out as a communications major at WSU, choosing a geology class to fulfill a science requirement.
"I loved it so much that I changed my major," she said.
In her sophomore year, Rowe and Ellis asked if she would like to look at the eruption styles of Earth and Mars volcanoes.
"I was really crazy about it—really intrigued by the buzzword 'Mars,'" she said.
"I've worked with a lot of undergraduate researchers over the years and she's the best that I've come across," said Rowe. "That's why we gave her so much responsibility on this project, because we knew she would do it well."
The researchers established a method to quantify the texture of volcanic rock using an index called "groundmass crystallinity." Wall compares it to the texture of a chocolate chip cookie, which can vary according to how it is cooked and cooled.
"We were interested in the cookie dough part of the cookie," she said.
Liquid volcanic rock cools rapidly as it hits water, flash-freezing to form mostly glass. Without water, it takes longer to cool and forms crystals within the groundmass, the cookie dough part.
Using an x-ray diffraction machine on the WSU campus, home to one of the most sophisticated basalt labs in the world, Wall analyzed rock samples from the Northwest, New Zealand and Italy's Mount Etna and compared them to rocks analyzed by Curiosity's x-ray diffractometer.
"The rocks that erupted and interacted with water, which we call phreatomagmatic, all had a groundmass crystallinity as low as 8 percent and ranging up to about 35 percent," she said. "The rocks that erupted without interaction with water had groundmass crystallinities from about 45 percent upwards to almost totally crystalline.
"The analyses we did on the Mars soil samples fell in the range of the magmatic type eruptions, which are the ones erupted without water interaction," she said.
Water is a key indicator for the potential of microbial life on the red planet. While Wall and her colleagues didn't see evidence of it from two sites they studied, their method could look for water elsewhere.
"I think this quantification of volcanic textures is a new facet of the water story that hasn't yet been explored," Wall said. "Most of the studies searching for water have focused on either looking for sedimentary structures—large- and small-scale—for evidence of water, or looking for rocks like limestones that actually would have formed in a water-rich environment.
"But being able to determine the environment through the texture of a volcanic rock is something pretty cool and different," she said. "I think it's an interesting avenue for future research."
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Batteries included: A solar cell that stores its own power
2014-10-03
COLUMBUS, Ohio—Is it a solar cell? Or a rechargeable battery?
Actually, the patent-pending device invented at The Ohio State University is both: the world's first solar battery.
In the October 3, 2014 issue of the journal Nature Communications, the researchers report that they've succeeded in combining a battery and a solar cell into one hybrid device.
Key to the innovation is a mesh solar panel, which allows air to enter the battery, and a special process for transferring electrons between the solar panel and the battery electrode. Inside the device, light and oxygen ...
Too many stroke patients miss out on the window to regain crucial functions
2014-10-03
Too many stroke patients in Canada are not getting the rehabilitation they need to return to a healthy, active life, according to a new study which will be presented at the Canadian Stroke Congress in Vancouver tomorrow. The research findings strongly suggest that such decisions are being made based on what services are available in the health system rather than what patients really need.
It found that overall just 16 per cent of patients with stroke were discharged to inpatient rehabilitation but that the rates varied widely by province (1% to 26%) and hospital (0% to ...
Moderate weekly alcohol intake linked to poorer sperm quality in healthy young men
2014-10-03
They base their findings on 1221 Danish men between the ages of 18 and 28, all of whom underwent a medical examination to assess their fitness for military service, which is compulsory in Denmark, between 2008 and 2012.
As part of their assessment, the military recruits were asked how much alcohol they drank in the week before their medical exam (recent drinking); whether this was typical (habitual); and how often they binge drank, defined as more than 5 units in one sitting, and had been drunk in the preceding month.
They were also invited to provide a semen sample ...
High alcohol intake linked to heightened HPV infection risk in men
2014-10-03
There is some evidence to suggest that alcohol impairs the workings of the immune system, both in terms of the initial protective inflammatory response to infection and the development of subsequent immunity.
And habitual drinking is known to increase susceptibility to bacterial pneumonia, septicaemia, tuberculosis and viral hepatitis. The researchers therefore wanted to find out if there was any association between drinking patterns and susceptibility to HPV infection.
They included 1313 men who were already taking part in the US arm of the HPV in Men (HIM) study, ...
Gout linked to heightened diabetes risk
2014-10-03
Previous research has suggested that gout might be associated with diabetes, but the findings were restricted to one study of men at high risk of heart disease and stroke. The researchers wanted to know if the link existed in the general population, and also applied to women.
They searched the Health Improvement Network (THIN), an electronic database of the anonymised health records of almost 7.5 million patients registered with 477 general practices across the UK.
They included adults who were at least 20 years old, and whose details had been entered into the database ...
The Lancet: Ovarian tissue and egg freezing should be made widely available to prevent
2014-10-03
Ovarian tissue and egg freezing to preserve fertility should no longer be reserved for cancer patients, and healthy women should also be offered these options to safeguard their future chances of conceiving a child, say world renowned fertility experts writing in a new Series on fertility preservation, published in The Lancet [Paper 3].
Over the past 10 years, researchers have restored the fertility of female cancer patients who would otherwise have been left infertile after treatment, having been offered oocyte cryopreservation. The technique enables women to freeze ...
The Lancet: Second case of apparent HIV 'cure' in a baby followed by reappearance of virus
2014-10-03
Researchers today report the case of a baby, born HIV-positive, who appeared to have been cured of HIV after being given early antiretroviral treatment (ART) to combat the virus, but ultimately exhibited detectable HIV infection.
The case report, published in The Lancet, is the second report of apparent viral remission followed by rebound in a baby given early ART treatment, after the case of the 'Mississippi baby' received widespread attention in 2013―14.
A team of researchers, including Professor Mario Clerici at the University of Milan and the Don Gnocchi Foundation ...
Blood tests predict kidney disease patients' risk of developing heart failure
2014-10-03
Washington, DC (October 2, 2014) — Two blood markers are strongly linked with the development of heart failure in individuals with mild to severe kidney disease, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). Elevations in these markers may indicate subclinical cardiovascular changes that subsequently contribute to the development of heart failure.
Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at increased risk of developing heart failure and other cardiovascular diseases. Nisha Bansal, MD, MAS (University ...
Exercise linked with improved physical and mental health among dialysis patients
2014-10-03
Washington, DC (October 2, 2014) — Aerobic physical activity is strongly linked with better health-related quality of life, fewer depressive symptoms, and prolonged life in kidney failure patients on dialysis. The findings, which come from a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN), suggest that dialysis facilities have an opportunity to improve patients' health by providing exercise programs.
Physical activity can provide a number of benefits for diverse populations, but its effects in patients on hemodialysis ...
'Mini-stroke' may lead to post-traumatic stress disorder
2014-10-02
A "mini-stroke" may increase your risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Stroke.
Transient ischemic attack (TIA), like stroke, is caused by restricted blood supply to the brain. A TIA is temporary and often lasts less than five minutes, without causing permanent brain damage.
"We found one in three TIA patients develop PTSD," said Kathrin Utz, Ph.D., a study author and post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Neurology at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany.
"PTSD, ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Walking, moving more may lower risk of cardiovascular death for women with cancer history
Intracortical neural interfaces: Advancing technologies for freely moving animals
Post-LLM era: New horizons for AI with knowledge, collaboration, and co-evolution
“Sloshing” from celestial collisions solves mystery of how galactic clusters stay hot
Children poisoned by the synthetic opioid, fentanyl, has risen in the U.S. – eight years of national data shows
USC researchers observe mice may have a form of first aid
VUMC to develop AI technology for therapeutic antibody discovery
Unlocking the hidden proteome: The role of coding circular RNA in cancer
Advancing lung cancer treatment: Understanding the differences between LUAD and LUSC
Study reveals widening heart disease disparities in the US
The role of ubiquitination in cancer stem cell regulation
New insights into LSD1: a key regulator in disease pathogenesis
Vanderbilt lung transplant establishes new record
Revolutionizing cancer treatment: targeting EZH2 for a new era of precision medicine
Metasurface technology offers a compact way to generate multiphoton entanglement
Effort seeks to increase cancer-gene testing in primary care
Acoustofluidics-based method facilitates intracellular nanoparticle delivery
Sulfur bacteria team up to break down organic substances in the seabed
Stretching spider silk makes it stronger
Earth's orbital rhythms link timing of giant eruptions and climate change
Ammonia build-up kills liver cells but can be prevented using existing drug
New technical guidelines pave the way for widespread adoption of methane-reducing feed additives in dairy and livestock
Eradivir announces Phase 2 human challenge study of EV25 in healthy adults infected with influenza
New study finds that tooth size in Otaria byronia reflects historical shifts in population abundance
nTIDE March 2025 Jobs Report: Employment rate for people with disabilities holds steady at new plateau, despite February dip
Breakthrough cardiac regeneration research offers hope for the treatment of ischemic heart failure
Fluoride in drinking water is associated with impaired childhood cognition
New composite structure boosts polypropylene’s low-temperature toughness
While most Americans strongly support civics education in schools, partisan divide on DEI policies and free speech on college campuses remains
Revolutionizing surface science: Visualization of local dielectric properties of surfaces
[Press-News.org] WSU undergrad helps develop method for detecting water on MarsFindings appear in top journal