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Europe in sulfuric acid

15.01.2000

Great hopes were pinned on one of the satellites of Jupiter - Europa. Pictures from the US spacecraft "Galileo" showed that the planet is covered by the ocean. On its surface is an ice crust with intersecting cracks. There was an assumption that some primitive life could exist in the depths of the ocean. And some enthusiasts even saw roads or pipelines laid by intelligent beings in the pattern of cracks. Now, however, those hopes appear to have been dashed. The same "Galileo" received infrared spectra, which indicate the presence of fairly concentrated sulfuric acid on Europa.

Selecting in the laboratory various aqueous solutions that give an infrared spectrum closest to that obtained with Galileo, American scientists discovered that a solution of sulfuric acid gives such a picture. Where does it come from?

According to one hypothesis, it is thrown out from the depths of Europe by underwater volcanoes, according to another, sulfur ions come from space, from the neighboring satellite of Jupiter - Io. It has huge volcanoes that emit sulfurous gases. Sulfur ions from Io's upper atmosphere can be picked up by Jupiter's magnetic field and brought to Europa.

As the authors of the discovery point out, if a research probe is sent to Europe, as planned, it will have to be covered with a layer of gold - otherwise the sulfuric acid will corrode.

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underground corn 01.11.2005

In recent years, genetic engineers have learned how to insert genes into plants to produce certain drugs.

For example, tomatoes and bananas have appeared that produce antibodies to certain microbes and are thus able to replace vaccination through a syringe with eating a delicious vegetable or fruit. Plant varieties have been obtained that synthesize hormones and enzymes necessary for physicians. But many conservationists fear that the cultivation of such transgenic varieties will lead to the release of not only pharmacologically active substances into the environment, but also the corresponding genes, for example, with pollen carried by wind or insects. The possible consequences of this are difficult to predict.

The American firm Controlled Pharming Ventures found a way out: it grows medicinal transgenic corn underground under artificial lighting in an abandoned mine in southern Indiana. No genes can break through to the surface from there, especially if you place an installation for extracting the active substance from the grains right there, in the mine.

Recently, the researchers received the first harvest. Corn yielded 21 tons underground per hectare. In classic greenhouses, the same variety yields 16,5 tons per hectare, while in the open field, American farmers receive almost half that. The high yield is due to the even conditions in the mine and the increased content of carbon dioxide.

The total area of the underground working is 24 hectares, so in the future a workshop for processing the grown crop will be located here. It is curious that Canadians became the pioneers in growing medicinal plants underground about ten years ago, and for almost the same reasons.

In the province of Saskatchewan, in a mine where zinc ore was previously mined, marijuana is grown for medical purposes. The underground plantation is completely inaccessible to drug addicts and drug dealers.

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