Article Review
- Pages:
- 7
- Academic Level:
- University
- Paper Type:
- Book Report/Review
- Discipline:
- English
Paper detalis:
Type your final paper with double-spacing in Times New Roman, 12-point font.
introduction should be no more than half of a page.
1. Introduction must contain citations that refer to each of your four sources.
2. Summary of the science in your original science essay should be no more than one page.
3. Summary of the science in your second science essay should be no more than one page.
4. Summary of your first peer-reviewed, primary science research article should be no more than one page.
5. Summary of your second peer-reviewed, primary science research article should be no more than one page.
6. Write your summary of your peer-reviewed, primary science research articles, you must summarize the introduction, the materials and methods,
the results, and the discussion of each research article. Do not include the titles of these sections in your summaries. Summarize each section to tell the story
of the research or study
This is a science article summary. 4 paragraphs for each article:
a. “Introduction establishes the context for the research: the area in which the research takes place, the research problem, the importance of the
research, and the guiding question or hypothesis.” (Why did the author(s) think the research was important? What were the questions the
scientists wanted to answer?)
b. “Materials and Methods describes the research procedure.” (How did the scientists investigate their questions? What did they use and how did
they use it to answer their questions?)
c. “Results reports the outcomes of the research procedure” (What did the scientists find out using their materials and methods? Were their results
statistically significant?)
d. “Discussion interprets the results, explaining them and comparing them to the results of other experiments.” (How did the scientists’ results
support the questions introduced in the introduction? How do the scientists’ results integrate with research by other scientists involved in similar
research?
Article Review
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Article Review
Scientists are exploring other planets to explore which planets are habitable, and such endeavors are promoted to find alternative habitats for the human race, given the growing population. However, mars have very adverse conditions typified by brine and high temperatures, releasing the question of the presence of life and making it harder for scientists to explore it and carry out research (Good, 2017). Luckily, the Atacama Desert has been promoted to have similar environmental conditions and biological properties as Mars, making it a qualified zone for tests run on exploration on Mars (Parro et al., 2011). It similarly offers an opportunity to test devices that will facilitate terrestrial explorations, such as the Life Detector Chip (LDChip300) (Parro et al., 2011) and the chemical laptop by NASA (Cubillos et al. 2018). The following articles reviews present a case for the similarities in geomicrobiological properties in Atacama and Mars and the effectiveness of devices made to facilitate the detection of life in extreme environmental conditions.
Article 1:
The article is a news article published in the Atlantic. Given that it is not a scholarly article, it lacks the categorization of research articles, such as methods and results. The article's premise is that humans such for terrestrial life start with assessments of the Atacama Desert, the oldest desert on earth. The article describes the Atacama Desert's terrain and, more so, the Salar lake. The article's importance is to illustrate the signs and ongoing research of aliens' through interconnection.
The article presents a case of an arch biologist Wilhelm collecting samples from the dessert to take back to the laboratory for assessment. Wilhelm collects rocks and places them in a sterile tin which she would take to NASA laboratories. She would scrape off pieces of the rocks and lichen from the rock surface, melt them into liquid, and analyze the DNA of the rocks. Wilhelm would also assess microbes found in a ravine from salty rocks. Notable, the microbe represents the only form of life found in the Atacama, and scientists perceive they are similar to microbes found on Mars (Boyle, 2018)
There is no assessment of results from Wilhelm's assessments, but there are indications that there is hope that scientists will find proof of the existence of extraterrestrial life. The evidence so far from the earth's history is that where life has existed, it takes hold and thrives. There is also extensive evidence of reproduction and the existence of life where it has existed before. The indicators provoke the minds of humans, given that so far, proof shows e evidence of other life, but none is proven, leaving humans as the only life. There has so far been no contact with other forms of life. The author recognizes that life decreased as he traveled deeper into the Atacama, and the temperature increased. The authors note that the Atacama significantly resembles the promotion of mars than earth because of the miles of the lifeless brown surface with the brown shades differing across the natural features (Boyle, 2018).
Article 2 Summary
The article establishes that lithium, the primary element in batteries supporting modern life, is mainly obtained from one salt lake ecosystem: The Salar de Atacama in Chile's the Atacama Desert. The lake has the most saline conditions globally. Its waters, known as brine, have a salinity of 55.6%, which is high given ocean salinity, which people are more familiar with, is only 0.3% saline. The research aims to illustrate that highly saline conditions such as the brined support life given there are microorganisms that thrive inbred Salar brines. Similarly, Mars has the same saline conditions with its water referred to as brine, and thus, proof that brines can support life would justify assumptions of life on Mars. The importance of the study is it would indicate the presence of celestial beings and promote preservations of such natural and unique ecosystems to preserve unique microbial life. The study aimed to assess and describe Bacteria and Archaean natural concentrated lithium-rich brine of Salar de Atacama (Cubillos et al., 2018).
The study methods were qualitative involving actual extraction of natural brine from salary region. The extracted brine is then placed in pools where it crystalizes use to the higher temperatures and the deserts conditions. Two types of brine were then collected for analysis; one natural brine with 0.16% lithium and another highly concentrated version with 8.12% of lithium. The two samples were stirred at 4 degrees Celsius in the darkroom. Its mineral composition, acidity, density, salinity, the conductivity of dissolved salts, carbon constituents, water activity, and viscosity (Cubillos et al., 2018). Further, DNA was extracted from the samples alongside gene sequencing. The data collected was analyzed using the Mothur 1.27.0 to read illumine data, UCHRIME was used to eliminate Chimeras, while screen sequences commands were applied to remove sequences outside the desired 100-400pb range.
The research results showed the brine's properties and variations in microbial community structure in the twp. Brines and community composition. The natural brine mainly had chloride and sodium, while concentrated brine had lithium and chloride. The PH of the brines was 6.9 in natural brine and 7.3 for the concentrated vine. The samples were also hypersaline with a salinity of 347g/L for natural and 556g/L for concentrated samples. Natural brine had four times more conductivity than concentrated brine. Differences in the concentration of ions were due to industrial processing. Oils, organized solvents, and hydrocarbons were not found in either of the samples. Bacteria richness was thrice higher concentrated than natural bruin, while natural brine had more Archaean (Cubillos et al., 2018).
The discussion promotes that turbidity and viscosity are mainly variations across the physical properties of the two brine types. The psych properties difference also defined difference in microorganism communities in the brine variations. Nonetheless, the reduction is the same for both brine samples: there is life within the hypersaline environments. More importantly, the properties and microbial organisms found in the bruins brine samples from Salar de Atacama are closely similar to properties and organism communities in brine from mars indicating the probability of life on Mars.
Article 3:
The Atacama Desert is one of the most extreme places in the work with a high temperature and dry environment, and only the strongest microbes survive in the region. It is highly exposed to radiation from the sun and has a rock landscape. The article hypothesizes that f life is found in the Atacama Desert, it can be found in a terrestrial environment with worse conditions. The importance of the article is thus to show that life in the Atacama is a nudge that there could be life on other planets with extreme conditions.
Researchers from NASA and various higher education institutions set out to the Atacama with various devices to test them for capabilities to detect life on other planets and terrestrial environments. A laptop used to test amino acids was among the devices tested, which are the basic building block to all forms of life-based on science. The amino acids are bonded to minerals from components extracted from various planets. The laptop also has a technological feature that extracts water from the samples releasing the amino acids and making them viable to test on the laptop. The laptop can assess samples for biomarkers. The laptop can detect 17 types of amino acids (Good, 2017)
The Atacama desserts have proven to be similar to environments in terrestrial environments such as on Mars. Developing technologies such as the Chemical laptop facilitate the execution of all functions performed in a lab through eth computer, making it feasible for interplanetary explorations. Such technology aims to simplify and automate steps of testing for life in samples. The technology's ability to test life in the Atacama would enable further assessments in other areas, such as Antarctica's icy zones. If proven effective, the technologies will be used on mars and other planetary exploration to search for life (Good, 2017).
Article 4 Summary
The research takes place in the Atacama Desert, which has long been used as an analog for Martian subsurface, given similarities in properties. Atacama Desert Surface is as saline as Mars environments, and thus the desert acts as a testing place for possible explorations of mars. The research aimed to test a Life Detection Chip intended for explorations into other planets while testing the microbiology of the Atacama surface. The Life detector Chip contained 300 antibodies developed over several years for detecting biomarkers on molecules in interplanetary expeditions. The issue it sort to address is a scarcity of data 0n the geomicrobiology of hypersaline surfaces. The importance of the research was that being able to determine the geomicrobiology of the subsurface at the Atacama would significantly influence explorations of life on mars, given the similar environment (Parro et al., 2011)
The researchers carried out primary qualitative research in the Atacama Desert as a campaign during wintertime in the region in 2009. The study was carried out by eight researchers with the help of two research assistants. The researchers used the CARDI EN 400; a diamond impregnated coring drill and rod of 85mm in diameter, and a 4.08 horsepower gas motor. The power-limited drilling if the equipment used compressed air was input in the corer to facilitate transportation of the chips while avoiding cross-contamination. The drilling was done 2m deep into the surface. Vacuum sampling systems collected samples ranging from 500 to 3000grams. The samples were placed in plastic bags that were then zipped using aluminum foil, stored at room temperature, analyzed in an eth field laboratory, and transported for analysis to Madrid. The analysis of the samples focused on identifying various properties of the subsurface besides microbes, including DNA, genes, mineral, protein and sugar contents, ions, and hydrocarbons, among many other elements.
The results indicate a correlation between the patterns and components found in the hygroscopic salts and processes found on the surface of Mars. The LDChip300 identified microbial biomarkers in situ in the subsurface of the desert, giving them many reactions with the 300 antibodies on the instrument. Some of the microorganisms detected were Acetobacteraceae, Gammaproteobacteria, and Bacillares. The findings firm the LDChip2300 were confirmed by field molecular and biochemical analysis. The geochemical state analysis of the grounds revealed that Atacama Subsurface is highly saline. Further assessments through molecular phylogeny and microscopy showed that the subsurface had Archaean and bacteria.
The discussion established the progressive nature of the LDChip300 device in detecting microbes and biomarkers over previous versions. The instrument is efficient n provides data results within 3 hours, making it closest to attaining real-time monitoring. A large number of antibodies allows for assessing a wide range of biomarkers. The LDChip, alongside the microscopic and molecular assessments, illustrates a recently colonized habitat proving the presence of a microbial oasis in the Atacama Desert. The research also establishes that the surfaces are extremely saline with halite substances. Halite and other salts allow for water vapor condensations and absorb water to form a liquid solution, crucial for exploring life on Mars. The findings thus indicate that the subsurface in Attica replicates Mars conditions. Despite the extreme environmental factors, the presence of microbial in the Atacama subsurface indicates the possibility of a microbial habitat on mars. The researcher's findings lead to the generation of the hypothesis of the possibility of an ecosystem fueled by decreased compounds due to hydrothermal activity.
In conclusion, the research shows that samples from the Atacama Desert subsurface indicate similar microbial properties as those found on Mars, such as hyper salinity, extreme temperatures, and dryness. The brine, a major compound found in both Mars and the Atacama Desert, is highly saline, and research has proven the existence of microorganisms on the brine despite the high salinity. The findings prove that there is a possibility of life on mars, which means it is habitable or can support plants or animals. The research shows that devices developed to detect life in terrestrial environments, such as the LDChip300 and the chemical laptop, have potential and can facilitate interplanetary explorations. The LDChip 300 is proven effective, while the results for the chemical laptop, if proven effective, can implement processes of testing carried out in laboratories making the process of life detection on Mars fast and efficient.
References
Boyle, R., (2018). The search for alien life begins in earth's oldest desert. The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/11/searching-life-martian-lands cape/576628/
Cubillos, C. F., Aguilar, P., Grágeda, M., & Dorador, C. (2018). Microbial communities from the world's largest lithium reserve, Salar de Atacama, Chile: Life at high LiCl concentrations. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 123(12), 3668-3681.
Good, A., (2017). Detecting life in the ultra-dry Atacama Desert. NASA. Retrieved from https://mars.nasa.gov/news/detecting-life-in-the-driest-place-on-earth/
Parro, V., de Diego-Castilla, G., Moreno-Paz, M., Blanco, Y., Cruz-Gil, P., Rodríguez-Manfredi, J. A., & Gómez-Elvira, J. (2011). A microbial oasis in the hypersaline Atacama subsurface discovered by a life detector chip: implications for the search for life on Mars. Astrobiology, 11(10), 969-996.