Rock Bottom Research

People seem to think that the ocean has some mysterious power to make one feel refreshed and energized. An intuitive embrace of the sea as a place of renewal is only natural. After all, the ocean is where the earth remakes itself.

Rocks, the building block of planet Earth, are made out at sea. Most of the ocean's crust is made up of basalt, a fine-grained volcanic rock. Basalt forms when lava, pushing up from the earth's mantle and out from fissures along the sea bottom, cools and hardens. An examination of seafloor rocks by an FSU geologist shows less is known about how basalt is made than previously thought. And this raises questions about what's happening inside Earth down to its core.

"Basalt contains different ingredients than what everyone thought," said Vincent J. M. Salters, director of the geochemistry program with the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. "That means the assumption that the mantle that produced the sea-floor basalt has a homogenous composition is incorrect." Salters' research has shown that seafloor basalt is in reality the product of two different kinds of rocks.

Salters and Henry J.B. Dick of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution made the discovery while studying a phenomenon known as seafloor spreading. Ocean floor is created at mid-ocean ridges where molten rock wells up from the inner earth. In time, this process pulls seafloors apart.

Scientists always assumed that sea floor basalt was made solely from partially molten peridotite, an igneous rock. But Salters and Dick studied the isotopic composition of elements found in both peridotite and basalt and found differences.

"That should not be," explained Salters, an expert of sea floor spreading. "It showed that there is another component-pyroxenite."

Pyroxenite, also an igneous rock, melts at a much lower temperature than peridotite and therefore melts completely and leaves no traces in the peridotite after melting. The question now becomes how much of this "phantom" pyroxenite is present before melting.

"This changes our understanding of the earth's mantle," said Salters. "And it has important ramifications for the whole temperature structure of the earth, the way we think it cools."

The three-year, National Science Foundation research project had Salters and Dick analyzing samples of rock taken from the floor of the Indian Ocean. The researchers are newly funded for a three-year investigation of rocks from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Space Science Center Opens

It's the brightest star in a network of scientific fun stations. Tallahassee's Challenger Learning Center was greeted like the discovery of a supernova when it opened in March.

"It is fantastic-one of the best," said June Scobee Rodgers, widow of Challenger astronaut Dick Scobee and an early proponent of using the centers to get kids excited about studying science and exploring space.

Tallahassee's facility, seven years in the making, is the 48th Challenger complex now operating in the United States, Canada and Great Britain. Each is licensed by the Challenger Center for Space Science Education and honors the memory of astronauts who died in the U.S. space program. The Tallahassee center's mission is to show middle-school students possible career options open to someone with an education grounded in science, math and engineering. More than 15,000 middle-school children live in the Tallahassee area.

Scobee and others pushed for the creation of the centers as a way to promote a positive image about space exploration after the Challenger explosion in 1986. Chief among the local advocates for the Tallahassee center is Norm Thagard, a former shuttle astronaut who since 1996 has been a member of the FAMU/FSU College of Engineering faculty.

"Middle school kids are interested in three things," said Thagard. "Ghosts, dinosaurs and space. We use space to get their attention."

The idea of luring children to study science by letting them do mock NASA experiments crossed a new frontier at the Challenger complex. Like the other centers, it offers students an inter-active experience in two rooms, one a simulated space station and the other a replica of mission control. But it's the extras that could leave a deep and lasting impression.

The 31,000-square-foot complex contains a 300-seat IMAX theater and a high-definition, digital, laser planetarium. Included among the center's staff are Thagard and Winston Scott, another former shuttle astronaut also on the engineering faculty.

"What we have here is just super," said Scott, a veteran of three space walks. "It's better than what children get anywhere else. Better than what the schools have. Better than what museums offer children. This will capture their imaginations."

The $10 million complex is the most technologically advanced center in the network. The domed planetarium presents images so vivid that colors are visible in the trails of star. Thagard, featured in a documentary about the Mir mission, floats across a five-story tall IMAX screen in one of three movies shown daily.

Visiting students are assigned a mission when they arrive at the center. They may work aboard the space simulator, launch a space probe to check out a meteor or conduct an experiment by manipulating robotic arms.

The Challenger Center is located at 200 South Duval Street, downtown Tallahassee.

Time Travel in Depth

Recent discoveries of shipwrecks in the Black Sea are beginning to give up clues about ancient Roman culture.

FSU underwater archaeologist Cheryl Ward is part of a team of researchers using remote-controlled robots to examine the wrecks found by famed underwater explorer Robert Ballard. Ward serves as the chief maritime archaeologist for Ballard's Black Sea Project.

Last summer, Ballard found what is believed to be the oldest shipwreck ever found in the Black Sea. The ship's remains lie in 275 feet of water off the Bulgarian coast.

"This is the first shipwreck that provides us with direct evidence of trade from a significant part of the ancient Greek world," said Ward. Scientists think the vessel may have been a casualty in a sea trade route between Bulgaria and Turkey that began sometime between the 5th and 3rd century B.C.

Marine organisms have devoured most of the ship's wooden structure. All that is visible above the sediment is a large pile of amphorae, jars used in the ancient world to transport goods. Ballard's crew retrieved a jar, about the size of a 55-gallon drum, and found fish bones insides that radiocarbon studies dated between 2,490 and 2,280-years-old, Ward said.

It won't be known whether the fish-large freshwater catfish cut up like steaks-was cargo or food for the crew until scientists examine the contents of the other jars.

In 2000, the same group found a Byzantine ship from the 5th century A.D. Remarkably, the ship-lying at 1,000 feet-was found with its wooden mast still standing. Low oxygen levels at that depth prevented wood-eating bacteria from destroying the vessel.

"It's in an almost pristine state despite being under water for 15 centuries and because of a lack of oxygen there is an opportunity for excellent preservation of goods," said Ward.

Grants from the National Science Foundation, NOAA and National Geographic paid to build a special robot to Ward's specifications and to finance this summer's mission to further explore the ships and their contents.

The robot, equipped with a versatile tool set, can perform actions as simple as using a trowel or as complex as transmitting three-dimensional positions of artifacts for mapping purposes.

"What's really exciting about this project is we're working on the best preserved shipwrecks from antiquity with the newest and most sophisticated tools in deep sea archaeology."

A First for FSU Research

Last March, the very first for-profit company ever to spin off from FSU research and settle in Tallahassee opened its doors to an enthusiastic crowd of well-wishers at its location on the city's north side.

Taxolog, Inc., a company created by synthetic organic chemist Robert Holton in 1997, showcased its $6 million Tallahassee branch, an arm of the company's headquarters based in Fairfield, New Jersey. The company's main interest is in exploiting the cancer-killing potential of compounds derived from Taxol, the world's best-selling anti-tumor drug.

The 19,000 square-foot building features seven laboratories that will be used to test a variety of compounds called taxanes-chemical cousins of the Taxol molecule. Hundreds of these compounds have been developed by the company's researchers in New Jersey, and the Tallahassee lab's primary function will be to test their effectiveness against tumors in mice.

In 1989, Holton succeeded in synthesizing Taxol, a compound of remarkable cancer-killing properties that was found in extremely small amounts in the bark of the Pacific yew tree in the early 1960s. Holton later formed Taxolog, Inc. to develop and test Taxol derivatives, some of which show promise of being even more effective than Taxol and with fewer side effects.

"Universities are involved in impacting the economy by taking what is learned in a lab and place it in the marketplace for all to benefit,"said John Fraser, director of FSU's Office of Technology Transfer. "The Taxol lab is the first business to grow out of science research by FSU faculty to locate in Tallahassee. We believe more will follow."

FSU originally licensed rights to Holton's synthesizing process to Bristol Myers-Squibb. The pharmaceutical giant reported more than $4 billion in sales of the drug between 1998-2001.

Outsmarting the Sun

Frolicking on a sunny beach is pure Florida. But amid the sand, waves and sunrays lurks the danger of skin cancer. The sobering fact is that Floridians are 10 percent more likely to develop skin cancer than citizens living in other regions of the country, say researchers with the Centers for Disease Control.

Parents of young children aren't paying enough attention to this peril, according to a recent study by FSU researchers in the School of Textile and Consumer Sciences.

"They know they should (protect their kids)," said consumer sciences associate professor Kay Grise. "Almost 90 percent of the parents said they believe, sunscreen, hats and sunglasses reduce the risk of skin cancer. But only one percent of the children we observed used sunscreen and dressed appropriately."

Grise's findings were based on a summer-long observation of preschoolers at daycare centers in Leon County.

Dermatologists warn parents that they should be particularly vigilant protecting young children from overexposure. Severe burns while young can significantly increase skin cancer risk. Generally speaking, the sunburn you get today could be the trigger for the disease to appear 15-20 years from now.

The Journal of American Medical Association concluded that the use of sunscreen reduces the incidence of moles in children, a significant risk factor for the future development of melanoma, the most fatal form of skin cancer. Sun exposure is responsible for at least two-thirds of all melanoma cases.

Skin cancer is reaching epidemic proportions in the U.S. with more than 1.3 million new cases diagnosed each year, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. Doctors have reported an increase of 3 percent or more in the number of people seeking treatment every year since the 1980s.

"It's a cultural thing," explained Grise. "We have this image of a tanned body being desirable. But that's damaged skin. Any sun exposure that changes skin color greatly increases the risk of cancer."

Grise says it's a good idea to wear a broad-brimmed hat that protects more of the face, long-sleeved shirt, long pants and UV protective sunglasses when out in the sun for more than 30 minutes. Grise has empathy for parents who expect the mother-of-all battles when they try to dress a 4-year-old in a sun-smart wardrobe.

A study she began this summer examines UV protection provided by different fabrics and designs of clothes. She wants to identify materials that block the sun's harmful rays and styles people will wear.F

"This has never been done in Florida but it gets to the root of the problem," said Grise. "People put on a white T-shirt when swimming and think they're okay. But they're not."

Grise says that a 1997 study by researchers elsewhere showed that a cotton T-shirt provides less than 20 percent of sun protection.

In the Pipeline

Corrosion inside the nation's vast network of underground pipelines carrying natural gas, water and other liquids costs industry an estimated $8.6 billion a year, a recent national study shows. Fixing this enormous waste problem using conventional methods requires shutting leaky transmission lines down for repair-itself a hugely expensive proposition.

Analytical chemist Joseph Schlenoff says he's developed a method to rustproof a pipeline in place-and while it's carrying a load. He's developed a special polymer, akin to the stuff that makes shampoo thick like a gel, that he says can effectively coat metals and protect them from the elements.

"Shampoo doesn't bond to your hair, and after awhile, the silky appearance fades. We've figured out what to do to the polymer so that the coating stays on the surface and creates a barrier against corrosive ions," said Schlenoff, associate director of the university's Center for Materials Research and Technology.

Polymers are large molecules formed by joining small identical molecules into a chain. Water-soluble polymers are found in many products from paints and scratch-resistant surfaces to moisture-absorbing clothing and shampoos. Scientists create different kinds of polymers with specific uses in mind. Schlenoff's innovation was to make a polymer film with layers of opposite-charged electrolytes.

To make it, he applied a thin film with positive-charge electrolytes to a surface. The positive charge binds the film to metal. Then a second layer, one with negative-charged electrolytes, is laid over the first layer. The opposite charges bind the two layers together. Schlenoff discovered that when he applied enough layers, a protective seal more effective than paint or resin formed.

"This method automatically gives an even coating every time," said Schenloff."We can pump it through a pipeline so that every nook, cranny and crevice is coated."

Schenloff's method, now awaiting a patent, can apply 20 layers of polymer that measures less than one-tenth of 1 micrometer in thickness. A thin protective coating can be used on a variety of products including medical implants-it blocks protein absorption-fine metals and pipelines. After publishing his findings in the journal Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters, Schenloff was contacted by pipeline and razor manufacturers.

"Once you yield to the first bit of corrosion, even at the atomic layer, the battle is lost," said Schlenoff. "A uniformed covering of everything is what's needed. And that's what we're able to do."