news 2013

Differences between Martian meteorites and rocks examined by a NASA rover can be explained if Mars had an oxygen-rich atmosphere 4000 million years ago - well before the rise of atmospheric oxygen on Earth 2500m years ago. Scientists from Oxford University investigated the compositions of Martian meteorites found on Earth and data from NASA's 'Spirit' rover that examined surface rocks in the Gusev crater on Mars.

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (06/19/2013) —This summer, the Bell Museum of Natural History at the University of Minnesota is speaking in code. DNA, to be exact, and what that code is revealing to scientists in the Caucasus Mountains is the subject of the museum's latest exhibit, Birds & DNA: Biodiversity and Mountain Islands .

Researchers from a project which aims to deepen understanding of adults who choose to go missing are presenting their results for the first time today (Wednesday 19 June). Around 327,000 incidences of people reported as missing are reported to authorities each year in the UK, but little research exists which could provide practical insights to benefit those with responsibility for and to missing adults.

Research from the University of Sheffield has shown that unusual changes in atmospheric jet stream circulation caused the exceptional surface melt of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) in summer 2012. An international team led by Professor Edward Hanna from the University of Sheffield's Department of Geography used a computer model simulation (called SnowModel) and satellite data to confirm a record surface melting of the GrIS for at least the last 50 years - when on 11 July 2012, more than 90 percent of the ice-sheet surface melted.

A team of palaeontologists, including three from ANU have uncovered the oldest fossilised vertebrate muscles ever discovered. The team have mapped the musculature of an ancient fossil fish approximately 380 million years old, discovered in the Gogo Formation in the Kimberley of Western Australia. "Gogo fossil fish are famous for their exceptional preservation," explains Dr Gavin Young of the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences.

12 Jun 2013 The first complete chemical analysis of feathers from Archaeopteryx, a famous fossil linking dinosaurs and birds, reveals that the feathers of this early bird were patterned - light in colour, with a dark edge and tip to the feather - rather than all black, as previously thought. The findings came from X-ray experiments by a team from The University of Manchester, working with colleagues at the US Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

June 12, 2013 — Coral Gables — Language is formed by giving meaning to sounds and stringing together these meaningful expressions to communicate feelings and ideas. Until recently most linguists believed that the relationship between the structure of language and the natural world was mainly the influence of the environment on vocabulary.

Decades of drought in central Africa reached their worst point in the 1980s, causing Lake Chad, a shallow lake used to water crops in neighboring countries, to almost dry out completely. The shrinking lake and prolonged drought were initially blamed on overgrazing and bad agricultural practices. More recently, Lake Chad became an example of global warming.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Spindle-shaped inclusions in 3 billion-year-old rocks are microfossils of plankton that probably inhabited the oceans around the globe during that time, according to an international team of researchers. "It is surprising to have large, potentially complex fossils that far back," said Christopher H. House , professor of geosciences , Penn State, and lead author.

06 Jun 2013 Tiny bubbles of water found in quartz grains in Australia may hold the key to understanding what caused the Earth's first ice age, say scientists. The Anglo-French study analysed the amount of ancient atmospheric argon gas (Ar) isotopes dissolved in the bubbles and found levels were very different to those in the air we breathe today.

Pebbles and sand scattered near an ancient Martian river network may present the most convincing evidence yet that the frigid deserts of the Red Planet were once a habitable environment traversed by flowing water. Scientists with NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission reported May 30 the discovery of sand grains and small stones that bear the telltale roundness of river stones and are too heavy to have been moved by wind.

Stanford scientists have identified key acoustic characteristics of the 2011 Japan earthquake that indicated it would cause a large tsunami. The technique could be applied worldwide to create an early warning system for massive tsunamis. On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 undersea earthquake occurred 43 miles off the shore of Japan.

The turtle has been in no rush to give up the secret of its shell - but after two centuries of close study, scientists are filling in the story of a structure unique in the history of life. New research led by Tyler Lyson of Yale University and the Smithsonian Institution pushes back the origins of the turtle shell by about 40 million years, linking it to Eunotosaurus, a 260-million-year-old fossil reptile from South Africa.

Hawaiian green sea turtle populations have increased in recent years, but their numbers still fall far short of historic levels. A new report suggests that calls to lift protection for this species may be premature. By Karen Marvin Calls to lift protections for the iconic Hawaiian green sea turtle may be premature, according to a new study led by a Stanford researcher.

Studying complex systems like ecosystems can get messy, especially when trying to predict how they interact with other big unknowns like climate change. In a new paper published this week (May 20) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and elsewhere validate a fundamental assumption at the very heart of a popular way to predict relationships between complex variables.

Dinosaurs are often thought of as large, fierce animals, but new research highlights a previously overlooked diversity of small dinosaurs. In the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology , a team of palaeontologists from the University of Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum, Cleveland Museum of Natural History and University of Calgary have described a new dinosaur, the smallest plant-eating dinosaur species known from Canada: Albertadromeus syntarsus.

About 55.5 million years ago, geologically rapid emission of a large volume of greenhouse gases at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary (PETM) led to global warming of about 5oC, severe ocean acidification, and widespread extinction of microscopic organisms living on the deep-sea floor (foraminifera).

A new study conducted at the University of Bristol and published online today in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology sheds light on how the brain and inner ear developed in dinosaurs. Stephan Lautenschlager from Bristol's School of Earth Sciences , together with Tom Hübner from the Niedersächsische Landesmuseum in Hannover, Germany, picked the brains of 150 million year old dinosaurs.

Melting glaciers account for one third of observed sea level rise, according to a new study published today in Science. The research - which used multiple satellites and an extensive collection of ground data - was led by Professor Alex Gardner of Clark University and involved the efforts of 16 researchers from 10 countries, including Dr Bert Wouters from the University of Bristol.

The researchers used a diamond anvil cell to squeeze iron at pressures as high as 3 million times that felt at sea level to recreate conditions at the center of Earth. The findings could refine theories of how the planet and its core evolved. The massive ball of iron sitting at the center of Earth is not quite as "rock-solid" as has been thought, say two Stanford mineral physicists.