Mars Water: Curiosity Rover Uncovers a Flood of Evidence

The Curiosity rover investigated an area on Mars named Hottah, which appears to be part of an ancient riverbed. 

Credit: Malin Space Science Systems

That’s the picture of ancient Mars that has emerged during the past few months thanks to discoveries by NASA's Curiosity rover, which has been exploring the Red Planet since touching down inside Gale Crater in August 2012.

The announcements have come in dribs and drabs, but presented together recently here at the European Planetary Science Congress, they provide compelling evidence that Mars was quite wet in the distant past.

During many sessions at the conference, which was held Sept. 8 to Sept. 13 in London, scientists presented details of the rover’s most exciting finds, made before it began the long drive toward the towering Mount Sharp this past July.

And the words that could be heard most often were hydrogen, hydration, rocks and water. Especially water.

Melissa Rice

"We know that on Mars there was what we interpret to be a habitable environment, where water was good enough for us to drink," Melissa Rice, of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, said after a presentation on imaging results from Curiosity’s workhorse Mastcam instrument.

She talked about rocks that Curiosity studied earlier this year, finding evidence that ancient Mars could have supported microbial life.

"We know that we had an initial habitable environment when these rocks formed, and then sometime later — we don't know when — these rocks had water flowing through them, through these fractures, leaving calcium sulfate behind," Rice said.

"We don't know if that era would have also been habitable, but it tells us that there were at least two major wet stages."

Scottish University of Dundee uncovers new treatment for Leukaemia

The drug was found to kill cancer cells in Leukaemia patients without affecting the level of the protein p53

Researchers at the University of Dundee have revealed a new way to kill cancer cells in people with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL), one of the most common forms of leukaemia.

The team looked at CLL and its reaction to treatment with the drug Tenovin.

Tenovin was found to kill the cancer in Leukaemia patients without affecting the level of a tumour-suppressing protein.

It is thought it could lead to improved treatments in future.

Normally, Tenovin affects cancer cells by increasing levels of the "guardian angel" protein p53 within cells, which plays a crucial role in controlling cell mutations.

However, the team found that when treated with the drug, the CLL cells died but without showing a change in p53 levels.

The scientists then discovered that in leukaemic cells, Tenovin is able to interfere with the process of "self-digestion" that leukaemic cells use to protect themselves during periods of stress.

Protection disrupted
The study was led by Dr Sudhir Tauro from the Dundee Cancer Centre at Dundee University.

He said: "This process, called autophagy, is important to the survival of all cells.

"It is noteworthy that while it has the important effect of disrupting this process in CLL cells, Tenovin did not affect normal blood-forming cells.

"Based on these findings, we can now exploit that difference and begin to develop safer anti-leukaemic drugs for CLL."

Current anti-leukaemia drugs often cause toxicity-related problems, particularly in older patients where treatment can affect a normal blood count.

They also tend to become less effective when used repeatedly.

The study has been funded by the charity Tenovus, which also supported the original development of Tenovin.

Prof Peter Howie, from Tenovus Scotland, said: "The aim of Tenovus Scotland-Tayside is to support medical research in Tayside which will ultimately lead to the benefit of patients.

"Tenovus in Tayside is delighted to see that its investment in the development of Tenovin is being taken forward by Dr Sudhir Tauro's exciting work in leukaemia."

Japan team uncovers thalidomide mystery: Cereblon

Japanese scientists have uncovered how thalidomide led to deformities in children born to mothers taking the drug in the 1950s and 1960s, according to a study released Friday.

The researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology have now unlocked the mechanism by which thalidomide -- an anti-nausea drug given to pregnant women that turned into one of the worst pharmaceutical disasters in history -- triggered the deformities in developing fetuses.

"Though scientists have proposed a number of hypotheses, the drug's mechanism of action has been a mystery until now," the researchers said.

In the study published in the March 12 issue of the journal Science, the researchers concluded that thalidomide causes deformities in developing limbs by inhibiting production of a protein called cereblon, which in turn produces enzymes needed for limb development.

The study, which used chick and zebrafish embryos, may lead to the development of safer alternatives for thalidomide, which is now being used for treatments of some cancers and for leprosy, the researchers said.

Thalidomide was launched in October 1957 and was sold in nearly 50 countries before being withdrawn little more than four years later after babies began showing the severe side effects of the drug.

Thalidomide, when taken by pregnant women, stunted the growth of fetal arms and legs, and also put the fetus at risk of ear and eye defects, and various other internal defects, including those of the heart, kidneys and digestive tract.

Around 10,000 children around the world were born with deformities, such as the absence of arms and legs, as a result of thalidomide.