SHAMU DREAMS OF EUROPA

摘要

Although willing and able to travel, Shamu—formally named the Submersible Holographic Astrobiology Microscope with Ultraresolution—is still very much on Earth, in a basement lab of the Science, Research and Teaching Center at Portland State University, where science writers can meet it. A rugged field instrument, Shamu uses lasers to create 3D movies of microorganisms moving in a liquid sample. While similar tools exist, the ones that boast high definition are too delicate to take into the wilderness, and the tough ones aren't precise enough to see small bacteria. Shamu's fans, meanwhile, think it's well-suited to investigate not just weird life in Earth's extreme environments, but also whether there is life beyond our planet.