At some point in its early history, Mars could have had a thin layer of icy, high-altitude clouds that caused a greenhouse effect, new research suggests.
The theory helps explain one of the great puzzles of modern space science that the view from NASA’s Perseverance, which just landed on Mars, neatly sums up: Today Mars is a desert planet, and yet the rover is sitting right next to an ancient river delta.
“Mars is important because it’s the only planet we know of that had the ability to support life and then lost it.”
The apparent contradiction has puzzled scientists for decades, especially because at the same time that Mars had flowing rivers, it was getting less than a third as much sunshine as we enjoy today on Earth.
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Credit: NASA and JPL-Caltech.
One of the great mysteries of modern space science is neatly summed up by the view from NASA s Perseverance, which just landed on Mars: Today it s a desert planet, and yet the rover is sitting right next to an ancient river delta.
The apparent contradiction has puzzled scientists for decades, especially because at the same time that Mars had flowing rivers, it was getting less than a third as much sunshine as we enjoy today on Earth.
But a new study led by University of Chicago planetary scientist Edwin Kite, an assistant professor of geophysical sciences and an expert on climates of other worlds, uses a computer model to put forth a promising explanation: Mars could have had a thin layer of icy, high-altitude clouds that caused a greenhouse effect.
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VIDEO: Subunits B (blue), B-1 (cyan), and B-2 (gray) depicted as ribbon diagrams. Initially bound to B-1, subunit B unflattens, straining contact between subunits until they separate. The resulting loose lateral. view more
Credit: Vilmos Zsolnay, University of Chicago.
Our cells are filled with bones, in a sense. Thin, flexible protein strands called actin filaments help support and move around the bulk of the cells of eukaryotes, which includes all plants and animals. Always on the go, actin filaments constantly grow, shrink, bind with other things, and branch off when cells move.
Supercomputer simulations have helped solve the mystery of how actin filaments polymerize, or chain together. This fundamental research could be applied to treatments to stop cancer spread, develop self-healing materials, and more.