Gizmorama - May 29, 2013

Good Morning,

U.S. scientists say that they've created the first global topographic map of Saturn's Earth-like moon Titan. I can just see that the next step could be space travel and colonization. Vacationing on Titan in the distant future?
It might just happen.

Learn about this and other interesting stories from the scientific community in today's issue.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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*-- First global topographic map of Saturn's moon Titan created --*
BALTIMORE - U.S. scientists say they've created the first global topographic map of Saturn's moon Titan, one of the solar system's most Earth-like and "fascinating" worlds. The map will be a valuable tool for learning more about Titan, the only moon in the solar system known to have clouds, surface liquids and a mysterious, thick atmosphere, Ralph Lorenz, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., said. Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is bigger than the planet Mercury. Organic chemicals, derived from methane, are present in the moon's atmosphere, lakes and rivers and may offer clues about the origins of life, researchers said. "Titan has so much interesting activity -- like flowing liquids and moving sand dunes -- but to understand these processes it's useful to know how the terrain slopes," Lorenz said. "It's especially helpful to those studying hydrology and modeling Titan's climate and weather, who need to know whether there is high ground or low ground driving their models," said Lorenz, who led the map-design team. The map was created using radar data from NASA's Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft, which has flown past the moon nearly 100 times during the past decade. "With this new topographic map, one of the most fascinating and dynamic worlds in our solar system now pops out in 3D," said Steve Wall of Cassini's radar team based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "On Earth, rivers, volcanoes, and even weather are closely related to heights of surfaces -- we're now eager to see what we can learn from them on Titan."


*-- Scientists see brain's ability to 'rewire' itself after damage, disease --*
LOS ANGELES - When the brain's primary "learning center" is damaged it can rewire itself, creating new neural circuits to compensate for lost functions, U.S. researchers say. Scientists at UCLA, working with colleagues in Australia, say they've been able to pinpoint the regions of the brain involved in creating those alternate pathways, which are often far from the damaged site. The finding that parts of the prefrontal cortex can take over when the hippocampus, the brain's key center of learning and memory formation, is disabled -- dubbed neural-circuit plasticity -- could potentially help scientists develop new treatments for Alzheimer's disease, stroke and other conditions involving damage to the brain, a UCLA release said Thursday. Laboratory experiments with rats identified significant functional changes in two specific regions of the prefrontal cortex after damage to the hippocampus. "Interestingly, previous studies had shown that these prefrontal cortex regions also light up in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, suggesting that similar compensatory circuits develop in people," neuroscience researcher Bruce Vissel of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney said. "While it's probable that the brains of Alzheimer's sufferers are already compensating for damage, this discovery has significant potential for extending that compensation and improving the lives of many." The hippocampus, which plays critical roles in processing, storing and recalling information, is highly susceptible to damage through stroke or lack of oxygen and is critically involved in Alzheimer's disease, UCLA's Michael Fanselow said. "Until now, we've been trying to figure out how to stimulate repair within the hippocampus," he said. "Now we can see other structures stepping in and whole new brain circuits coming into being."

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