Evidence of liquid flowing water on Mars?
TUCSON, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- A NASA probe orbiting Mars has captured images suggesting the possibility of flowing water on the red planet during its warmest months, the space agency says.
In observations recorded by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, dark, finger-like features appear and extend down some Martian slopes during the planet's late spring through summer, fade in winter, and the return during the next spring, a NASA release said Thursday.
These seasonal changes have been seen on several steep slopes in the middle latitudes of Mars' southern hemisphere, scientists say.
"The best explanation for these observations so far is the flow of briny water," Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona says.
McEwen is the principal investigator for the orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment.
Flows of liquid brine fit the features' characteristics since saltiness lowers the freezing temperature of water while pure water would freeze at the observed temperatures.
The observations are the closest scientists have come to finding evidence of liquid water on the surface of Mars today, although frozen water has been detected near the surface in many middle to high-latitude regions of the planet, NASA says.
Radar system could makes runways safer
WACHTBERG, Germany, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- German researchers say a new sensing system to spot debris on a runway could prevent disasters like the 2000 crash of the Concorde in France that killed 113.
Parts often become detached from aircraft during the stresses of take-offs and landings, putting subsequent runway users at risk as was the case with the Concorde, which ran over a piece of metal, bursting a tire that sent debris into a fuel tank, causing it to catch fire.
Currently, airport workers must periodically drive up and down runways looking for such debris, a time-consuming an error-prone process.
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institutes in Germany say the new system can monitor runways continuously for debris and warn of any dangers.
"Our technology would have prevented the Concorde tragedy from happening," Fraunhofer researcher Helmut Essen said.
"Devices installed all along the runway continuously scan the surface," he said. "They can detect even the smallest of items, such as screws, but the system will only issue a warning if an object remains on the runway for a longer period of time. A windblown plastic bag or a bird resting briefly will not set off the alarm."
The system consists of infrared cameras, optical 2-D and 3-D cameras, and networked radar sensors.
Initial testing will begin at Cologne-Bonn airport this fall, researchers said.
Future of seawater desalination studied
SOUTH BEND, Ind., Aug. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers have reviewed the current state of seawater desalination technology and its potential as a sustainable solution to global water shortages.
William Phillip of the University of Notre Dame and Menachem Elimelech at Yale University analyzed how seawater desalination technology has advanced in the past 30 years and in what ways the technology can be improved, a Notre Dame release said Thursday.
"At present, one-third of the world's population lives in water stressed countries," Phillip said. "Increasing population, contamination of fresh water sources and climate change will cause this percentage to increase over the coming decade."
Despite major advancements in desalination technologies, the process is still more energy intensive than conventional technologies for the treatment of freshwater, the researchers said.
"However, these traditional sources aren't going to be able to meet the growing demand for water worldwide," Phillip said.
Elimelech and Phillip reviewed the possible reductions in energy demand by state-of-the-art desalination technologies and the potential role of advanced materials and innovative technologies in improving efficiency.
"Hopefully, our paper helps provide some of the information needed to inform the decisions of policy makers, water resource planers, scientists, and engineers on the suitability of desalination as a means to meet the increasing demands for water," the researchers s
Hospital tests wireless patient monitoring
ST. LOUIS, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- A U.S. hospital is testing a clinical warning system that uses wireless sensors to track the vital signs of at-risk patients and can inform nurses of a problem.
When fully operational, the system's wearable sensors will take blood oxygenation and heart-rate readings from at-risk patients once or twice a minute, transmitting the data to a base station, where computers will look for any signs of clinical deterioration and alert medical personnel, a release from Washington University in St. Louis said Thursday.
The idea of the system, undergoing a feasibility study at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, is to create a virtual intensive care unit where the patients aren't wired to beeping machines but are free to move about, said Chenyang Lu, a computer scientist at Washington University who was the principal investigator for the prototype-network trial.
"Overall, the prototype trial showed that wireless sensor networks can successfully monitor vital signs to support real-time detection of clinical deterioration in patients," Lu says.
