Ted Bunch worked with Luann Becker, of the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, and Robert Poreda, of the University of Rochester, New York, on the research, which is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

BBC: ET gases caged on Earth

Still with two years of high school to complete in Honolulu, Wie insists she still intends to go to college, with Stanford University in California - Tiger Woods' alma mater - her top choice.

BBC: SPORT | Golf | Wie excited to start 'dream job'