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Volcanoes cool the tropics, say researchers - (The Earth Institute at Columbia University) Climate researchers have shown that big volcanic eruptions over the past 450 years have temporarily cooled weather in the tropics but suggest that such effects may have been masked in the 20th century by rising global temperatures. ...
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California study shows shade trees reduce summertime electricity use - (USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station) A recent study shows that shade trees on the west and south sides of a house in California can reduce a homeowner's summertime electric bill by about $25.00 a year. The study, conducted last year on 460 single-family homes in Sacramento, is the first large-scale study to use utility billing data to show that trees can reduce energy consumption....
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Study: Can nature's leading indicators presage environmental disaster? - (University of Wisconsin-Madison) Economists use leading indicators -- the drivers of economic performance -- to take the temperature of the economy and predict the future. Now, in a new study, scientists take a page from the social science handbook and use leading indicators of the environment to presage the potential collapse of ecosystems....
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GEN joins Charles Darwin 2009 celebration - (Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News) Theodosius Dobzhansky, the late great geneticist and evolutionary biologist, said it best: "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution."...
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Describing soils: Calibration tool for teaching soil rupture resistance - (Soil Science Society of America) A new tool has been developed that will help measure the rupture resistance of soils by calibrating the correct amount of pressure between a thumb and forefinger of students and soil scientists when studying soils in the field. The measurement is important for accurately assessing the quality and makeup of soils....
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Models simulate nitrate dynamics in Garonne, Southwest France - (American Society of Agronomy) A new study details the first European application of two models that simulate the daily flow and dynamics of nitrogen in a watershed, which will help researchers prevent the over-enrichment of fresh, transitional, and marine waters with nitrogen, as well as understand the impacts of environmental change....
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Evolution in action: Our antibodies take 'evolutionary leaps' to fight microbes - (Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) With cold and flu season in full swing, the fact that viruses and bacteria rapidly evolve is apparent with every sneeze, sniffle and cough. A new report in the January 2009 issue of the FASEB Journal, explains for the first time how humans keep up with microbes by rearranging the genes that make antibodies to foreign invaders. This research fills a significant gap in the understanding of how the immune system helps us survive....
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Tackling climate change with new permits to pollute - (Oxford University Press) A new way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and tackle climate change had been unveiled by leading economists. ...
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High numbers of right whales seen in Gulf of Maine - (NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service) A large number of North Atlantic right whales have been seen in the Gulf of Maine in recent days, leading right whale researchers at NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center to believe they have identified a wintering ground and potentially a breeding ground for this endangered species....
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AGU journal highlights -- Dec. 31, 2008 - (American Geophysical Union) This release spotlights research papers on these topics: Surprise drop in carbon dioxide absorbed by East/Japan Sea; Big raindrops favor tornado formation; Sand dunes clocked from space; Odd-looking Martian craters indicate hidden ice; Explaining scope of Earth's tropical air flows; Cause of glacial earthquakes in Greenland clarified; Sea rise on continental shelves affected global carbon cycle; Martian avalanches analyzed; Influence in West Africa: biomass burning and mineral dust; and Dust's conflicting roles in West African rainfall....
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6 North American sites hold 12,900-year-old nanodiamond-rich soil - (University of Oregon) Abundant tiny particles of diamond dust exist in sediments dating to 12,900 years ago at six North American sites, adding strong evidence for Earth's impact with a rare swarm of carbon-and-water-rich comets or carbonaceous chondrites, reports a nine-member scientific team....
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Trapped water cause of regular tremors under Vancouver Island: UBC researchers - (University of British Columbia) University of British Columbia researchers are offering the first compelling evidence to explain regular tremors under Vancouver Island....
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Study shows competition, not climate change, led to Neanderthal extinction - (Public Library of Science) In a recently conducted study, a multidisciplinary French-American research team with expertise in archaeology, past climates and ecology reported that Neanderthal extinction was principally a result of competition with Cro-Magnon populations, rather than the consequences of climate change. The study was published in the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE....
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Global structures of the DE3 tide - (Science in China Press) New research shows that the eastward propagating diurnal tide of zonal wave No. 3 (DE3) can propagate deeply into the mesopshere and lower thermosphere with its maximal amplitude occurring at higher than 110 km. Meanwhile, the result also shows that the tide exhibits two-year cycle oscillation that is first observed by using satellite observations....
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Enhancing solar cells with nanoparticles - (Optical Society of America) Deriving plentiful electricity from sunlight at a modest cost is a challenge with immense implications for energy, technology and climate policy. A paper in a special energy issue of Optics Express, the Optical Society's open-access journal, describes a relatively new approach to solar cells: lacing them with nanoscopic metal particles. ...
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In many fungi, reproductive spores are remarkably aerodynamic - (Harvard University) The reproductive spores of many species of fungi have evolved remarkably drag-minimizing shapes, according to new research by mycologists and applied mathematicians at Harvard University. In many cases, the scientists report this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the drag experienced by these fungal spores is within one percent of the absolute minimum possible drag for their size....
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IRB Barcelona to coordinate 2 European projects on biomedicine - (Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona)) The IRB Barcelona has been chosen by the European Commission to coordinate two European health research projects, of the VII Framework Program. This concession makes IRB Barcelona a leader in European projects in Spain, together with the Spanish National Research Council. The EC will grant IRB Barcelona funding of more than 5 million euros ($6.97 million) from 2009 to 2011. Malaria and diabetes will be the topics addressed by the consortia headed by Ribas and Zorzano....
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Honey bees on cocaine dance more, changing ideas about the insect brain - (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) In a study that challenges current ideas about the insect brain, researchers have found that honey bees on cocaine tend to exaggerate....
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Modified plants may yield more biofuel - (Penn State) Plants, genetically modified to ease the breaking down of their woody material, could be the key to a cheaper and greener way of making ethanol, according to researchers who add that the approach could also help turn agricultural waste into food for livestock. ...
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Italy's geologic history becomes a personal tale in Walter Alvarez's new book - (University of California - Berkeley) UC Berkeley's Walter Alvarez, who with his father, Nobelist Luis Alvarez, first proposed that the dinosaurs were killed off by a comet or asteroid impact, chronicled that story 10 years ago in the book "T. rex and the crater of doom." Now, Alvarez tells another fascinating story about the geologic history of Italy and the Italian geologists who worked it out. His focus is the Apennines, a range he calls the mountains of St. Francis....
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To improve forecasting earthquakes, NJIT mathematician studies grains - (New Jersey Institute of Technology) A new and better way to predict earthquakes and avalanches may soon be available to forecasters thanks to mathematical research underway at New Jersey Institute of Technology. ...
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African thicket rat malaria linked to virulent human form - (American Museum of Natural History) New research from the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics at the American Museum of Natural History reveals that malarial parasites found in tree-dwelling African thicket rats share a close evolutionary relationship with Plasmodium falciparum and P. reichenowi. The analysis is based on amplification of entire mitochondrial genomes of malarial parasites that use humans, rodents, birds and lizards as their hosts. ...
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New evidence that people make aspirin's active principle -- salicylic acid - (American Chemical Society) Scientists in the United Kingdom are reporting evidence that humans can make their own salicylic acid -- the material formed when aspirin breaks down in the body. Salicylic acid, which is responsible for aspirin's renowned effects in relieving pain and inflammation, may be the first in a new class of bioregulators, according to a study scheduled for the Dec. 24 issue of ACS' biweekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry....
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Scientists spend a white Christmas in Antarctica - (European Space Agency) The idea of a white Christmas may seem magical for many of us, but spare a thought for a team of scientists forgoing the festive season to take part in a novel campaign being carried out in one of the most inhospitable regions on Earth to support ESA's CryoSat mission....
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Slip rate along the Lijiang-Ninglang fault zone estimated from repeating microearthquakes - (Science in China Press) The slip rate along the Lijiang-Ninglang fault zone in 1999-2006 was investigated with the data recorded by the Yunnan Digital Seismic Network. Using two sequences that occurred regularly over the study period, they obtained a fault slip rate of approximately 5 mm per year at approximately 23 kilometer depth, which agrees with the tectonic loading rate inferred from geologic and geodetic data. Study of repeating microearthquakes thus provides a new means to constrain the deep slip rate of active intraplate faults. ...
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