science wire

October 10, 2010 AUSTIN, Texas — Geologists studying the Jan. Haiti earthquake say the risk of destructive tsunamis is higher than expected in places such as Kingston, Istanbul and Los Angeles. Like Haiti's capital, these cities all lie near the coast and near an active geologic feature called a strike-slip fault where two tectonic plates slide past each other like two hands rubbing against each other.

A study of Brazilian diamonds by Earth scientists from the University of Bristol has found that tiny inclusions in the diamonds contain traces of oceanic crust and sedimentary rocks, formed originally on the surface of the Earth then transported to depths of more than 300km.

BERKELEY — NASA this week gave the green light to a mission to Mars that will seek to understand why and how the red planet lost its atmosphere 3-4 billion years ago. Dubbed the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, mission, it is led by principal investigator Bruce Jakosky of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU-Boulder) and managed by David Mitchell of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

It's easy to be a pessimist in a world full of calamities. But for those worried about the continuing availability of natural resources, data from the ocean makes a good case for optimism, says economic geologist Lawrence Cathles.

Geoengineering could prevent the potentially catastrophic climate-change tipping points that loom just ahead, reports a new Cornell study.

October 5, 2010 AUSTIN, Texas — A new species of dinosaur discovered in Arizona suggests dinosaurs did not spread throughout the world by overpowering other species, but by taking advantage of a natural catastrophe that wiped out their competitors.

October 05, 2010 — In a National Geographic-sponsored presentation augmented with vivid images of his deepwater dives into the Bahamas?

PA 261/10 The latest computer gadgetry to monitor the ever-evolving landscape of our planet and the elemental forces that shape it are the subject of a new knowledge exchange network being led by The University of Nottingham. The Earth Observation Technology Cluster, led by Dr Paul Aplin in the University's School of Geography, is a two-year project funded with £100,000 by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Ambitious plans to expand acreage of bioenergy crops could have a major impact on birds in the Upper Midwest, according to a study published today (Oct. 4) in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Combining data from bird surveys and land usage, two University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers calculated changes in the number of bird species after widespread planting of bioenergy crops.

PASADENA, Calif. What will the Martian atmosphere be like when the next Mars rover descends through it for landing in August of 2012?

A Princeton University-led research team has developed the capability to produce realistic movies of earthquakes based on complex computer simulations that can be made available worldwide within hours of a disastrous upheaval. The videos show waves of ground motion spreading out from an epicenter. In making them widely available, the team of computational seismologists and computer scientists aims to aid researchers working to improve understanding of earthquakes and develop better maps of the Earth's interior.

The study by Dr Lorna Fraser and Dr Kimberley Edwards shows a link between the number of fast food outlet in Leeds and the likelihood of local children becoming obese. They also found that burger bars, chippies, kebab shops and similar outlets were more likely to open in areas of high deprivation. There are more than 700 fast food outlets in the city of Leeds - one for every 1000 residents.

Great Lakes from space. Provided by the SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and ORBIMAGE.

By Jesse Hicks Research/Penn State The next time you find yourself endlessly circling the block trying to find parking, you might pull out your smartphone and run Google's Open Spot.

PASADENA, Calif.-In an effort to find ways to minimize the damage caused by natural hazards, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has established the Terrestrial Hazard Observation and Re

Efforts to protect the wild tiger should be intensively focused on a few key sites if conservationists are to have any chance of saving it from extinction, a new study says.

Classics professor's new book argues that history is a slow, complicated tango between geography and social development.

Columbia Public Health and Nursing Professor Richard Garfield coordinates a U.N. assessment of needs project The worst flooding in Pakistan's history has left over 2,000 people dead and

— Miami — Over the last week, as Hurricane Earl threatened the east coast of the United States, hurricane scientists from NOAA Research's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laborat

Scientists investigating the geophysical and hydrological conditions beneath the Greenland ice sheet say their analysis will be vital for helping understand how the ice sheet will respond to climate change.

Cambridge, MA - Volcanoes display the awesome power of Nature like few other events. Earlier this year, ash from an Icelandic volcano disrupted air travel throughout much of northern Europe. Yet this recent eruption pales next to the fury of Jupiter's moon Io, the most volcanic body in our solar system.

British manufacturing is thriving, not declining, due to innovative strategies by companies, but is at risk of collapse due to a severe shortage of skills, a researcher from the University of Birming

Hurricane Earl's eye, as measured by NASA's HAMSR intrument on Sept. The data reflect the brightness temperatures of the storm with cooler temperatures in shades of blue and green and warmer temperatures in oranges and reds. The pink crosses represent lightning. Image credit: NASA-JPL/Data SIC/NOAA/U.S.

PASADENA, Calif.—Using a diamond-anvil cell to recreate the high pressures deep within the earth, researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have found unusual properties in an iron-rich magnesium- and iron-oxide mineral that may explain the existence of several ultra-low velocity zones (ULVZs) at the core-mantle boundary.

With the peak of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season still 10 days away, the relative calm of the first half of the season has quickly evaporated. As of Sept. 1, there were three named tropical cyclones in the Atlantic-Hurricane Earl and Tropical Storms Fiona and Gaston. NASA satellites, instruments and researchers are hard at work, providing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other agencies with many kinds of data used to help forecast and track these monster storms.

Researchers at the University of Melbourne and the Bushfire CRC have designed a unique computer program that can predict the direction, speed and intensity of bushfires.

It was a deep history in satellite meteorology that first got the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration interested in Madison in the 1970s.

The unusual instrument is a lithophone made up of 'ringing rocks' from the Cumbrian hills. It has been created to introduce children to geology and the landscape of the Lake District through music.

Expert scientists from across Australia have joined forces to enhance public understanding of climate change science through an innovative question-answer style report, launched yesterday.

Christine Leuenberger, senior lecturer in science and technology studies, was a Fulbright scholar in Israel and the Palestinian territories in 2008.

Extreme sandstorms like the fast-moving 'walls of dust' seen in Hollywood film The Mummy may look spectacular, but their effects on weather systems and climate change are even more dramatic.

— KAO-HSIUNG, Taiwan — An international team of scientists and technicians from the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School, the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, Woods Hole O

Charles Darwin's period in Chile during his epic voyage on the Beagle was the most influential on his later thinking, according to a University of Manchester academic. Dr Patience Schell, Senior Lecturer in Latin American Cultural Studies, says the scientist's period in Chile between late 1832 and 1835 has not been given the recognition it deserves.

BERKELEY — The evolution of a group of muscled frogs scattered throughout Asia is telling geologists about the sequence of events that led to the rise of the Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau starting more than 55 million years ago.

An international team of scientists working on the North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling project hit bedrock July 27 after three summers of work, drilling down more than 1.5 miles in an effort to better understand the nature of abrupt climate changes in the past.

Instrument will look for evidence of life and volcanic activity on Mars; will fly aboard ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter in 2016 PASADENA, Calif.—The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and