Daily Archives: October 20, 2024

Ryugu Surprises Scientists Again: New Clues Reveal Asteroid’s Birth Near Jupiter

New isotopic analysis of asteroid Ryugu’s samples from Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission indicates a formation near Jupiter, not beyond Saturn, revealing intricate details about the early Solar System’s asteroid formation processes. Credit: JAXA
Samples from asteroid Ryugu have once again surprised scientists, challenging previous ideas about how carbon-rich asteroids form.
New research published in Science Advances suggests that Ryugu may have formed near Jupiter, rather than beyond Saturn’s orbit as earlier studies indicated. Four years ago, Japan’s Hayabusa 2 mission brought back samples of Ryugu to Earth. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany compared the types of nickel found in these samples to those in typical carbon-rich meteorites. Their findings suggest a new possibility: different carbon-rich asteroids may have formed in the same region near Jupiter, though through varying processes and about two million years apart.
Global Journey of Ryugu Samples
Since the Hayabusa 2 probe delivered Ryugu’s samples to Earth in December 2020, the material has been thoroughly analyzed. The tiny, jet-black grains were initially examined in Japan and then sent to research facilities worldwide. There, scientists measured, weighed, and chemically analyzed the samples, subjecting them to infrared, X-ray, and synchrotron radiation tests. At the MPS, researchers focused on the ratios of metal isotopes, including nickel. These isotopic studies, which involve examining elements with differing neutron counts, help scientists pinpoint where in the Solar System Ryugu likely formed.
Ryugu’s Journey Through the Solar System
Ryugu is a near-Earth asteroid: Its orbit around the Sun crosses that of Earth (without risk of collision). However, researchers assume that, like other near-Earth asteroids, Ryugu is not native to the inner Solar System, but traveled there from the asteroid belt located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The actual birthplaces of the asteroid belt population are probably even further away from the Sun, outside the orbit of Jupiter.
Ryugu’s “family relations” can help shed light on its origin and further evolution. To what degree does Ryugu resemble the representatives of well-known classes of meteorites? These are fragments of asteroids that have made their way from space to Earth.
About two million years after the formation of the Solar System, the first carbonaceous chondrites made of dust, chondrules, early condensates and iron-nickel grains agglomerated outside the orbit of the still young Jupiter. About two million years later, the CI chondrites were formed by photoevaporation. They incorporated a particularly large number of iron-nickel grains. Credit: MPS (Fridolin Spitzer)
Investigations in recent years have yielded a surprise: Ryugu fits into the large crowd of carbon-rich meteorites, the carbonaceous chondrites, as expected. However, detailed studies of its composition assign it to a rare group: the so-called CI chondrites. These are also known as Ivuna-type chondrites, named after the Tanzanian location where their best-known representative was found. In addition to the Ivuna chondrite itself, only eight others of these exotic specimens have been discovered to date. As their chemical composition is similar to that of the Sun, they are considered to be particularly pristine material that was formed at the outermost edge of the Solar System.
“So far, we had assumed that Ryugu’s place of origin is also outside Saturn’s orbit,” explains MPS scientist Dr. Timo Hopp, co-author of the current study, who has already led earlier investigations into Ryugu’s isotopic composition.
The latest analyses by the Göttingen scientists now paint a different picture. For the first time, the team  investigated the ratios of nickel isotopes in four samples of the asteroid Ryugu and six samples of carbonaceous chondrites. The results confirm the close relationship between Ryugu and the CI chondrites. However, the idea of a common birthplace at the edge of the Solar System is no longer compelling. 
A Revised Understanding of Cosmic Ingredients
What had happened? Until now, researchers had understood carbonaceous chondrites as mixtures of three “ingredients” that can even be seen with the naked eye in cross-sections. Embedded in fine-grained rock, round, millimeter-sized inclusions as well as smaller, irregularly shaped inclusions are densely packed together. The irregular inclusions are the first material to have condensed into solid clumps in the hot gas disk that once orbited the Sun. The round silicate-rich chondrules formed later.
Until now, researchers have attributed differences in the isotopic composition between CI chondrites and other groups of carbonaceous chondrites to different mixing ratios of these three ingredients. CI chondrites, for example, consist predominantly of fine-grained rock, while their siblings are significantly richer in inclusions. However, as the team describes in the current publication, the results of the nickel measurements do not fit into this scheme.
The researchers’ calculations now show that their measurements can only be explained by a fourth ingredient: tiny iron-nickel grains, which must also have accumulated during the formation of the asteroids. In the case of Ryugu and the CI chondrites, this process must have been particularly efficient. “Completely different processes must have been at work in the formation of Ryugu and the CI chondrites on the one hand and the other groups of carbonaceous chondrites on the other,” says Fridolin Spitzer from the MPS, first author of the new study, summarizing the basic idea.
Surprising Discoveries in Asteroid Research
According to the researchers, the first carbonaceous chondrites began to form around two million years after the formation of the Solar System. Attracted by the gravitational force of the still-young Sun, dust and the first solid clumps made their way from the outer edge of the gas and dust disk into the inner Solar System, but encountered an obstacle along the way: the newly forming Jupiter.
Outside its orbit, the heavier and larger clumps in particular accumulated – and thus grew into carbonaceous chondrites with their many inclusions. Towards the end of this development, after around two million years, another process gained the upper hand: under the influence of the Sun, the original gas gradually evaporated outside Jupiter’s orbit leading to the accumulation of primarily dust and iron-nickel grains. This led to the birth of the CI chondrites.
“The results surprised us very much. We had to completely rethink – not only with regard to Ryugu, but also with regard to the entire group of CI chondrites,” says Dr. Christoph Burkhard from the MPS. The CI chondrites no longer appear as distant, somewhat exotic relatives of the other carbonaceous chondrites from the outermost edge of the Solar System, but rather as younger siblings that may have formed in the same region, but through a different process and later.
“The current study shows how crucial laboratory investigations can be in deciphering the formation history of our Solar System,” says Prof. Dr. Thorsten Kleine, Director of the Department of Planetary Sciences at the MPS and co-author of the study.
Reference: “The Ni isotopic composition of Ryugu reveals a common accretion region for carbonaceous chondrites” by Fridolin Spitzer, Thorsten Kleine, Christoph Burkhardt, Timo Hopp, Tetsuya Yokoyama, Yoshinari Abe, Jérôme Aléon, Conel M. O’D Alexander, Sachiko Amari, Yuri Amelin, Ken-ichi Bajo, Martin Bizzarro, Audrey Bouvier, Richard W. Carlson, Marc Chaussidon, Byeon-Gak Choi, Nicolas Dauphas, Andrew M. Davis, Tommaso Di Rocco, Wataru Fujiya, Ryota Fukai, Ikshu Gautam, Makiko K. Haba, Yuki Hibiya, Hiroshi Hidaka, Hisashi Homma, Peter Hoppe, Gary R. Huss, Kiyohiro Ichida, Tsuyoshi Iizuka, Trevor R. Ireland, Akira Ishikawa, Shoichi Itoh, Noriyuki Kawasaki, Noriko T. Kita, Kouki Kitajima, Shintaro Komatani, Alexander N. Krot, Ming-Chang Liu, Yuki Masuda, Mayu Morita, Fréderic Moynier, Kazuko Motomura, Izumi Nakai, Kazuhide Nagashima, Ann Nguyen, Larry Nittler, Morihiko Onose, Andreas Pack, Changkun Park, Laurette Piani, Liping Qin, Sara S. Russell, Naoya Sakamoto, Maria Schönbächler, Lauren Tafla, Haolan Tang, Kentaro Terada, Yasuko Terada, Tomohiro Usui, Sohei Wada, Meenakshi Wadhwa, Richard J. Walker, Katsuyuki Yamashita, Qing-Zhu Yin, Shigekazu Yoneda, Edward D. Young, Hiroharu Yui, Ai-Cheng Zhang, Tomoki Nakamura, Hiroshi Naraoka, Takaaki Noguchi, Ryuji Okazaki, Kanako Sakamoto, Hikaru Yabuta, Masanao Abe, Akiko Miyazaki, Aiko Nakato, Masahiro Nishimura, Tatsuaki Okada, Toru Yada, Kasumi Yogata, Satoru Nakazawa, Takanao Saiki, Satoshi Tanaka, Fuyuto Terui, Yuichi Tsuda, Sei-ichiro Watanabe, Makoto Yoshikawa, Shogo Tachibana and Hisayoshi Yurimoto, 27 September 2024, Science Advances.DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adp2426

Using Science to Bring Literature to Life

Too often when we consider how to connect science and literacy, we think about using literature to support science. Maybe it’s reading a fictional book with a science theme, or exploring a biography of a famous scientist.But we could instead turn that around and use science experiments as a way of bringing literature to life. Or we could use literature as a way to explore some of the questions about design and ethics that arise in the work of science.As educators in Chicago, we saw that regardless of the setting, many students were not interested in science. They saw it as facts and rote memorization. In both our classwork and our outside workshops, we needed to create more meaningful connections to the sciences, and incorporating literature allowed students to engage in a different way.The stories suddenly became something students could see, feel, and experience. They could see science as being creative. Showing students how scientific concepts connect to things that they’re passionate about allows them to gain confidence in science. It also challenges them to move beyond the traditional expectations of science classwork to become more open-minded and think creatively.How We’ve Done ItUsing science as a support to engage students with complicated texts: Beowulf is a classic story filled with monsters, a venomous fire-breathing dragon, undersea scrimmages, and battle descriptions including torn limbs and bloody, severed heads—like your basic video game.Yet many of the high school students we’ve worked with were completely turned off because they found the language too difficult. Even when trying a variety of drawing and role-playing activities, it was still hard to get all of our students to completely engage.So we created a series of science lessons to make the story more tangible. In one lesson, students are challenged to create their own 3D model of Grendel, Grendel’s mother, or the dragon. They must support their ideas by citing evidence from the text, and make and explain inferences where specific descriptions are not available. Students create paper robots, and learn the science behind circuitry by using LEDs to make their monsters light up. Battery-powered motors make the robots move.Taking the lesson further, students can develop an arena where they set up their moving monsters to “fight” a Beowulf character. We discuss the probability of the outcomes, and discuss behavioral and physical characteristics of predators that occur in nature: What adaptations aid predators to overcome their prey? Which of these adaptations would need to occur in a monster in order for it to defeat Beowulf?Students gain a deeper sense of the literature by thinking about alternate scenarios such as: What if Beowulf had lost to Grendel? What would it mean to our sense of the poem if Beowulf did not kill the dragon?The lessons also incorporate chemistry, anatomy, and physiology to deepen inquiry and connections. We “myth-bust” to see if these events and monsters could really exist. What is a venomous dragon, and what toxins would the dragon secrete that would make it venomous? What would a fire-breathing dragon’s diet consist of to enable it to breathe fire? What would really happen if an arm was torn off in battle?Using literature to help students understand the idea of responsibility in science: We hit upon the idea of using the story of Frankenstein to help make a potentially dry science unit on circuits more engaging. With students from the mid-elementary grades and up, we don’t read the novel but instead work with quotes from it to expand on what they know about the character, create deeper discussions, and incorporate reading comprehension skills.We use Frankenstein’s monster to connect students to ideas of design and ethics in science. We role-play as our own Dr. Frankenstein, collecting a series of items to cobble together to build our own unique creatures. We learn about motors and circuitry to bring our mini-robots to life.After going through the process as creators, students reflect on how much of their process was spent on bringing their creature to life vs. considering the design and function of their creature. This idea reconnects us to a deeper theme in the story—because the creature Dr. Frankenstein created is so ugly, people assume it’s evil. The creature looks at Frankenstein and says, “Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?”Since people expect it to act like a monster, the creature eventually becomes one.Students are then challenged to consider these questions:If Frankenstein created a beautiful creature, would people have responded to it differently?What was your process when you were deciding how your creature would look?What responsibility do scientists and inventors have to focus on the design as much as the purpose of their creation?What We’ve Seen After These LessonsThese lessons draw in the students who don’t see themselves as scientists—they come to see that creativity can be a part of science. And they build confidence as they realize that science is broad—not just a singular subject. The lessons challenge the science-minded students to expand and think more creatively. And they’ve drawn many students toward independent reading and inquiry.

Using Science to Bring Literature to Life

Too often when we consider how to connect science and literacy, we think about using literature to support science. Maybe it’s reading a fictional book with a science theme, or exploring a biography of a famous scientist.But we could instead turn that around and use science experiments as a way of bringing literature to life. Or we could use literature as a way to explore some of the questions about design and ethics that arise in the work of science.As educators in Chicago, we saw that regardless of the setting, many students were not interested in science. They saw it as facts and rote memorization. In both our classwork and our outside workshops, we needed to create more meaningful connections to the sciences, and incorporating literature allowed students to engage in a different way.The stories suddenly became something students could see, feel, and experience. They could see science as being creative. Showing students how scientific concepts connect to things that they’re passionate about allows them to gain confidence in science. It also challenges them to move beyond the traditional expectations of science classwork to become more open-minded and think creatively.How We’ve Done ItUsing science as a support to engage students with complicated texts: Beowulf is a classic story filled with monsters, a venomous fire-breathing dragon, undersea scrimmages, and battle descriptions including torn limbs and bloody, severed heads—like your basic video game.Yet many of the high school students we’ve worked with were completely turned off because they found the language too difficult. Even when trying a variety of drawing and role-playing activities, it was still hard to get all of our students to completely engage.So we created a series of science lessons to make the story more tangible. In one lesson, students are challenged to create their own 3D model of Grendel, Grendel’s mother, or the dragon. They must support their ideas by citing evidence from the text, and make and explain inferences where specific descriptions are not available. Students create paper robots, and learn the science behind circuitry by using LEDs to make their monsters light up. Battery-powered motors make the robots move.Taking the lesson further, students can develop an arena where they set up their moving monsters to “fight” a Beowulf character. We discuss the probability of the outcomes, and discuss behavioral and physical characteristics of predators that occur in nature: What adaptations aid predators to overcome their prey? Which of these adaptations would need to occur in a monster in order for it to defeat Beowulf?Students gain a deeper sense of the literature by thinking about alternate scenarios such as: What if Beowulf had lost to Grendel? What would it mean to our sense of the poem if Beowulf did not kill the dragon?The lessons also incorporate chemistry, anatomy, and physiology to deepen inquiry and connections. We “myth-bust” to see if these events and monsters could really exist. What is a venomous dragon, and what toxins would the dragon secrete that would make it venomous? What would a fire-breathing dragon’s diet consist of to enable it to breathe fire? What would really happen if an arm was torn off in battle?Using literature to help students understand the idea of responsibility in science: We hit upon the idea of using the story of Frankenstein to help make a potentially dry science unit on circuits more engaging. With students from the mid-elementary grades and up, we don’t read the novel but instead work with quotes from it to expand on what they know about the character, create deeper discussions, and incorporate reading comprehension skills.We use Frankenstein’s monster to connect students to ideas of design and ethics in science. We role-play as our own Dr. Frankenstein, collecting a series of items to cobble together to build our own unique creatures. We learn about motors and circuitry to bring our mini-robots to life.After going through the process as creators, students reflect on how much of their process was spent on bringing their creature to life vs. considering the design and function of their creature. This idea reconnects us to a deeper theme in the story—because the creature Dr. Frankenstein created is so ugly, people assume it’s evil. The creature looks at Frankenstein and says, “Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust?”Since people expect it to act like a monster, the creature eventually becomes one.Students are then challenged to consider these questions:If Frankenstein created a beautiful creature, would people have responded to it differently?What was your process when you were deciding how your creature would look?What responsibility do scientists and inventors have to focus on the design as much as the purpose of their creation?What We’ve Seen After These LessonsThese lessons draw in the students who don’t see themselves as scientists—they come to see that creativity can be a part of science. And they build confidence as they realize that science is broad—not just a singular subject. The lessons challenge the science-minded students to expand and think more creatively. And they’ve drawn many students toward independent reading and inquiry.

NTU scientists revolutionize ceramic microparticle fabrication with ancient construction technique

SINGAPORE: Scientists at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore have harnessed an ancient East Asian building method to fabricate advanced ceramic microparticles measuring just slightly larger than the width of a human hair.
This innovative technique, inspired by the traditional “tongue and groove” joinery, promises to reshape the micro-manufacturing landscape across various high-tech sectors.

The new fabrication method has led to the developing of a microfluidic chip capable of producing and shaping ceramic microparticles with remarkable precision and complexity.
These microparticles, which can take on intricate forms such as ten-toothed gears and triangular structures with angled edges, open doors to a myriad of applications in microelectronics, aerospace, energy, and medical and mechanical engineering.

Traditional methods like micromachining and laser sintering have faced significant challenges in achieving the desired resolution and production capabilities for these diminutive and detailed shapes.
Specifically, these conventional techniques struggle to produce sharp-edged, non-transparent microparticles due to the inherent material properties and the minuscule sizes involved.
The NTU researchers’ new approach dramatically improves production efficiency, increasing the output rate by as much as tenfold compared to existing techniques.
Moreover, it ensures a level of quality previously unattainable in micro-ceramic manufacturing.
The inspiration for this innovative microfluidic chip stems from a historical construction technique known as “mortise and tenon” joinery.
This method, which utilizes interlocking grooves and tongues to connect wooden structures without needing nails or glue, has a rich history in East Asia.
It dates back to as early as 1000 BC in ancient China, where it was used to construct palatial residences.
The technique was further adopted in Korea from the 14th century onward and is seen in the construction of traditional Japanese temples.
Notably, it continues to play a vital role in Korean architecture, particularly in the “Hanok” style and was employed in the iconic Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul.

NTU scientists revolutionize ceramic microparticle fabrication with ancient construction technique

SINGAPORE: Scientists at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore have harnessed an ancient East Asian building method to fabricate advanced ceramic microparticles measuring just slightly larger than the width of a human hair.
This innovative technique, inspired by the traditional “tongue and groove” joinery, promises to reshape the micro-manufacturing landscape across various high-tech sectors.

The new fabrication method has led to the developing of a microfluidic chip capable of producing and shaping ceramic microparticles with remarkable precision and complexity.
These microparticles, which can take on intricate forms such as ten-toothed gears and triangular structures with angled edges, open doors to a myriad of applications in microelectronics, aerospace, energy, and medical and mechanical engineering.

Traditional methods like micromachining and laser sintering have faced significant challenges in achieving the desired resolution and production capabilities for these diminutive and detailed shapes.
Specifically, these conventional techniques struggle to produce sharp-edged, non-transparent microparticles due to the inherent material properties and the minuscule sizes involved.
The NTU researchers’ new approach dramatically improves production efficiency, increasing the output rate by as much as tenfold compared to existing techniques.
Moreover, it ensures a level of quality previously unattainable in micro-ceramic manufacturing.
The inspiration for this innovative microfluidic chip stems from a historical construction technique known as “mortise and tenon” joinery.
This method, which utilizes interlocking grooves and tongues to connect wooden structures without needing nails or glue, has a rich history in East Asia.
It dates back to as early as 1000 BC in ancient China, where it was used to construct palatial residences.
The technique was further adopted in Korea from the 14th century onward and is seen in the construction of traditional Japanese temples.
Notably, it continues to play a vital role in Korean architecture, particularly in the “Hanok” style and was employed in the iconic Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul.