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Paper selected for the MAS Macres Award

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The Microanalysis Society has awarded the Macres Award for the Best Instrumentation/Software Paper to the paper Paul Carpenter presented at the Microscopy and Microanalysis 2023 meeting.

Geospatial Research Initiative Announces Seed Grant Funding

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Asteroid Bennu samples have arrived on campus for analysis

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After a seven year journey to asteroid Bennu and back, OSIRIS-REx brought samples back to earth, dropping them through the atmosphere on September 24.

Geospatial Research Initiative Launches

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2023 McDonnell lectures to offer a crash course in the creation of the Earth and Moon

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Planetary scientist Sarah Stewart will deliver the 2023 McDonnell Distinguished Lectures

Science research roundup: November and December 2022

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Arts & Sciences researchers recently won awards from the James S. McDonnell Foundation, NASA, NSF, and others.

At the confluence of climate change and environmental justice

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Geomorphologist Claire Masteller leverages multiple data sources, geospatial data analysis, and machine learning techniques to paint a holistic picture of Earth’s changing landscapes. By sharing her expertise with local communities, she’s contributing to environmental justice efforts in the St. Louis metro area.

Science research roundup: September 2022

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Last month, Arts & Sciences researchers received awards from NASA, the National Institutes of Health, Templeton Religion Trust, and others.

Studying how climate change shapes floods and river landscapes

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Fox 2 interviews Claire Masteller about extreme weather and climate effects on landscapes in our region

Cosmochemist Wang to study samples from asteroid Bennu

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Exploring Mars, 50 years and counting

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In a public lecture on Sept. 7, Raymond E. Arvidson, the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor Emeritus, will share highlights and reflections – and rover driving lessons – gleaned from a half century of investigating the red planet.

Boundless

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A rumination on space and the human capacity to imagine.

Earth’s Lower Mantle Is Drier Than Previously Thought

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Eos Science News discusses a recent publication by Rita Parai

Torrential rainfall will change our rivers. A Washington U scientist is studying how.

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Claire Masteller talks to St. Louis Post-Dispatch about floodwaters and river erosion.

NASA waited 50 years to unseal these precious moon rocks

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Apollo Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, who gathered 73001 from the ancient Valley of Taurus-Littrow, couldn't have known NASA would store the sample for the lengthy span of 10 presidential administrations inside a specialized lab at NASA's Johnson Space Center. But the space agency waited until the technology to sleuth out the tube's untainted contents had progressed.

NASA studies ‘new’ 50-year-old lunar sample to prep for return to Moon

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People say good things come to those who wait. NASA thinks 50 years is the right amount of time as it begins tapping into one of the last unopened, Apollo-era lunar samples to learn more about the Moon and prepare for a return to its surface.

WashU scientists help recover gases from Moon rock time capsule

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Scientists from Washington University in St. Louis are helping to recover gases from a container of lunar soil that astronauts collected and sealed under vacuum on the surface of the Moon in 1972. The effort is part of NASA’s Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA) initiative.

Seismic study reveals key reason why Patagonia is rising as glaciers melt

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The icefields that stretch for hundreds of miles atop the Andes mountain range in Chile and Argentina are melting at some of the fastest rates on the planet. The ground that was beneath this ice is also shifting and rising as these glaciers disappear. The icefields that stretch for hundreds of miles atop the Andes mountain range in Chile and Argentina are melting at some of the fastest rates on the planet. The ground that was beneath this ice is also shifting and rising as these glaciers disappear.

Quirks and Quarks: Is the moon driving the movement of the Earth's tectonic plates?

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SYFY: The Sun and Moon could be unleashing earthquakes and volcanoes

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Conference roundup: AGU 2021

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Twenty-four members of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences presented research at AGU 2021.

Tug of sun, moon could be driving plate motions on ‘imbalanced’ Earth

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A study led by geophysicist Anne M. Hofmeister in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis proposes that imbalanced forces and torques in the Earth-moon-sun system drive circulation of the whole mantle.

Volatile bodies: Isotopic fingerprints reveal how planets gain and lose elements

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Assistant professors Rita Parai and Kun Wang use advanced geochemical methods to explore the evolution of planetary bodies from the formation of the planet to the present day.

A river runs through it

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Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis are using state-of-the-art geospatial technologies to study bedrock river erosion at Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park, located about two hours southwest of the Danforth Campus.

Space.com: Strange 'eggshell' exoplanets may have ultra-smooth surfaces

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Strange, newly theorized "eggshell planets" may possess super-thin outer layers with ultra-smooth surfaces unlike those seen on any world to date, a new study led by Paul Byrne reports.

Tread lightly: ‘Eggshell planets’ possible around other stars

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Strange ‘eggshell planets’ are among the rich variety of exoplanets possible, according to a study from Washington University in St. Louis. These rocky worlds have an ultra-thin outer brittle layer and little to no topography. Such worlds are unlikely to have plate tectonics, raising questions as to their habitability.

Space.com: Moon rocks brought to Earth by Chinese mission fill key gaps in solar system history

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The 2-billion-year-old rocks fill a key gap, according to Brad Jolliff.

Chang’e-5 samples reveal key age of moon rocks

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Scientists share analysis of first fresh samples from the moon in more than 40 years

St. Louis Public Radio: Wash U scientists to continue Mars research with $11.8 million NASA contract renewal

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Since the ’90s, experts in earth and planetary sciences at Washington University have helped NASA archive its research on the Earth’s moon, Mars, Venus and Mercury.

NPR: Mars had liquid water on its surface. Here's why scientists think it vanished.

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All evidence points to the fact that Mars once had flowing water, but numerous flybys, orbiters, landers and rovers have confirmed one undeniable fact — any liquid water that was once on its surface is now long gone. A study led by Kun Wang might have found the reason: Mars, which is about half the size of Earth, and just over one-tenth the mass of our own watery world, might just be too small.

Forbes: Martian blues: Did planet's size affect its ability to hold onto water?

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A new study from Kun Wang suggests that the Red Planet, which is half the diameter of Earth, might be too small to hold on to substantial amounts of water in the long term.

Time: Mars was always destined to die

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According to new research from Kun Wang, Mars was doomed from the start. Its small size—about half the diameter of Earth and less than one-ninth the mass—simply never produced the gravitational muscle to allow the planet to hold onto either its air or its water.

Muddied waters: Sinking organics alter seafloor records

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The remains of microscopic plankton blooms in near-shore ocean environments slowly sink to the seafloor, setting off processes that forever alter an important record of Earth’s history, according to research from geoscientists, including David Fike at Washington University in St. Louis.

Sculpted by starlight: A meteorite witness to the solar system’s birth

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Researchers use unusual meteorite to gain insight into our solar system’s past, present

Analysis of pristine samples of the Moon

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In 2019, NASA selected nine teams to study pieces of the Moon that have been carefully stored untouched for nearly 50 years.

Highlands hunt for climate answers

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Two scientists from Washington University are reconstructing past climate and cultural shifts in the Peruvian Andes. Today, such high-altitude parts of the tropics are warming faster than the rest of the globe. What Bronwen Konecky and Sarah Baitzel discover could help predict how the people and animals in this delicate ecosystem might be affected in the future.

When using pyrite to understand Earth’s ocean and atmosphere: Think local, not global

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The ocean floor is vast and varied, making up more than 70% of the Earth’s surface. Scientists have long used information from sediments at the bottom of the ocean — layers of rock and microbial muck — to reconstruct the conditions in oceans of the past.

Conference roundup: AGU 2020

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Twenty-five members of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences presented research at AGU 2020.

Exploring the most explosive volcano in the world

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Active volcano Shiveluch boasts water-rich magmas that might help geoscientists gain insight into the global water cycle.

Science finds a way: Research adaptations during the pandemic

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We're finding creative ways to continue conducting and supporting research during the pandemic.

Powerful electrical events quickly alter surface chemistry on Mars and other planetary bodies

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Dust-related electrochemistry can reshape Martian surface materials with physical and chemical changes observable after only hundreds of years. Similar electrical effects may be instrumental on Venus and Europa.

Clocking volcanic activity

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New research from Earth and Planetary Sciences uses a previously unstudied mineral to measure rates of volcanic activity.

Electrically charged dust storms drive Martian chlorine cycle

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Until now, the chemical processes caused by electrostatic discharge have been under-appreciated.

WashU planetary scientists chosen to work on pristine Apollo samples

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NASA recently opened lunar samples for a new generation of study, including work by WashU researchers.

New Horizons may have solved planet formation cold case

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Encounter with Arrokoth at the outskirts of the solar system offers best evidence yet for how worlds coalesce from dust

Arrokoth close-up reveals how planetary building blocks were constructed

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The farthest object in the solar system ever visited by a spacecraft is described in three new reports in Science.

Conference roundup: AGU 2019

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Why is the red planet red?

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New research from Jeff Catalano and graduate student Kaushik Mitra on oxidation on Mars' surface

Mars rover retrospective

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The rovers Spirit and Opportunity are dead. Now what happens to the terabytes of data they collected?

Proposed Interstellar Mission Reaches for the Stars, One Generation at a Time

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Starting in the early 2030s, the project could become our first purposeful step out of the solar system

Investigating water ice, space weathering on the Moon

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$7 million research effort enhances prospects for future human space exploration

Tektites don’t come from the Moon, but they might help scientists understand how it formed

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Cosmochemists at WashU study tektites to gain insights into the giant impact event that formed the Moon

New finds for Mars rover, seven years after landing

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New finds from NASA's Curiosity suggest dynamic evolution of ancient lake environment on Mars, says EPS alum Valerie Fox

Old rocks, new science: Why Apollo 11 samples are still as relevant as ever

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50 years after the Apollo 11 mission, Washington University scientists continue to learn from the samples collected on the moon

WashU Expert: On Apollo legacy, and why we should return to the moon

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“It’s not a case of been there, done that,” Brad Jolliff said. “There’s much left to do.”

Untouched Apollo samples to be analyzed for the first time by WashU researchers

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We need a bigger bucket: Experimental geochemists push limits of water estimates in magma

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Experimental geochemists at WashU recently discovered compelling evidence that magmas may be wetter than we thought.

Field Notes: Patagonia 2019

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In spring 2019, students had the opportunity to spend their spring break in the field, getting firsthand experience with the geology of the Argentine Patagonia.

Virtual reality comes to the classroom

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WashU's Fossett Laboratory for Virtual Planetary Exploration offers new ways of learning with virtual reality.

Ultima Thule: A closer look at the most distant object ever explored

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In the May 17 issue of the journal Science, NASA’s New Horizons mission team published the first comprehensive profile of the farthest world ever explored: the Kuiper belt object 2014 MU69, nicknamed Ultima Thule.

How Ultima Thule Is Like a Sticky, Pull-Apart Pastry

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Scientists from the New Horizons mission presented their latest findings about the small distant object visited by the NASA spacecraft at the start of the year. (NY Times article)

New Horizons: Ultima Thule 'a time machine' to early Solar System

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Scientists are getting closer to understanding how the distant object known as Ultima Thule came to be. (BBC news article)

NASA’s Mars Rover Opportunity Concludes a 15-Year Mission

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Ray Arvidson talks about rovers in the New York Times

Good-Bye to Mars Rover Opportunity

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EPS Ph.D. alum Abigail Fraemen wrote a Washington Post op-ed on the end of the Mars Rover Opportunity

WashU Expert: Mission complete

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Ray Arvidson reminisces on Opportunity, the Mars rover that exceeded expectations

Understanding tropical rainfall, both past and present

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Research by EPS professor Bronwen Konecky leverages signals contained in water molecules to decode the atmospheric processes that accompany changing tropical weather and climate patterns.

Thirsty mantle: Subduction zones swallow more water than thought

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Ocean bottom seismic data from the Mariana Trench show that up to three times more water is going into the Earth’s mantle at subduction zones than previously thought.

The moon got rocked by a meteorite during this weekend's lunar eclipse

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"The moon gets hit every day."

Opportunity, Curiosity and Mars 2020 Rover Updates

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The missions continue...watch the video with updates. Professor Arvidson comments on how NASA/JPL is continuing to try and recover communications with the Opportunity Mars Rover.

Fossett Laboratory for Virtual Planetary Exploration launches new augmented reality app

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For the past year and a half, Skemer has been incorporating HoloLens technology into his teaching. He and his team have also been working to create an app called GeoXplorer, which, when combined with a HoloLens headset, allows anyone to study geologic phenomena in 3D.

Professor Jeff Catalano New Chief Executive Editor of Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

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Next Stop Mars - Debate About the New NASA Mars Rover

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Next stop, Mars - Inside the fierce debate over the fate of NASA’s new rover — and a chance to make history. More in the Washington Post article...

Seismic study reveals huge amount of water dragged into Earth’s interior

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Slow-motion collisions of tectonic plates under the ocean drag water into the deep Earth...

Professor Arvidson: Mars Opportunity Rover in the Dust Storm

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Arvidson's interview with HEC TV about the Mars Rover Opportunity, its silence due to the large dust storm, and prospects for the recovery and continued operations.

Professor Jeff Catalano: Heavy Metals in the Wetlands

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Scientists from cross disciplines at Washington University in St. Louis are investigating how the abundance of heavy metals in natural wetlands affects how much of these gasses are produced in aquatic systems.

Professor Bob Criss On Our Rivers

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Criss has championed the Mississippi, Missouri and Meramec rivers, among others, in more than 25 years of work in earth and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

Mantle xenon has a story to tell

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The Earth has been through a lot of changes in its 4.5 billion year history, including a shift to start incorporating and retaining volatile compounds from the atmosphere in the mantle before spewing them out again through volcanic eruptions.

Professor Ray Arvidson: Organic Compounds on Mars

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What ‘warm and wet’ planetary history means for prospects of life on Mars

In the News: Arvidson about Mars Rover Mission

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When Opportunity’s 5000th day dawned in February, it was a meaningful milestone for the team, and it led to a personal first for the veteran robot field geologist that has chalked up so many firsts she’s set the standard for Mars rovers.

In the News: Criss about the Mississippi River

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“To understand America at this time,” says R.D. James, a Missouri farmer and new Army assistant secretary overseeing its Corps of Engineers, “you have to understand the river.”

Arvidson to receive Weidenbaum Center Award for Excellence

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The Weidenbaum Award for Excellence was established in 2014 by the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy

Small Distant World with Ring

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Special Delivery for Noble Gas Research

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This summer, WashU received a new and very special instrument: a noble gas isotope ratio mass spectrometer.

Climate Panel Member

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The first climate change panel discussion on September 18, 2017 will feature climatologists discussing how the study of past and present climate conditions can aid in the development of future strategies to protect Earth.

In the Field: Geology of the Azores

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Volcanic craters, fumaroles and hot springs mark the rugged landscape of São Miguel island, in the remote Portuguese Azores, where undergraduate students from Washington University in St. Louis traveled to study field geology techniques during their 2018 spring break.

The Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Logs 5000th Day, Snaps Selfie, and Roves On

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See our Virtual Geology Lab

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Washington University's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences is transforming education with the opening of the Virtual Geology Lab. Associate Professor Philip Skemer is building his own 3D holographic models that can be viewed with Microsoft HoloLens.

Seismic Sleuthing

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Dr. Ghassan Aleqabi and Dr. Michael Wysession, Seismologists in Washington University in St. Louis, investigates enemy attacks, terrorism and nuclear tests by seismic sleuthing.

Release of water shakes Pacific Plate at depth

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Tonga is a seismologists’ paradise, and not just because of the white-sand beaches. The subduction zone off the east coast of the archipelago racks up more intermediate-depth and deep earthquakes than any other subduction zone, where one plate of Earth’s lithosphere dives under another, on the planet.

MoonRise mission to the Moon

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Bradley Jolliff, a professor of earth and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and the leader of the proposed MoonRise mission, commented on his team's proposal for a NASA mission to go back to the moon's unexplored far side.

Sending Humans to Mars

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What will it take to get humans to Mars? Science writer Andrew Fazekas sits down with two Mars experts, Jedidah Isler and Ray Arvidson, to talk about the challenges we face getting to and establishing a permanent settlement on the red planet.

Life on Pluto?

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William McKinnon, professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and a co-author on two of four new Pluto studies published Dec. 1 in Nature, argues that beneath the heart-shaped region on Pluto known as Sputnik Planitia there lies an ocean laden with ammonia.

What’s up with Madagascar?

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Michael Wysession, professor of earth and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, explains why there are volcanoes on Madagascar, an island that isn’t near any tectonic boundaries.

Professor McKinnon on YouTube with Pluto

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Dr. Bill McKinnon of Washington University suspected a liquid ocean beneath the surface of Pluto, published remarkable findings about Pluto that surpassed expectations about the dwarf planet and explained how a large section of Pluto’s nitrogen ice surface is renewed by a process called convection.

Reaching the Final Frontier: NASA’s New Horizons Mission to Pluto…and Beyond!

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William McKinnon of Washington University has a long career as a planetary scientist that has been marked by a series of exciting discoveries and new explorations.

A terrible rift

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Doug Wiens, professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and Weisen Shen, a postdoctoral research associate with Wiens, installed a seismometer to investigate the Midcontinent Rift and presented seismic images of the rift at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America (GSA) Sept. 25-28.

Moon condensed from Earth's mantle

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Kun Wang, assistant professor in Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, reported isotopic differences between lunar and terrestrial rocks that provide the first experimental evidence that can discriminate between the two leading models for the moon’s origin.

Martin's Antarctic field season blog (2016-2017)

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Martin J. Pratt, research scientist having recently completed my PhD at Washington University in St. Louis, software developer for the Fossett Laboratory for Virtual Planetary Exploration at WashU, embraced augmented reality platforms in order to display complex concepts within the Earth Sciences.

Steaming a planet

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Bruce Fegley and Katharina Lodders-Fegley, respectively professor and research professor in earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, published models of the chemistry of a steam atmosphere in equilibrium with a magma ocean at various temperatures and pressures, which provided some suggestions for planet hunters.

Mapping sinkholes

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Washington University geologists mapped the huge, branching drainage system that underlies the plain that is called Fogelpole Cave, located just below the notch in the west side of Illinois, where Mississippian limestones are exposed at the surface.

Mongibello Mons

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William McKinnon, professor of earth and planetary science in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, published a computer model that is able to make numerical mountains that look much like the jutting rock slabs on Io.

Rites & Wrongs

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Randy Korotev, a lunar geochemist from Washington University in St. Louis, helped people distinguish between meteorites and "Meteorwrongs", chunks of rock and metal that masquerade as meteorites.

How to Create a Neuroscience Pipeline

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Erik Herzog shares some of his outreach efforts to support and encourage younger neuroscience researchers.

Don't Panic Geocast - Learn about the Moon

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Brad Jolliff, earth and planetary science professor at Washington University in St. Louis, talks about lunar rocks and meteorites. The moon turns out to be a fascinating place, but probably won’t break up like in Seveneves.

Record Missouri flooding was manmade calamity

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At the end of December 2015, a huge storm named “Goliath” dumped 9-10 inches of rain in a belt across the central United States, centered just southwest of St. Louis, most of it in a three-day downpour. Robert Criss, PhD, professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, says there is more to the flood than the rain.

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