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‘Vast’ reserves of frozen water on Mars pole: study
SPECTRAL images from the European Space Agency’s Mars Express Orbiter show there is plenty of icy water at the southern pole of Mars, French scientists have said.
Weeks after Nasa’s Mars rovers uncovered evidence of water on the Red Planet, images from the OMEGA instrument aboard the Mars Express indicate its southern pole has three distinct areas containing water ice.
“We present the first direct identification and mapping of both carbon dioxide and water ice in the Martian high southern latitudes,” Jean-Pierre Bibring of the Institut d’Astrophique Spatiale in Orsay, France, said in a report published online by the science journal Nature.
The images were taken at the end of the summer on Mars so they show that the ice is present all year. Bibring and his colleagues also observed exposed water ice in a region further from the southern cap, where a large amount of water ice is thought to be buried.
The scientists deciphered the chemical makeup of the pole by studying the amounts of light and heat reflected from the area, allowing them to distinguish dust, CO2 and water ice.
“All the previous instruments did not have this capability of identifying all the components of what was observed,” Bibring said in a telephone interview.
The scientists will also be analyzing data from the northern pole of Mars.
“We will be in the process in the coming months of evaluating the global surface of water and CO2 (on Mars),” Bibring added.
The latest evidence, combined with findings from Nasa’s rovers, gives scientists more information about whether the conditions to sustain life existed on Mars in the past and if the planet could support life in the future.
“The answers depend on understanding the past and present distribution of both water and CO2,” Timothy Titus, of the US Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Ariz., said in a commentary on the research.
Water would be needed to support a manned mission to the planet. Determining how much and where the water is located is also necessary to understand Martian climates.
“Human exploration, and ultimate colonization, of Mars depend on accessibility to one resource — water,” said Titus.
“Martian water is necessary not only for human consumption, but is also the key to making breathable air and fuel for the return trip to Earth. For life on Mars, water is the elixir,” he added.
Portable power for the heart
Targeted at physicians and hospital emergency departments, the Titan system provides a portable tool that can perform both radiology and cardiology examinations, including full echocardiography and vascular studies, the company says. The upgraded version improves the vascular studies software, output options, image quality, and other features of the device.
Echocardiography is an ultrasound imaging process used to detect heart disease. The ultrasound reflects echoes from the heart as a series of lines on a tape printout or machine display, which are then interpreted by a physician or cardiologist.
At 7.7 pounds, Titan is designed for portability, says Dave Willis, vice product of product and channel management at SonoSite: “[Physicians] can take it from one clinic to another.”
The core technology in Titan is based on an ASIC (Application Specified Integrated Circuit) designed by SonoSite, Willis says. Ultrasound systems typically require separate circuit boards, but SonoSite pulled the necessary components together on a single board to create the portable device, he says.
Titan’s new features allow a physician to perform echocardiography studies that meet the standards required by health insurance companies for a complete echocardiography examination, says Willis. “The functionality of the device is as good as in the lab. When customers ask for fancier features like 3D [imaging], we tell them to go buy a big cart.”
The upgraded device can perform some of the work typically done in a laboratory, including multiple forms of Doppler imaging and measurement, which uses signals to detect and measure blood flow; tissue harmonic imaging, which uses signals to provide visualization of tissue interfaces; and time-motion mode imaging and measurement, which helps show cardiac functions over a period of time.
Titan has a magnesium case and boots up in less than 12 seconds, according to Willis. It has an 8.4-inch LCD screen and runs for 2 to 3 hours on a single battery charge, he says. The device has two CompactFlash slots—one for image storage and the second for upgrades to the device. It can withstand being dropped from 30 inches, Willis says.
Delivery for Titan is scheduled for mid-June worldwide, Willis says. Its estimated price will be around $40,000.
Germs off the office PC
Office workers are exposed to more germs from their phones and keyboards than toilet seats, scientists reveal.
Work stations contain nearly 400 times as many microbes than lavatories, it is claimed.
Office equipment should be regularly disinfected to prevent the spread of viruses and bacteria responsible for disease.
The reality of our grubby working environments is exposed in a study by the University of Arizona.
A desk is capable of supporting 10 million microbes and the average office contains 20,961 microbes per square inch, according to research. The key offenders are telephones, which harbour up to 25,127 microbes per square inch, keyboards 3,295 and computer mice 1,676.
Microbiologist Dr Charles Gerba, of the University of Arizona, who carried out the research, said: “When someone is infected with a cold or flu bug the surfaces they touch during the day become germ transfer points because some cold and flu viruses can survive on surfaces for up to 72 hours.
The study found that where office workers who were told to clean their desks with disinfecting wipes, bacterial levels were reduced by 99 per cent.
Obesity cuts diabetic life span
Obesity can reduce life expectancy by eight years in people with Type 2 diabetes, research suggests. A study by the University of Surrey and the Royal Free and University College Medical School looked at over 44,000 patients with “adult onset” diabetes.
Benet Middleton, Chief Executive of the charity Diabetes UK said the findings were worrying as 80 per cent of people with Type 2 diabetes are overweight. He said the findings are a wake up call to the government to act on obesity.
It develops when the body becomes resistant to the effects of insulin, and is most common in people over 40. — Sci-tech World Report
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