GPS News
Martian Clay Minerals Might Have a Much Hotter Origin
Media Relations
Several hypotheses have been proposed to explan how clay minerals detected on the surface of Mars were formed. Now, publishing in the journal Nature Geoscience, a team of French and American scientists including Caltech's Bethany Ehlmann, has suggested a new possibility. The Los Angeles Times recently spoke to Ehlmann about the paper and its implications.
Keeping Up with Curiosity
Kimm Fesenmaier
When Curiosity touched down safely on Mars on August 5, John Grotzinger, the mission's chief scientist and the Fletcher Jones Professor of Geology at Caltech, was given the "keys" to the car-sized rover. Since then, most of Curiosity's time has been taken up by a series of checkouts, but she has relayed hundreds of images back to Earth, giving the science team plenty to study and discuss.
Cassini Finds Probable Ocean Below Titan's Surface
Kimm Fesenmaier
By studying the way Saturn's moon Titan squeezes and stretches as it orbits the ringed planet, researchers using data from NASA's Cassini orbiter have determined that a layer of liquid water likely exists beneath the moon's frozen exterior.
Notes from the Back Row: "The Isotope Time Machine"
Doug Smith
Were dinosaurs slow and stupid, as used to be the prevailing wisdom, or nimble and smart enough to eat an attorney, as in the 1993 film Jurassic Park? The answer depends largely on whether the T. Rex in question is cold blooded, like an alligator, or warm blooded, like a bird.
Technology Developed at Caltech Measures Martian Sand Movement
Katie Neith
Last year, images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured sand dunes and ripples moving across the surface of Mars—observations that challenged previously held beliefs that there was not a lot of movement on the red planet's surface. Now, technology developed by a team at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has allowed scientists to measure these activities for the very first time.
