science wire

Six years of observations by ESA's Venus Express have shown large changes in the sulphur dioxide content of the planet's atmosphere, and one intriguing possible explanation is volcanic eruptions. The thick atmosphere of Venus contains over a million times as much sulphur dioxide as Earth's, where almost all of the pungent, toxic gas is generated by volcanic activity.

In December 2012 a team of British scientists, engineers and support staff, led by Martin Siegert of the University of Bristol, will drill through 3km of solid ice into subglacial Lake Ellsworth in Antarctica.

Representatives from the NATO Parliamentary Assembly visited University of Glasgow today (Friday 30 November) as part of a fact-finding trip to the UK.

An article in the journal Science , co-authored by Martin Williams of the Environmental Research Group (ERG) at King's College London, examines how science and policy have addressed air pollution effects on human health, ecosystems and climate change in Europe.

Stanford Report, November 30, 2012 Developers of renewable energy and shale gas must overcome fundamental geological and environmental challenges if these promising energy sources are to reach their full potential, according to a trio of leading geoscientists.

Emergency aid provided in the aftermath of natural disasters like floods, earthquakes and tsunamis, has "critical shortcomings" that could be overcome with better preparation, experts say.

Researchers have pushed the boundaries of High Dynamic Range (HDR) video to match our own eyes' ability to cope with the real world's ever rapidly changing light intensity - such as sun simply going behind clouds.

As leaves fall and winter approaches in Earth's Northern Hemisphere, a change of seasons is also rapidly becoming noticeable in the southern hemisphere of Saturn's giant moon, Titan. Thanks to NASA's Cassini spacecraft which has been orbiting Saturn since 2004, scientists have been able to observe for the first time ever the seasonal atmospheric circulation direction change on Titan - an event which only happens once every 15 years and is never observable from Earth.

Budding palaeontologists were transported back to the Jurassic era to explore the intriguing world of dinosaurs in a once in a life-time science lesson at the University of Sheffield yesterday (28 November 2012).

University of Leeds geophysics expertise will be called in to help with the final stage of Lincolnshire aviation enthusiast David Cundall's bid to locate buried Spitfires in Myanmar.

An enhanced approach to capturing changes on the Earth's surface via satellite could provide a more accurate account of how ice sheets, river basins and other geographic areas are changing as a result of natural and human factors. In a first application, the technique revealed sharper-than-ever details about Greenland's massive ice sheet, including that the rate at which it is melting might be accelerating more slowly than predicted.

A team of storm-chasing marine scientists have been braving the high winds and huge waves as part of an on-going study into coastal erosion in Cornwall.

All fieldwork in the Svalbard archipelago in Norway must follow safety rule number one – researchers are to carry a loaded rifle and be constantly on the look-out for polar bears.

Astronauts bring back new life It is not every day that astronauts can claim to return to Earth with a new species of life.

A new study looking at the structure of feathers in bird-like dinosaurs has shed light on one of nature's most remarkable inventions - how flight might have evolved. Academics at the Universities of Bristol, Yale and Calgary have shown that prehistoric birds had a much more primitive version of the wings we see today, with rigid layers of feathers acting as simple airfoils for gliding.

A new study of ancient feathers adds weight to the theory that primitive birds - close relatives of feathered dinosaurs - were far less versatile fliers than their modern descendants.

Earlier this year, Professor Ray Jayawardhana , Canada Research Chair in Observational Astrophysics, was named the University of Toronto President's Senior Advisor on Science Engagement.

Jay Ague, recently appointed as the Henry Barnard Davis Memorial Professor of Geology and Geophysics, is interested in fluid flow, chemical reactions, mass transfer, and heat transfer in Earth's crust and upper mantle.

Scientific research aboard Scripps flagship involved 86 different scientific research expeditions, 1,917 operational days and 338,000 nautical miles in the Pacific, Indian, Southern and Atlantic Ocea

Maria Seton from the University of Sydney's School of Geosciences is on a 25-day voyage in the eastern Coral Sea. From on board she writes of her experiences: On day two of the trip a flock of red-footed boobies had taken over the foremast but were not having any luck catching flying fish, which regularly break the surface and fly away as our ship approaches.

A new study has revealed a rapid response between global temperature and ice volume/sea-level, which could lead to sea-levels rising by over one metre. During the last few million years, global ice-volume variability has been one of the main feedback mechanisms in climate change, because of the strong reflective properties of large ice sheets.

Watch online: 'Mountains of hunger' on the Earth from Space programme Discover more about our planet with the Earth from Space video programme.

With the help of a new grant from NASA, University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers are guiding the search for signs of life on distant planets — while keeping their feet firmly planted on Earth. The Wisconsin Astrobiology Research Consortium , led by geoscience Clark Johnson and including partners from across the U.S. and world, specializes in defining and identifying "biosignatures," fingerprints of ancient life that are preserved in the geological record.

A new surveying technique developed at The University of Nottingham is giving geologists their first detailed picture of how ground movement associated with historical mining is changing the face of our landscape. The new development by engineers at the University has revealed a more complete map of subsidence and uplift caused by the settlement of old mines in the East Midlands and other areas of the country and has shown that small movements in the landscape are bound by natural fault lines and mining blocks.

On the night of Aug. 5, 2010, as residents slept, water began rushing through Leh, an Indian town in a high desert valley in the Himalayas. Average total rainfall in the area for August is about a half-inch. During this 24-hour period more than 8 inches fell, causing severe damage and leaving 193 dead, hundreds missing and thousands homeless.

Intensive rainfall in East Africa can result in widespread flooding but may have a silver lining in the form of replenishing vital groundwater supplies.

See a larger version of this image Maps comprehensively detailing Sydney's access to public transport show frequency of service is a major hurdle to Sydney having a viable and equitable transport system.

Stanford Report, November 11, 2012 Stanford scientist and other researchers analyze future snowpack decline from California to the Himalayas. Snowpack, an essential source of drinking water and agricultural irrigation for billions of people, could shrink significantly within the next 30 years, according to a study led by Stanford climate change researcher Noah Diffenbaugh.

Summer has arrived The first plane to reach Antarctic research base Concordia in nine months landed yesterday, bringing fresh food and replacements for the crew that spent winter in one of the most isolated places on Earth.

Stanford Report, November 8, 2012 For 10 years, Stanford's Global Climate and Energy Project has been funding cutting-edge research.

The soft moss yields underfoot as we walk across Fäjemyr bog. The site is not far from Hässleholm in southern Sweden, but feels more like the far north of the country. The red flowers of the heather brighten the ground, the hare’s-tail cottongrass waves in the breeze and a few short, scraggly pine trees stick up among the mossy tussocks.

Strong buildings in earthquake zones are by the best form of defence against tremors, a university expert says.

Like a movie star constantly retouching her makeup, the protoplanet Vesta is continually stirring its outermost layer and presenting a young face.

Hurricane Sandy has earned it reputation as a perfect storm, even among meteorologists.

Stanford Report, October 29, 2012 Weaning America off fossil fuels and investing in renewable energy is the best path for the future, say Stanford researchers.

MEDIA ADVISORY ANN ARBOR-Extreme weather experts at the University of Michigan are available to discuss both Hurricane Sandy and how technology under development today could help meteorologists more accurately predict storm intensity in the future.

As the University of Alberta's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences celebrates its 100th year , one of its longest-serving professors is looking back at his 47 years of Arctic research.

Freshwater losses in Greenland have accelerated since the early 1990s, with the south-east of the island seeing losses rise by 50 per cent in less than 20 years, according to new research from the University of Bristol.

Advisory structures and mechanisms - and monitoring networks - have to be in place prior to an eruption, and the best results are achieved when scientists and policymakers are not meeting for the first time when the crisis begins.

Earth's Grand Canyon inspires awe for anyone who casts eyes upon the vast river-cut valley, but it would seem nothing more than a scratch next to the cavernous scar of Valles Marineris that marks the face of Mars. Stretching over 4000 km long and 200 km wide, and with a dizzying depth of 10 km, it is some ten times longer and five times deeper than Earth's Grand Canyon, a size that earns it the status of the largest canyon in the Solar System.

The extensive system of levees along the Mississippi River has done much to prevent devastating floods in riverside communities. But the levees have also contributed to the loss of Louisiana's wetlands. By holding in floodwaters, they prevent sediment from flowing into the watershed and rebuilding marshes, which are compacting under their own weight and losing ground to sea-level rise.

A new series of radiocarbon measurements from Japan's Lake Suigetsu will give scientists a more accurate benchmark for dating materials, especially for older objects, according to a research team that included Oxford University's Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit. The research team extracted cores of beautifully preserved layers of sediment, containing organic material (such as tree leaf and twig fossils), from the bottom of the Japanese lake where they had lain undisturbed for tens of thousands of years.

Scientists at the University of Glasgow have used sediment from the bottom of a Japanese lake to calibrate more effectively the tools used to determine the age of ancient materials. Charlotte Bryant, head of the Natural Environment Research Council Radiocarbon Facility at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) was part of a team of researchers who examined samples from the bed of Lake Suigetsu for a paper published in the journal Science .

A paired picture of Uranus, the sharpest, most detailed picture of the distant planet to date, reveals a raft of new details about the planet's enigmatic atmosphere.

University of Leeds geophysicists will advise during the final stages of a search for buried Spitfires in Burma.

Findings will affect scientific models of cloud formation and light absorption : Caroline Perry , (617) 496-1351 Atmospheric chemists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS)

The Himalayas could be 20 million years younger than we think, according to ongoing research at the University of Sydney's School of Geosciences.