SCIENCE SCENE.

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Evidence from a Martian volcanic rock indicates that magma on Mars contained significant amounts of water before eruption on the planet's surface, scientists from MIT, the University of Tennessee, and other institutions indicate. They say that channels on Mars' surface may have been caused by flowing water and an ancient ocean may have existed there, but little is known about the source of the water.

Motor oil keeps car engines running smoothly, but what will grease tiny motors for the hightech microdevices of the future? Researchers at Ohio State University, Columbus, have found a way to bake lubricant onto the surface of microdevices at temperatures as high as 150 [degrees] C to oil minute moving parts.

Water will be a driving source of 21st-century auto transmissions thanks to its abundance, environmental friendliness, and economic soundness, predicts Gary Krutz, professor of agricultural and biological engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind. He believes that lightweight, high-density polymers in plastics and ceramics will continue to evolve, opening the floodgates of water-hydraulic-driven power.

A new inspection device developed at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Wash., detects cracks in bolts more easily and less expensively than alternatives. It relies on ultrasonic electronics to retrieve more accurate readings and allows fasteners to be examined in place, reducing inspection time.

Bell Labs researchers have created the world's first plastic material in which resistance to the flow of electricity vanishes below a certain temperature, making it a superconductor. It could be widely used in the future for quantum computing and superconducting electronics.

Fishermen who are accustomed to hauling in cod and flounder may soon find themselves with a new catch--scientific data. In a project funded by the National Oceanographic Partnership Program, several fishermen now have meteorological and oceanographic instruments on board to gather information and transmit it back to shore in real...