Sep 9 2004
From The Space Library
The ISS's main oxygen generator stopped working, but the equipment failure posed no immediate danger to the station's crew members. ISS Commander Gennady I. Padalka stated that the crew could repair the generator, which had failed on previous occasions. The malfunction did not pose an immediate threat to Padalka or his fellow crew member E. Michael Fincke, because they could access several alternative sources of oxygen stored in the orbiting space station. (New York Times, “Oxygen Generator on Space Station Fails,” 10 September 2004.
Scientists published research demonstrating that changes in Earth's gravitational field can affect the planet's climate and weather. Experts described the findings as an important advance in climate research. Bryon D. Tapley of the University of Texas at Austin led the team of scientists, who had discovered that changes in Earth's gravitational field are associated with changes in the distribution of water and ice masses. Their findings demonstrated that scientists could use satellite measurements of Earth's gravitational field to measure changes in the distribution of Earth's mass and to determine the causes of those changes ~ changes that included variations in climate and weather. In their analyses, the scientists had examined data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), consisting of two spacecraft that measure variations in Earth's gravitational field ~ a project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center. (NASA, “NASA's GRACE Gravity Mission Weighs In on Earth's Changing Climate,” news release 04-286, 9 September 2004; Bryon D. Tapley et al., “GRACE Measurements of Mass Variability in the Earth System,” Science 305, no. 5683 (23 July 2004): 503-505.
A NASA-funded study revised a fundamental idea in biological research: a concept known as the tree of life. Previously, biologists had theorized that all life had originated from three types of cells ~ archaea, bacteria, and eukaryotes ~ and had evolved in the pattern of a tree, with bacteria at the base and multicellular life forms branching out from those roots. However, the tree-of-life model did not explain the evolution of different cell types from a single cell or the merger of separate genomes, which form the branches of the tree of life. According to the new research of biologists Maria C. Rivera and James A. Lake, of the University of California at Los Angeles, two of the tree types of cells ~ bacteria and archaea ~ had merged to form the third type of cell, eukaryotes, encompassing all multicellular life forms, including animals, humans, and plants. The findings indicated that life had evolved in the pattern of a ring, rather than a tree. Experts described the research as a major contribution to the understanding of early evolution. (NASA, “Molecular Biologists Uproot Perspective of Ancient History,” news release N04-142, 9 September 2004; Maria C. Rivera and James A. Lake, “The Ring of Life Provides Evidence for a Genome Fusion Origin of Eukaryotes,” Nature 431, no. 7005 (9 September 2004): 152-155.
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