wattsupwiththat--2020-03-13--ESO telescope observes exoplanet where it rains iron

Researchers using ESO ’ s Very Large Telescope ( VLT ) have observed an extreme planet where they suspect it rains iron .
The ultra-hot giant exoplanet has a day side where temperatures climb above 2400 degrees Celsius , high enough to vaporise metals .
Strong winds carry iron vapour to the cooler night side where it condenses into iron droplets .
“ One could say that this planet gets rainy in the evening , except it rains iron , ” says David Ehrenreich , a professor at the University of Geneva in Switzerland .
He led a study , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of this exotic exoplanet .
Known as WASP-76b , it is located some 640 light-years away in the constellation of Pisces .
This strange phenomenon happens because the ‘ iron rain ’ planet only ever shows one face , its day side , to its parent star , its cooler night side remaining in perpetual darkness .
Like the Moon on its orbit around the Earth , WASP-76b is ‘ tidally locked ‘ : it takes as long to rotate around its axis as it does to go around the star .
On @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of times more radiation from its parent star than the Earth does from the Sun .
It ’ s so hot that molecules separate into atoms , and metals like iron evaporate into the atmosphere .
The extreme temperature difference between the day and night sides results in vigorous winds that bring the iron vapour from the ultra-hot day side to the cooler night side , where temperatures decrease to around 1500 degrees Celsius .
Not only does WASP-76b have different day-night temperatures , it also has distinct day-night chemistry , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ESPRESSO instrument on ESO ’ s VLT in the Chilean Atacama Desert , the astronomers identified for the first time chemical variations on an ultra-hot gas giant planet .
They detected a strong signature of iron vapour at the evening border that separates the planet ’ s day side from its night side .
“ Surprisingly , however , we do not see the iron vapour in the morning , ” says Ehrenreich .
The reason , he says , is that “ it is raining iron on the night side of this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that iron vapour is abundant in the atmosphere of the hot day side of WASP-76b , ” adds María Rosa Zapatero Osorio , an astrophysicist at the Centre for Astrobiology in Madrid , Spain , and the chair of the ESPRESSO science team .
“ A fraction of this iron is injected into the night side owing to the planet ’ s rotation and atmospheric winds .
There , the iron encounters much cooler environments , condenses and rains down.
” This result was obtained from the very first science observations done with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the scientific consortium who built the instrument : a team from Portugal , Italy , Switzerland , Spain and ESO .
ESPRESSO — the Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanets and Stable Spectroscopic Observations — was originally designed to hunt for Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars .
However , it has proven to be much more versatile .
“ We soon realised that the remarkable collecting power of the VLT and the extreme stability of ESPRESSO made it a prime machine to study exoplanet atmospheres , ” says Pedro Figueira , ESPRESSO instrument scientist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we have now is a whole new way to trace the climate of the most extreme exoplanets , ” concludes Ehrenreich .
Editor ’ s Note : A previous version of this press release mistakenly indicated the distance to WASP-76b as being 390 light-years , based on a 2016 study .
More recent data indicates that the exoplanet is 640 light-years away .
This research was presented in a paper to appear in Nature .
The team is composed of David Ehrenreich ( Observatoire astronomique de l ’ Université de Genève , Geneva @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Christophe Lovis ( UNIGE ) , Romain Allart ( UNIGE ) , María Rosa Zapatero Osorio ( Centro de Astrobiología , Madrid , Spain [ CSIC-INTA ] ) , Francesco Pepe ( UNIGE ) , Stefano Cristiani ( INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste , Italy [ INAF Trieste ] ) , Rafael Rebolo ( Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias , Tenerife , Spain [ IAC ] ) , Nuno C. Santos ( Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço , Universidade do Porto , Portugal [ IA/UPorto ] & Departamento de Física e @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do Porto , Portugal [ FCUP ] ) , Francesco Borsa ( INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera , Merate , Italy [ INAF Brera ] ) , Olivier Demangeon ( IA/UPorto ) , Xavier Dumusque ( UNIGE ) , Jonay I. González Hernández ( IAC ) , Núria Casasayas-Barris ( IAC ) , Damien Ségransan ( UNIGE ) , Sérgio Sousa ( IA/UPorto ) , Manuel Abreu ( Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço , Universidade de Lisboa , Portugal [ IA/FCUL ] & Departamento de Física da Faculdade de Ciências da @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ] , Vardan Adibekyan [ IA/UPorto ] , Michael Affolter ( Physikalisches Institut & Center for Space and Habitability , Universität Bern , Switzerland [ Bern ] ) , Carlos Allende Prieto ( IAC ) , Yann Alibert ( Bern ) , Matteo Aliverti ( INAF Brera ) , David Alves ( IA/FCUL & FCUL ) , Manuel Amate ( IA/UPorto ) , Gerardo Avila ( European Southern Observatory , Garching bei München , Germany [ ESO ] ) , Veronica Baldini ( INAF Trieste ) , Timothy Bandy ( Bern ) , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bianco ( INAF Brera ) , Émeline Bolmont ( UNIGE ) , François Bouchy ( UNIGE ) , Vincent Bourrier ( UNIGE ) , Christopher Broeg ( Bern ) , Alexandre Cabral ( IA/FCUL & FCUL ) , Giorgio Calderone ( INAF Trieste ) , Enric Pallé ( IAC ) , H. M. Cegla ( UNIGE ) , Roberto Cirami ( INAF Trieste ) , João M. P. Coelho ( IA/FCUL & FCUL ) , Paolo Conconi ( INAF Brera ) , Igor Coretti ( INAF Trieste ) , Claudio Cumani ( ESO @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) , Hans Dekker ( ESO ) , Bernard Delabre ( ESO ) , Sebastian Deiries ( ESO ) , Valentina D ’ Odorico ( INAF Trieste & Scuola Normale Superiore , Pisa , Italy ) , Paolo Di Marcantonio ( INAF Trieste ) , Pedro Figueira ( European Southern Observatory , Santiago de Chile , Chile [ ESO Chile ] & IA/UPorto ) , Ana Fragoso ( IAC ) , Ludovic Genolet ( UNIGE ) , Matteo Genoni ( INAF Brera ) , Ricardo Génova Santos ( IAC ) , Nathan Hara @ @ @ @ @ @ @ UNIGE ) , Olaf Iwert ( ESO ) , Florian Kerber ( ESO ) , Jens Knudstrup ( ESO ) , Marco Landoni ( INAF Brera ) , Baptiste Lavie ( UNIGE ) , Jean-Louis Lizon ( ESO ) , Monika Lendl ( UNIGE & Space Research Institute , Austrian Academy of Sciences , Graz , Austria ) , Gaspare Lo Curto ( ESO Chile ) , Charles Maire ( UNIGE ) , Antonio Manescau ( ESO ) , C. J .
A. P. Martins ( IA/UPorto & Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mégevand ( UNIGE ) , Andrea Mehner ( ESO Chile ) , Giusi Micela ( INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo , Italy ) , Andrea Modigliani ( ESO ) , Paolo Molaro ( INAF Trieste & Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe , Trieste , Italy ) , Manuel Monteiro ( IA/UPorto ) , Mario Monteiro ( IA/UPorto & FCUP ) , Manuele Moschetti ( INAF Brera ) , Eric Müller ( ESO ) , Nelson Nunes ( IA ) , Luca Oggioni ( INAF Brera ) , António Oliveira ( IA/FCUL @ @ @ @ @ @ @ INAF Brera ) , Luca Pasquini ( ESO ) , Ennio Poretti ( INAF Brera & Fundación Galileo Galilei , INAF , Breña Baja , Spain ) , José Luis Rasilla ( IAC ) , Edoardo Redaelli ( INAF Brera ) , Marco Riva ( INAF Brera ) , Samuel Santana Tschudi ( ESO Chile ) , Paolo Santin ( INAF Trieste ) , Pedro Santos ( IA/FCUL & FCUL ) , Alex Segovia Milla ( UNIGE ) , Julia V. Seidel ( UNIGE ) , Danuta Sosnowska ( UNIGE ) , Alessandro @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Pino Torinese , Italy ) , Paolo Spanò ( INAF Brera ) , Alejandro Suárez Mascareño ( IAC ) , Hugo Tabernero ( CSIC-INTA & IA/UPorto ) , Fabio Tenegi ( IAC ) , Stéphane Udry ( UNIGE ) , Alessio Zanutta ( INAF Brera ) , Filippo Zerbi ( INAF Brera ) .
ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world ’ s most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far .
It has 16 Member States : Austria , Belgium , the Czech Republic , Denmark , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Italy , the Netherlands , Poland , Portugal , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland and the United Kingdom , along with the host state of Chile and with AustralIA/FCULas a Strategic Partner .
ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design , construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries .
ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research .
ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile : La Silla , Paranal and Chajnantor .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Large Telescope and its world-leading Very Large Telescope Interferometer as well as two survey telescopes , VISTA working in the infrared and the visible-light VLT Survey Telescope .
Also at Paranal ESO will host and operate the Cherenkov Telescope Array South , the world ’ s largest and most sensitive gamma-ray observatory .
ESO is also a major partner in two facilities on Chajnantor , APEX and ALMA , the largest astronomical project in existence .
And on Cerro Armazones , close to Paranal , ESO is building the 39-metre Extremely Large Telescope @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ the world ’ s biggest eye on the sky ” .
More about ESPRESSO and how it finds exoplanets – https : //www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/vlt-instr/espresso/

Researchers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have observed an extreme planet where they suspect it rains iron. The ultra-hot giant exoplanet has a day side where temperatures climb above 2400 degrees Celsius, high enough to vaporise metals. Strong winds carry iron vapour to the cooler night side where it condenses into iron droplets.
“One could say that this planet gets rainy in the evening, except it rains iron,” says David Ehrenreich, a professor at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. He led a study, published today in the journal Nature, of this exotic exoplanet. Known as WASP-76b, it is located some 640 light-years away in the constellation of Pisces.
This strange phenomenon happens because the ‘iron rain’ planet only ever shows one face, its day side, to its parent star, its cooler night side remaining in perpetual darkness. Like the Moon on its orbit around the Earth, WASP-76b is ‘tidally locked‘: it takes as long to rotate around its axis as it does to go around the star.
On its day side, it receives thousands of times more radiation from its parent star than the Earth does from the Sun. It’s so hot that molecules separate into atoms, and metals like iron evaporate into the atmosphere. The extreme temperature difference between the day and night sides results in vigorous winds that bring the iron vapour from the ultra-hot day side to the cooler night side, where temperatures decrease to around 1500 degrees Celsius.
Not only does WASP-76b have different day-night temperatures, it also has distinct day-night chemistry, according to the new study. Using the new ESPRESSO instrument on ESO’s VLT in the Chilean Atacama Desert, the astronomers identified for the first time chemical variations on an ultra-hot gas giant planet. They detected a strong signature of iron vapour at the evening border that separates the planet’s day side from its night side. “Surprisingly, however, we do not see the iron vapour in the morning,” says Ehrenreich. The reason, he says, is that “it is raining iron on the night side of this extreme exoplanet.”
“The observations show that iron vapour is abundant in the atmosphere of the hot day side of WASP-76b,” adds María Rosa Zapatero Osorio, an astrophysicist at the Centre for Astrobiology in Madrid, Spain, and the chair of the ESPRESSO science team. “A fraction of this iron is injected into the night side owing to the planet’s rotation and atmospheric winds. There, the iron encounters much cooler environments, condenses and rains down.”
This result was obtained from the very first science observations done with ESPRESSO, in September 2018, by the scientific consortium who built the instrument: a team from Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Spain and ESO.
ESPRESSO — the Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanets and Stable Spectroscopic Observations — was originally designed to hunt for Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars. However, it has proven to be much more versatile. “We soon realised that the remarkable collecting power of the VLT and the extreme stability of ESPRESSO made it a prime machine to study exoplanet atmospheres,” says Pedro Figueira, ESPRESSO instrument scientist at ESO in Chile.
“What we have now is a whole new way to trace the climate of the most extreme exoplanets,” concludes Ehrenreich.
###
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this press release mistakenly indicated the distance to WASP-76b as being 390 light-years, based on a 2016 study. More recent data indicates that the exoplanet is 640 light-years away.
More information
This research was presented in a paper to appear in Nature.
The team is composed of David Ehrenreich (Observatoire astronomique de l’Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland [UNIGE]), Christophe Lovis (UNIGE), Romain Allart (UNIGE), María Rosa Zapatero Osorio (Centro de Astrobiología, Madrid, Spain [CSIC-INTA]), Francesco Pepe (UNIGE), Stefano Cristiani (INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Italy [INAF Trieste]), Rafael Rebolo (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain [IAC]), Nuno C. Santos (Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Universidade do Porto, Portugal [IA/UPorto] & Departamento de Física e Astronomia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Portugal [FCUP]), Francesco Borsa (INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Merate, Italy [INAF Brera]), Olivier Demangeon (IA/UPorto), Xavier Dumusque (UNIGE), Jonay I. González Hernández (IAC), Núria Casasayas-Barris (IAC), Damien Ségransan (UNIGE), Sérgio Sousa (IA/UPorto), Manuel Abreu (Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal [IA/FCUL] & Departamento de Física da Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal [FCUL], Vardan Adibekyan [IA/UPorto], Michael Affolter (Physikalisches Institut & Center for Space and Habitability, Universität Bern, Switzerland [Bern]), Carlos Allende Prieto (IAC), Yann Alibert (Bern), Matteo Aliverti (INAF Brera), David Alves (IA/FCUL & FCUL), Manuel Amate (IA/UPorto), Gerardo Avila (European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany [ESO]), Veronica Baldini (INAF Trieste), Timothy Bandy (Bern), Willy Benz (Bern), Andrea Bianco (INAF Brera), Émeline Bolmont (UNIGE), François Bouchy (UNIGE), Vincent Bourrier (UNIGE), Christopher Broeg (Bern), Alexandre Cabral (IA/FCUL & FCUL), Giorgio Calderone (INAF Trieste), Enric Pallé (IAC), H. M. Cegla (UNIGE), Roberto Cirami (INAF Trieste), João M. P. Coelho (IA/FCUL & FCUL), Paolo Conconi (INAF Brera), Igor Coretti (INAF Trieste), Claudio Cumani (ESO), Guido Cupani (INAF Trieste), Hans Dekker (ESO), Bernard Delabre (ESO), Sebastian Deiries (ESO), Valentina D’Odorico (INAF Trieste & Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy), Paolo Di Marcantonio (INAF Trieste), Pedro Figueira (European Southern Observatory, Santiago de Chile, Chile [ESO Chile] & IA/UPorto), Ana Fragoso (IAC), Ludovic Genolet (UNIGE), Matteo Genoni (INAF Brera), Ricardo Génova Santos (IAC), Nathan Hara (UNIGE), Ian Hughes (UNIGE), Olaf Iwert (ESO), Florian Kerber (ESO), Jens Knudstrup (ESO), Marco Landoni (INAF Brera), Baptiste Lavie (UNIGE), Jean-Louis Lizon (ESO), Monika Lendl (UNIGE & Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz, Austria), Gaspare Lo Curto (ESO Chile), Charles Maire (UNIGE), Antonio Manescau (ESO), C. J. A. P. Martins (IA/UPorto & Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto, Portugal), Denis Mégevand (UNIGE), Andrea Mehner (ESO Chile), Giusi Micela (INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo, Italy), Andrea Modigliani (ESO), Paolo Molaro (INAF Trieste & Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe, Trieste, Italy), Manuel Monteiro (IA/UPorto), Mario Monteiro (IA/UPorto & FCUP), Manuele Moschetti (INAF Brera), Eric Müller (ESO), Nelson Nunes (IA), Luca Oggioni (INAF Brera), António Oliveira (IA/FCUL & FCUL), Giorgio Pariani (INAF Brera), Luca Pasquini (ESO), Ennio Poretti (INAF Brera & Fundación Galileo Galilei, INAF, Breña Baja, Spain), José Luis Rasilla (IAC), Edoardo Redaelli (INAF Brera), Marco Riva (INAF Brera), Samuel Santana Tschudi (ESO Chile), Paolo Santin (INAF Trieste), Pedro Santos (IA/FCUL & FCUL), Alex Segovia Milla (UNIGE), Julia V. Seidel (UNIGE), Danuta Sosnowska (UNIGE), Alessandro Sozzetti (INAF Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, Pino Torinese, Italy), Paolo Spanò (INAF Brera), Alejandro Suárez Mascareño (IAC), Hugo Tabernero (CSIC-INTA & IA/UPorto), Fabio Tenegi (IAC), Stéphane Udry (UNIGE), Alessio Zanutta (INAF Brera), Filippo Zerbi (INAF Brera).
ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It has 16 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile and with AustralIA/FCULas a Strategic Partner. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope and its world-leading Very Large Telescope Interferometer as well as two survey telescopes, VISTA working in the infrared and the visible-light VLT Survey Telescope. Also at Paranal ESO will host and operate the Cherenkov Telescope Array South, the world’s largest and most sensitive gamma-ray observatory. ESO is also a major partner in two facilities on Chajnantor, APEX and ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre Extremely Large Telescope, the ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”.
Links
Research paper – https://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso2005/eso2005a.pdf
Photos of ESPRESSO – https://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/search/?adv=&title=espresso
Photos of the VLT – http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/paranal/
More about ESPRESSO and how it finds exoplanets – https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/vlt-instr/espresso/
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wattsupwiththat--2020-03-13--Shades of Jurassic Park! Miniature dinosaur “exquisitely preserved in amber”

NEWS 11 MARCH 2020 This miniature skull belonged to a 2-gram dinosaur The 100-million-year-old animal might have been the smallest dinosaur .
A miniature creature exquisitely preserved in amber for almost 100 million years is probably the smallest dinosaur ever discovered .
The animal ’ s bird-like skull , described in Nature on 11 March1 , is less than 2 centimetres long — suggesting that the creature was the size of the bee hummingbird ( Mellisuga helenae ) , the smallest living bird .
Its discovery could help scientists understand how such creatures evolved to be so small .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lineage of birds , ” says Jingmai O ’ Connor , a palaeontologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing , who co-led the study .
Further research on the fossil — for example , looking for biomolecules in its preserved soft tissue — will require advances in research techniques that don ’ t damage the specimen , O ’ Connor says .
Beats two mosquitoes in an amber mine… NEWS AND VIEWS 11 MARCH 2020 Tiny bird fossil might be the world ’ s smallest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ amber suggests that some of the earliest birds evolved to become miniature .
The fossil illustrates how ancient amber can act as a window into the distant past .
Dinosaurs were big , whereas birds — which evolved from dinosaurs — are small .
This variation is of great importance , because body size affects lifespan , food requirements , sensory capabilities and many other fundamental aspects of biology .
The smallest dinosaurs1 weighed hundreds of grams , but the smallest living bird , the bee hummingbird ( Mellisuga helenae ) 2 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this difference come about , and why ?
In a paper in Nature , Xing et al.3 describe the tiny , fossilized , bird-like skull of a previously unknown species , which they name Oculudentavis khaungraae .
The discovery suggests that miniature body sizes in birds evolved earlier than previously recognized , and might provide insights into the evolutionary process of miniaturization .
Fossilization of bones in sediments such as clay , silt and sand can crush and destroy the remains of small animals , and can flatten and decay soft parts such @ @ @ @ @ @ @ By contrast , preservation of small animals in Burmese amber ( which formed from the resin flows of coniferous trees about 99 million years ago ) helps to protect their soft parts .
A wide range of invertebrates4 and small vertebrates , including lizards5 and birds6 , have been found in Burmese amber .
Specimens preserved in this material are rapidly emerging as an exceptional way to study tiny vertebrates from the age of dinosaurs5,6 .
It is in Burmese amber that the single known fossil skull of Oculudentavis has been preserved ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) .
Oculudentavis means eye tooth bird , a name that Xing et al .
chose because of two unusual features of the skull , each of which provides evidence about the likely lifestyle of this 99-million-year-old species .
The evolutionary relationships between Oculudentavis and other dinosaurs and birds are difficult to determine , but are central to clarifying the evolutionary implications of this discovery .
Xing and colleagues ’ analysis suggests two possibilities .
Oculudentavis could belong to the most common group of birds of the Cretaceous period ( about 145 million @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the enantiornithines .
Alternatively , it could be much more closely related to dinsosaurs , lying almost midway on the evolutionary tree between the Cretaceous birds and Archaeopteryx , the iconic winged dinosaur from the Jurassic .
The paper is pay-walled .
Here ’ s the abstract : Article Published : 11 March 2020 Hummingbird-sized dinosaur from the Cretaceous period of Myanmar Lida Xing , Jingmai K. O ’ Connor , Lars Schmitz , Luis M. Chiappe , Ryan C. McKellar , Qiru Yi & Gang Li Nature volume 579 , pages 245–249 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 99-million-year-old amber from northern Myanmar provide unprecedented insights into the soft tissue and skeletal anatomy of minute fauna , which are not typically preserved in other depositional environments1,2,3 .
Among a diversity of vertebrates , seven specimens that preserve the skeletal remains of enantiornithine birds have previously been described1,4,5,6,7,8 , all of which ( including at least one seemingly mature specimen ) are smaller than specimens recovered from lithic materials .
Here we describe an exceptionally well-preserved and diminutive bird-like skull that documents a new species , which we name Oculudentavis khaungraae gen. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ appears to represent the smallest known dinosaur of the Mesozoic era , rivalling the bee hummingbird ( Mellisuga helenae ) —the smallest living bird—in size .
The O. khaungraae specimen preserves features that hint at miniaturization constraints , including a unique pattern of cranial fusion and an autapomorphic ocular morphology9 that resembles the eyes of lizards .
The conically arranged scleral ossicles define a small pupil , indicative of diurnal activity .
Miniaturization most commonly arises in isolated environments , and the diminutive size of Oculudentavis is therefore consistent with previous suggestions that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Trans-Tethyan arc10 .
The size and morphology of this species suggest a previously unknown bauplan , and a previously undetected ecology .
This discovery highlights the potential of amber deposits to reveal the lowest limits of vertebrate body size .
Cool schist !
Unless… someone gets the bright idea to genetically engineer dinosaurs from “ biomolecules in its preserved soft tissue ” … 😉 Xing , L. , O ’ Connor , J.K. , Schmitz , L. et al .
Hummingbird-sized dinosaur from the Cretaceous period of Myanmar .
Nature 579 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ //doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2068-4

Guest “amateur paleontology” by David Middleton
NEWS 11 MARCH 2020
This miniature skull belonged to a 2-gram dinosaur
The 100-million-year-old animal might have been the smallest dinosaur. Giuliana Viglione A miniature creature exquisitely preserved in amber for almost 100 million years is probably the smallest dinosaur ever discovered. The animal’s bird-like skull, described in Nature on 11 March1, is less than 2 centimetres long — suggesting that the creature was the size of the bee hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae), the smallest living bird. Its discovery could help scientists understand how such creatures evolved to be so small. “It reveals to us a whole new lineage of birds,” says Jingmai O’Connor, a palaeontologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, who co-led the study. […] Further research on the fossil — for example, looking for biomolecules in its preserved soft tissue — will require advances in research techniques that don’t damage the specimen, O’Connor says. […] Nature
A dino-bird in amber…
Beats two mosquitoes in an amber mine…
NEWS AND VIEWS 11 MARCH 2020
Tiny bird fossil might be the world’s smallest dinosaur
A tiny skull trapped in 99-million-year-old amber suggests that some of the earliest birds evolved to become miniature. The fossil illustrates how ancient amber can act as a window into the distant past. Roger B. J. Benson Dinosaurs were big, whereas birds — which evolved from dinosaurs — are small. This variation is of great importance, because body size affects lifespan, food requirements, sensory capabilities and many other fundamental aspects of biology. The smallest dinosaurs1 weighed hundreds of grams, but the smallest living bird, the bee hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae)2, weighs only 2 grams. How did this difference come about, and why? In a paper in Nature, Xing et al.3 describe the tiny, fossilized, bird-like skull of a previously unknown species, which they name Oculudentavis khaungraae. The discovery suggests that miniature body sizes in birds evolved earlier than previously recognized, and might provide insights into the evolutionary process of miniaturization. Fossilization of bones in sediments such as clay, silt and sand can crush and destroy the remains of small animals, and can flatten and decay soft parts such as skin, scales and feathers. By contrast, preservation of small animals in Burmese amber (which formed from the resin flows of coniferous trees about 99 million years ago) helps to protect their soft parts. A wide range of invertebrates4 and small vertebrates, including lizards5 and birds6, have been found in Burmese amber. Specimens preserved in this material are rapidly emerging as an exceptional way to study tiny vertebrates from the age of dinosaurs5,6. It is in Burmese amber that the single known fossil skull of Oculudentavis has been preserved (see Fig. 1a of the paper3). Oculudentavis means eye tooth bird, a name that Xing et al. chose because of two unusual features of the skull, each of which provides evidence about the likely lifestyle of this 99-million-year-old species. […] The evolutionary relationships between Oculudentavis and other dinosaurs and birds are difficult to determine, but are central to clarifying the evolutionary implications of this discovery. Xing and colleagues’ analysis suggests two possibilities. Oculudentavis could belong to the most common group of birds of the Cretaceous period (about 145 million to 66 million years ago), the enantiornithines. Alternatively, it could be much more closely related to dinsosaurs, lying almost midway on the evolutionary tree between the Cretaceous birds and Archaeopteryx, the iconic winged dinosaur from the Jurassic. […] Nature
The paper is pay-walled. Here’s the abstract:
Article
Published: 11 March 2020
Hummingbird-sized dinosaur from the Cretaceous period of Myanmar
Lida Xing, Jingmai K. O’Connor, Lars Schmitz, Luis M. Chiappe, Ryan C. McKellar, Qiru Yi & Gang Li
Nature volume 579, pages 245–249(2020) Abstract Skeletal inclusions in approximately 99-million-year-old amber from northern Myanmar provide unprecedented insights into the soft tissue and skeletal anatomy of minute fauna, which are not typically preserved in other depositional environments1,2,3. Among a diversity of vertebrates, seven specimens that preserve the skeletal remains of enantiornithine birds have previously been described1,4,5,6,7,8, all of which (including at least one seemingly mature specimen) are smaller than specimens recovered from lithic materials. Here we describe an exceptionally well-preserved and diminutive bird-like skull that documents a new species, which we name Oculudentavis khaungraae gen. et sp. nov. The find appears to represent the smallest known dinosaur of the Mesozoic era, rivalling the bee hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae)—the smallest living bird—in size. The O. khaungraae specimen preserves features that hint at miniaturization constraints, including a unique pattern of cranial fusion and an autapomorphic ocular morphology9 that resembles the eyes of lizards. The conically arranged scleral ossicles define a small pupil, indicative of diurnal activity. Miniaturization most commonly arises in isolated environments, and the diminutive size of Oculudentavis is therefore consistent with previous suggestions that this amber formed on an island within the Trans-Tethyan arc10. The size and morphology of this species suggest a previously unknown bauplan, and a previously undetected ecology. This discovery highlights the potential of amber deposits to reveal the lowest limits of vertebrate body size. Nature
Cool schist! Unless… someone gets the bright idea to genetically engineer dinosaurs from “biomolecules in its preserved soft tissue”… 😉
Reference
Xing, L., O’Connor, J.K., Schmitz, L. et al. Hummingbird-sized dinosaur from the Cretaceous period of Myanmar. Nature 579, 245–249 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2068-4
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Oculudentavis khaungraae is had a skull that was less than 2 centimetres long.Credit: Lida Xing (Nature)
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wattsupwiththat--2020-03-12--NOAA to ‘release the code’

NOAA to ‘release the code’

From the “ all you need is a multi-million dollar supercomputer ” department comes this sort of good news .
NOAA launches new approach to accelerate innovation and new science in weather modeling March 11 , 2020 NOAA is accelerating the advancement of numerical weather prediction — the backbone of life-saving weather and water forecasts in the U.S. — by sharing the first batch of computer code behind National Weather Service models with the scientific community .
Today , NOAA released the first version of user-friendly code for medium-range weather prediction in an open , collaborative development environment .
This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Enterprise is an effort to engage the community to improve NOAA models using the Unified Forecast System ( UFS ) .
Sharing this code will enable academic and industry researchers to help NOAA accelerate the transition of research innovations into operations .
This UFS code is being developed by a broad community and is openly available to the public , with documentation and support for users .
In February 2019 , NOAA and NCAR announced a partnership to design a common modeling infrastructure , marking NOAA ’ s shift toward community modeling .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ by NOAA ’ s Earth Prediction Innovation Center ( EPIC ) , made possible by Congressional authorization in 2019 .
EPIC will ensure that the UFS efforts are facilitating research and development in the research modeling community whose efforts can then be targeted to make improvements in operational forecasts .
UFS will enable NOAA to simplify its production suite of forecasting models from many independent systems , each of which has to be improved and maintained separately , to a single seamless modeling system with fewer , more comprehensive applications .
UFS applications @ @ @ @ @ @ @ particular forecast , span local to global domains and predictive time scales from sub-hourly analyses to seasonal predictions .
The first release of a UFS application is the UFS Medium-Range Weather Application version 1.0 , which targets predictions of global atmospheric behavior out to two weeks .
The software is now distributed and maintained through GitHub , and the release of additional applications are planned in the coming year .
NOAA will host workshops and provide supportive documentation alongside the applications to facilitate its use by the broader community .
Collaborating researchers can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ research code will be considered for inclusion in future versions of the operational model .
Future releases of model code will enable the research community to continue to advance them for operational use .
NOAA and the modeling community also worked together to ensure the code is ready for use by students at the graduate level .
On the heels of a major supercomputer upgrade announced in February and an upgrade to its Global Forecast System last summer , NOAA is pressing forward with this next step in the effort to build a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forecast accuracy to save lives and protect property nationwide .

From the “all you need is a multi-million dollar supercomputer” department comes this sort of good news.
NOAA launches new approach to accelerate innovation and new science in weather modeling
Partnership will make weather and climate modeling code public
March 11, 2020 NOAA is accelerating the advancement of numerical weather prediction — the backbone of life-saving weather and water forecasts in the U.S. — by sharing the first batch of computer code behind National Weather Service models with the scientific community. Today, NOAA released the first version of user-friendly code for medium-range weather prediction in an open, collaborative development environment. This new approach of collaborating across the Weather Enterprise is an effort to engage the community to improve NOAA models using the Unified Forecast System (UFS).
Sharing this code will enable academic and industry researchers to help NOAA accelerate the transition of research innovations into operations. This UFS code is being developed by a broad community and is openly available to the public, with documentation and support for users. In February 2019, NOAA and NCAR announced a partnership to design a common modeling infrastructure, marking NOAA’s shift toward community modeling.
“Sharing NOAA’s model code with the broader scientific community will help us accelerate model advancements — with the ultimate goal of co-creating the best operational numerical prediction system in the world,” said Neil Jacobs, Ph.D., acting NOAA administrator.
“We invite researchers and modelers around the world to download and work with the code, so together we can advance numerical weather prediction to improve life-saving forecasts and warnings.”
The success of UFS will be bolstered by NOAA’s Earth Prediction Innovation Center (EPIC), made possible by Congressional authorization in 2019. EPIC will ensure that the UFS efforts are facilitating research and development in the research modeling community whose efforts can then be targeted to make improvements in operational forecasts.
“At the National Weather Service, we are excited about this first step to make operational model codes available to scientists and students around the world, knowing that they will help advance our unified forecast system that will provide the basis for all of our weather, water and climate forecasts,” said Louis W. Uccellini, Ph.D., director of NOAA’s National Weather Service.
UFS will enable NOAA to simplify its production suite of forecasting models from many independent systems, each of which has to be improved and maintained separately, to a single seamless modeling system with fewer, more comprehensive applications. UFS applications, which each provide guidance for a particular forecast, span local to global domains and predictive time scales from sub-hourly analyses to seasonal predictions.
The first release of a UFS application is the UFS Medium-Range Weather Application version 1.0, which targets predictions of global atmospheric behavior out to two weeks. The software is now distributed and maintained through GitHub, and the release of additional applications are planned in the coming year. NOAA will host workshops and provide supportive documentation alongside the applications to facilitate its use by the broader community. Collaborating researchers can use the application in real-time and promising research code will be considered for inclusion in future versions of the operational model. Future releases of model code will enable the research community to continue to advance them for operational use. NOAA and the modeling community also worked together to ensure the code is ready for use by students at the graduate level.
On the heels of a major supercomputer upgrade announced in February and an upgrade to its Global Forecast System last summer, NOAA is pressing forward with this next step in the effort to build a true community weather forecast model and improve forecast accuracy to save lives and protect property nationwide.
###
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wattsupwiththat--2020-03-12--Heartland Institute Creating One-Page Climate Summaries Geared Toward Policymakers and Teachers

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS ( March 12 , 2020 ) – The Heartland Institute is excited to announce a groundbreaking new tool for policymakers , teachers , and anybody else interested in climate change .
Heartland ’ s new ClimateAtAGlance.com website provides powerful , concise , one- or two-page summaries of the most important topics in the climate change debate .
Today ’ s climate debate is often fought over sound-bites and bullet points .
Heartland has broken down 20 of the most frequently argued climate issues into short , “ at-a-glance ” summaries that provide the most important , accurate , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of each summary provide quick , memorable information .
After the bullet-points , short summaries of a paragraph or two provide additional depth .
Many of the summaries are illustrated with one or two memorable visual graphs .
Links embedded in the summaries allow readers to verify the information and find additional in-depth information .
The Heartland Institute will be regularly adding many additional summaries , with a goal of doubling the number of summaries during the course of the year .
Some topics covered in first 20 summaries , which include PDF @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Currents , Snowpack , Urban Heat Islands , Sea Level Rise , Hurricanes , Crop Production , Drought , Coral Reefs , and the “ Consensus ” on what are the main drivers of climate change and how dangerous it is .
The “ Climate at a Glance ” summaries are designed to provide a library of solid yet simple rebuttals so that legislators , teachers , students , and others can easily refute the exaggerations of the so-called “ climate crisis.
” Armed with a concise summary of the best scientific , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people can better articulate Climate Realism and fight back against the Climate Delusion .
“ Starting with 20 well-known climate change topics , ClimateAtAGlance.com will continue to expand and will eventually host dozens of concise summaries of climate-related topics , ” said James Taylor , Director of The Heartland Institute ’ s Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy .
“ The summaries will be particularly valuable to policymakers , teachers , and students , who are often thrust into the center of the climate change debate .
We invite everyone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at this important new tool , ” Taylor added .
“ The climate change issue can be very complex , and in some cases , daunting to understand .
This new website does a simple encapsulation of the key issues , done in a way that is a short , easy to digest way , while being firmly rooted in the science , ” said meteorologist Anthony Watts , a senior fellow at The Heartland Institute , who played a key role compiling the summaries .
To speak to Mr. Taylor or Mr. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Glance project , please contact Deputy Director of Communications Keely Drukala at media @ heartland.org and 312/377-4000 or ( cell ) 312/282-1390 .

Via press release.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS (March 12, 2020) – The Heartland Institute is excited to announce a groundbreaking new tool for policymakers, teachers, and anybody else interested in climate change. Heartland’s new ClimateAtAGlance.com website provides powerful, concise, one- or two-page summaries of the most important topics in the climate change debate.
Today’s climate debate is often fought over sound-bites and bullet points. Heartland has broken down 20 of the most frequently argued climate issues into short, “at-a-glance” summaries that provide the most important, accurate, powerful information. Bullet-points at the top of each summary provide quick, memorable information.
After the bullet-points, short summaries of a paragraph or two provide additional depth. Many of the summaries are illustrated with one or two memorable visual graphs. Links embedded in the summaries allow readers to verify the information and find additional in-depth information.
The Heartland Institute will be regularly adding many additional summaries, with a goal of doubling the number of summaries during the course of the year.
Some topics covered in first 20 summaries, which include PDF versions for printing and distribution:
Ocean Currents, Snowpack, Urban Heat Islands, Sea Level Rise, Hurricanes, Crop Production, Drought, Coral Reefs, and the “Consensus” on what are the main drivers of climate change and how dangerous it is.
The “Climate at a Glance” summaries are designed to provide a library of solid yet simple rebuttals so that legislators, teachers, students, and others can easily refute the exaggerations of the so-called “climate crisis.” Armed with a concise summary of the best scientific, economic, and public policy information, people can better articulate Climate Realism and fight back against the Climate Delusion.
“Starting with 20 well-known climate change topics, ClimateAtAGlance.com will continue to expand and will eventually host dozens of concise summaries of climate-related topics,” said James Taylor, Director of The Heartland Institute’s Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy.
“The summaries will be particularly valuable to policymakers, teachers, and students, who are often thrust into the center of the climate change debate. We invite everyone to visit ClimateAtAGlance.com for a first look at this important new tool,” Taylor added.
“The climate change issue can be very complex, and in some cases, daunting to understand. This new website does a simple encapsulation of the key issues, done in a way that is a short, easy to digest way, while being firmly rooted in the science,” said meteorologist Anthony Watts, a senior fellow at The Heartland Institute, who played a key role compiling the summaries.
To speak to Mr. Taylor or Mr. Watts about Heartland’s Climate At a Glance project, please contact Deputy Director of Communications Keely Drukala at media@heartland.org and 312/377-4000 or (cell) 312/282-1390.
###
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wattsupwiththat--2020-03-12--A Slice of Polar Layer Cake

A Slice of Polar Layer Cake

The Martian ice cap is like a cake with every layer telling a story .
In this case , the @ @ @ @ @ change on Mars .
This image of an exposed section of the north polar layered @ @ @ @ @ much like a delicious slice of layered tiramisu .
The NPLD is made up of @ @ @ @ @ one on top of the other .
However , instead of icing , layers are @ @ @ @ @ frost , as seen here as lingering frost adhering to one of the layers .
@ @ @ @ @ of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter ’ s HiRISE camera provides details on the variations in @ @ @ @ @ also using radar data , which show us that they have continuity in the subsurface @ @ @ @ @ complex layers might encapsulate tiny air pockets from the atmosphere which , if sampled , @ @ @ @ @ linkages to previous climates .
In the end , it ’ s not always a @ @ @ @ @ on Mars but , where there is cake , there is hope !

From NASA
The Martian ice cap is like a cake with every layer telling a story. In this case, the story is one of climate change on Mars.
This image of an exposed section of the north polar layered deposits (NPLD) looks much like a delicious slice of layered tiramisu. The NPLD is made up of water-ice and dust particles stacked one on top of the other. However, instead of icing, layers are topped with seasonal carbon dioxide frost, as seen here as lingering frost adhering to one of the layers.
The high-resolution and color capabilities of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s HiRISE camera provides details on the variations in the layers. Scientists are also using radar data, which show us that they have continuity in the subsurface. During deposition, these complex layers might encapsulate tiny air pockets from the atmosphere which, if sampled, could be studied to understand linkages to previous climates.
In the end, it’s not always a piece of cake studying NPLD on Mars but, where there is cake, there is hope!
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Last Updated: March 11, 2020
Editor: Yvette Smith
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wattsupwiththat--2020-03-12--Climate change could threaten sea snails in mid-Atlantic waters

Common whelk live in one of the fastest warming marine areas , Rutgers-led study says Climate change could threaten the survival and development of common whelk – a type of sea snail – in the mid-Atlantic region , according to a study led by scientists at Rutgers University-New Brunswick .
The common , or waved , whelk ( Buccinum undatum ) is an important commercial species that has been harvested for decades in Europe and Canada for bait and human consumption .
Its habitat within the mid-Atlantic region is one of the Earth ’ s fastest warming marine areas and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ among the most extreme on the planet due to unique oceanographic conditions .
Climate change will result in higher temperatures and that ’ s a problem because temperatures are closely linked to the whelk ’ s spawning cycle and temperature increases could threaten its survival , according to the study in the journal Helgoland Marine Research .
This is the first time the species ’ annual reproductive cycle in the mid-Atlantic has been documented .
“ Previous studies showed that the common whelk , a cold-water species , has some resilience to warmer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Borsetti , a doctoral student at Rutgers ’ Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences .
“ But rising temperatures may have a negative impact on whelk survival , recruitment , development and growth.
” Commercial fishermen are interested in developing a fishery for this species in the mid-Atlantic .
Similar to the United States , whelk fisheries have expanded in many countries , resulting in a global increase in whelk landings over the last 20 years .
But whelk have highly variable traits , such as reproductive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before intense fishing begins , Borsetti added .
The species is vulnerable to overexploitation if fishery managers assume populations are uniform throughout its habitat .
“ The resilience of whelk comes with a trade-off : fewer offspring , which can negatively impact the whelk population and fisheries landings , ” said co-author Daphne Munroe , an associate professor in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences who is based at the Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory in Port Norris , New Jersey .
Previous research led by the Rutgers group examined traits such as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sex ratio and abundance .
For the study on whelk reproduction , the team caught 602 whelk off the coast from Cape May County to the Delmarva Peninsula from January 2017 to September 2017 .
The study examined fluctuations in whelk body metrics , gonad weights and sea-bottom temperatures .
Researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and NOAA ’ s Northeast Fisheries Science Center contributed to the study .

Common whelk live in one of the fastest warming marine areas, Rutgers-led study says
Rutgers University
An adult whelk collected aboard a commercial scallop vessel.
Credit: Sarah Borsetti/Rutgers University-New Brunswick
Climate change could threaten the survival and development of common whelk – a type of sea snail – in the mid-Atlantic region, according to a study led by scientists at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.
The common, or waved, whelk (Buccinum undatum) is an important commercial species that has been harvested for decades in Europe and Canada for bait and human consumption. Its habitat within the mid-Atlantic region is one of the Earth’s fastest warming marine areas and annual fluctuations in the bottom temperature are among the most extreme on the planet due to unique oceanographic conditions.
Climate change will result in higher temperatures and that’s a problem because temperatures are closely linked to the whelk’s spawning cycle and temperature increases could threaten its survival, according to the study in the journal Helgoland Marine Research. This is the first time the species’ annual reproductive cycle in the mid-Atlantic has been documented.
“Previous studies showed that the common whelk, a cold-water species, has some resilience to warmer temperatures,” said lead author Sarah Borsetti, a doctoral student at Rutgers’ Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. “But rising temperatures may have a negative impact on whelk survival, recruitment, development and growth.”
Commercial fishermen are interested in developing a fishery for this species in the mid-Atlantic. Similar to the United States, whelk fisheries have expanded in many countries, resulting in a global increase in whelk landings over the last 20 years.
But whelk have highly variable traits, such as reproductive timing, that need to be studied before intense fishing begins, Borsetti added. The species is vulnerable to overexploitation if fishery managers assume populations are uniform throughout its habitat.
“The resilience of whelk comes with a trade-off: fewer offspring, which can negatively impact the whelk population and fisheries landings,” said co-author Daphne Munroe, an associate professor in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences who is based at the Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory in Port Norris, New Jersey.
Previous research led by the Rutgers group examined traits such as the size whelk reach in maturity, sex ratio and abundance. For the study on whelk reproduction, the team caught 602 whelk off the coast from Cape May County to the Delmarva Peninsula from January 2017 to September 2017. The study examined fluctuations in whelk body metrics, gonad weights and sea-bottom temperatures.
###
Researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center contributed to the study.
From EurekAlert!
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wattsupwiththat--2020-03-15--Science takes time, even in a lab moving 17,500 miles per hour

The International Space Station , a microgravity laboratory orbiting Earth at 17,500 miles per hour , has hosted a variety of scientific research for nearly 20 years .
Some of that research continues for months and even years .
A prime example is the ongoing Fluid Shifts investigation .
When astronauts began spending months at a time on station , they experienced a number of physical changes , including changes in their vision .
Scientists suspect fluids shifting from the lower to the upper body in microgravity may increase pressure inside the head , changing the shape of the eye @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The investigation began in 2015 and has measured the extent of body fluid shifts in multiple astronauts since then .
Five years may seem like a long time , but scientific research follows a lengthy step-by-step process .
Medical research , for example , takes an average of 17 years from lab to clinical practice .
Looking at each step makes it easy to see why .
First , researchers must come up with a question and a possible answer , or hypothesis .
For Fluid Shifts , for example , the question @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
One hypothesis is that increased fluid pressure in the head is the cause .
Scientists then design an experiment to test the hypothesis , which involves determining what data to collect and the resources needed to do so .
For research aboard the space station , scientists submit a research proposal , which goes through review to evaluate its relevance to NASA ’ s goals as well as its scientific merit .
Selected investigations are assigned to a mission and the crew for that mission briefed .
Individual crew members can volunteer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
NASA works with investigators to meet their science requirements , obtain approvals , schedule crew training , develop flight procedures , launch hardware and supplies to the space station and collect any preflight data needed .
Once the crew launches , in-flight data collection begins .
Finally , the scientists can analyze all the data .
In addition , researchers must determine whether their data are significant .
“ Just because something is different in space doesn ’ t mean it is scientifically meaningful or a sign of a problem , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ research results coordinator at NASA .
“ You also have to look at what the results mean .
Is this something we don ’ t already know or does the change make a difference either to what is happening or how it affects the process or organism ?
Is this is a helpful response to spaceflight ?
” The next step is writing a paper about the results and submitting it to a scientific journal .
It may take an investigator a year or more to evaluate the data from the research and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weeks or months for a journal to respond , and its editors may request additional analysis and revisions .
Journals also have the paper reviewed by other scientists in the same field , a process known as peer review .
According to one analysis , this review takes an average of 100 days .
For space station investigations , from date received to date published often takes up to a year and a half , according to Tate-Brown .
Several unique aspects of research on the space station add more time to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the more test subjects , the better .
Although clinical human research usually needs 100 to 1,000 subjects to find a statistically significant result , Tate-Brown says , the space station typically houses at most six people at a time .
Some clinical research that measures a specific change in the body may only require eight to 12 subjects to determine whether the change is real .
Most human research studies on the space station have only one to three subjects at a time .
New crew members currently arrive only every six @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years of continuous human presence on the station , only 239 people have visited , and only three of those have been long-duration crew members staying more than six months .
The Lighting Effects investigation illustrates how the need for enough subjects adds time to a study .
The space station ’ s speed means it orbits Earth 16 times a day , exposing crew members to atypical periods of dark and light that can affect the body ’ s daily clock and crew health and performance .
While the crew members live @ @ @ @ @ @ @ waking hours and darkness during sleep , they experience the circadian challenge of working with two mission controls , one in Houston and one in Moscow , with an eight-hour time difference between them .
Lighting Effects examines whether light-emitting diodes ( LEDs ) with adjustable intensity and color can improve crew circadian rhythms .
To collect data from enough crew members , this investigation began in 2016 and has continued into 2020 .
Other lengthy studies about how humans adapt to life in space include research on cardiac atrophy ( decrease in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flight , testing a wearable device to analyze sleep-wake and activity patterns , and a suite of long-term studies on food and nutrition , including producing fresh food in space .
NASA began growing plants aboard the space station in 2001 .
Current plant research includes Veg-04B , focusing on how light quality and fertilizer affect growth .
The space station also has hosted a number of long-running experiments to study protein crystal growth ( PCG ) .
Microgravity produces larger , higher quality protein crystals that can reveal new structural details and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ development , a lengthy process on its own .
The JAXA PCG investigation is one example .
A 2002 study revealed a specific protein expressed in Duchenne ’ s muscular dystrophy ( DMD ) patients , opening up the possibility of targeted therapeutic agents .
JAXA PCG led to a considerably more effective disease inhibitor than those under investigation at that time .
Subsequent tests showed it was effective .
A 2015 study verified its safety for use in humans , and in 2017 the inhibitor completed a clinical trial in human patients @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could finally end up in the hands of patients .
The PCG-5 investigation by Merck Research Laboratories began in 2016 and published results in 2019 , reporting production of an existing drug , Keytruda® , in crystalline suspension form .
This new form may enable administration of the drug by injection rather than intravenously , a lengthy process done at a hospital .
Receiving an injection at the doctor ’ s office greatly improves quality of life for patients and saves them time and money .
Paul Reichert , the principal investigator at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to publish results largely reflects the sheer amount of data researchers had to analyze .
But a proposed follow up investigation could move more quickly : new capabilities on the space station enable real-time analysis of crystalline suspensions as they are produced in microgravity .
“ Astronauts now can pipette , aspirate and handle liquids rather easily on the station .
That means we can do multiple rounds and adjust and continue the experiment without having to bring samples back to the ground and send up new ones , ” Reichert says .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ allowing us to do research in microgravity the same way we do it on Earth.
” Physical science investigations already can send plenty of samples to the space station and complete data collection more quickly than human studies .
But sometimes , the more we learn , the more questions we have , creating the need for additional research .
Studies of fire in space are one example .
From 2011 to 2013 , Burning and Suppression of Solids ( BASS ) examined the burning and extinction characteristics of a wide variety of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ through 2017 .
The Saffire series of fire safety demonstrations on Northrop Grumman ’ s Cygnus cargo spacecraft began in 2016 and continued into 2020 .
Researchers have answered many questions with all of this work , but still have much to learn about preventing , detecting and extinguishing fires in space .
The timeline for science , especially in microgravity , can run long .
But results can be well worth the wait .
For daily updates , follow @ ISS_Research , Space Station Research and Technology News or our Facebook .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ on its sponsored investigations .
For opportunities to see the space station pass over your town , check out Spot the Station .

From NASA
March 13, 2020
The International Space Station, a microgravity laboratory orbiting Earth at 17,500 miles per hour, has hosted a variety of scientific research for nearly 20 years. Some of that research continues for months and even years.
A prime example is the ongoing Fluid Shifts investigation. When astronauts began spending months at a time on station, they experienced a number of physical changes, including changes in their vision. Scientists suspect fluids shifting from the lower to the upper body in microgravity may increase pressure inside the head, changing the shape of the eye and affecting vision in some astronauts. The investigation began in 2015 and has measured the extent of body fluid shifts in multiple astronauts since then.
Five years may seem like a long time, but scientific research follows a lengthy step-by-step process. Medical research, for example, takes an average of 17 years from lab to clinical practice.
Looking at each step makes it easy to see why. First, researchers must come up with a question and a possible answer, or hypothesis. For Fluid Shifts, for example, the question is: what is causing vision changes? One hypothesis is that increased fluid pressure in the head is the cause. Scientists then design an experiment to test the hypothesis, which involves determining what data to collect and the resources needed to do so.
For research aboard the space station, scientists submit a research proposal, which goes through review to evaluate its relevance to NASA’s goals as well as its scientific merit. Selected investigations are assigned to a mission and the crew for that mission briefed. Individual crew members can volunteer to participate in research requiring human subjects. NASA works with investigators to meet their science requirements, obtain approvals, schedule crew training, develop flight procedures, launch hardware and supplies to the space station and collect any preflight data needed. Once the crew launches, in-flight data collection begins. Finally, the scientists can analyze all the data.
In addition, researchers must determine whether their data are significant. “Just because something is different in space doesn’t mean it is scientifically meaningful or a sign of a problem,” says Judy Tate-Brown, International Space Station research results coordinator at NASA. “You also have to look at what the results mean. Is this something we don’t already know or does the change make a difference either to what is happening or how it affects the process or organism? Is this is a helpful response to spaceflight?”
The next step is writing a paper about the results and submitting it to a scientific journal. It may take an investigator a year or more to evaluate the data from the research and write the paper. It can take weeks or months for a journal to respond, and its editors may request additional analysis and revisions. Journals also have the paper reviewed by other scientists in the same field, a process known as peer review. According to one analysis, this review takes an average of 100 days. For space station investigations, from date received to date published often takes up to a year and a half, according to Tate-Brown.
Several unique aspects of research on the space station add more time to the process. A truism of science is the more test subjects, the better. Although clinical human research usually needs 100 to 1,000 subjects to find a statistically significant result, Tate-Brown says, the space station typically houses at most six people at a time. Some clinical research that measures a specific change in the body may only require eight to 12 subjects to determine whether the change is real. Most human research studies on the space station have only one to three subjects at a time. New crew members currently arrive only every six months or so. In nearly 20 years of continuous human presence on the station, only 239 people have visited, and only three of those have been long-duration crew members staying more than six months.
The Lighting Effects investigation illustrates how the need for enough subjects adds time to a study. The space station’s speed means it orbits Earth 16 times a day, exposing crew members to atypical periods of dark and light that can affect the body’s daily clock and crew health and performance. While the crew members live and work indoors and maintain light during waking hours and darkness during sleep, they experience the circadian challenge of working with two mission controls, one in Houston and one in Moscow, with an eight-hour time difference between them. Lighting Effects examines whether light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with adjustable intensity and color can improve crew circadian rhythms. To collect data from enough crew members, this investigation began in 2016 and has continued into 2020.
Other lengthy studies about how humans adapt to life in space include research on cardiac atrophy (decrease in heart muscle) associated with long-duration space flight, testing a wearable device to analyze sleep-wake and activity patterns, and a suite of long-term studies on food and nutrition, including producing fresh food in space. NASA began growing plants aboard the space station in 2001. Current plant research includes Veg-04B, focusing on how light quality and fertilizer affect growth.
The space station also has hosted a number of long-running experiments to study protein crystal growth (PCG). Microgravity produces larger, higher quality protein crystals that can reveal new structural details and PCG research holds particular promise for pharmaceutical development, a lengthy process on its own.
The JAXA PCG investigation is one example. A 2002 study revealed a specific protein expressed in Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients, opening up the possibility of targeted therapeutic agents. JAXA PCG led to a considerably more effective disease inhibitor than those under investigation at that time. Subsequent tests showed it was effective. A 2015 study verified its safety for use in humans, and in 2017 the inhibitor completed a clinical trial in human patients. After additional trials, this treatment could finally end up in the hands of patients.
The PCG-5 investigation by Merck Research Laboratories began in 2016 and published results in 2019, reporting production of an existing drug, Keytruda®, in crystalline suspension form. This new form may enable administration of the drug by injection rather than intravenously, a lengthy process done at a hospital. Receiving an injection at the doctor’s office greatly improves quality of life for patients and saves them time and money. Paul Reichert, the principal investigator at Merck, says the time it took to publish results largely reflects the sheer amount of data researchers had to analyze. But a proposed follow up investigation could move more quickly: new capabilities on the space station enable real-time analysis of crystalline suspensions as they are produced in microgravity.
“Astronauts now can pipette, aspirate and handle liquids rather easily on the station. That means we can do multiple rounds and adjust and continue the experiment without having to bring samples back to the ground and send up new ones,” Reichert says. “This is a tremendous improvement, allowing us to do research in microgravity the same way we do it on Earth.”
Physical science investigations already can send plenty of samples to the space station and complete data collection more quickly than human studies. But sometimes, the more we learn, the more questions we have, creating the need for additional research. Studies of fire in space are one example. From 2011 to 2013, Burning and Suppression of Solids (BASS) examined the burning and extinction characteristics of a wide variety of fuel samples and BASS-II continued that work through 2017. The Saffire series of fire safety demonstrations on Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft began in 2016 and continued into 2020. Researchers have answered many questions with all of this work, but still have much to learn about preventing, detecting and extinguishing fires in space.
The timeline for science, especially in microgravity, can run long. But results can be well worth the wait.
For daily updates, follow @ISS_Research, Space Station Research and Technology News or our Facebook. Follow the ISS National Lab for information on its sponsored investigations. For opportunities to see the space station pass over your town, check out Spot the Station.
Melissa Gaskill
International Space Station Program Science Office
Johnson Space Center
Last Updated: March 13, 2020
Editor: Michael
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