Emily Costello is a Writer

Another for the Archive -- Boston Homes

Back during the real estate boom years in Boston, I spent some time touring properties in the city and writing up descriptions for local papers like Boston Homes and the Back Bay Courant. Real estate was so exciting back then that people read these home profiles like movie or restaurant reviews.

Having seen hundreds of properties in Boston, I can make this recommendation: If you ever win the lottery, pick up a nice condo on the sunny side of Commonwealth Avenue in the Back Bay. Just make sure you get dedicated parking. Or maybe you'll come across a deal like this one -- buy a nice townhouse, get a free Porsche. Click here to view a crummy pdf from Boston Homes, circa boom time.

Current Assignments (10/14/08) -- Rubber Duckies Go Greenland

SuperScience magazine has asked me to write about scientists who are studying the movement of water off Jakobshavn Glacier in Baffin Bay, Greenland. Their technique? Release a flotilla of rubber duckies and see where they end up. Sounds like these guys are enjoying themselves, doesn't it? Indeed, when researcher Alberto Behar isn't playing with duckies, he's designing robotic rovers for NASA. Definitely a fun job.

Unfortunately, melting of the Greenland ice sheet is potentially serious news. It may help explain why sealevels worldwide are on the rise. This pamphlet from JPL lucidly describes the connection between oceans and global warming. Unfortunately, the data is out of date. This article from JPL updates the information to June of 2008.

Reuters wrote an overview on the project in late September, but left many of my questions unanswered. For example, why duckies? This article from Discovery answers that question, plus a few more. ABC News recounts a 9/07 reporting trip to Greenland.

Other researchers involved with the project include Konrad Steffan from the University of Colorado. Back in 2005, Steffen's research group was profiled in the New Yorker.

Current Assignments (9/1/08) -- Why Explore Mars?

What are the "building blocks of life?"

According to this 1998 document from JPL, the recipe for life has just three ingredients:

• liquid water
• organic compounds (contain carbon and hydrogen)
• an energy source for synthesizing complex organic molecules

In December 2007, a team of researchers from the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory did a study that suggest organic compounds are present on Mars. It was published in the journal, Meteorites and Planetary Science.

Some scientists say volcanic activity may be (or may have) provided an energy source on Mars.

This article from SETI lists eight worlds in our solar system where life may exist.

Mars Odds and Ends

Space.com's Top Ten Images of Mars.

Travel Times -- This is a fun post that explains the different amounts of time different spacecraft and probes have taken to get to the moon -- from over a year to just under nine hours.

Current Assignments (8/28/08) -- A Mission to Mars?

Will My Kids Walk on Mars?

Saying that my son is a Lego freak is a bit of an understatement. For those of you not in the know, Lego has come out with a very popular "Mars Mission" series of building sets. The sets have peaked L's interest in Mars, so he is asking lots of questions about the research I've been doing this week. He'd like to grow up to be an astronaut. He reminds me of my brother Patrick during the Apollo days. So I'm wondering: Will L live to see "one small step" that lands on Mars -- rather than the moon?

Thanks to a 2004 speech by President Bush, getting to Mars is now actually part of NASA's mission. It's a tall order for lots of different reasons.

Start with the fact that Mars is far away. The closest it gets to Earth is 35 million miles, or 55 million kilometers, away. That's when Earth and Mars are in "favorable opposition." The distance between the two planets stretches out to 250 million miles, or 401 million kilometers.

Calculating the exact distance at any given time must have been difficult before the Web gave us access to people with better calculators than we can afford. This one at Emory University tells you the exact distance of Mars from Earth second by second.

Other factors making a walk on Mars impropable include the high radiation levels that would assault astronauts traveling for long periods, and the lack of a propulsion system strong enough to lift a payload that would support years long exploration of space.

Still, for L's sake, I hope rocket scientists work out these issues.

Current Assignments (8/24/08) -- Water on Mars

Late last week, I got an assignment to write about water on Mars for Scholastic News 4.

Mars is a fun planet. It has tickled people's imaginations for centuries.

Why? Some people believe it's because Mars is visible to the naked eye. The theory goes that ancient people felt that this red dot wandering around a background of stable stars was a bad omen. But in reality, five planets can be seen with the naked eye -- Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter. Joe Rao describes the phenomenon on space.com. So there must be something else at work here.

One old school Web site that I like "Astronomy Answers" probably gets it right when it says that Mars fascinates humans because it is the planet most like Earth. Like Earth, Mars boasts an atmosphere, wind, clouds, large volcanoes, ice capped poles, seasons -- and water.

Maybe we just like Mars because it's one of our closest neighbors.

Reports from the Phoenix Probe

The presence of water on Mars has been expected since the Odysssey spacecraft took photographs of what looked like water ice near the Martian equator in 2002.

The presence of water ice was confirmed on August 1, 2008 when the Phoenix probe scoped up a sample of soil and gently heated it to 32 degrees F to release water vapor. William V. Boynton, the lead scientist for the instrument that detected the water, rather poetically said they "tasted" the water.

Here's a report on the discovery from the Voice of America.

The New York Times reports on discovery of ice.

The probe also discovered sodium, potassium, magnesium, fluorides - things that we find in our own bodies and that are important for life. Still, no evidence of life has been discovered.

Space Today Online features a nice historical overview of human exploration of Mars.

This backgrounder from NASA provides a timeline of our knowledge of water on Mars.

Current Assignments (7/28/08) -- Karate Competitions

Math Magazine has asked me to do an article on karate competitions. I love it! Marial arts are one of the hottest topics going these days thanks to movies like Red Belt and Kung-Fu Panda. The NASKA (North American Sport Karate Association) Web site has a full listing of their rating system and current world champs. My editor asked me to focus on female athletes, and I've been wow'd by how athletic these young women are. Check out some video of Becca Ross twirling a weapon fast enough to blend a frozen drink. Tiffany Larson is another amazing competitor. She trains at the Florida Sports Martial Arts Academy.

Current Assignments (6/16/08) -- updates to www.ericnelsonarchitects.com

My husband is a talented architect with a thriving small firm of his own. Whenever time allows, we put our heads together to update the firm's corporate Web site, www.EricNelsonArchitects.com. The site has a totally different feel from this informal blog. It is more of a traditional brochure site, complete with a Web consultant. This week we are working to add pages describing several exciting projects the firm has been working on during the first two quarters of '08.

Current Assignments (5/27/08) -- Animal Prosthetics

Last week, I wrote about Winter, the dolphin. Working with the dolphin has led prosthetic specialist Kevin Carroll in some new directions with his human patients. We'll be mentioning a few other animals with prosthetics in the story. Although these animals haven't played the role of a catalyst as much as Winter, but they all have interesting stories to tell.

Motala is a Thai elephant who stepped on a landmine. Her owner marched her 30 kilometers on the hurt foot to get medical care. Her foot was amputated, and Motala became the first elephant to receive a prosthetic foot.

Beauty is an American bald eagle. A hunter shot off her upper beak. A team of engineers, dentists and animal rescue workers banded together to create a new beak for Beauty and save her life. Beauty lives at Birds of Prey Northwest.

Current Assignments (5/22/08) -- Bionic Animals

I'm continuing my research into "bionic" animals, and how they are helping humans.

Prosthetic limbs are in the news this week, thanks to the efforts of South African Oscar Pistorius to compete in the Olympics.

Winter, the Dolphin

Winter, the dolphin, lost her tail in a crab trap. She is being fitted for a new prosthetic tail. Winter has her own Web site, www.seewinter.com.  Here's an NPR story about Winter.

Standing with Hope

Last year, 14-year-old Grayson Rosenberger of Nashville, TN won a contest for designing "a cost-effective, cosmetic skin covering for artificial limbs designed to disguise the metal prosthetic limb.  The skin is intended for disabled people in developing nations who might otherwise be viewed as "incomplete people". The contest was sponsored by Bubble Wrap. Here's Grayson's page on the Standing with Hope Web site. Grayson in People magazine. We're planning a sidebar on Grayson's good work.

I spoke with Grayson on 5/21, and he is a great kid. He's planning to return to Ghana in the summer of 2008 to do additional work in the clinic. Those of you who clicked on the People magazine story above may wonder what happened with Daniel, the Ghanaian boy mentioned in the piece. Grayson told me that he never got to meet Daniel. He died from malaria before Grayson reached Ghana in 2007. He was 15 years old.

Osseointegration

Doctors in Sweden are using a technique that permanently places prosthetic anchors in human bone. (WARNING: This link leads to a powerpoint presentation that includes some graphic images of surgetical procedures.)

Current Assignments (5/12/08)-- Animal Prosthetics

Thanks to the war in Iraq and the growing number of Americans who lose limbs to diabetes, more Americans are living with prosthetics, or false limbs. It turns out that the ways these devices are attached to living tissue has not evolved in many years. Now new research is coming from an unusual source -- veterinarians who are experimenting with improving the quality of life for animals who have lost beaks, feet and even tails.

One expert in the field is Bob Taylor, DVM, of the Alameda East Veterinary Hospital in Denver, CO.

Kevin Carroll is a prosthetic specialist with the Hanger Orthopedic Group who works with human amputees. He is volunteering to help "Winter," a dolphin who lost her tail in a crab trap. Here's a USA Today article about Carroll and Winter. Carroll in TIME.