EurekAlert! - Earth Science
Sun May 9 22:29:46 EDT 2010
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LLNL receives Recovery Act funding for carbon capture technology - (DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) New and existing coal-fired power plants could more easily capture carbon dioxide emissions with help from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers.

How does ice flow? - (Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres) Currently the yearly General Assembly of the European Geological Union takes place in Vienna, Austria. Dr. Olaf Eisen from the German Alfred Wegener Institute presents results from an environmentally friendly measurement method that he and his colleagues used on an Antarctic ice-shelf for the first time in early 2010. It supplies data that are input to models for the ice mass balance and thus permit better forecasting of future changes in the sea level.

Envisat captures renewed volcanic activity - (European Space Agency) New eruptions from Iceland's Eyjafjallajoekull volcano have produced a 1600 km-wide ash cloud over the Atlantic. The brownish plume, traveling east and then south, is clearly visible in stark contrast to white clouds framing this Envisat image from May 6.

GOCE satellite determines gravitational force in the Himalayas - (Technische Universitaet Muenchen) In a May 7 session at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) general assembly in Vienna, researchers presented the first interim results of the ESA mission GOCE, the Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer. Evaluations of the first data from the satellite indicate that current models of Earth's gravitational field in some regions -- the Himalayas, for example -- can be fundamentally revised. The results could contribute to better understanding of many geophysical processes.

UN report stresses the need to provide access to clean energy to the world's poor - (Risoe National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, the Technical University of Denmark) In a new report, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change (AGECC) stresses the need to improve access to clean energy to the more than 2 billion people currently living without access to modern energy services.

42,226 daily temperature readings, and counting - (The Earth Institute at Columbia University) Every day since Jan. 1, 1896, an observer has hiked to a spot at the Mohonk Preserve, a resort and nature area some 90 miles north of New York City, to record daily temperature and other conditions there. It is a rarity: a weather station that has never missed a temperature recording; never been moved; never seen its surroundings change; and never been tended by anyone but a short, continuous line of family and friends, using the same methods, for 114 years.

Cornell's regional 'sun grant' energy conference is May 24-26 - (Cornell University) National and regional biofuel, biopower and bioproducts experts will convene in Syracuse for the Northeast Sun Grant 2010 Regional Conference, at Renaissance Syracuse Hotel, on May 24-26, 2010. The conference is hosted by Cornell University.

ONR scientist generates 'mud power' for NPR radio audience - (Office of Naval Research) NPR's "Science Friday" segment gives Dr. Linda Chrisey, a leading scientist at the US Office of Naval Research, a platform to share how researchers are generating electricity from bacteria found in mud and wastewater.

Sequencing of first frog genome sheds light on treating disease - (University of Houston) A pair of UH researchers contributed to the assembly of the first comprehensive DNA sequence of an amphibian genome, which will shed light on the study of embryonic development, with implications for preventing birth defects and more effectively treating many human diseases. There work was published in a cover story in a recent issue of Science magazine.

Neanderthal genome yields insights into human evolution and evidence of interbreeding - (University of California - Santa Cruz) After extracting ancient DNA from the 40,000-year-old bones of Neanderthals, scientists have obtained a draft sequence of the Neanderthal genome, yielding important new insights into the evolution of modern humans. Among their findings is evidence that shortly after early modern humans migrated out of Africa, some of them interbred with Neanderthals, leaving bits of Neanderthal DNA sequences scattered through the genomes of present-day non-Africans.

Complete Neanderthal genome sequenced - (NIH/National Human Genome Research Institute) Researchers have produced the first whole genome sequence of the 3 billion letters in the Neanderthal genome, and the initial analysis suggests that up to 2 percent of the DNA in the genome of present-day humans outside of Africa originated in Neanderthals or in Neanderthals' ancestors.

CSHL team helps Neandertal Genome Project compare differences between Neandertals and modern humans - (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) A CSHL team has succeeded in obtaining important information from a tiny quantity of contaminated Neandertal DNA, amplifying and sequencing only those portions (exons) that code for proteins. This work, performed with Svante Paabo as part of the Neandertal Genome Project, revealed that Neandertals hardly differ at all from modern humans, at the level of the proteins produced by their full set of genes -- a result Hannon calls "astonishing."

Neandertal genome sequence published in Science - (American Association for the Advancement of Science) An international research team has sequenced the Neandertal genome, using pill-sized samples of bone powder from three Neandertal bones found in a cave in Croatia. The results appear in the May 7 issue of the journal Science, which is published by AAAS, the nonprofit science society.

Peruvian tectonic plates move by earthquakes and non-seismic slip - (DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) Just a few years ago, Dan Farber happened to be doing field work in Peru with students when the 8.0 Pisco earthquake struck. As a scientist working in the active tectonics of the Peruvian Andes -- funded through the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics -- Farber was asked by colleagues if he could participate in a rapid response team to map the damage of the seismic deformation and install a system of geodetic stations.

Lake-bed trails tell ancient fish story - (Emory University) The wavy lines and squiggles etched into a slab of limestone found near Fossil Butte National Monument are prehistoric fish trails, made by Notogoneus osculus as it fed along a lake bottom, says Emory University paleontologist Anthony Martin.

Peptides may hold 'missing link' to life - (Emory University) Emory University scientists have discovered that simple peptides can organize into bi-layer membranes. The finding suggests a "missing link" between the pre-biotic Earth's chemical inventory and the organizational scaffolding essential to life.

University experts prove British summer is advancing - (University of Sheffield) The onset of summer in England has been advancing since the mid 1950s, research from a pair of University of Sheffield geographers has shown. The investigations, conducted by Amy Kirbyshire, a former undergraduate of the university, and Professor Grant Bigg, head of the department of geography at the university, examined records of the first blooming date of early summer flowering plants (phenology) and the timing of first occurrences of warm "summer" temperatures -- events linked with the onset of summer.

Springer buys book portfolio from Praxis Publishing - (Springer) In an asset deal that consists of over 300 titles, Springer is buying the book contracts portfolio from Praxis Publishing Ltd., a scientific publisher located in Chichester in the UK. Springer has had a co-publishing agreement with Praxis since 1998, and is already responsible for the marketing, sales and distribution of the Praxis book program. Springer will now produce Praxis titles and the copyright for the books will be with Springer.

ORNL technology raises bar, lowers cost for groundwater contaminant sensors - (DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory) Long-term continuous monitoring of groundwater where contaminants are present or suspected could be streamlined with a technology developed at the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Leading international climate experts build food security in the face of climate change - (University of Copenhagen) Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security is a large-scale 10-year research initiative which, from its start in 2010, will seek solutions to how to adapt the world's agricultural areas to a different climate with new conditions for production and agriculture and help reduce agriculture's emission of greenhouse gases. The Secretariat for CCAFS is placed at LIFE -- Faculty of Life Sciences at University of Copenhagen. CCAFS will primarily focus on three regions: South Asia, West Africa and East Africa.

World record in current intensity achieved with distribution cables - (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona) Researchers at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, ICMAB-CSIC, and the firms Labein Tecnalia and Nexans, coordinated by Endesa, have developed the most advanced and powerful conductivity cable in the world. This prototype measures 30 meters and was made using superconducting material. The cable surpasses the record in current intensity (3,200 Ampers RMS) and can transport an electrical charge five times greater than a conventional copper cable of the same dimensions, thus reducing energy loss by half.

Experiences to learn from the volcanic eruption - (Risoe National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, the Technical University of Denmark) On May 2-7, 7,000 researchers from all of Europe gather in Vienna for European Geosciences Union. This is a great opportunity to exchange information and experiences on the ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano. A scientist from Risoe DTU seized the opportunity and organized a special session at the conference.

Radio tags could save lives after earthquakes - (Inderscience Publishers) Radio frequency identification, RFID, could be used in the immediate aftermath of a major earthquake to save lives, according to new research published in the International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development.

USGS science picks - (United States Geological Survey) In this edition of Science Picks, learn why it seems like the world is experiencing more earthquakes than normal. Also, see how easy it is to become a citizen scientist, and watch a new USGS movie to learn why the Mojave Desert tortoise is endangered. You'll also find information about major flooding this spring, dust from Africa that is potentially harming coral in the Caribbean, how scientists are using satellite technology to track wildlife, and much more.

255 members of the National Academy of Sciences defend climate science integrity - (Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security) Two-hundred and fifty-five members of the National Academy of Sciences, including 11 Nobel laureates, joined together to defend the rigor and objectivity of climate science. Their statement, "Climate Change and the Integrity of Science," will be published in the journal Science on May 7, asserting "the compelling, comprehensive and consistent objective evidence that humans are changing the climate in ways that threaten our societies and the ecosystems on which we depend."