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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Martian Life Detection With Amino Acid Enantiomers, Ali Jamil, Gaosen Zhang, Henry J. Sun
Martian Life Detection With Amino Acid Enantiomers, Ali Jamil, Gaosen Zhang, Henry J. Sun
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)
The Viking mission showed that Martian soil can degrade a heterotrophic medium to carbon dioxide as if live microorganisms were present. The result is considered inconclusive, however, because abiotic oxidants, such as superoxides, may also exist on Mars and would explain the Viking result. One way to resolve this ambiguity is to repeat the Viking experiment with a isomerically pure medium. The consumption of one isomer, either D or L, would indicate biological activity. Indiscriminate destruction of both isomers would indicate abiotic redox processes. This idea was validated for glucose by REU research last summer (Sun et al. 2009). The …
Stereospecificity In Glucose Consumption: A New Approach To Martian Life Detection, Vienna R. Saccomanno, Henry J. Sun
Stereospecificity In Glucose Consumption: A New Approach To Martian Life Detection, Vienna R. Saccomanno, Henry J. Sun
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)
In 1976, the Viking mission made a remarkable discovery: Martian soil was capable of decomposing an organic nutrient broth to carbon dioxide as if it contained live microorganisms. However, a biological interpretation of this finding is in apparent contradiction with the gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer aboard the Viking landers, which showed Martian soil to be devoid of indigenous organics. To reconcile these findings, it has been hypothesized that unknown abiotic oxidants, such as peroxide and superoxide, are present on Mars and that they were responsible for its soil reactivity. The objective of this research is to develop a life detection method …