In collaboration with Anitra Ingalls, we are evaluating different tracers for terrigenous organic matter in marine systems. The Keil lab is developing and employing new lignin phenol methods for analysis and interpretation. We are building on the work of Goni for microwave oxidation of phenols, and developing solid phase extraction techniques for sample prep prior to detection. In the Ingalls lab, we employ the new BIT (Branched Isoprenoidal Tetraetherlipid) index as a marker for soil bacteria. There is much ambiguity in this new index and much to be learned in comparing it to established techniques such as lignin.
Aquatic Organic Geochemistry
Keil Lab at the University of Washington in Seattle USA
Today's NASA Image
Robert Satcher's Self-Portrait
Astronaut Robert Satcher uses a digital still camera to expose take a self-portrait during the STS-129 mission's first spacewalk. During the six-hour, 37-minute spacewalk, Satcher and astronaut Mike Foreman installed a spare S-band antenna structural assembly to the Z1 segment of the station's truss, or backbone. Satcher and Foreman also installed a set of cables for a future space-to-ground antenna on the Destiny laboratory and replaced a handrail on the Unity node with a new bracket used to route an ammonia cable that will be needed for the Tranquility node when it is delivered next year. The two spacewalkers also repositioned a cable connector on Unity, checked S0 truss cable connections and lubricated latching snares on the Kibo robotic arm and the station's mobile base system. Image Credit: NASA
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