August 17, 2011

Good Morning,

I get so excited for articles like the second one in this issue. A new species of eel has been discovered, and because of its traits it is being called a "living fossil." Find out about all the details surrounding this discovery and why this eel represents a species from long ago.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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Moon, Earth may be younger than thought

LIVERMORE, Calif. - U.S. researchers say tests on rocks from the lunar crust suggest the moon and Earth may be millions of years younger than previously thought.
While the most common estimate of the moon's age is 4.5 billion years, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California new measurements of isotopes of lead and neodymium in rocks gathered by the Apollo missions suggest it may be just 4.36 billion years old, a release issued by the laboratory Wednesday said.
The findings may mean the Earth is younger as well, they say, since the moon is thought to have been formed after the impact of an object with the Earth and then solidified from an ocean of molten rock. "If our analysis represents the age of the moon, then the Earth must be fairly young as well," laboratory researcher Lars Borg said. "This is in stark contrast to a planet like Mars, which is argued to have formed around 4.53 billion years ago. "If the age we report is from one of the first formed lunar rocks, then the moon is about 165 million years younger than Mars and about 200 million years younger than large asteroids."
The isotope measurements were made in samples of ferroan anorthosite, a type of moon crustal rock considered to represent the oldest lunar crustal rock type, the researchers said.


'Living fossil' eel found in Pacific Ocean

WASHINGTON - U.S. scientists say a remarkably primitive eel has been discovered living in a reef off the coast of the Republic of Palau in the Pacific Ocean. Researchers at the Smithsonian and partnering organizations say the fish they've dubbed a "living fossil" exhibits many primitive anatomical features unknown in the other 19 families and more than 800 species of living eels, and have classified it a new species belonging to a new genus and family.
Some primitive physical traits, such as a second upper jaw bone and fewer than 90 vertebrae have only been found in fossil forms from the Cretaceous period 140 million to 65 million years ago, a Smithsonian release reported Wednesday. "The equivalent of this primitive eel, in fishes, has perhaps not been seen since the discovery of the coelacanth in the late 1930s," said Dave Johnson, ichthyologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. "We believe that such a long, independent evolutionary history, dating back to the early Mesozoic [about 200 million years ago], retention of several primitive anatomical features and apparently restricted distribution, warrant its recognition as a living fossil. "The discovery of this extraordinary and beautiful new species of eel underscores how much more there is to learn about our planet. Furthermore, it brings home the critical importance of future conservation efforts -- currently this species is known from only 10 specimens collected from a single cave in Palau."


New prosthetic gives more natural gait

NASHVILLE - Researchers at Vanderbilt University say a new bionic prosthetic leg will allow amputees to walk with a gait much closer to natural. The lower-limb prosthetic uses advances in computer, sensor, electric motor and battery technology to provide powered knee and ankle joints that operate in unison, a university release said Thursday.
Sensors that monitor its user's motion and microprocessors can predict what the person is trying to do and operate the device in ways that facilitate natural movements, the researchers said. "With our latest model, we have validated our hypothesis that the right technology was available to make a lower-limb prosthetic with powered knee and ankle joints," engineering professor Michael Goldfarb said. "Our device illustrates the progress we are making at integrating man and machine." The device weighs about 9 pounds, less than most human lower legs, and can operate for three days of normal activity on a single charge. Craig Hutto, a 23-year-old amputee who has helped in testing the leg, said the new prosthetic is a major improvement over existing technology. "When it's working, it's totally different from my current prosthetic," Hutto said. "A passive leg is always a step behind me. The Vanderbilt leg is only a split-second behind."


Possibility of Mars microbial life eyed

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - U.S. scientists say they'll recreate conditions on Mars in a laboratory to see if microbial life might exist in salt droplets observed on the red planet.
A NASA project led by the University of Michigan will begin three years after beads of liquid brine were first photographed on one of the Mars Phoenix lander's legs. The Phoenix photos are believed to be the first pictures of liquid water outside the Earth. "On Earth, everywhere there's liquid water, there is microbial life," said UM Professor Nilton Renno of UM's Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences. The study will create Mars conditions of atmospheric pressures and temperatures in lab chambers to study how and when brines form. The chambers will be seeded with salt-loving "extremophile" microorganisms from deep in Antarctic lakes and the Gulf of Mexico to see whether these organisms survive, grow and reproduce in such brines, the researchers said. "If we find microbes that can survive and replicate in brines at Mars conditions, we would have demonstrated that microbes could exist on Mars today," Renno said.

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