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Michael J. Malaska Profile picture
Michael J. Malaska
@mike_malaska
Planetary scientist, organic chemist, astrobiologist, field scientist. Works at JPL. Champion of Titan exploration. Opinions expressed are my own. He/Him.
Jan 14, 2022 • 33 tweets • 7 min read
This is one of the greatest images taken by humankind. It is the first (and only) time we ever landed on an Ocean World.

There is A LOT you can learn by looking a this image.

What did we see? What can we learn?
(thread)
🧵 Wow. Look at that sky. It's all orange. It's a moon that has an ATMOSPHERE. Orange stuff is from filtered, scattered light coming down through a chemical-laden atmosphere.

(No surprise, the probe came down through the atmosphere on a parachute.)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospher…
Dec 27, 2021 • 28 tweets • 11 min read
Going to thread up some pix from today's #geology hike at #VasquezRocks.
(Why are those rocks right there? We'll get to that...) 🧵 In midground, tilted sandstone rocks lit up by the setting s Here is a descent into a canyon in S end of park. That's where the geology story gets really wild.
Dec 25, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
"Decollage!" You ever hear a common word and you start wondering about it's origins?
The word "Decollage" is from french verb "decoller" - opposite of french verb "coller" - which means to glue or stick.
English translation is "take off" but maybe "unstick-ify" better. (and when you were a kid, you made a "collage". Sticking stuff together on construction paper with glue sticks, right?)
Oct 31, 2021 • 20 tweets • 5 min read
This is hilarious!
"Because everyone knows that carbon can only have four bonds, right?"

(Well, that's kinda not true....)
[thread] ...and yes, I do find this photo hilarously nerdly. And am just gonna riff off it here.

It was drilled into my head in organic chemistry that "carbon can only have four bonds" and "Haha, you drew a pentavalent carbon! That is WRONG! Points off!"

But...it can have five bonds!
Jun 5, 2021 • 33 tweets • 8 min read
“Astronomy and Astrology are pretty much the same thing.”
And with that, I’ve pretty much pissed off every amateur and professional astronomer. But, there are really strong and provable connections.
Strap in for a long thread, and a wild ride. [1/n]
(with side links to explore) Astronomy makes observation of the heavens, and predicts/explains physical properties and timing of those objects.
Astrology makes observations of the heavens, and predicts/explains spiritual or human-centered properties and timing.
(Starting data same, applications different.)
Jun 4, 2021 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Well, this is great news!
FDA approval for vaginal yeast infections!
fiercepharma.com/pharma/scynexi… This comes from the company that I (and many others) helped found, back in 2000-ish. I was not directly involved in this, but my colleagues (led by a former post-doc of mine) made this happen.
Nov 16, 2020 • 16 tweets • 4 min read
I learned something today in #astrobiology that just totally blew my mind.
There are microbes that eat....air. And can live on just....air.

[thread] These microbes live in cold deserts...I mean really brutal cold deserts. Barren rocky ridges (not even tundra) in Antarctica.
There's really no free water - very dry. And dark for 6 months, too. So these microbes live where there isn't enough water for photosynthesis producers.
Jun 6, 2020 • 15 tweets • 13 min read
@mikamckinnon @SiO2moyer @justinboldaji Carlsbad and Lechuguilla Caves have a really wierd and fascinating geology history. They were made by bacteria! @mikamckinnon @SiO2moyer @justinboldaji The story goes like this. Gypsum laid down. Then...thick thick limestone laid down on top of that. Way way down deep, microbes eat gypsum, H2S bubbles up. (Microbes reduce sulfate). ((there might be other ways H2S bubbles up.)) That gets H2S percolating up into the limestone.
Mar 22, 2020 • 53 tweets • 6 min read
Picking up thread: Beginning Gardening - What exactly to plant.

(Thread part 2) For Part 1: preparing a bed, here:
Mar 22, 2020 • 38 tweets • 6 min read
Did you ever want to take up vegetable gardening, but worried you didn't have a green thumb?

Read on. (Thread).

(Looks like we are all in for the Long haul. So a hobby whee you grow your own food seems like a timely idea...) Why am I qualified to talk about this?Well, before I came to JPL I grew about 30% of my food for several years.
I wasn't a hobby, it was an obsession.
And I had spreadsheets.
I grew berries, fruits, summer crops, winter crops. All of it.
My spreadsheet had over 1000 entries.
Mar 20, 2020 • 41 tweets • 3 min read
Stuff getting real. Phone rings. Call from Representative Adam Schiff (we're in his district). Group telecon. Here is delayed transcription. All of California now in "stay at home" order was 30 min ago. (now, 1 h 30 min ago.)
Mar 7, 2020 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
Soap! #Science As promised! But first, here's an easy way to make it. We're gonna make a "tertiary" soap using leftover scraps of soap. (did you save them up last week?)
This'll be super easy. What you need:
leftover soap scraps (total enough to make a small bar)
yogurt container (8 oz. size)
microwave oven
freezer
cheese grater (optional)
Feb 29, 2020 • 52 tweets • 9 min read
Are viruses alive?
(Here is the thread y’all have been waiting for….)

Our survey says…..Yes! They are!

What do I think? Mmmmmm. No. they are not….well..sorta.
But no.

Digging into the big #science questions of #astrobiology
(Thread) Definition of life is pretty fuzzy. Seems like its easy “yes or no” but IMHO it’s a big wonderfully complex beautiful spectrum. And by thinking about it, and how we would measure it, we can make better tests for detecting “life” on alien worlds, with alien biochemistries.