Researchers have used satellite data to detect deposits of glass within impact craters on Mars. Though formed in the searing heat of a violent impact, the glasses just might provide a delicate window into the possibility of past life on the Red Planet.

Over the last few years, several research groups have shown that, here on Earth, ancient biosignatures can be preserved in impact glass. One of those studies, led by Brown geologist Peter Schultz and published last year, found organic molecules and even plant matter entombed in glass formed by an impact that occurred millions of years ago in Argentina. Schultz suggested that similar processes might preserve signs of life on Mars, if indeed they were present at the time of an impact.

NASA has released data showing how temperature and rainfall patterns worldwide may change through the year 2100 because of growing concentrations of greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere.

The dataset shows projected changes worldwide on a regional level in response to different scenarios of increasing carbon dioxide simulated by 21 climate models. The high-resolution data, which can be viewed on a daily timescale at the scale of individual cities and towns, will help scientists and planners conduct climate risk assessments to better understand local and global effects of hazards, such as severe drought, floods, heat waves and losses in agriculture productivity. 

Welcome to a new way to manipulate matter. 

Mixing computers and water typically is usually a bad idea but bioengineers at Stanford have built a synchronous computer that operates using the physics of moving water droplets. They used droplet fluid dynamics to demonstrate a synchronous, universal droplet logic and control.

Because of its universal nature, the droplet computer can perform any operation that a conventional electronic computer can crunch, although still at significantly slower rates in this early stage. 

The crucial clock 

Researchers have found that the severity of ranavirosis, a devastating disease that kills thousands of frogs each year, increases in the presence of exotic fish. The use of garden chemicals was also associated with increased severity of the disease. 

Modified "good" cholesterol (HDL) and the activation of specific genes are causes of damage to the vascular system in chronic renal disease. A new project specifically examined the effect of cyanate, a decomposition product of urea, on the functioning of the vascular system.
The issue is important because the average age of the general population is increasing and with it the number of patients with chronic renal disease. Their mortality increases sharply in particular as a result of secondary cardiovascular disease. To date, however, little is known about how these sequelae occur.

Though ocean acidification and corals have been a concern, not all coral reefs are at risk. Instead, some thrive as they have absorbed atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) released by the burning of fossil fuels.

In ocean acidification, the CO₂ reacts with water molecules, lowering ocean pH (making it more acidic), and that process also removes carbonate, an essential ingredient needed by corals and other organisms to build their skeletons and shells.

World Oceans Day today has meant new questions about ocean acidification, which threatens coral reef ecosystems worldwide - but not all reefs.