Jupiter moons brought into focus by McKinnon

Evidence for wet, slushy Ganymede found

By Tony Fitzpatrick

Planetary scientists studying Jupiter's icy moon Ganymede have combined stereo images from the Galileo mission with 1970s Voyager images and found provocative features on its surface. The researchers have mapped long swathes of bright flat terrain that they think is evidence of water or slush that emerged 1 billion years or so ago.

This bright terrain, long since frozen over, lies uniformly in troughs about one kilometer (a little over a half-mile) beneath Ganymede's older, darker, cratered terrain.

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An irregularly shaped caldera, or pit, within a bright swath called Sippar Sulcus on Jupiter's moon Ganymede dominates this image taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft.

McKinnon: Jupiter moons
researcher

Stress, chaos formed Io's huge mountains

By Trent C. Stockton

It takes a lot of stress and a little chaos to create some of the tallest mountains in our solar system.

That is the theory proposed by University earth and planetary scientists studying mountain formation and volcanic activity on Io, one of Jupiter's many moons. The researchers analyzed images taken by the Galileo and Voyager spacecraft and found that Io's enigmatic mountains may be the combined result of heating, melting and tilting of giant blocks of crust.

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WU to invest up to $40 million in venture capital funds

To support and encourage the development of new St. Louis science-and-technology companies, the University's Board of Trustees will invest up to $40 million of the institution's endowment in St. Louis-based venture capital funds, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. The Trustee Investment Committee made the decision at its March 2 meeting.

"The focus of the University's strategy is to encourage investment in science-based companies, with the objective of helping establish the St. Louis region as a center of science-and-technology-based industries," Wrighton said.

"With the wise counsel and strong support of the Trustees --especially Board Chair John F. McDonnell and Investment Committee Chair John H. Biggs --we see this as a way to parallel the University's strength in science and research with the region's potential to grow as a magnet for high-technology business and industry," he said.

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Brain damage contributor indentified

By Gila Reckess

Researchers have identified a protein that plays an important role in neonatal brain injury.

The protein, clusterin, might also contribute to adult brain damage --for example after spinal cord injury or stroke.

Holtzman: Led research team

The results appear in the March issue of the journal Nature Medicine. The first author is Byung Hee Han, M.D., research associate in neurology at the School of Medicine. David M. Holtzman, M.D., associate professor of neurology and of molecular biology and pharmacology, led the research team.

Blockage of blood flow to the brain before or during birth can temporarily deprive the brain of oxygen and other nutrients, as happens when an adult has a stroke. Without a continuous supply of oxygen, some brain cells die or are damaged, causing hypoxic-ischemic (H-I) injury. The outcome may be long-term cognitive difficulties, seizures and motor problems, as in cerebral palsy.

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