Someday, a catalog of molecular fragments might help scientists identify extraterrestrial life on our solar system’s icy moons.
JoAnna Wendel
JoAnna Wendel is a freelance science writer and cartoonist. She covers topics ranging from the geology of faraway moons to the behavior of animals in our oceans. She served as a staff writer for Eos from 2014 to 2018, then worked in communications in NASA’s Planetary Sciences Division. JoAnna is now freelancing full time as a writer and artist.
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An Ice Probe on Earth Could Help Us Find Life in Space
An instrument called WATSON can help find biosignatures on icy ocean worlds.
Posted inGeoFIZZ
Dune Universe Inspires Titan’s Nomenclature
Across the solar system, science collides with science fiction in literary ways.
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Aquatic Plants May Help Chesapeake Bay Resist Ocean Acidification
In freshwater vegetation flats upstream of the Chesapeake, chemical reactions create molecules that raise pH levels in the bay.
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Will COVID’s Cleaner Skies Muddy Climate Models?
Reduced greenhouse gas emissions for a year or two won’t slow down climate change, but they may throw off scientists’ ability to model short-term phenomena.
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Hackathon Participants Solve Global Problems—from Home
More than 200 participants from 38 countries joined the virtual INSPIRE Hackathon to solve problems in food security, transportation, and more.
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How Routine Monitors Weather the Pandemic Storm
Much of routine monitoring can be done remotely these days, but networks aren’t completely immune to COVID-19’s society-halting symptoms.
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Ancient Impact’s Seismic Waves Reveal Pluto’s Ocean, Core
By modeling the waves produced by a massive, ancient impact, scientists have begun to unlock the secrets of Pluto’s interior.
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Scientists Search for Deltas on Saturn’s Largest Moon
Saturn’s moon Titan has rivers that empty into seas…but where are the deltas?
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How Scientists Search for Martian Methane
Finding subsurface reserves of methane on Mars could revolutionize human space travel, but it won’t be an easy hunt.