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Earth Sciences - Environment - 29.06.2017
Tree rings pinpoint eruption of Icelandic volcano to half a century before human settlement
Tree rings pinpoint eruption of Icelandic volcano to half a century before human settlement
An international group of researchers has dated a large volcanic eruption in Iceland to within a few months. The eruption, which is the oldest volcanic eruption to be precisely dated at high northern latitudes, occurred shortly before the first permanent human settlements were established, when parts of the now mostly treeless island were still covered with forest.

Earth Sciences - Life Sciences - 28.06.2017
Brooding dinosaurs
Brooding dinosaurs
A new method used to perform geochemical analysis of fossilized eggs from China has shown that oviraptorosaurs incubated their eggs with their bodies within a 35–40° C range, similar to extant birds today. This finding is the result of Franco-Chinese collaboration coordinated by Romain Amiot of the Laboratoire de géologie de Lyon: Terre, planètes et environnement (CNRS/ENS de Lyon/Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1).

Earth Sciences - 28.06.2017
'Bulges' in volcanoes could be used to predict eruptions
‘Bulges’ in volcanoes could be used to predict eruptions
A team of researchers from the University of Cambridge have developed a new way of measuring the pressure inside volcanoes, and found that it can be a reliable indicator of future eruptions. This could be a new way of predicting volcanic eruptions. Clare Donaldson Using a technique called 'seismic noise interferometry' combined with geophysical measurements, the researchers measured the energy moving through a volcano.

Earth Sciences - 27.06.2017
Distant earthquakes can cause underwater landslides
Distant earthquakes can cause underwater landslides
New research finds large earthquakes can trigger underwater landslides thousands of miles away, weeks or months after the quake occurs. Researchers analyzing data from ocean bottom seismometers off the Washington-Oregon coast tied a series of underwater landslides on the Cascadia Subduction Zone, 80 to 161 kilometers (50 to 100 miles) off the Pacific Northwest coast, to a 2012 magnitude-8.6 earthquake in the Indian Ocean - more than 13,500 kilometers (8,390 miles) away.

History / Archeology - Earth Sciences - 14.06.2017
Study sheds light on Neanderthal-Homo sapiens transition
Archaeologists at The Australian National University (ANU) and the University of Sydney have provided a window into one of the most exciting periods in human history - the transition between Neanderthals and modern humans. An archaeological dig in a cave in the Moravian region of the Czech Republic has provided a timeline of evidence from 10 sedimentary layers spanning 28,000 to 50,000 years ago.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 14.06.2017
Hidden
Hidden "Rock Moisture" Could Explain Forest Surviving Drough
Research led by UT has found that weathered bedrock can store a significant amount of rock moisture inside its fractures and pores. This moisture in the layer of weathered rock that is commonly located beneath soils is an important part of the water cycle on the local and global level. Tree roots tap into the rock moisture and release it back into the atmosphere as water vapor, and water flows through the fractures and becomes part of the seasonal groundwater storage (blue arrows).

Earth Sciences - Health - 12.06.2017
Icelandic volcanic â?‘plumerangâ’’ could be bad for your health
An Oxford University collaboration has found previously undetected health risks contained in the boomerang-like return of an Icelandic volcanic plume. The new study, published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, traced the evolution of the plume chemistry from the 2014-2015 Icelandic Holuhraun lava field eruption and found an unreported secondary (older) plume that had significant impact on air quality.

Life Sciences - Earth Sciences - 07.06.2017
The secrets of tooth calcium revealed
The secrets of tooth calcium revealed
Two studies on calcium isotopes 1 in teeth have provided new insights into both the extinction of the dinosaurs and weaning age in humans. The findings of these studies, conducted by CNRS researchers at Lyon ENS and Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, were published, respectively, on 25 and 30 May 2017 in Current Biology and PNAS .

Earth Sciences - Chemistry - 05.06.2017
Scientists analysing Martian mudstones reveal chemistry of ancient lake in study
Scientists analysing Martian mudstones reveal chemistry of ancient lake in study
Imperial's Professor Sanjeev Gupta talks about the chemistry of rocks on Mars and what they reveal about a lake that has long since dried up. Professor Gupta, from Imperial College London's Department of Earth Science and Engineering , is part of NASA's Curiosity mission. Every day, analyses data on the geology of Mars that is beamed back from the Mars Science Laboratory mission's remote-controlled Curiosity rover.

Earth Sciences - 05.06.2017
Report reveals a rise in the demand for food banks in the UK
Report reveals a rise in the demand for food banks in the UK
New research has found that there are at least 2000 food banks in the UK, a higher number than previously thought. The research is published by the Independent Food Aid Network (Ifan), Chaired by Jon May , Professor at the School of Geography, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). According to the report, a growing number of food banks are giving out emergency food parcels on a weekly basis to people in hardship.

Earth Sciences - 02.06.2017
Magma reservoirs key to volcanic eruptions
New study shows the importance of large reservoirs in creating Earth's most powerful volcanic eruptions and explains why they are so rare Large reservoirs of magma stored deep in the Earth's crust are key to producing some of the Earth's most powerful volcanic eruptions, new research has shown. In a new study, an international team of scientists claim that the most powerful volcanic eruptions, dubbed 'super-eruptions', are triggered by a slow and steady drip feed of magma from large reservoirs deep within the Earth's crust into smaller reservoirs closer to the surface.

Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 30.05.2017
In a cosmic hit-and-run, icy Saturn moon may have flipped
A team of researchers led by Cornell's Radwan Tajeddine examined Cassini data and found evidence that the active south polar region of Enceladus - the fractured terrain seen here at bottom - may have originally been closer to the icy moon's equator. Enceladus - a large icy, oceanic moon of Saturn - may have flipped, the possible victim of an out-of-this-world wallop.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 30.05.2017
Early human migration
New study reveals the importance of African groundwater in kick-starting the evolutionary history of humans An international team led by a researcher at Cardiff University believe that the movement of our ancestors across East Africa was shaped by the locations of groundwater springs. In a new study, the team argue that the springs acted as pit stops to allow early humans to survive as they moved across the African landscape.

Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 30.05.2017
'Halos' discovered on Mars widen time frame for potential life
’Halos’ discovered on Mars widen time frame for potential life
The halos were analyzed by the rover's science payload, including the laser-shooting Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 25.05.2017
New approach predicts threats to rainforests
Borneo is an island that has lost a staggering 30 percent of its forest since the 1970s and is among the most biodiverse and threatened on the planet. The study findings, published in Landscape Ecology, will be useful to all forest conservationists, and could help tropical forests around the world, including Borneo.

Earth Sciences - Astronomy / Space Science - 23.05.2017
How X-rays Helped to Solve Mystery of Floating Rocks
How X-rays Helped to Solve Mystery of Floating Rocks
It's true'some rocks can float on water for years at a time. And now scientists know how they do it, and what causes them to eventually sink. X-ray studies at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have helped scientists to solve this mystery by scanning inside samples of lightweight, glassy, and porous volcanic rocks known as pumice stones.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 17.05.2017
As continents continue moving, study suggests effects on biodiversity
For News Media FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 5/17/17 Video caption: UW-Madison geoscientist Andrew Zaffos explains the link between moving continents and changing numbers of marine species. Data from thousands of studies was assembled to paint a broad picture of biodiversity. UW-Madison geoscientist Andrew Zaffos explains the link between moving continents and changing numbers of marine species.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 17.05.2017
Scientists Study Atmospheric Waves Radiating out of Hurricanes
The red curve shows the leading edge of a packet of gravity waves radiating outward at the top of Typhoon Meranti on September 12, 2016. Credit: Visible image the Himawari satellite, maintained by the Japan Meteorological Agency, and processed by Brian McNoldy, University of Miami. The red curve shows the leading edge of a packet of gravity waves radiating outward at the top of Typhoon Meranti on September 12, 2016.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 11.05.2017
Shelf sediments reveal climate shifts through the eons
Shelf sediments reveal climate shifts through the eons
Climate change around Antarctica can severely affect Australia's rainfall and even influence the distribution of wet and dry zones across southeast Asia, an international study has revealed. Chelsea Korpanty of The University of Queensland's School of Biological Sciences worked on the study, which was led by Dr Jeroen Groeneveld from the Center of Marine and Environment Sciences at the University of Bremen, Germany.

Earth Sciences - 10.05.2017
Continental crust thanks to the right mixture
Continental crust thanks to the right mixture
For the first time, ETH scientists have successfully recreated the formation of continental crust in the Archean using a computer simulation. The model helps us to better understand processes that took place three to four billion years ago. The present-day formation of continental crust can be investigated in the framework of plate tectonics; however, it is unclear how continental crust could have formed in the Archean, a period three to four billion years ago, when there was no plate tectonics.