Update: March 18, 2008

LIVING IN SPACE AND THE FROG FROM HELL

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.

Greetings everyone! I thought I’d start with a story that’s near and dear to my heart. It’s been a great disappointment to me that humans didn’t follow up on the space successes of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. Of course, they weren’t really ‘space’ successes, they were ‘war’ successes and the collapse of the Soviet Union removed any more competition. And in case you were wondering why our government has decided that humans should once again venture beyond low Earth orbit, you have only to realize that China is planning to put their astronauts on the Moon. But the real impetus for space travel shouldn’t be war (which is what it’s always been) or even scientific research (the stated reason). It should be something much more exciting. It should be tourism. I have always said that once enough people realize that if you fill an underground space on the Moon with Earth-normal air pressure; you personally can strap on a pair of wings and FLY, there will be no stopping space exploration. Of course, right now it costs about $10,000 a pound to get into low Earth orbit but once you’re there, it costs virtually nothing to go anywhere else. And there are plans afoot according to researchers at the University of Delaware. In fact, they predict the “final frontier” could begin showing up in travel guides by 2010.

I CAN FLY!

“In the twenty-first century, space tourism could represent the most significant development experienced by the tourism industry,” says Prof. Fred DeMicco, of the University of Delaware’s Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management program. What kind of person will be lured to space travel? Is it those of us who've loved “The Jetsons,” “Star Trek,” or peering at the heavens through a telescope? DeMicco says that right now space is a destination for the 'extreme tourists'--tourists who want the ultimate new travel adventure. While only a few multimillionaires have been able to afford the current $20 million price tag to go up in a Russian rocket for a two-week stay at the International Space Station, shorter, more affordable suborbital space flights, costing perhaps $80,000 per trip, likely will drive space tourism in the near future. Suborbital trips are likely to become available to tourists by 2010-2015, while tourism in space hotels is on a longer trajectory, predicted to become a reality in 2025. Besides providing spectacular views of the home planet, space tourists would suddenly make Leonardo da Vinci's dreams and drawings of human-powered flight possible, using fabric wings attached to the arms, and tails attached to the ankles. A safer, cheaper launch system is critical if space travel is to become more commonplace in the future. An elevator rising tens of thousands of miles into space is one possibility that scientists and entrepreneurs are considering. A space elevator will climb an enormous cable, like Jack up the beanstalk, to a terminal where passengers and cargo can board spacecraft for the trip farther out. Until recently this was a fantasy because there were no materials strong enough to build such a cable but carbon nanotubes up to twenty times stronger than steel are approaching mass production, and engineers say a space elevator could be completed within fifteen years. Lunar hotels are in the planning stages. Galactic Suites is known as the first space hotel, and they promote delivering 15 sunrises and sunsets in a single day--for the adventure travelers who are willing to spend approximately $4 million for a three-day 'stay' in space. Companies such as Japan's Shimizu Corporation have focused on the design of an orbital hotel in space, with rotating rings to provide artificial gravity.

We’ll leave dreams of space behind and travel to what has become our weekly trip to the polar regions. We’ll be exploring a lake in Antarctica again, but this isn’t a lake like most lakes. For one thing, it’s full of . . . lye?

LOOKING FOR LIFE IN ALL THE WRONG PLACES

A group of scientists is now exploring one of the strangest lakes in the world. Antarctica's Lake Untersee is fed by glaciers, always covered with ice, and very alkaline. The upper 200 feet of lake water is so alkaline it has the same pH as bleach. And to make it even more interesting, the lake's sediments produce more methane than any other natural body of water on our planet. So what are the researchers looking for in this bizarre lake? Life. And if Lake Untersee has life, it will have important implications for life elsewhere in the solar system. Lake Untersee is a sort of test case for other exotic places around the solar system like Mars, the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn and even comets where life might be found in the extremes. Many of those places are very cold and methane-rich rather like Lake Untersee. We’ve discovered over the years that you don't have to have a 'Goldilocks' zone with perfect temperature and a certain pH level to find life. Researchers have found microbes living in ice, in boiling water and in nuclear reactors. These "strange" extremophiles may in fact be the norm for life elsewhere in the cosmos. The scientists hope to identify some new limits for life in terms of temperature and pH levels to help them decide where to search for life on other planets and how to recognize alien life when we actually find it. Life at the microscopic level is very hardy. Several years ago, researchers found microbes in a tunnel in an Alaskan glacier that came to life as the ice around them melted. These bacteria had been frozen for at least 32,000 years and were able to go back to "business as usual" as they thawed out. If microscopic creatures on Earth can do that, why not microscopic creatures on other planets? Lake Untersee may hold some answers to these questions but what is found there will probably raise more questions. That is the nature of science! And now we’ll move on to a couple of stories about vanished animals. One is recent and puzzling and the other . . . well, you probably want this one to stay gone!

OH NO! NOT THE EASTER BUNNY!

A new study by the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society found that jackrabbits living in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem have apparently hopped into oblivion. The authors of the study also speculate that the disappearance of jackrabbits may be having region-wide impacts on a variety of other prey species and their predators. According to the study, historical records from more than 130 years ago indicate that white-tailed jack rabbits were once locally abundant in Greater Yellowstone, a 25,000 square mile ecosystem that contains both Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. However, the WCS study found that no jackrabbit sightings could be confirmed in Yellowstone since 1991 and only three in Grand Teton since 1978. No one knows what has caused the rabbits to disappear, according to the study's lead author, Dr. Joel Berger, a Wildlife Conservation Society conservationist, and professor at the University of Montana. "It could be disease, extreme weather, predation or other factors," Dr. Berger said. Dr. Berger believes that the absence of jackrabbits -- historically important prey species in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem -- may be causing elevated predation by coyotes on juvenile elk, pronghorn antelopes and other ungulates. Elsewhere, when rabbit densities drop, predators often take down more livestock. But without baseline data on rabbit numbers in Greater Yellowstone, assessing the impacts of predators such as grey wolves, which were reintroduced in 1995, becomes more difficult.

Berger suggests that wildlife managers should consider reintroduction of white-tailed jackrabbits into the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Loss of a species can have serious ecological costs. Where have all the rabbits gone? No one knows!

THE FROG FROM HELL

A gigantic frog fossil from Madagascar has been recently discovered and nicknamed Beelzebufo or ‘the frog from Hell’. The new frog resembles living horned toads because it has a squat body, a huge head and a wide mouth. It was also over 14 inches long (not counting the legs) and it weighed around 10 pounds, making it more than twice the size of its largest living relatives.

Beelzebufo would have been the size of a slightly squashed beach ball, with short legs and a big mouth. If it shared the aggressive temperament and 'sit-and-wait' ambush tactics of living Horned toads, it would have been a formidable predator on small animals. Its diet would most likely have consisted of insects and small vertebrates like lizards, but it's not impossible that Beelzebufo might even have munched on hatchling or juvenile dinosaurs. The frog that ate the dinosaurs! And you thought our toads were annoying. How’d you like to come home some night and find Beelzebufo sitting in the dog’s dish?

YOU’RE RUN BY WHAT YOU WEAR? Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are developing the perfect complement to the power tie: a "power shirt" that can generate electricity to power small electronic devices for soldiers in the field, hikers and well, the rest of us too. Pairs of textile fibers covered with zinc oxide nanowires can generate electrical current using the piezoelectric effect. Combining current flow from many fiber pairs woven into a shirt or jacket could allow the wearer's body movement to power a range of portable electronic devices. The fibers could also be woven into curtains, tents or other structures to capture energy from wind motion, sound vibration or other mechanical energy. So far, the researchers have measured current of about four nanoamperes and output voltage of about four millivolts from a nanogenerator that included two fibers that were each one centimeter long. With a much improved design, Wang estimates that a square meter of fabric made from the special fibers could theoretically generate as much as 80 milliwatts of power. As a next step, the researchers want to combine multiple fiber pairs to increase the current and voltage levels. They also plan to improve conductance of their fibers. Unfortunately, one very significant challenge lies ahead for the power shirt. The washing machine. Zinc oxide is extremely sensitive to moisture, so the researchers have to figure out how to protect the nanowires from the effects of the weekly laundry. Here’s hoping they figure it out soon! And now for a little bit about a different type of ‘clothing’. JUST LOOK AT THAT SPARKLE Archeologists researching the Rosalila temple built by the Ancient Mayans in Honduras have discovered that the stucco masks on the corner of the temple were covered in brilliant red paint that contains the mineral mica. "The Rosalila temple would have been one of the highest buildings of the valley in its time and it was built by the Mayan ruler to exhibit his power and impress his subjects. The Rosalila temple is remarkably preserved since it was buried beneath another temple. It is located at Copan, the famous Maya archaeological and tourist site in Honduras. Copan was first populated in 1600 BC, but it wasn't until the cultural heyday of AD 400-800 that the Rosalila was built. Mystery surrounds the Maya people, who had largely disappeared by about AD 900. The Rosalila is a fine example of Copan buildings, which were painted in red and white, and had beautiful masks and carvings painted in multiple colors. Robot telescopes, rare livestock, glittering temples. Cruise on over to the Deep Website at www.thedeepradioshow.com to learn more about these and many other topics. Enjoy!

Cruise on over to the Deep Website at www.thedeepradioshow.com to learn more about Antarctica, ELR, Jupiter and many other topics. Enjoy!