Why did pig vomit help solve the mystery of the meteor?

A mystery that has lasted for more than a century as to the whereabouts of the piece of a Mars meteor derived from may have been resolved by Glasgow studentin no small part due to digestive problems that pigs from a certain area of ​​the US may have had.

Dr. Aine O’Brienenvironmental and planetary geochemist at the University of Glasgow, set out to discover how the Lafayette meteor ended up in a drawer in Purdue University, Indiana in 1929, when no one could remember where it came from.

“It’s a meteorite from Mars, and they’re really rare. That alone makes it really valuable, and not all of these Martian meteorites are in pristine condition like Lafayette.” Dr. O’Brien said BBC News. “It must have been picked up quite quickly after it fell, because otherwise the outer edge would have weathered away.”

With its pristine state perfect for research purposes, Dr. O’Brien ground up part of the sample to find organic molecules to serve as evidence that could help her learn more about the possibility of life on Earth. Mars. Thanks to this, she discovered that the meteor had an emetic an item that, according to O’Brien, “I thought sounded cool, so I started looking for it.”

It was because of this discovery of vanitoxin that deoxynivalenol, that O’Brien brought her findings to her supervisor, who told her that the origin of the Lafayette discovery was unknown and suggested that the fungus might be affecting crops in Indiana. This led to a conversation with Purdue University’s Departments of Agronomy and Botany and Plant Pathology to learn more about the historical prevalence of the fungus in Tippecanoe County in Indiana.

Vanitoxin, found in a fungus that contaminates grains such as corn, wheat, and oats, caused a drop in crop yields in 1919 and another less pronounced drop in 1927—the highest prevalence of the fungus in the 20 years before 1931. , when Lafayette was indeed identified as a meteorite. The fungus causes disease in humans and animals when ingested, especially pigs.

Archivists of Purdue University then looked through yearbooks to find black students enrolled at the time. Three students—Julius Lee Morgan, Clinton Edward Shaw, and Hermantse Edwin Fauntleroy—were enrolled at Purdue in 1919. The fourth – Clyde Silance – studied there in 1927.

Researchers believe this new evidence supports the theory that it was donated to Purdue University by a black student who witnessed it landing in a pond while he was fishing. There were reported sightings of bolides in southern Michigan and northern Indiana in 1919 and one in 1927, which coincided with the dates of the university students.

“Lafayette is a really beautiful specimen of a meteorite that has taught us a lot about Mars during previous studies,” noted Dr. O’Brien. “So they deserve credit for that alone? Then you add the fact that they were African American a university student of which there were so few. We all know the stories about racism in 1920s America.’