National Science Foundation News | Mars' Atmosphere #shorts #mars #space @NSFScience | Uploaded September 2024 | Updated October 2024, 12 minutes ago.
Mars wasn’t always the cold desert we see today. There’s increasing evidence that water once flowed on the Red Planet’s surface, billions of years ago. And if there was water, there must also have been a thick atmosphere to keep that water from freezing. But sometime around 3.5 billion years ago, the water dried up, and the air, once heavy with carbon dioxide, dramatically thinned, leaving only the wisp of an atmosphere that clings to the planet today.
Where exactly did Mars’ atmosphere go? This question has been a central mystery of Mars’ 4.6-billion-year history.
Mars wasn’t always the cold desert we see today. There’s increasing evidence that water once flowed on the Red Planet’s surface, billions of years ago. And if there was water, there must also have been a thick atmosphere to keep that water from freezing. But sometime around 3.5 billion years ago, the water dried up, and the air, once heavy with carbon dioxide, dramatically thinned, leaving only the wisp of an atmosphere that clings to the planet today.
Where exactly did Mars’ atmosphere go? This question has been a central mystery of Mars’ 4.6-billion-year history.
![[Thresher Shark] Sleek, Poetic ... and Deadly](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NhwWzF3RfpQ/hqdefault.jpg "[Thresher Shark] Sleek, Poetic ... and Deadly
Meet the Thresher shark-its machete-like tail is used to slap and stun prey, allowing it to swallow multiple fish in one fell swoop. Its tail measures almost half the length of its own body, making threshers very large in the world of sharks. NSF-supported research from Florida Atlantic University wanted to understand the mechanisms behind the thresher sharks vertebrae that allow this body-bending acrobatics. Using micro-CT scanning, the team imaged the internal architecture of each vertebra and the mineral structures found in the calcified cartilage. These images help the team understand exactly how the sharks unique catapult system works.")
