Hot spring energy?
When the wind stops blowing, can Montanans turn to hot springs for energy? That's what Joe Scyphers wanted to know when he investigated 10 hot springs within 40 miles of Norris Hill in southwest Montana. The Montana State University senior from Bozeman ranked the springs by temperature, then investigated one more closely. Ennis Hot Springs was the hottest and closest to Madison Valley Renewable Energy, which sponsored Scyphers' project. Scyphers found that Ennis Hot Springs had a surface temperature of 188.6 degrees, not hot enough to produce electricity by itself. To produce electricity, the spring would have to heat another liquid with a lower boiling point to power a generator. The other springs in Scyphers' study were Silver Star, Wolf Creek, Pipestone, Bozeman, New Biltmore, Norris, Potosi, Renova and Puller.
Disappearing Grasshopper
Grasshopper Glacier is located in the Beartooth Mountains near Cooke City, but it may be gone by 2040 if current conditions continue, said Justin Knudson, an MSU senior from Wisconsin. That fits in with predictions for the glaciers in Glacier National Park and the Rocky Mountains, he said. Knudson studied Grasshopper Glacier's activities between 1898 and 2007 and said the glacier is shrinking at an increasing rate. At this point, it's about eight football fields wide and four football fields long. It's made up of five separate patches and isn't moving like a glacier. Knudson presented his research at a recent conference for MSU earth science students. "I loved going out there and being in the field," he said. "It was a great experience."
60 pregnant women
Christina Campbell and two MSU graduate students will observe the exercise and eating habits of 60 pregnant women in Bozeman through "The Blossom Project." Women who are about 12 weeks pregnant will be divided into three groups: healthy exercising women, healthy non-exercisers and women with gestational diabetes. The researchers want to know how much exercise and what intensity is safe and beneficial, the amount of healthy fat the women are eating and how much is reaching their babies. The scientists are specifically interested in DHA, a type of omega-3 that plays a role in nerve development and thinking. It's found in fish, but many pregnant women avoid eating fish because they're afraid of the mercury it might contain, said Campbell, associate professor of nutrition. Her graduate students are Becky Filipowicz of Cascade and Gita Gelfer of New York.
Home in Kevin Dome?
MSU geologists David Lageson and David Bowen will travel to northern Montana this summer to see if Kevin Dome can hold man-made carbon dioxide emissions. Kevin Dome is an underground rock structure located in an oil and gas field between Shelby and Sweetgrass. To study its potential for storing carbon dioxide, the researchers will see how porous, permeable and thick the dome is. They'll study its structural features. MSU is conducting several projects involving carbon sequestration, but this one is funded with a new $157,000 grant from the Montana Board of Research and Commercialization to the Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership. Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing carbon dioxide and storing it. The goal is to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Speeding up space
The space age isn't always fast, says Tim Minton, MSU chemistry professor. He and Dave Klumpar, head of MSU's Space Science and Engineering Laboratory, launched experiments in March and don't expect to see their samples for several months. Minton predicts he'll receive them late in the spring of 2009. Their experiments are riding on the International Space Station and can't return to Earth until a shuttle picks them up. In the meantime, undergraduate Linhan Shen of China is already preparing samples for Minton's next space station mission. The samples have to be delivered in August 2008 for launch in August 2009. Minton is pleased that starting with that mission, he'll receive results while the experiments are still in space.
Evelyn Boswell, (406) 994-5135 or evelynb@montana.edu