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Can surface fractures on Earth, Mars, and Europa predict habitability on other planets?
A view of a planet in the solar system.

(On homepage) A global view of Jupiter’s moon Europa displaying extensive surface fractures—long, curving lines carved into the ice by tidal forces from Jupiter. These cracks hint at dynamic activity beneath Europa’s frozen shell and may provide clues about the moon’s potentially habitable subsurface ocean.

(Image: Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech)
 

Can surface fractures on Earth, Mars, and Europa predict habitability on other planets?

Geophysicist Douglas Jerolmack has used the mathematical framework developed for understanding fracture patterns on Earth to survey two-dimensional fracture networks across the solar system, which could offer insights into detecting potentially habitable environments on other planets.
Rivers in a changing world
Penn students and Sayre high school students wading in a river in Cobbs Creek.

Sayre ninth-grade science teacher LaRon Smith (center) is a former landscape gardener from South Philadelphia who switched careers to mentor a younger generation. “I think my passion is for them to be better individuals, better human beings,” Smith says.

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Rivers in a changing world

A new Academically Based Community Service class brings Penn and William L. Sayre High School students together to learn environmental science and engineering.

Kristina Linnea García