Science at Low Frequencies with the Long Wavelength Array
The Long Wavelength Array (LWA) is a new multi-purpose radio telescope operating in the frequency range 5-88 MHz with many different operational modes.
Earth's Long-Term Biogeochemical Evolution: a View From the Upper Crust
Earth's surface chemistry is controlled, at the most fundamental level, by mass exchanges occurring between the surface environment and the lithosphere. Although this has been recognized for more than 100 years, it has generally been assumed that erosion and recycling are the dominant process signals in the surviving rock record, and that erosion and destruction is roughly in balance with rates of sedimentation.
A More Vast and Accessible Martian Sedimentary Rock Record
What was Earth like when life arose on our planet? Sedimentary rocks provide records of ancient environments, but the ever-active Earth did not preserve its oldest sediments. However, our neighboring world, Mars, did. Of course, we do not know whether Mars had life, but the planet has an older and accessible sedimentary rock record that can tell us something about environments that could be analogous to those of early Earth. The evidence that Mars has sedimentary rocks was first published in December 2000.
Stress- and Reaction-Driven Melt Segregation – Formation of High-Permeability Paths in the Mantle
Separation of small amounts of melt from the residual solid and migration of that melt from deep beneath a mid-ocean ridge to its eruption at Earth’s surface require a transition from porous to channelized flow in order to preserve chemical and radiogenic disequilibrium. Chemically isolated, high-permeability melt conduits in Earth’s upper mantle develop as a consequence of instabilities in the deformable, dissolvable porous media.
Science and the Art of Winemaking
Much of modern wine making in the luxury segment of the wine industry would seem familiar to a winemaker of 100 years ago. Behind the familiar, though, are new methods that are aimed at consistently producing wines of the highest quality. The modern winemaker is surprisingly often a traditionalist with a solid understanding of soil science, plant physiology, biochemistry and chemistry.
The Future of Basic Research Focused on Humans in Space after Space Station is De-Orbited
Space research has long been limited by availability of platforms with which to conduct the scientific inquiry desired. In the case of space life sciences, that inquiry was initially driven by the desire to send humans into space (and have them survive), followed by interest in longer duration human space habitation, followed by a drive to understand what it will take to have humans inhabit other planets in our solar system for years or longer. At the same time, the availability o
Exploring Solar System History through Isotopic Analysis of Extraterrestrial Dust
I study meteorites in order to understand the processes that aided and guided the formation of small planetary bodies and planets in our solar system. One of the main themes of my research is to investigate, through isotopic analyses, raw materials that came together to form the solar system.
Will Smallsats and CubeSats Revolutionize Solar System Exploration?
Size matters. In general as a spacecraft or instrument, the smaller you are, the less is the cost to get built, integrated, tested, and carried to your destination. People at JPL built the first smallsat, Explorer 1, but that was because that was all that Wernher von Braun’s U.S.
The Importance of Being There: Why I Study Active Volcanoes
More than 800 million people in 86 countries live within 100 km of dangerous volcanoes. Most of the major advances in volcanology have been made following devastating eruptions from the direction observations of the activity and eruptions of the 1,551 active volcanoes that have resulted in more than 250,000 fatalities worldwide. Seismic signatures and magmatic degassing have been the most effective indicators of eruptions.