Update: January 2, 2008

OUTER AND INNER SPACE

By Pam Eastlick for THE DEEP on line

Welcome to The Deep science and technology column where we cover topics from the deep sea to deep space and beyond.

We’ll start the first column of the New Year with what’s closest to my heart (and my job!); a little space news.  We’re always wondering if the aliens are here (they aren’t) or if they are going to contact us (probably not), but there’s new evidence that they may be much closer than we ever dreamed possible.

ALIENS?
Scientists analyzing data gathered by the Cassini spacecraft have confirmed the presence of heavy negative ions in the upper regions of Titan's atmosphere.  These particles may act as organic building blocks for even more complicated molecules and their discovery was completely unexpected because of the chemical composition of the atmosphere (which lacks oxygen and mainly consists of nitrogen and methane).  The observation has now been verified on 16 different encounters.

These negative ions have 10,000 the mass of hydrogen; the lightest element and carbon rings can build on these ions to form molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which may act as a basis for the earliest forms of life.  Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or PAH’s were also discovered in the meteors from Mars that were discovered in the Antarctic several years ago.  Their presence led researches to wonder if there could have been life on Mars in the distant past.

Researchers have also discovered tholins in Titan’s atmosphere.  Tholins are very large, complex, organic molecules thought to include chemical precursors to life.  Understanding how they form could provide valuable insight into the origin of life in the solar system.  We may not be alone, after all.
And now a short bit about one of my favorite spacecraft.

THE LITTLE ROBOT THAT COULD
Voyager 2, the ‘energizer bunny’ of NASA spacecraft is set to cross the Sun’s termination shock early in 2008.  The termination shock is the spherical shell around the Sun that marks where the solar wind slows down to subsonic speed

Although we don’t think of it this way, it is perfectly true to say that Earth and all the other planets are inside the Sun because the Sun’s physical presence doesn’t end with the million-mile-wide sphere that comprises the bulk of the Sun’s matter.

Our Sun puts out storms of ions and other material called the solar wind that fills the solar system to far beyond Neptune.  And Voyager 2, which was launched 30 years ago in 1977, has finally reached the beginning of the end of the Sun.

At the termination shock, located at 7-8.5 BILLION miles from the Sun, the solar wind is decelerated to less than the speed of sound. The boundary of the termination shock is not fixed, however, but wobbly, fluctuating in both time and distance from the sun, depending on solar activity.

Because Voyager 2's crossing of the shock is expected to be an abrupt and relatively brief event, scientists are working to ensure that the most is made of the opportunity.  With an idea of when the spacecraft will cross the shock, they are better able to maximize coverage of the crossing.

Sail on, Voyager.  You’re headed for the stars!
	Voyager 2 was launched Aug. 20, 1977.  It visited four planets and their moons in the course of its journey into space.  Its sister spacecraft Voyager 1, which was launched Sept. 5, 1977, crossed the termination shock in December 2004 -- earlier than Voyager 2 because of a shorter trajectory.  Both spacecraft are currently operational, but power sources have degraded and some of the instrumentation no longer works optimally.  In the future, the spacecraft will encounter their next milestone in space: the heliopause, which is the boundary where the interstellar medium brings the solar wind to a halt.
A computer simulation by a physicist predicts the Voyager 2 spacecraft will reach a major milestone in space in early 2008. (Credit: NASA/Walt Feimer)

And now, we’ll turn our attention from the outer frontier to the inner frontier.  We know much more about the surface of Mars than we do about the surface of our own planet and I have a couple of stories to prove it.

A BIG FLOOD
Scientists have recent discovered the longest flow of mud and sand on Earth off the coast of Africa.  It’s over a thousand miles long and a hundred miles wide and it happened 60,000 years ago.
The volume of material transported in this gigantic event is one of the largest events to ever occur on planet Earth.  It’s 10 times the mass transported to the ocean every year by all of the Earth's rivers.  And we’ve just discovered it.  Although we know more than we used to about three-fourths of the Earth’s surface, there’s obviously a lot more to find out.  Which brings us to our next story about a really novel way to gather information.

FISH TURNS GEOLOGIST
Geologists have turned to a novel source to help them learn more about the sea bottom; the Antarctic toothfish.  The Antarctic toothfish is a big fish about four feet long with an average weight about 80 pounds (although some have been caught that are as big and heavy as a man). 

The Antarctic toothfish is called that because it has a big mouth full of fang-like teeth.  It’s a predator that feeds on squid and fish, but the toothfish is also eaten by sperm whales and humans.  They are caught in large numbers, which brings us to their usefulness to geologists.  Toothfish swallow stones, lots of them and some of them are large and weigh over a pound.

Researchers don’t know why the toothfish does this, they may use them to help grind food or for ballast, but if you’re a fish, the only place you can find rocks is on the seafloor.  And if you are an Antarctic toothfish, the seafloor where you get your rocks is hidden from those pesky human researchers by deep water and lots of ice.

During two fishing seasons, specialists collected stones from the Antarctic toothfish stomachs in the Antarctic Ross Sea and Amundsen Sea.  The researchers have assumed that the fish doesn’t pick and choose the stones it swallows so they can be used to sample the geological characteristics of the seafloor.  Researchers have already made some surprising conclusions about the geologic history of Antarctica using their living dredges.  Knowledge is where you find it!

Now read on for news about another man-sized discovery!

GIANT SCORPION
The Antarctic toothfish isn’t the only man-sized sea creature.  The recent discovery of a giant fossilized claw from an ancient sea scorpion in a quarry in Germany, indicates that when alive it would have been over eight feet long, much taller than the average man. This find, from rocks 390 million years old, suggests that spiders, insects, crabs and similar creatures were much larger in the past than we previously thought.  It’s an amazing discovery.  We’ve known for a long time that the fossil record yields monster millipedes, super-sized scorpions, colossal cockroaches, and jumbo dragonflies, but we never realized, until now, just how big some of them really were. Some geologists believe that giant arthropods evolved because of higher levels of atmospheric oxygen in the past.  Others believe they evolved in an 'arms race' with their likely prey, the early armored fish. I’m sure glad I’m not likely to run into one of these any time soon! And now, an ocean-related story that could have unpleasant connotations for us.
	Mock up of fossil sea scorpion, compared to man. (Credit: Simon Powell)

GETTING AN ACCURATE STORM COUNT
So, are there more hurricanes and typhoons than there used to be?  Data from a new study says that may be true.  Researchers have been slow to say this because counting tropical storms that occurred before the era of aircraft and satellites relied on ships logs and hurricane landfalls.  Since there was no way to detect the storms that weren’t seen by unfortunate ships or didn’t make landfall somewhere, most researchers suspected that historic tropical storms in the Atlantic Ocean were seriously undercounted. 
However, a statistical model based on the climate factors that influence Atlantic tropical storm activity shows that the estimates currently used are only slightly below modeled numbers and indicate that the numbers of tropical storms in the recent past are, in fact, increasing.

In the past, some researchers assumed that a constant percentage of all storms made landfall and they compared the number of tropical storms making landfall with the total number of reported storms for that year.  Other researchers looked at ship logs and ship tracks to determine how likely a tropical storm would have been missed.   In the early 1900s and before, there were probably not sufficient ships crossing the Atlantic to ensure full coverage.

However, accurate counts of Atlantic tropical cyclones began in 1944 when aircraft became common and satellite coverage began in the 1970s.  With more than 60 years of accurate hurricane counts, the researchers looked at other, independent ways to determine the number of hurricanes before 1944.
They looked at how the cycle of El Nino/La Nina, the pattern of the northern hemisphere jet stream and tropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures influence tropical storm generation by creating a model that includes these three climate variables.  There’s weather information that records this worldwide luctuation that goes back to 1870 and beyond.

The statistical model proved successful in various tests of accuracy.  The model also predicted 15 total Atlantic tropical storms with an error margin of 4 before the 2007 season began.  There were 14 tropical storms in the Atlantic last year.  So . . . when do we get this kind of research done for the Pacific?

And now some quick tidbits about your health.

NO, NOT THE FLIGHTLESS BIRD!
Tired of spinach, bored with broccoli?  Experts say there’s a new generation of superfoods that promise to do double or triple-duty when it comes to preventing illness.  At the top of the list—kiwi.  In a recent study that tested the nutritional qualities of 27 fruits, kiwi was found to be one of the most nutritionally dense.  Kiwis are full of antioxidants, vitamin E and lutein. T hey ward off vision problems, blood clots, and even lower cholesterol—almost as effectively as the second new superfood on the list—barley.
Researchers at USDA found that barley specifically can lower your LDL or ‘bad’ cholesterol by 17.4 percent, which is a phenomenal percentage.  Barley, a grain, can be added to soups or even eaten instead of oatmeal for breakfast.

Next on the superfood list is a traditional holiday favorite—cranberries.  Bright red cranberries are flavonoids and flavonoids, which are high in antioxidants, help prevent everything from infections to strokes and cancer. And finally, a close cousin to an old superfood, broccoli sprouts.  Broccoli sprouts have been shown to actually contain 20 percent more anti-cancer agents than regular broccoli.  Broccoli sprouts are sold by the package and can be thrown on top of salads or can be a great addition to sandwiches. Can you find them at your local Payless.  Probably.  And they’re better for you than red rice and Spam!

Exotic fruits dish, with kiwi, oranges, and cranberries. (Credit: iStockphoto/Anastasiya Maksymenko)

A NOVEL CAUSE FOR MIGRAINES
Do you suffer from migraine headaches?  Doctors have recently discovered that your head may hurt because of your heart.  Cardiologists at Rush University Medical Center are investigating whether a heart procedure may be the key to relieving migraines in patients with severe headaches.

Earlier studies indicated there might be a link between a particular congenital heart anomaly, a patent foramen ovale (PFO), and migraine.  Some patients (particularly those suffering from migraine with aura) have had reductions in the frequency and severity of their migraines following closure of their PFO. 

A PFO is a small opening between two overlapping sections of tissue, which form a division between the upper chambers of the heart, the right atrium and the left atrium.  In the womb, this opening is present since it makes circulation more efficient for the developing fetus.  After birth, the flaps normally fuse together to form a solid wall, called a septum, between the chambers.  However, in about 25 percent of the population, the flaps do not fuse together.

The PFO then works like a valve, staying closed most of the time but opening when certain activities cause a build up of pressure inside the chest.  When opened, the PFO may permit unfiltered venous blood to cross from the right atrium to the left atrium rather than passing through the lungs. The unfiltered venous blood may contain elements that can trigger migraines in some patients.

So, if you have migraines often, it just might be worthwhile to ask your doctor about your heart.  And now we move on to taking your medication.

INCREASING YOUR MEDICINE’S EFFECTIVENESS
Many of us take medicine of some kind every day.  And most of us take that medication in the form of pills.  Did you even wonder just how the pills you take make you better?  Did you even wonder how that pill that supposed to help your heart or your head or your body aches actually gets from your mouth to your heart or your headache or your shoulder.

It turns out that the answer is “it doesn’t” for much of your medication.  A substantial proportion of more than half of all medicines taken by mouth are broken down in the intestine and liver, by an enzyme known as CYP3A, before they reach their site of action.

Scientists from The Netherlands Cancer Institute have produced mice that don’t make CYP3A and found that the anticancer drug docetaxol was found to accumulate in the tissues of these mice at much higher levels than in normal mice.

These data indicate that CYP3A is breaking the taxol down and preventing it from doing its job and the researchers feel that these mice can provide a powerful tool to help predict whether drugs being developed will work effectively if given orally.  From the outer limits of the solar system to the inner reaches of your own body.  Science really is everywhere!