science wire

Far beneath the surface of the ocean, deep currents act as conveyer belts, channeling heat and nutrients around the globe. A new study by the University of Pennsylvania 's Irina Marinov and Raffaele Bernardello and colleagues from McGill University has found that recent climate change may be acting to slow down one of these conveyer belts, with potentially serious consequences for the future of the planet's climate.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. The 200th anniversary of the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history will be marked by the publication of a new book by University of Illinois professor Gillen D'Arcy Wood.

Greg Smits, associate professor of history at Penn State, started his extensive studies of Japanese earthquakes with a browse through a bookstore.

Greg Smits, associate professor of history at Penn State, started his extensive studies of Japanese earthquakes with a browse through a bookstore.

The secret of Ireland's famous 'Blarney Stone' has been revealed thanks to the discovery of a possibly unique 19th century microscopic slide cut from the famous rock at Blarney Castle, near Cork. Said to bestow eloquence, or 'the gift of the gab' on anyone who kisses it, the stone which is embedded in the battlements of the castle, is steeped in rumour and myth with little published evidence of its true nature.

University of Washington The University of Washington this fall will complete installation of a massive digital ocean observatory.

The Scott Polar Research Institute has launched an appeal to save Captain Robert Falcon Scott's 'lost' polar negatives.

5 March 2014 When dinosaurs still roamed the Earth, land could have torn apart to create a Saharan ocean in the middle of Africa, University of Sydney research explains. Between 150 and 100 million years ago the southern continents were still united in the supercontinent Gondwana but rift systems, indicative of the imminent breakup of continents, extended between present-day South America and Africa, as well as within Africa.

A new fauna of fossil species at 160 million year old sites in China have been co-discovered by a scientist at Queen Mary University of London.

Using measurements and computer simulations, researchers seek answer to the question: Is climate change behind the state's dry spell? California's parched landscapes are receiving a much-needed soaking this week as heavy rainstorms roll across the West Coast.

Four international artists who work in constructed photography will feature in an exhibition opening at The University of Queensland Art Museum on Saturday 1 March.

Four international artists who work in constructed photography will feature in an exhibition opening at The University of Queensland Art Museum on Saturday 1 March.

University of Washington The Arctic is home to a growing number of whales and ships, and to populations of sub-Arctic whales that are expanding their territory into newly ice-free Arctic waters.

Leading marine renewable energy developer Pelamis has completed a two-week testing programme of its patented wave energy converter in Plymouth University’s COAST laboratory.

o Dinosaurs developed characteristics enabling them to fly earlier than previously believed o New research helps scientists better understand bird origin Characteristics that allowed dinosaurs to take to the skies arose much earlier than scientists previously believed, new research has revealed - giving fresh insight into the origin of birds.

When Miami fisherman Tim O'Neill went fishing off Key Biscayne one morning in search of swordfish he returned with a much rarer specimen than he had in mind. When he finally reeled in the big chunk of ocean bottom he realized he had hooked a giant tooth. "I couldn't grab the rock fast enough," said O'Neill, captain of the F/V Cacique .

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Fires in the Amazon could jeopardize the forest's ability to soak up carbon dioxide emissions even as deforestation there slows down, according to a piece in Nature by a Penn State geographer.

ANN ARBOR-The visiting scholars program at the University of Michigan China Data Center has accepted a record 16 participants in the current academic year.

For centuries, geologists have recognized that the rocks that line riverbeds tend to be smaller and rounder further downstream. But these experts have not agreed on the reason these patterns exist. Abrasion causes rocks to grind down and become rounder as they are transported down the river. Does this grinding reduce the size of rocks significantly, or is it that smaller rocks are simply more easily transported downstream?

Used plastic shopping bags can be converted into petroleum products that serve a multitude of purposes . CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Plastic shopping bags, an abundant source of litter on land and at sea, can be converted into diesel, natural gas and other useful petroleum products, researchers report. The conversion produces significantly more energy than it requires and results in transportation fuels - diesel, for example - that can be blended with existing ultra-low-sulfur diesels and biodiesels.

Five Columbia faculty members have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world's largest general scientific society.

MIT researchers find that the end-Permian extinction happened in 60,000 years - much faster than earlier estimates. The largest mass extinction in the history of animal life occurred some 252 million years ago, wiping out more than 96 percent of marine species and 70 percent of life on land - including the largest insects known to have inhabited the Earth.

Methane, a key greenhouse gas, has more than doubled in volume in Earth's atmosphere since 1750. Its increase is believed to be a leading contributor to climate change.

07 Feb 2014 Manchester medics have spoken about their role treating the injured following the typhoon that hit the Philippines in what they believe was the UK's first joint civilian and military humanitarian response effort.

The Centre will aim to create national resources in reusing data that are routinely collected by business and local government The University of Liverpool is part of a multi-million pound research consortium that will analyse the large amount of consumer data generated by the retail sector.

Weather observers at the University of Oxford have confirmed that January 2014 was the wettest since their records began in the 1760s.

University of Washington The latest observations of Jakobshavn Glacier show that Greenland's largest glacier is moving ice from land into the ocean at a speed that appears to be the fastest ever recorded. Researchers from the University of Washington and the German Space Agency measured the speed of the glacier in 2012 and 2013.

A team led by University of Pennsylvania paleontologists has characterized a new dinosaur based on fossil remains found in northwestern China. The species, a plant-eating sauropod named Yongjinglong datangi , roamed during the Early Cretaceous period, more than 100 million years ago. This sauropod belonged to a group known as Titanosauria, members of which were among the largest living creatures to ever walk the earth.

In the Earth Surface Dynamics Lab at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) the behavior of rivers is modeled through the use of artificial rivers-flumes-through which water can be pumped at varying rates over a variety of carefully graded sediments while drag force and acceleration are measured.

Swagata Banerjee, an assistant professor of civil engineering at Penn State, conducts research on the combined impacts of flood and earthquake on bridge stability.

Palaeobiologists at Oxford University have discovered a new fossil arthropod, christened Enalikter aphson ¸ in 425-million-year-old rocks in Herefordshire.

"Sauropod Nesting Grounds - Hatching," illustration by Luis Rey: Herds of female sauropod dinosaurs called titanosaurs gathered at traditional nesting grounds some 80 million years ago in what is now Patagonia, Argentina.

An arc volcano in Chile Scientists at the University of Liverpool have shown that deep sea fault zones could transport much larger amounts of water from the Earth's oceans to the upper mantle than previously thought. Water is carried mantle by deep sea fault zones which penetrate the oceanic plate as it bends into the subduction zone.

Stanford scientists have developed a new "virtual earthquake" technique and used it to confirm a prediction that Los Angeles would experience stronger-thanexpected ground motion if a major quake occurred along the southern San Andreas Fault. Stanford scientists are using weak vibrations generated by the Earth's oceans to produce "virtual earthquakes" that can be used to predict the ground movement and shaking hazard to buildings from real quakes.

A prototype is in the works that will make tracking climate change simpler. Called a "geoPebble," the device doesn't need cables and wires to operate, important to researchers in harsh environments.

For at least the last 70 years, lakes and aquifers in northern Wisconsin have followed the same pattern - after higher than average peaks, water levels spend about 10 years on a downward trend before abruptly spiking up again, only to repeat the decade-long fall back to low-water conditions.

University of Washington The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network's installed a third seismograph at CenturyLink Field this week in the wake of the Seattle Seahawks win over the New Orleans Saints last weekend that provided a trial by fire of the network's website and new monitoring tools.

For researchers at the University at Cambridge, recent storm damage is providing vital data that could help improve future flood warnings and emergency planning These results could help improve early

University of Washington The Columbia River is perhaps the most intricate, complex river system in North America.

A segment of the Eel River as it flows through the Angelo Coast Range Reserve in northern California.

Massive terrestrial planets, called "super-Earths," are known to be common in Earth's galaxy, the Milky Way.

The research involved scientists from Newcastle University, the University of Bristol's Glaciology Centre , the British Antarctic Survey and the universities of Edinburgh, Exeter, and York. They charted the Ellsworth Subglacial Highlands - an ancient mountain range buried beneath several kilometres of Antarctic ice - by combining data from satellites and ice-penetrating radars towed behind skidoos and on-board small aircraft.

These loose, BB-sized, hematite-rich spherules are embedded in this Martian rock like blueberries in a muffin and released over time by erosion.

An international team of researchers has shown that Pine Island Glacier (PIG), the primary contributor to sea-level rise from Antarctica, has entered a period of self-sustained retreat and its discharge to the ocean will likely increase in comparison to observations from the last decade.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. A Penn State-led team will develop an improved computer model of the Amazon that could ultimately help scientists better understand climate, thanks to a new grant from the Department of Energy.

University of Washington University of Washington seismologists this week installed two strong-motion seismometers at CenturyLink Field in Seattle to augment an existing station in recording shaking f

Research network gets funding boost from NSERC to create new knowledge and tools to protect Canadian forests. Janice Cooke leads TRIA-Net, a national research network that received $3 million from NSERC to further its work on stemming the devastating spread of the mountain pine beetle. (Photo: John Ulan) The federal government has given a University of Alberta-led research network of forest scientists and stakeholders a funding boost in hopes of turning the tables in its fight to protect Canadian forests from the spread of the mountain pine beetle.