science wire

In the tenth of a series of reports contributed by Cambridge researchers, PhD student Robert Hird pitches his tent next to a gas crater in Turkmenistan in the course of his studies on the stability of saline soils.

In the seventh of a series of reports contributed by Cambridge researchers, architect Michael Ramage travels to South Africa to build strength out of weakness.

In the sixth in a series of reports contributed by Cambridge researchers, earth scientist Marian Holness investigates the secrets locked into an ancient magma chamber that never erupted.

Evidence of the single-celled ancestors of animals, dating from the interval in the Earth's history just before multicellular animals appeared, has been discovered in 570 million-year-old rocks from S

In the first of a series of reports contributed by Cambridge researchers, physiologist Andrew Murray studies responses to extreme altitude as part of a programme that will improve hospital treatments for critically ill-people.

Site's U.S. growth relied primarily on media attention, geographic proximity of users.

Rapidly rising Arctic temperatures could lead to significantly greater sea-level rise An environmental expert from the University of Sheffield has warned global sea-level rise by the year 2100 could be significantly greater than previously predicted following analysis of Greenland´s rapidly shrinking ice sheets.

Retreating glaciers threaten water supplies Glaciers are retreating at an unexpectedly fast rate according to research done in Peru's Cordillera Blanca by McGill doctoral student Michel Baraer.

Within the space of a week, Lund University’s geology researchers have raked in SEK 40 million. Professor Birger Schmitz has received SEK 25 million for his ground breaking research on the meteorite flux to earth that has been taking place for billions of years.

Robert Strzepek, a visiting scientist in the Research School of Earth Sciences, has won the New Zealand Prime Minister's Science prize.

Intensive agriculture practices developed during the past century have helped improve food security for many people but have also added to nitrate pollution in surface and groundwaters. New research has looked at water quality measurement over the last 140 years to track this problem in the Thames River basin.

Data from end of the last Ice Age confirm effects of climate change on oceans The first comprehensive study of changes in the oxygenation of oceans at the end of the last Ice Age (between about 10 to 20,000 years ago) has implications for the future of our oceans under global warming.

Nitrogen derived from human activities has polluted lakes throughout the Northern Hemisphere for more than a century and the fingerprint of these changes is evident even in remote lakes located thousands of miles from the nearest city, industrial area or farm. The findings, published Dec. 16, are based on historical changes in the chemical composition of bottom deposits in 36 lakes using an approach similar to aquatic archeology.

Better forecasting of violent storms, such as those battering the British Isles over the past few weeks, could be possible in the future.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.-The overripe cucumber dangles from a vine in a photo snapped by a woman who survived the earthquake and tsunami that ravaged northeastern Japan.

— Coral Gables — A groundbreaking study led by University of Miami scientist Shimon Wdowinski shows that earthquakes, including the recent 2010 temblors in Haiti and Taiwan, may be triggered by tropical cyclones (hurricanes and typhoons).

Christmas doesn't have to cost a fortune and a simple handmade or pre-used gift can mean as much, if not more, than the present that broke the bank.

From the colouration of dinosaurs and the causes of their ultimate extinction to the evolution of mammals and the very present threat that climate change poses to our oceans: the 55th Annual Meeting

Leading migration research centre appoints new director The University of Sussex-based Sussex Centre for Migration Research, one of the UK's leading research centres on migration, will have a new Director from 1 April 2012.

Stanford scientists are using complex computational models to solve the puzzle of the devastating tsunami that struck Japan earlier this year and predict where future tsunamis might occur.

The lineup of presentations at an extreme weather workshop taking place today at Scripps Institution of Oceanography sounds like an overview of biblical plagues, but in fact the event's conveners said California needs to expect more episodes of what insurers would consider "acts of God.

As geoengineering planning becomes widespread, researchers note that little thought has been given to its potential effects on ecosystems Scientists attempting to understand the potential effects of human geoengineering efforts often must rely on similar natural events to reach conclusions.

Political sociologist appointed to head migration centre The Sussex Centre for Migration Research, one of the UK's leading research centres on migration, will have a new Director from 1 April 2012.

Many argue that international tourism can provide developing countries with new resources and assist poor people to create a better future.

Rosemary Knight, who joined the Stanford faculty in 2000 after teaching for a decade at the University of British Columbia, loved math, physics and chemistry in high school and was elated when she "discovered" geology, a field that combined all three.

09 Dec 2011 University of Manchester scientists flew into the middle of the violent storms battering Scotland yesterday to measure the huge impact of the winds. Atmospheric scientist Keith Bower was on the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) research aircraft, while Professor Geraint Vaughan was monitoring measurements from the ground.

ESA selects Astrium to build Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite Furthering Europe's capacity to monitor atmospheric pollution, ESA has awarded a contract worth €45.5 million to Astrium UK to act as prime contractor for the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite system.

To mark the centennial of Roald Amundsen's expedition to the South Pole, the IceCube Research Center is hosting an evening of exploration and learning on Tuesday, Dec. 13 from 6:30-8:30 at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery. A hose caries hot water to the top of an Antarctic drill tower as part of the IceCube project.

A species of ancient predator with saw-like teeth, sleek bodies and a voracious appetite for meat survived a major extinction at a time when the distant relatives of mammals ruled the earth.

New simulations of summer rains in the arid American Southwest show that they are influenced by the previous winter's snowpack in the Rocky Mountains. Summer rains, called "monsoons," are the predominant source of rain in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico, says Michael Notaro , a climate scientist who is associate director at the Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

All the artworks pictured below are featured in the Oceanside Museum of Art exhibition "Vantage Point: UCSD Visual Dialogues.

While the worst drought since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s grips Oklahoma and Texas, scientists are warning that what we consider severe drought conditions in North America today may be normal for the continent by the mid-21 st century, due to a warming planet.

University of Minnesota professor is part of international team that predicts the volatile region's water may once again vanish MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (12/05/2011) —An international team

Two talks at a scientific conference this week will propose a common root for an enormous deluge in western Tennessee in May 2010, and a historic outbreak of tornadoes centered on Alabama in April 2011.

ESA's space weather box Proba-2 tracks stormy Sun Researchers gathered for European Space Weather Week have been presented with the latest results from ESA's own space weather station: the Proba-2 microsatellite.

Mountains and buried ice on Mars New images from Mars Express show the Phlegra Montes mountain range, in a region where radar probing indicates large volumes of water ice are hiding below. This could be a source of water for future astronauts. Phlegra Montes is a range of gently curving mountains and ridges on Mars.

Stanford researchers are proposing to use opal to sequester uranium at contaminated sites. The idea springs from natural deposits of opal, containing uranium, that have been stable for hundreds of thousands or even millions of years.

Penn State, PA Coalition Against Rape join to fight child sexual abuse Penn State Town Hall Forum provides open discussion Football head coach search committee formed University launches hotline for

A Bristol-led consortium of universities and industry has been awarded more than £2million to reconstruct Atlantic-Mediterranean flow patterns, 5-6 million years ago, before the Straits of Gibraltar formed.

Released by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation: PALO ALTO, Calif. —The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has awarded $6 million to three West Coast universities to create a prototype earthquake early warning system for the Pacific Coast of the United States.

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has awarded $6 million to three West Coast universities to create a prototype earthquake early warning system for the Pacific Coast of the United States. The grant will allow seismologists at the University of California, Berkeley; California Institute of Technology (Caltech); and University of Washington, Seattle, in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), to learn about the science of earthquakes and the best way to capture and analyze seismic data.

When a magnitude 9 earthquake devastated Japan in March some residents got a warning, ranging from a few seconds to a minute or more, that severe shaking was on the way.

Scientists have unexpectedly found traces of the supercontinent Gondwana in the Indian Ocean - in the process solving a mystery behind a large group of ocean 'mountains' known as seamounts, including Christmas Island. The German-Australian team of marine geologists set out on the German research vessel Sonne to map and sample about 60 seamounts - ranging in height from one to three kilometres - in one the world's largest volcanic seamount provinces off the north-west Australian coast.

Satellites respond to humanitarian needs A review of crisis response using Earth observation techniques is now available online.

Children playing with wooden blocks that were used to represent adobe blocks during the training on earthquake basics and earthquake preparedness for children.

A leading Infrastructure academic believes an assessment needs to be made of the level of "very rare" earthquake that needs to be considered in structural design, perhaps one with a 10,000 year retur

A reconstruction of plants' productivity and the amount of carbon stored in the ocean and terrestrial biosphere at the last ice age is published today. The research by an international team of scientists greatly increases our understanding of natural carbon cycle dynamics. A reconstruction of plants' productivity and the amount of carbon stored in the ocean and terrestrial biosphere at the last ice age is published today.

It was an era of massive construction projects - dams, roads, and bridges - and many felt there was a need to better understand and control the behavior of the soil and rock underpinnings of all these infrastructures.