(Press-News.org) PULLMAN, Wash.—A recent study by geophysicists at Washington State University offers insight into how nutrients may reach the subsurface ocean of Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons and a leading candidate for extraterrestrial life in the solar system.
Scientists have long wondered how life-sustaining nutrients could make it from the surface into Europa’s ice-covered ocean, where microscopic life is believed to exist. Drawing from a process from Earth’s geology known as crustal delamination, the research team used computer modeling to show that dense, nutrient-rich ice can separate from the surrounding ice and descend into the ocean.
“This is a novel idea in planetary science, inspired by a well-understood idea in Earth science,” said Austin Green, lead author and postdoctoral researcher at Virginia Tech. “Most excitingly, this new idea addresses one of the longstanding habitability problems on Europa and is a good sign for the prospects of extraterrestrial life in its ocean.”
The research paper was published in The Planetary Science Journal by Green, who conducted much of the primary research during his doctoral dissertation at WSU, and Catherine Cooper, associate professor of geophysics in the School of Environment and associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Europa contains more liquid water than all of Earth’s oceans combined, but its global ocean lies beneath a thick shell of ice that blocks sunlight. The icy shell means that any life in Europa’s ocean has to find nutrient and energy sources other than the Sun, raising longstanding questions about how Europa’s ocean could be habitable.
Europa is also constantly bombarded by intense radiation from Jupiter. The radiation interacts with salts and other materials on Europa’s surface to form useful nutrients for oceanic microbes. Although there are several theories, scientists are unsure of how that nutrient-rich surface ice can work through the icy shell layer to reach the ocean layer. While Europa’s icy surface is highly geologically active due to Jupiter’s gravitational pull, the ice mostly shifts side to side rather than in the downward motion necessary for surface-ocean exchange.
Green and Cooper decided to look to Earth for possible explanations and solutions to the surface recycling problem. They zeroed in on the concept of crustal delamination, where a zone of crust is tectonically squeezed and chemically densified until it detaches and sinks into the mantle.
The researchers thought this concept might apply to Europa, since various regions of the ice surface are enriched in densifying salts. Other studies have shown that ice crystalline structure is weakened by included impurities and is less stable than pure ice. However, to trigger delamination, the ice surface needs to be weakened in order to detach and sink within the icy shell interior.
The research team proposed that the denser, saltier ice surrounded by pure ice would sink into the interior of the ice shell, providing a means of recycling Europa’s surface and feeding the ocean. Using computer modeling, they determined that nutrient-rich surface ice can sink all the way to the base of the ice shell for almost any salt content, provided there is at least a little weakening in the surface ice. The process is also relatively rapid and could be a consistent means of recycling ice and providing nutrients into Europa’s ocean.
The findings closely align with the primary goals of the Europa Clipper, a NASA flagship mission launched in 2024 to investigate Europa’s ice shell, ocean, and potential to support life using a suite of scientific instruments.
This research effort was supported in part by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Grant NNX15AH91G, and used resources from the Center for Institutional Research Computing at Washington State University.
END
Study suggests pathway for life-sustaining conditions in Europa’s ocean
2026-01-20
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Researchers discover potential new target to treat Parkinson’s disease
2026-01-20
CLEVELAND—About 1 million Americans suffer from Parkinson’s disease, with around 90,000 new cases diagnosed each year, according to the Parkinson’s Foundation. The chronic, degenerative brain disorder destroys dopamine-producing cells essential for smooth, coordinated movement.
Current treatments provide only short-term relief for such symptoms. But a team of Case Western Reserve University researchers have discovered a particular biochemical route that plays a role in the debilitating neurological condition.
Their findings, published recently in Molecular ...
Global societies unite to address environmental threats to heart health
2026-01-20
Key take-aways
The European Society of Cardiology, the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association and the World Heart Federation have published the first joint statement calling for urgent action to address environmental stressors as major contributors to cardiovascular disease.
Environmental risk factors that impact cardiovascular health include air pollution, traffic, airplane and industrial noise, artificial light exposure, chemical pollution, plastic and the various effects of climate change, such as heat extremes.
Regulatory ...
Artificial light at night extends pollen season
2026-01-20
Artificial light at night extends pollen season and increases allergen exposure in northeastern United States cities. Lin Meng and colleagues analyzed 12 years of pollen data from 12 monitoring stations across the Northeastern United States, combining measurements with satellite data on artificial light at night and climate records. The authors found that higher exposure to artificial light at night was significantly associated with earlier pollen season starts, later season ends, and longer overall pollen seasons, even after accounting for temperature and precipitation. The effect on ...
Women see AI as riskier than men do
2026-01-20
Women perceive artificial intelligence (AI) as riskier than men do, according to a study. Beatrice Magistro and colleagues hypothesized that women are both more exposed to risk from AI and are more averse to risk in general than men. To test their hypothesis, the authors surveyed approximately 3,000 respondents in the United States and Canada in November 2023, using survey provider YouGov’s opt-in panel. Respondents were asked about the extent to which they agree that the risks of generative AI outweigh the benefits. Risk orientation was estimated by analyzing responses to lottery questions, such as whether the respondent would prefer a guaranteed win of $1,000, or a 50% ...
Push and pull in models of human migration
2026-01-20
Incorporating living conditions and job opportunities in cities into mathematical models of human mobility improves model accuracy. The traditional gravity model of human mobility uses the distance of a move and the population of a destination city to predict migration patterns, with larger cities exerting more “pull” than smaller cities. The competing radiation model is based on quantifying the opportunity available in a destination location. Maurizio Porfiri and colleagues added to the radiation model, weaving in measures for living conditions and job quality. These measures include the presence of conflicts, natural hazards, and political persecution, and ...
Mapping comedic timing, ta-da!
2026-01-20
Researchers propose a computational method to reveal the hidden timing structure of live performance. Vanessa C. Pope and colleagues present a framework, called Topology Analysis of Matching Sequences (TAMS), that algorithmically detects repeated material across performances and maps its timing to visualize performance dynamics. The authors applied TAMS to audio recordings from two professional stand-up comedians’ tours in the United Kingdom, analyzing multiple performances between 2017 and 2018. For the established comedian with a mature touring show, an average of 39.66% of each performance transcript matched exactly ...
SEOULTECH researchers reveal strong public support for hydrogen fuel cell trucks
2026-01-20
Governments worldwide are increasingly adopting policies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in response to the growing environmental challenges posed by climate change. Within the mobility sector, a major priority is replacing conventional fossil fuel based internal combustion engine vehicles with low carbon alternatives, such as battery electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Heavy duty trucks, which account for a disproportionate share of transport emissions, have become a key focus of these decarbonization strategies.
In South Korea, the government has outlined an ambitious ...
Dongguk University develops a new way to produce cheaper, more efficient green hydrogen
2026-01-20
Among clean energy sources, hydrogen (H2) has emerged as the preferred energy carrier, boasting a high calorific value and net zero carbon emissions. Proton-exchange-membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) is a promising, clean and efficient method that produces high purity H2 with only oxygen as a by-product. Combined with renewable electricity sources, this method can contribute to sustainable H2 production.
In recent years, metal single-atom catalysts (M-SACs) have attracted growing attention for PEM water electrolysis. Because each metal atom acts as an active catalytic site, these materials use precious metals ...
Scientists discover a hidden RNA “aging clock” in human sperm
2026-01-20
Increasing paternal age has been linked to elevated health risks for the next generation, including higher risks of obesity and stillbirth. But what drives this increased risk remains unknown.
Most research into this link focuses on how the DNA inside sperm changes with age. But sperm carries other molecules as well, including a diverse array of molecules called RNAs. Now, new research from University of Utah Health has shown that the RNA contents of sperm go through similar shifts over time in both mice and humans, which may lead to a rapid, dramatic shift at mid-life. What’s more, “old RNA” seems to change cells’ metabolism—potentially ...
New quantum boundary discovered: Spin size determines how the Kondo effect behaves
2026-01-20
Collective behavior is an unusual phenomenon in condensed-matter physics. When quantum spins interact together as a system, they produce unique effects not seen in individual particles. Understanding how quantum spins interact to produce this behavior is central to modern condensed-matter physics.
Among these phenomena, the Kondo effect—the interaction between localized spins and conduction electrons—plays a central role in many quantum phenomena.
Yet in real materials, the presence of additional charges and orbital degrees of freedom make it difficult to isolate the essential quantum mechanism behind the Kondo ...