news 2012

It's long been known that increased activity related to the 11-year solar cycle may disrupt Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). As we approach the 2013 solar maximum, researchers at the Nottingham Geospatial Institute (NGI) have developed a new technique which retains a high degree of accuracy under adverse ionospheric conditions.

Scientists have discovered a rare fossil called Kulindroplax , the missing link between two mollusc groups, which is revealed in a 3D computer model, in research published today in the journal Nature . The researchers have unearthed the worm-like partly shelled Kulindroplax , which they have modelled in a 3D computer animation.

An ankle- or hip-deep stream once flowed with force across the surface of Mars in the very spot where NASA's Curiosity rover is currently exploring. The finding, announced by members of the project's science team today at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), provides new information about a once wet environment in Gale Crater, the ancient impact crater where the rover touched down in early August.

Is fishing alone responsible for stock collapses, or are there other dominant factors? Determining the causes driving changes in complex networks such as ecosystems is especially challenging. Until recently, scientists had a limited toolbox for detecting causation. Often they would correlate two variables and suggest it implied causation.

The Great Salt Lake in Utah is the last remnant of Lake Bonneville, which once covered much of the state. (Photo: karma17/Creative Commons) New research suggests the Great Basin was flooded during the last glacial period by storms moving up from the tropics. By Bjorn Carey Between 20,000 and 14,000 years ago, the deserts in the American Southwest were covered with enormous lakes.

There is evidence that some microbial life had migrated from the Earth's oceans to land by 2.75 billion years ago, though many scientists believe such land-based life was limited because the ozone layer that shields against ultraviolet radiation did not form until hundreds of millions years later.

Eight billion years ago, rays of light from distant galaxies began their long journey to Earth. On 12 September, that ancient starlight found its way to a mountaintop in Chile, where the newly-constructed Dark Energy Camera, the most powerful sky-mapping machine ever created, captured and recorded it for the first time.

Debate over how and where oceanic island chains, like Hawaii, form, is at an end according to an academic from The Australian National University. Oliver Nebel from the Research School of Earth Sciences, in the ANU College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, has been involved in a world-wide collaboration which sheds new light on the processes behind the formation of island chains.

Ancient Mars, like Earth today, was a diverse planet shaped by many different geologic processes. So when scientists, using rovers or orbiting spacecraft, detect a particular mineral there, they must often consider several possible ways it could have been made. Several such hypotheses have been proposed for the formation of clay minerals, which have been detected from orbit and are sometimes considered indicators that the surface has, in the past, been altered by liquid water.

Santorini sees growth spurt In the south Aegean Sea, the islands of Santorini have been showing signs of unrest for the first time in over half a century. Satellite data confirm that the islands have risen as much as 14 cm since January 2011. The Santorini volcano's last major explosive eruption was about 3600 years ago.

Critically low water levels in many rivers could lead to the partial collapse of food webs that support aquatic life, according to a study co-authored by a University of Leeds researcher. In one of the longest experiments on drought ever conducted in freshwaters, the team periodically lowered water flow in artificial streams, mimicking severe drought conditions in natural running water.

Recently engaged in providing support to the successful landing of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory "Curiosity", ESA's Mars Express has now returned to its primary mission of studying the diverse geology and atmosphere of the Red Planet from orbit. Earlier this year, the spacecraft observed the 120 km wide Hadley Crater, providing a tantalising insight into the martian crust.

The mystery of erratic changes in the history of Earth's past and current plate motions has been cracked by academics from The Australian National University. Giampiero Iaffaldano, from the Research School of Earth Sciences in the ANU College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, led a team that found true changes in plate motions occur on timescales no shorter than a few million years.

Deforestation can have a significant effect on tropical rainfall, new research confirms. The findings have potentially devastating impacts for people living in and near the Amazon and Congo forests. A team from the University of Leeds and the NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology found that for the majority of the Earth’s tropical land surface, air passing over extensive forests produces at least twice as much rain as air passing over little vegetation.

A new study, by scientists from the Universities of York, Glasgow and Leeds, involving analysis of fossil and geological records going back 540 million years, suggests that biodiversity on Earth generally increases as the planet warms. But the research says that the increase in biodiversity depends on the evolution of new species over millions of years, and is normally accompanied by extinctions of existing species.

A new study involving analysis of fossil and geological records going back 540 million years, suggests that biodiversity on Earth generally increases as the planet warms. But the research by scientists from the Universities of York, Glasgow and Leeds says that the increase in biodiversity depends on the evolution of new species over millions of years, and is normally accompanied by extinctions of existing species.

An archaeologist from the University of Sheffield has revealed the origin and trading routes of razor-sharp stone tools 4,200 years ago in Syria. Ancient sites and cultural heritage are under threat in Syria due to the current conflict. An interdisciplinary research team hopes this new discovery, which has major implications for understanding the world's first empire, will help to highlight the importance of protecting Syria's heritage.

Arrows point to 'melt welts' (left), areas where faults weaken, and scanning electron microscope closeups (top and bottom on right). Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have come a step closer to deciphering some of the basic mysteries and mechanisms behind earthquakes and how average-sized earthquakes may evolve into massive earthquakes.

Tsunamis are caused by earthquakes under the seabed. Some tsunamis - including the disaster that hit Japan last year - are unexpectedly large. Cambridge scientists suggest that their severity is caused by a release of gravitational energy as well as elastic energy. We hope that our research represents a step forward in understanding how large tsunamis occur." —Professor James Jackson Scientists at Cambridge University have developed a model that may show why some tsunamis - including the one that devastated Japan in March 2011 - are so much larger than expected.

University of Sheffield researchers have shown, for the first time, that a method of storing nuclear waste normally used only for High Level Waste (HLW), could provide a safer, more efficient, and potentially cheaper, solution for the storage and ultimate disposal of Intermediate Level Waste (ILW). ILW makes up more than three quarters of the volume of material destined for geological disposal in the UK.