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The US Food and Drug Administration has rejected the psychedelic drug MDMA as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, leading many to wonder whether psychedelic therapies have a future in medicine

Mars was once wet, but now its surface is desiccated. Its meagre atmosphere contains only a tiny trace amount of water vapour. But new research says the planet contains ample liquid water. Unfortunately, it’s kilometres under the surface, well out of reach.

The question of what happened to Mars’ water is an enduring one. There’s ample evidence showing that water flowed across the planet’s surface, carving out river channels, creating sediment deltas, and filling lakes. It may even have had ocenas. The planet was likely warm and wet until around 3.8 billion years ago, during the transition from the Noachian Period to the Hesperian Period. Over time it lost both its thick atmosphere and its water.

The most widely accepted explanation for the water’s disappearance is that the planet’s magnetic shield weakened and that the solar wind blew most of the water away into space.

New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) presents a new wrinkle in the Mars water mystery. Its title is “Liquid water in the Martian mid-crust,” and the first author is Vashan Wright, an assistant professor at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

“Understanding the Martian water cycle is critical for understanding the evolution of the climate, surface and interior,” Wright said in a press release. “A useful starting point is to identify where water is and how much is there.”

Wright and his colleagues worked with data from NASA’s InSight lander, which was sent to Mars to study the planet’s deep interior. InSight aimed to understand not only Mars but also the processes that shape all rocky planets. The mission ended in December 2022 when the lander became unresponsive, but scientists are still working with its data.

During its mission, InSight gathered seismic data with SEIS, the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure. SEIS was sensitive to Marsquakes and meteorite impacts, and the seismic data is helping scientists understand Mars’ interior, including its core, mantle, and crust.

This image shows InSight’s SEIS, the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure. It’s housed under a protective dome that shields it from wind and dust. Credit: NASA/JPL

“Large volumes of liquid water transiently existed on the surface of Mars more than 3 billion years ago,” the authors write in their published research. “Much of this water is hypothesized to have been sequestered in the subsurface or lost to space.”

Seismic waves sensed by SEIS can help determine if some of Mars’ water is in the planet’s subsurface. When seismic waves travel through a planet, they reveal information about the inner structure and composition. There are different types of waves, and some can’t travel through liquids. That’s how scientists learned that Earth has a liquid core.

Wave velocities and directions also reveal a lot. Velocity and direction change when the waves reach boundaries like the one between a planet’s crust and its mantle. Waves also provide information about the density and elasticity of materials they pass through. Changes in wave speed also reveal information about temperature differences.

But conclusions don’t jump out of data and announce themselves. Researchers have to work their way through the data and try to interpret it. The Mars science community is doing just that, and this research is the latest part of the effort.

Previous researchers have tried to constrain the conditions under the InSight Lander in Elysium Planitia. Scientists use the term upper crust to describe the depth down to about 8km and the term lower crust to describe the depth between 8 km and about 20 km. Some research from orbiters showed that the upper crust is like a cryosphere that contains abundant frozen water. Orbital images of recent meteorite impacts appear to show exposed ice.

But this new research goes against that. The authors write that seismic waves “in the upper 8 km beneath InSight is lower than expected for an ice-saturated cryosphere.”

Previous research also showed that the lower crust contains either highly porous mafic rock or less porous felsic rock. However, it was difficult to determine how much water was contained in the pores.

That’s where this research comes in.

“We assess whether Vs, Vp, and bulk density ?b data are consistent with liquid water-saturated pores in the mid-crust (11.5 ± 3.1 to 20 ± 5km) within 50 km of the InSight lander,” the authors write. Vs means the velocity of secondary seismic waves, Vp means the velocity of primary seismic waves, and pb means bulk density. The bulk density means the mass of a volume unit of rock including any liquid trapped in its pores.

According to the authors, the mid-crust is one of our identifiable layers under the InSight lander. It may even be global, but there is not enough data to conclude that yet.

However, the researchers did reach another conclusion: “A mid-crust composed of igneous rock with thin fractures filled with liquid water can best explain the geophysical data.”

If the InSight Lander location is representative of the rest of Mars, the approximately 11.5 km to 20 km deep mid-crust could hold an enormous amount of water. There could be enough to cover the entire planet in a layer of water 1 to 2 km deep. Of course, this is just a thought exercise since Mars’ wouldn’t be able to hold onto the surface water.

If the planet does hold such a vast amount of water, it won’t be of much use to human visitors trying to establish a presence there. Even on Earth, drilling only 1 km into the surface is difficult. It’s challenging to conceive of a way to drill 11 km deep on Mars.

But where there’s water, there could be life.

“Establishing that there is a big reservoir of liquid water provides some window into what the climate was like or could be like,” said co-author Michael Manga, a UC Berkeley professor of earth and planetary science. “And water is necessary for life as we know it. I don’t see why [the underground reservoir] is not a habitable environment.”

It may very well be habitable, but that doesn’t mean it’s inhabited. It is at least a possibility, though.

We’ve found life at a depth of 5 km within Earth’s crust. Could the same thing be possible on Mars?

Just like the water, an answer to that question is well out of reach. For now.

The post Mars Has Lots of Water, But It’s Out of Reach appeared first on Universe Today.

Using data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have confirmed hydroxyl molecules on the surface of the metallic asteroid Psyche. The presence of hydrated minerals suggests a complex history for Psyche, important context for the NASA spacecraft en route to this interesting asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.

Linked to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in people, nanoplastics continue to build up, largely unnoticed, in the world's bodies of water. The challenge remains to develop a cost-effective solution to get rid of nanoplastics while leaving clean water behind. That's where Mizzou comes in. Recently, researchers created a new liquid-based solution that eliminates more than 98% of these microscopic plastic particles from water.

Chemists developed a way to synthesize complex molecules called oligocyclotryptamines, originally found in plants, which could hold potential as antibiotics, analgesics, or anticancer drugs.

A team has reported the first demonstration of selective electrochemical separation driven by halogen bonding. This was achieved by engineering a polymer that modulates the charge density on a halogen atom when electricity is applied. The polymer then attracts only certain targets -- such as halides, oxyanions, and even organic molecules -- from organic solutions, a feature that has important implications for pharmaceuticals and chemical synthesis processes.

In the quantum realm, a particle’s properties can be separate from the particle itself, including its angular momentum – which could require a rethinking of fundamental laws

Martian landers have been able capture measurements of wind speeds -- some gauging the cooling rate of heated materials when winds blow over them, others using cameras to image 'tell-tales' that blow in the wind -- but there's still room for improvement. Researchers now demonstrate a novel sonic anemometric system featuring a pair of narrow-band piezoelectric transducers to measure the travel time of sound pulses through Martian air. The study accounted for variables including transducer diffraction effects and wind direction.

Martian landers have been able capture measurements of wind speeds -- some gauging the cooling rate of heated materials when winds blow over them, others using cameras to image 'tell-tales' that blow in the wind -- but there's still room for improvement. Researchers now demonstrate a novel sonic anemometric system featuring a pair of narrow-band piezoelectric transducers to measure the travel time of sound pulses through Martian air. The study accounted for variables including transducer diffraction effects and wind direction.

A computer algorithm has achieved a 98% accuracy in predicting different diseases by analyzing the color of the human tongue. The proposed imaging system can diagnose diabetes, stroke, anemia, asthma, liver and gallbladder conditions, COVID-19, and a range of vascular and gastrointestinal issues, according to new research.

The smaller carbon footprint, or wheel print, of automatic delivery robots can encourage consumers to use them when ordering food, according to a new study. The suitcase-sized, self-driving electric vehicles are much greener than many traditional food delivery methods because they have low, or even zero, carbon emissions. In this study, participants who had more environmental awareness and knowledge about carbon emissions were more likely to choose the robots as a delivery method. The green influence went away though when people perceived the robots as a high-risk choice -- meaning they worried that their food would be late, cold or otherwise spoiled before it arrived.

The smaller carbon footprint, or wheel print, of automatic delivery robots can encourage consumers to use them when ordering food, according to a new study. The suitcase-sized, self-driving electric vehicles are much greener than many traditional food delivery methods because they have low, or even zero, carbon emissions. In this study, participants who had more environmental awareness and knowledge about carbon emissions were more likely to choose the robots as a delivery method. The green influence went away though when people perceived the robots as a high-risk choice -- meaning they worried that their food would be late, cold or otherwise spoiled before it arrived.

Scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery in the field of nanotechnology. They have developed a novel microscopy method that allows for the unprecedented visualization of nanostructures and their optical properties.

Researchers have used silicon photonic microchip components to perform a quantum sensing technique called atom interferometry, an ultra-precise way of measuring acceleration. It is the latest milestone toward developing a kind of quantum compass for navigation when GPS signals are unavailable.

Researchers have started to unravel the mysteries of how near-horizontal bowling in cricket leads to such tough-to-hit balls. The team employed a wake survey rake device made of multiple tubes designed to capture the pressure downstream of the ball and examined the flow dynamics of cricket balls rotating up to 2,500 rpm in a wind tunnel. The group found that low-pressure zones expanded and intensified near the ball when spinning, while these zones shifted and diminished downstream. At higher spin rates, the low-pressure zone begins to change to a persistent bilobed shape. The results lend support to the theory that these newer bowling techniques tap into the Magnus effect.

Researchers used large language models to efficiently detect anomalies in time-series data, without the need for costly and cumbersome training steps. This method could someday help alert technicians to potential problems in equipment like wind turbines or satellites.

Researchers used large language models to efficiently detect anomalies in time-series data, without the need for costly and cumbersome training steps. This method could someday help alert technicians to potential problems in equipment like wind turbines or satellites.

A fire at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine has former workers at the facility worried about a lack of experienced personnel and equipment needed to keep it safe

Cases of prostate cancer are surging alarmingly around the world. Thankfully, we are developing more accurate tests that can catch the condition early

Yesterday we visited a section of Table Mountain National Park, a part that was formerly called Cape Peninsula Park. The latter includes a large natural area that houses the extreme southwestern tip of Africa: The Cape of Good Hope.

On the night before, though, we dined on bobotie, a recipe from the Cape Malay region of South Africa, though Wikipedia gives it an ancient origin. Rita made the salad and main dish:

Bobotie appears to be a variant of patinam ex lacte, a dish documented by the ancient Roman writer Apicius consisting of layers of cooked meat, pine nuts, and seasoned with pepper, celery seeds and asafoetida. These were cooked until the flavours had blended, when a top layer of egg and milk was added. When the latter had set, the dish was ready to be served. C. Louis Leipoldt, a South African writer and gourmet, wrote that the recipe was known in Europe in the seventeenth century.

The bobotie, made with fruit as well, was terrific:

But Martim, who, I’m told, is a creditable baker, made a pear crumble with chocolate. I had it with sour cream on top. Yum!

On the drive there, we saw dozens of chacma baboons by the roadside, along with many signs saying “Beware of baboons” or “Do not feed the baboons.” They are hungry and aggressive, and often vicious.  If show them a banana, you have a good chance of dying. This one was grooming another, and the groomee apparently enjoyed its belly rub.

A troop. The babies are very cute, but the signs have made me scared of them. As I said before, a few years ago one of these squalid primates, being chased by a guard, jumped on Martim’s back and knocked him over.

A map of the park, which occupies the Peninsula. There’s a large “false bay” to the east which fooled early sailors who took a hard left at the Cape of Good Hope prominence at the tip of the Peninsula.  Rather then turning into the false bay, you take a gentle left and, lo, you’re on the way around Africa.

The first European to circle the southern tip of Africa was the Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias in early 1488, paving the way for a route from Europe to India. Dias was in on the beginning of Vasco da Gama‘s successful expedition that made it to India exactly ten years later, and then returned. (Dias, however, got off at the Cape Verde Islands, and died on another venture around Africa in 1500, perishing in a storm—ironically at the Cape of Good Hope.)

This area is where the warm currents of the Indian Ocean meet the frigid currents from Antarctica. This is described below:

The entrance to False Bay, with the Cape of Good Hope (a small mountain) to the right and out of sight (see below):

The False Bay is where you wind up if you make a hard left at the Cape of Good hope. You have to make a gentle left heading towards Gansbaai and then keep hugging the African coast to really circle the southern tip of Africa:

The Cape of Good Hope, described as the extreme southwest tip of Africa, is the smallish “mountain” denuded of vegetation, to the rear:

Lo, the Cape of Good Hope:

A happy kid and his dad at the Cape. (The kid was laughing, not crying.)

A “pagoda”, or species of Mimetes, related to Proteus:

A cluster spiderhead (Serruria glomerata), a narrow endemic in the area:

Common silkypuff (Diastella divaricata), also found only on the Cape Peninsula:

A plant with the Afrikaans name of Hangertjies (Erica plukenetii):

Watch out for tortoises! Apparently the park is loaded with tortoises, but it was chilly yesterday and none showed. We did see one reptile (see below):

A black girdled lizard (Cordylus niger), which occurs only in several mountains on the Cape Peninsula, so it’s a narrow endemic:

Spot the lizard, peeking out for a bit of sun:

A sign by a steep cliff near the Cape of Good Hope. The meaning is clear:

A common eland (Taurotragus oryx), the second largest antelope in the world after the giant eland (also of Africa). Note two red-winged starlings on its back, eating the mammal’s parasites.

The widespread Greater Crested Tern (Thalasseus bergii), distributed widely in the tropical and subtropical Old World:

Cape cormorants (Phalacrocorax capensis) and one white-breasted cormorant (Phalacrocorax lucidus).

The park harbors common ostriches (Struthio camelus), and three of them crossed the road ahead of us. I was terribly excited as this was the first ratite I’d seen in the wild. They are BIG! (The black color gives this away as a male; females are browner.)

Evolution wound up with some strange (but well adapted) products:

One of several bontebok (Damaliscus pygargus), a medium-sized antelope.

They have white butts:

Martim took these pictures for me; the birds come to a feeder in our garden. This is a Cape White-Eye (Zosterops virens), native to southern Africa. The source of its name is obvious.

And two photos of a beautiful male Southern double-collared sunbird (Cinnyris chalybeus); the female is brown. As you can guess from where it’s sitting and the shape of its bill, it’s a nectar feeder. It’s a metallic malachite green with a red and a yellow collar:

On to Kruger today (if the weather is okay)!