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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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Microfluidic cell counter (Credit Michael Cato)Before astrobiologists can figure out whether the icy oceans on other worlds, such as Jupiter’s moon Europa, harbor life, they need to better understand life under the ice of our own oceans and thus need instruments that can detect signs of life while operating in extremely cold, watery conditions. The ocean under the Antarctic ice shelf is the most analogous environment to Europa here on Earth. At the ACS national meeting, Nicholas Speller of the Georgia Institute of Technology reported on the portable microfluidic cell counter he and his colleague Michael Cato built for deployment on Icefin, a vehicle designed for exploration underneath the Antarctic ice. Speller and Cato are researchers working with Amanda Stockton, in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
