The latest reports of natural disasters and scientific discoveries about the Earth.
-
Finding all asteroid threats to human populations: NASA announces asteroid grand challenge
NASA has announced a Grand Challenge focused on finding all asteroid threats to human populations and knowing what to do about them. The challenge is a large-scale effort that will use multi-disciplinary collaborations and a variety of partnerships with other government agencies, international partners, industry, academia, and citizen scientists. It complements NASA's recently announced mission to redirect an asteroid and send humans to study it.
-
Seismic gap outside of Istanbul: Is this where the expected Marmara earthquake will originate from?
Earthquake researchers have now identified a 30 kilometers long and ten kilometers deep area along the North Anatolian fault zone just south of Istanbul that could be the starting point for a strong earthquake. The group of seismologists say that this potential earthquake source is only 15 to 20 kilometers from the historic city center of Istanbul.
-
Stone Age technological and cultural innovation accelerated by climate change
Technological innovation during the Stone Age occurred in fits and starts and was climate-driven, according to new research. Abrupt changes in rainfall in South Africa 40,000 to 80,000 years ago triggered the development of technologies for finding refuge and the behavior of modern humans.
-
NASA's 2013 HS3 hurricane mission to delve into Saharan dust
NASA's 2013 Hurricane and Severe Storms Sentinel or HS3 mission will investigate whether Saharan dust and its associated warm and dry air, known as the Saharan Air Layer or SAL, favors or suppresses the development of tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean. The effects of Saharan dust on tropical cyclones is a controversial area of science. During the 2012 campaign, NASA's Global Hawk unmanned aircraft gathered valuable data on the dust layer that swirled around Tropical Storm Nadine for several days.
-
New 'embryonic' subduction zone found
A new subduction zone forming off the coast of Portugal heralds the beginning of a cycle that will see the Atlantic Ocean close as continental Europe moves closer to America.
-
When it comes to mammals, how big is too big?
Mammals vary enormously in size, from weighing less than a penny to measuring more than three school buses in length. Some groups of mammals have become very large, such as elephants and whales, while others have always been small, like primates. A new theory provides an explanation for why and how certain groups of organisms are able to evolve gigantic sizes, whereas others are not.
-
'Cold snap' 116 million years ago triggered marine ecosystem crisis
A "cold snap" 116 million years ago triggered a similar marine ecosystem crisis to the ones witnessed in the past as a result of global warming, according to new research. The international study confirms the link between global cooling and a crash in the marine ecosystem during the mid-Cretaceous greenhouse period.
-
Noble gases hitch a ride on hydrous minerals
The six noble gases do not normally dissolve into minerals, leaving earth scientists to wonder how they are recycled back into the Earth. Now, researchers have discovered that the lattice structure of minerals such as amphibole is actually quite capable of dissolving noble gases. Understanding how noble gases cycle from deep within the Earth to the atmosphere and back could help scientists track the cycling of other volatiles like water and carbon.
-
Secrets of biological soil crusts uncovered
Biologists have performed a molecular level analysis of desert biological soil crusts -- living ground cover formed by microbial communities -- to reveal how long-dormant cyanobacteria become activated by rainfall then resume dormancy when the precipitation stops.
-
Study of oceans' past raises worries about their future
Scientists have now completed the first global study of changes that occurred in a crucial component of ocean chemistry, the nitrogen cycle, at the end of the last ice age. The results of their study confirm that oceans are good at balancing the nitrogen cycle on a global scale. But the data also shows that it is a slow process that may take many centuries, or even millennia, raising worries about the effects of the scale and speed of current changes in the ocean.
-
Nanoparticle opens the door to clean-energy alternatives
Cheaper clean-energy technologies could be made possible thanks to a new discovery. An important chemical reaction that generates hydrogen from water is effectively triggered -- or catalyzed -- by a nanoparticle composed of nickel and phosphorus, two inexpensive elements that are abundant on Earth.
-
Warm ocean drives most Antarctic ice shelf loss
Ocean waters melting the undersides of Antarctic ice shelves, not icebergs calving into the sea, are responsible for most of the continent's ice loss, a new study has found.
-
Satellite data will be essential to future of groundwater, flood and drought management
New satellite imagery reveals that several areas across the US are all but certain to suffer water-related catastrophes, including extreme flooding, drought and groundwater depletion. A new report underscores the urgent need to address these current and rapidly emerging water issues at the national scale in the U.S.
-
'Self-cleaning' pollution-control technology could do more harm than good, study suggests
Environmental scientists shows that air-pollution-removal technology used in "self-cleaning" paints and building surfaces may actually cause more problems than they solve. The study finds that titanium dioxide coatings, seen as promising for their role in breaking down airborne pollutants on contact, are likely in real-world conditions to convert abundant ammonia to nitrogen oxide, the key precursor of harmful ozone pollution.
-
Rapid adaptation is purple sea urchins' weapon against ocean acidification
In the race against climate change and ocean acidification, some sea urchins may still have a few tricks up their spiny sleeves, suggesting that adaptation will likely play a large role for the sea creatures as the carbon content of the ocean increases.
-
Altitude may affect the way language is spoken
Until recently most linguists believed that the relationship between the structure of language and the natural world was mainly the influence of the environment on vocabulary. Now, a new study shows that there is a link between geographical elevation and the way language is spoken. Ejectives are sounds made, and incorporated into language, only at higher altitudes.
-
Fossil kangaroo teeth reveal mosaic of Pliocene ecosystems in Queensland
The teeth of a kangaroo and other extinct marsupials reveal that southeastern Queensland 2.5-5-million-years ago was a mosaic of tropical forests, wetlands and grasslands and much less arid than previously thought.
-
Life underground: Microbes active far beneath seafloor
Genetic researchers have revealed active bacteria, fungi and other microbes living in 5 million-year-old ocean sediment.
-
When will the next megathrust hit the west coast of North America?
A new study presents our first glimpse back in geologic time of the recurrence interval of large and megathrust earthquakes impacting the vulnerable BC outer coastline.
-
Water in Earth's crust and upper mantle may not lubricate plate tectonics as much as previously assumed
Water in olivin mineral reveals less important role.
