Science

NASA’s Perseverance rover sends back first HD Mars panorama

NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover has sent back its first high-definition panorama, giving a 360-degree look from the planet’s surface using its rotating Mastcam-Z instrument.

NASA LEAVES HIDDEN MESSAGE ON PARACHUTE OF MARS ROVER

The picture is the rover’s second panorama since Perseverance landed on the planet on Feb. 18. The rover’s Navigation Cameras — also on the mast — captured another panorama on Feb. 20.

The newly-released picture, captured on Feb. 21, was made using a combination of 142 images. Perseverance has already beamed back thousands to Southern California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

In it, the Jezero Crater rim and what NASA describes as the “cliff face of an ancient river delta” can be seen in the distance.

Researchers believe the 28-mile-wide crater was once flooded with water and home to an ancient river delta more than 3.5 billion years ago.

A large part of Perseverance’s mission is to search for and attempt to document proof of ancient microbial life. It will also collect and cache Martian rock and sediment samples for later return to Earth.

The Mastcam-Z and the Supercam will be used to provide both imaging and analysis of the surface’s mineralogy and chemical composition. It will assist in the identification of rocks and sediment worthy of examination by the mission team.

The Mastcam-Z is a dual-camera system equipped with high-definition video, zoom function, and the ability to take panoramic color and 3D images.

According to NASA’s release, the camera can reveal details as small as 0.1 to 0.2 inches across close to Perseverance and 6.5 feet to 10 feet across in the distance.

Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in partnership with San Diego’s Malin Space Science Systems, according to JPL.

Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z is similarly designed to that of its predecessor Curiosity, which touched down in Mar’s Gale Crater in 2012. However, Curiosity’s imaging tech is less advanced.

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“We’re nestled right in a sweet spot, where you can see different features similar in many ways to features found by Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity at their landing sites,” Jim Bell, one of the leaders of the Mastcam-Z instrument team, said.

In a panel on Thursday, Bell said he and his team were “blown out of the water” by the images coming back from the Mastcam-Z and that technologies would only continue to improve in following missions to Mars.

Here’s how NASA’s Perseverance rover will search for life on Mars

Now that NASA’s Perseverance rover has successfully landed on the surface of Mars, it can begin the next steps of its mission.

Perseverance — affectionately known as “Percy” — will search for and attempt to document proof of ancient microbial life on the red planet.

It will also collect and cache Martian rock and sediment samples for later return to Earth.

NASA’S PERSEVERANCE ROVER LANDS ON MARS

However, before NASA’s most technologically advanced rover can embark on its two-year investigation of Mars’ Jezero Crater, Percy must undergo several weeks of strenuous testing.

According to a Thursday news release, the robotic geologist and astrobiologist will begin by establishing its base functions and going through checks of its instruments and systems as it snaps images on its 19 different cameras.

In addition, a recently released image shows how the groundbreaking Terrain-Relative Navigation — a new function that uses images of the landing site to help Perseverance accurately determine safe spots — pinpointed the rover’s landing spot.

The testing process will take around five days to complete and then Percy will extend its robotic arm and take its first drive, according to Scientific American.

Shortly after, NASA’s Ingenuity — the first Mars “helicopter” — will attempt powered aerodynamic flight in another historic move.

Perseverance is required to trek to a flat location that is within a 10-day drive of the initial landing site to unfurl and charge Ingenuity before liftoff. The helicopter can make up to five autonomous flights.

The conclusion of these five flights means that phase one of the mission is over and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s science team takes the helm.

In the hunt for biosignatures, Perseverance will collect its first samples — leaving tubes on the surface to be retrieved by a future mission and returned to Earth as part of the Mars Sample Return campaign.

At that point, the rover’s Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) will also attempt to produce oxygen from Mars atmospheric carbon dioxide, the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) sensors will provide “measurements of temperature, wind speed and direction, pressure, relative humidity, and dust size and shape,” and the Radar Imager for Mars’ Subsurface Experiment (RIMFAX) radar will provide a centimeter-scale resolution of the geologic structure of the subsurface and look for water-ice underground.

‘BUILDING BLOCKS OF LIFE EXIST’ ON MARS, FORMER NASA ADMINISTRATOR CONFIRMS

Perseverance landed in the 28-mile-wide Jezero Crater, which the Perseverance team believes was once flooded with water and home to an ancient river delta more than 3.5 billion years ago.

The hunt will likely utilize all of the rover’s numerous instruments, including the Mastcam-Z and Supercam, which are used to provide both imaging and analysis of the surface’s mineralogy and chemical composition.

Once scientists discover something they determine is interesting enough to examine, Perseverance will use the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) fluorescence spectrometer and high-resolution imager and the Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) spectrometer to map and assess mineralogy and organic compounds.

These tools are critical in the core selection process or sample caching system.

“An enduring hope of the science team is to find a surface feature that couldn’t be attributed to anything other than ancient microbial life. One such feature could be something like a stromatolite,” NASA explained in a second post.

“On Earth, stromatolites are wavy, rocky mounds formed long ago by microbial life along ancient shorelines and in other environments where metabolic energy and water were plentiful. Such a conspicuous feature would be difficult to chalk up to geologic processes,” the agency noted.

This is NASA’s ninth mission to land on Mars and researchers say it will be critical for future space exploration and, eventually, human exploration of the red planet.

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“The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission embodies our nation’s spirit of persevering even in the most challenging of situations, inspiring, and advancing science and exploration,” he said. “The mission itself personifies the human ideal of persevering toward the future and will help us prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.”

NASA’s Perseverance rover lands on Mars

NASA has unveiled the first pictures from its fifth Mars rover, Perseverance, after a successful landing on the red planet’s Jezero crater at approximately 3:55 p.m. Thursday.

“This landing is one of those pivotal moments for NASA, the United States, and space exploration globally – when we know we are on the cusp of discovery and sharpening our pencils, so to speak, to rewrite the textbooks,” acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk said in a press release. “The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission embodies our nation’s spirit of persevering even in the most challenging of situations, inspiring, and advancing science and exploration.”

Perseverance, the most technologically advanced robot NASA has sent to date, traveled 293 million miles to reach Mars over the course of more than six months after launching on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Station on July 30. It will remain on Mars for nearly two years, searching for signs of ancient life and exploring the planet’s surface.

The mission will help prepare the agency for future human exploration on Mars in the 2030s.

‘BUILDING BLOCKS OF LIFE EXIST’ ON MARS, FORMER NASA ADMINISTRATOR CONFIRMS

The $2.7 billion rover, built in NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., is about 10 feet long, 9 feet wide, seven feet tall and about 2,260 pounds, roughly 278 pounds heavier than its predecessor, Curiosity.

Perserverance is designed to drive an average of 650 feet per Martian day and features seven scientific instruments, a robotic arm that reaches about seven feet long, a rock drill. It is nuclear powered, using a plutonium generator provided by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The scientific instruments on the rover include a camera designed to take high-definition video, panoramic color and 3D images of the Martian surface and features in the atmosphere with a zoom lens to magnify distant targets, a group of sensors to measure weather and monitor dust on the planet’s surface, a system that will be used to produce oxygen from the Martian carbon-dioxide atmosphere, an x-ray and camera system that can measure the chemical makeup of rocks and analyze features as small as a grain of salt, a ground-penetrating radar system to analyze geologic features under Mars’ surface, a group of cameras, spectrometers, and a laser to search for organics and minerals as well as take clse up images of rock grains and surface textures, and a camera to identify the chemical composition of rocks and soils, including their atomic and molecular makeup.

In addition, the rover carries a commemorative plate to honor COVID-19 healthcare workers and has the names of 10.9 million people stenciled into three of its silicon chips with the words “Explore as one” written in Morse code.

WHITE HOUSE VOICES SUPPORT FOR MOON EXPLORATION BY 2024, AFTER CONCERNS BIDEN WOULD NIX ARTEMIS PROGRAM

Perseverance’s landing involved the “seven minutes of terror,” a fiery atmospheric entry in a protective capsule which involved a parachute-assisted descent. The “seven minutes of terror” is referred to by NASA engineers as the time it takes to enter the Martian atmosphere and descend to the surface.

The spacecraft is guided solely by pre-programmed controls in its onboard computer, due to a roughly 11 minute signal delay between Earth and Mars.

Perseverance entered into the atmosphere at about 12,100 miles per hour in a protective capsule. The spacecraft then deployed a parachute to begin slowing down before removing its protective capsule and heat shield. The rover’s landing mechanism then fired eight rocket thrusters to slow down from about 170 miles per hour to about two miles per hour and guide it to a proper landing spot before using a sky crane to lower onto Mars’ surface.

Perseverance landed in the Jezero Crater, a 28-mile-wide basin in the northern hemisphere of Mars, where NASA believes a body of water about the size of Lake Tahoe used to flow. The Perseverance science team believes this ancient river delta and lake deposits could have collected and preserved organic molecules and other potential signs of microbial life.

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Perseverance is also carrying the Ingenuity helicopter, a technology demonstration that will attempt the first powered, controlled flight on another planet.

Ingenuinity will be deployed in a few months from underneath the rover in a flat area. Perseverance will then drive about 330 feet away to capture the flight attempt with its cameras. Once Ingenuity’s test flights are complete, the rover’s search for evidence of ancient microbial life will begin.

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with the European Space Agency, will send spacecraft to Mars to collect the cached samples recovered from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

Mount Etna in Italy erupts twice in 48 hours, photos show

Teams in Italy worked to clean up the area surrounding Mount Etna Wednesday after the volcano spewed lava, ash and volcanic stones.

Municipal teams largely anticipated activity from Etna, Europe’s most active volcano. Authorities shut down areas around the crater Tuesday, but the activity still forced the temporary closure of nearby Sicily’s Catania Airport.

Lava gushes from the Mt Etna volcano near Catania, Sicily, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021. Europe’s most active volcano came alive around 4 pm local time on Tuesday, according to the Italian Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology. (AP Photo/Salvatore Allegra)

Mount Etna, Europe’s most active volcano, spews ash and lava, as seen from Catania, southern Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021. Mount Etna in Sicily, southern Italy, has roared back into spectacular volcanic action, sending up plumes of ash and spewing lava. (Davide Anastasi/LaPresse via AP)

No injuries or deaths were reported.

ITALY WON’T LET SKI SLOPES OPEN AFTER CORONAVIRUS VARIANT DETECTED IN COUNTRY

“The entire territory of Pedara and all the streets are covered in volcanic ashes and lapillus,” said Mayor Alfio Cristaudo.

Smoke billows from Mount Etna, Europe’s most active volcano, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021. Mount Etna in Sicily, southern Italy, has roared back into spectacular volcanic action, sending up plumes of ash and spewing lava. (Davide Anastasi/LaPresse via AP)

The volcano erupted again just 30 hours later: After dropping to “the lowest levels” in recent weeks, the volcano popped around 1 a.m. local time on Thursday morning, Volcano Discovery reported.

POWERFUL JAPAN EARTHQUAKE SETS OFF LANDSLIDE, MINOR INJURIES

Lava spewed for over an hour, reaching heights of around 500 meters. The Volcanic Ash Advisory Center of Toulouse recorded ash reaching an altitude of 30,000 feet.

Etna regularly erupts, but it also serves as a popular tourist destination. Some travelers visit just to see the eruptions.

Driving motorbikes and scooters was forbidden, and the speed limit for cars was reduced to limit the further spread of ash.

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The volcano is active almost once a year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

NASA’s Perseverance rover preparing to land on Mars

The countdown has begun as NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance prepares to land on the red planet.

Perseverance will be the agency’s fifth rover to land on Mars, and engineers managing the mission at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California said that the rover was on track to descend at Mars’ Jezero Crater at approximately 3:55 p.m. ET on Thursday.

WHITE HOUSE VOICES SUPPORT FOR MOON EXPLORATION BY 2024, AFTER CONCERNS BIDEN WOULD NIX ARTEMIS PROGRAM

Scientists picked the 28-mile-wide crater after a five-year study of more than 60 potential sites, as they believe the crater was once flooded with water and home to an ancient river delta more than 3.5 billion years ago.

Landing on Mars is risky and around half of all previous Mars landing attempts have succeeded. Jezero Crater’s topography — which also includes cliffs, sand dunes and boulder fields — only increases the difficulty of the mission.

This time, however, the Perseverance team is reportedly “employing new technologies” in order to be able to target the rover’s landing site with more accuracy.

That said, there is plenty of room for error — especially during what is known as the “seven minutes of terror.”

The spacecraft that is flying Perseverance will separate from its entry capsule, enter the planet’s atmosphere traveling at around 12,100 mph, deploy its parachute at supersonic speed, detach the bottom of the entry capsule enabling the use of radar and Terrain-Relative Navigation, separate the back half of the capsule and deploy the rover’s “jetpack,” and touchdown using the sky crane maneuver at human walking speed.

It’s a dance with precise steps, but a multitude of factors can impact the timing of the landing, including the conditions of the atmosphere and the complexity of deep-space communications — though Perseverance can land without communications with Earth.

Once on Mars, the rover will photograph its new home — sending images back to Earth via NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter — and ultimately attempt to document proof of ancient microbial life on Mars.

NASA TEST FOR ‘MOST POWERFUL ROCKET IN THE WORLD’ HAS COMPONENT FAILURE

The mission carries more cameras than any interplanetary mission in history, with 19 on the rover and four on other parts of the spacecraft.

This will also be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and sediment for later return to Earth.

Perseverance is also ferrying a helicopter named Ingenuity: the first aircraft to attempt powered, controlled flight on another planet.

As the most advanced rover to date, Perseverance was named with a purpose, and to the right of the middle wheel is a plaque that commemorates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and pays tribute to health care workers around the globe.

To watch the landing and listen to commentary from experts, viewers can tune in to NASA TV at 2:15 p.m. ET.

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“The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission embodies our nation’s spirit of persevering even in the most challenging of situations, inspiring, and advancing science and exploration. The mission itself personifies the human ideal of persevering toward the future and will help us prepare for human exploration of the red planet in the 2030s,” he said.

Scientists find evidence Stonehenge might have been built in Wales then moved

British archaeologists believe they have pinpointed the origins of the 5,000-year-old prehistoric Stonehenge ruin.

A team of scientists, led by University College London’s Mike Parker Pearson, reported in the journal Antiquity on Friday that they had unearthed a stone circle in Wales’ Preseli Hills that they believe had been dismantled and moved 175 miles to Salisbury Plain and reconfigured as Stonehenge.

MYSTERIOUS MONOLITH POPS UP NEAR TURKISH WORLD HERITAGE SITE

The “Waun Mawn” site — previously disregarded over the years — was found to have just four large bluestones left arranged in an arc. Pearson and his researchers uncovered evidence of an additional six holes that originally held a stone in 2018, giving rise to the theory that people had taken them as they migrated.

Upon measuring the diameter of the circular ditch at Waun Mawn, the group found that the ditches surrounding both sites shared identical diameters of about 360 feet across.

In this Tuesday Dec. 17, 2013 file photo, visitors take photographs of the world heritage site of Stonehenge, England.
(AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)

Waun Mawn — which appears to be Britain’s third-largest stone circle — and Stonehenge are the only two Neolithic monuments in Britain that conform to those specifications and examination of charcoal and sediment inside the holes suggested that Waun Mawn’s creation could be traced back to about 3,400 B.C.

In addition, the dimensions of the 43 bluestones at Stonehenge — many of which are buried — match the dimensions of the four at Waun Mawn and are the same type of rock as three of them.

One of the Stonehenge bluestones also has a cross-section that matches one of the gaps at Waun Mawn.

To further prove their connection, Pearson found that the entrance to both circles was aligned toward the midsummer solstice sunrise — though, the circle’s intended purpose remains shrouded in mystery.

Stonehenge was constructed in phases starting at around 3,000 B.C.

The Wiltshire county monument was built using both bluestones and newer and larger sarsen sandstones.

Previous research over the last few decades showed that while the sarsen stones were brought from just 15 miles away in Marlborough, the bluestone pillars had been extracted from the Preseli Hills.

In 2019, Pearson and his team provided evidence of the locations of two of the bluestone quarries, prompting them to look over Waun Mawn again.

Scientific analysis of human remains at Stonehenge indicated that some of them could have come from Wales, and further excavations are planned to try to understand more.

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Pearson hypothesized both that Stonehenge was made to commemorate the ancestors of those who built it and that Stonehenge’s first stage may have served to unite the people of southern Britain.

“Maybe most of the people migrated, taking their stones – their ancestral identities – with them, to start again in this other special place,” he said in a news release. “This extraordinary event may also have served to unite the peoples of east and west Britain.”

Famed medieval Bayeux Tapestry goes online, every thread

The world-famous medieval Bayeux Tapestry may be off-limits to visitors because of the coronavirus pandemic, but its keepers have put a digital version online so the public can enjoy its fabled cloth from the safety of home.

This file photo taken, Sept. 18, 2019 shows a large part of the 11th century Bayeux tapestry chronicling the Norman conquest of England, in Bayeux, Normandy, France. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu, File)

At nearly 70 meters (77 yards) long, users may have to be skilled at using the scroll function of their computers.

The resolution is so clear in the online panorama that you can see the fibers of each stitch when you zoom in.

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This photo provided by Bayeux townhall shows technicians working at the tapestry in Bayeux, Normandy on Jan. 8 2020. (Ville de Bayeux via AP)

The Bayeux Tapestry is thought to date to the 11th century, and depicts events leading up to the Norman conquest of England, bringing the era to life in vivid — and sometimes bloody — detail.

Despite being so old, it has shown relatively little decomposition. However, a plan to fix wear and tear in its storytelling weave has been put in place in a planned 2024 restoration by the museum that houses it in the Normandy town of Bayeux.

Chinese spacecraft enters Mars’ orbit, joining Arab ship

University professor believes he’s found insect-like life forms on Mars

After looking at photos taken by various Mars rovers over several years, Ohio University emeritus professor William Romoser has found a number of ‘insect-like forms, structured similarly to bees, as well as reptile-like forms,’ according to a release from the university. Romoser made the claim at the annual Entomological Society of America meeting.

BEIJING – A Chinese spacecraft went into orbit around Mars on Wednesday on an expedition to land a rover on the surface and scout for signs of ancient life, authorities announced in a landmark step in the country’s most ambitious deep-space mission yet.

The arrival of Tianwen-1 after a journey of seven months and nearly 300 million miles (475 million kilometers) is part of an unusual burst of activity at Mars: A spacecraft from the United Arab Emirates swung into orbit around the red planet on Tuesday, and a U.S. rover is set to arrive next week.

NASA CURIOSITY ROVER HAS SPENT 3,000 DAYS ON MARS — HERE ARE SOME OF IT GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS

China’s space agency said the five-ton combination orbiter and rover fired its engine to reduce its speed, allowing it to be captured by Mars’ gravity.

“Entering orbit has been successful … making it our country’s first artificial Mars satellite,” the agency announced.

The mission is bold even for a space program that has racked up a steady stream of achievements and brought prestige to China’s ruling Communist Party.

In this undated photo released by the China National Space Administration, a view of the planet Mars is captured by China’s Tianwen-1 Mars probe from a distance of 2.2 million kilometers (1.37 million miles). (CNSA/Xinhua via AP)
((CNSA/Xinhua via AP))

If all goes as planned, the rover will separate from the spacecraft in a few months and touch down safely on Mars, making China only the second nation to pull off such a feat. The rover, a solar-powered vehicle about the size of a golf cart, will collect data on underground water and look for evidence that the planet may have once harbored microscopic life.

Tianwen, the title of an ancient poem, means “Quest for Heavenly Truth.”

Landing a spacecraft on Mars is notoriously difficult. Smashed Russian and European spacecraft litter the landscape along with a failed U.S. lander. About a dozen orbiters missed the mark. In 2011, a Mars-bound Chinese orbiter that was part of a Russian mission didn’t make it out of Earth orbit.

NASA IS EXTENDING MARS AND JUPITER MISSIONS, CITING NOTABLE SUCCESS

Only the U.S. has successfully touched down on Mars — eight times, beginning with two Viking missions in the 1970s. An American lander and rover are in operation today.

China’s attempt will involve a parachute, rocket firings and airbags. Its proposed landing site is a vast, rock-strewn plain called Utopia Planitia, where the U.S. Viking 2 lander touched down in 1976.

Before the arrival this week of the Chinese spacecraft and the UAE’s orbiter, six other spacecraft were already operating around Mars: three U.S., two European and one Indian.

The world tallest tower, Burj Khalifa is lit up with a laser show to celebrate the Hope Probe entering Mars orbit as a part of the Emirates Mars mission, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021. The spacecraft from the UAE swung into orbit around Mars in a triumph for the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission. It is the first of three robotic explorers arriving at the red planet over the next week and a half. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

All three of the latest missions were launched in July to take advantage of the close alignment between Earth and Mars that happens only once every two years.

A NASA rover called Perseverance is aiming for a Feb. 18 landing. It, too, will search for signs of ancient microscopic life, collecting rocks that will be returned to Earth in about a decade.

China’s secretive, military-linked space program has racked up a series of achievements. In December, it brought moon rocks back to Earth for the first time since the 1970s. China was also the first country to land a spacecraft on the little-explored far side of the moon in 2019.

China is also building a permanent space station and planning a crewed lunar mission and a possible permanent research base on the moon, though no dates have yet been proposed.

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While most contacts with NASA are blocked by Congress and China is not a participant in the International Space Station, it has increasingly cooperated with the European Space Agency and countries such as Argentina, France and Austria. Early on, China cooperated with the Soviet Union and then Russia.

Mysterious monolith pops up near Turkish World Heritage site

ISTANBUL – Turkish authorities are investigating the appearance of a mysterious monolith in southeastern Turkey.

The metal block was found by a farmer on Friday in Sanliurfa province with old Turkic script that reads “Look at the sky, see the moon.”

Turkish police officers guard a monolith, found on an open field near Sanliurfa, southeastern Turkey, Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021. The metal block was found by a farmer Friday in Sanliurfa province with old Turkic script that reads “Look at the sky, see the moon.” The monolith, 3 meters high (about 10 feet), was discovered near UNESCO World Heritage site Gobeklitepe with its megalithic structures dating back to 10th millennium B.C. Turkish media reported Sunday that gendarmes were looking through CCTV footage and investigating vehicles that may have transported the monolith. Other mysterious monoliths have popped up and some have disappeared in numerous countries since 2020. (Bekir Seyhanli/IHA via AP)

The monolith, 3 meters high (about 10 feet), was discovered near the UNESCO World Heritage site named Gobekli Tepe, which has megalithic structures dating to the 10th millennium B.C., thousands of years before Stonehenge.

Turkish media reported Sunday that gendarmes were looking through CCTV footage and investigating vehicles that may have transported the monolith.

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Other mysterious monoliths have popped up and some have disappeared in numerous countries in recent months.

Researchers worry chimpanzee-killing bacterium could jump to humans next

Scientists are concerned that a recently discovered bacterium linked to the deaths of chimpanzees in Sierra Leone could spread to humans.

Researchers led by a team at the University of Wisconsin, Madison published a study on Wednesday, announcing their findings in the journal “Nature Communications.”

Fifty-six chimpanzees died from the previously mysterious illness at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary between 2005 and 2018.

CHIMP AND HUMAN GUT BACTERIA NEARLY IDENTICAL

The disease causes both gastrointestinal and neurological symptoms that are “not subtle,” lead researcher Tony Goldberg told Science.

“The chimpanzees would stagger and stumble, vomit, and have diarrhea,” he said. “Sometimes they’d go to bed healthy and be dead in the morning.”

After several years spent screening DNA and samples from the primates, Goldberg’s graduate student Leah A. Owens isolated a bacterium that was in 68% of the samples from sick chimpanzees.

Tong, a 7-year-old chimpanzee, drinks water from a pipe that an official sprayed to cool him off as temperatures rose to nearly 40 degrees Celsius (104 F) at Dusit Zoo in Bangkok, Thailand Thursday, April 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)

Under a microscope, what she found on her slide — which reportedly resembled a four-leaf clover — looked like that of the genus Sarcina — which, at the time, only included two other known species.

The bacterium Owens found is now called Sarcina troglodytae, after the species of chimpanzee it infects — Pan troglodytes.

The newfound disease it causes has been named Epizootic Neurologic and Gastroenteric Syndrome (ENGS).

There are still a lot of unknown variables. For example, while it is known that the bacterium can live in soil, it is not understood how the Tacugama chimpanzees ingested it, why there is a prevalence in the month of March, and whether or not the bacterium alone causes the illness.

The disease has a fatality rate of 100%.

In the hopes of saving the lives of these endangered animals, Tacugama veterinarians are treating sick chimpanzees with antacids, anticonvulsive and antibiotics — though the animals never recovered.

While ENGS has not infected any humans — the Sarcina genus had found only 44 cases of human infection — humans and chimpanzees share about 99% of their genomes, including gut bacteria.

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Although the biggest threat, according to Science Magazine, remains that ENGS will spread to wild chimpanzees or other sanctuaries, Goldberg told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Wednesday that he was monitoring the pathogen.

“There are very few pathogens that infect chimpanzees without infecting humans and very few pathogens that infect humans without infecting chimpanzees,” he said.

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