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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Britney SchmidtNext month, NASA's Cassini spacecraft will make its 126th and final pass around Saturn's large moon Titan, leaving scientists with a rich picture of a geologically active world with liquid hydrocarbon lakes, complex atmospheric chemistry, and likely even a salty ocean buried beneath its icy crust. But their biggest question will be left unanswered for now: Does Titan, which resembles a primordial Earth, have life?...Titan offers many examples of really interesting organic chemistry experiments with alternative structures, added Georgia Tech planetary scientist Britney Schmidt. "The Titan example is fantastic because you have a sedimentary process like a terrestrial planet, but it's ice involved," she said. "It's organic in nature, but it is not necessarily biogenic." Britney Schmidt is an assistant professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.
