Doggedly searching for the crux of the biscuit.
Because Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, is spinning faster than expected, there is likely a liquid ocean 50 or 60 miles below the surface, a team of scientists reported in Friday’s issue of the journal Science. Based on radar images taken on repeated passes by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, the scientists tracked motion on the surface and found the surface to be rotating slightly faster than expected. They believe seasonal winds in Titan’s atmosphere are pushing on the outer shell, causing it to spin faster. For the outer shell to spin independently, there must be a liquid ocean, probably made of water and ammonia, separating the shell from the inner part of Titan, the scientists reported.
But that teaser is all they say. There's a whole lot more detail at Science Daily and New Scientist, including this:
If Titan has an ocean beneath its surface, could life be present there? Possibly. Tobie says Titan may have provided especially good conditions for the development of life. Early in its history, liquid water may have been exposed to the surface, allowing complex carbon-containing molecules from the atmosphere to mix with the water.
"Organic [carbon-based] chemistry and warm water provide very good conditions for life to arise," Tobie says, although he adds that it might have been difficult for this life to survive after the ocean was cut off from the atmosphere by ice.
And if there's one thing Titan's got, it's hydrocarbons.
OT, look what NC had to overcome to beat Duke in basketball. That's just not right.
Posted by: Gaijin Biker at March 21, 2008 02:23 AMBandwith issues due to the sheer awesomeness of that link. Wait and it'll come back.
Posted by: Gaijin Biker at March 21, 2008 04:23 AMThat was actually last year. There was a different Speedo guy this year, doing crotch chops.
Posted by: apostropher at March 21, 2008 07:31 AMI'm with GB. That's just not right. Thank goodness for cosmic justice!
As for Titan, where there's possible life, can possible pharmacological substances be far behind?
Posted by: TokyoTom at March 21, 2008 07:36 AMOcean below the surface? Shhhhh, keep it quiet. We don't want the Russians finding out
Posted by: Cangrejero at March 21, 2008 09:17 AMDid someone say hydrocarbons? Mars, Titan, bitches.
Side question: We just got No Country for Old Men here in Japan, and does anyone agree with me that it was a good movie up until it reached the most abrupt, unsatisfying, inconclusive ending ever? And don't give me any of that "It's the Coen brothers, they're being arty" BS. They made Fargo too, and that had a great ending.
Posted by: Gaijin Biker at March 21, 2008 11:11 PMI didn't care all that much for the ending of No Country either, but I suppose it could be that they were trying to be faithful to the book.
Posted by: Doctor Slack at March 21, 2008 11:36 PMAn ocean of pain (only seen by goths, emo kids, and submissives with expendable income)
An ocean of lunatics (only seen by roughly 23% of Americans, but most of the rest of the world...as well as other lunatics)
An ocean of possibilities (only seen by bi-polars in an upswing and me with REALLY drunk women)
I could go on, but even these 3 were barely worth typing.
Posted by: Mr. Sticky at March 26, 2008 04:03 PM
