Earth | Page 1201 | Science Codex

Tracking evidence of 'The Great Dying'

More than 251 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period, Earth almost became a lifeless planet. Around 90 percent of all living species disappeared then, in what scientists have called "The Great Dying."

The world of that time sounds horrific and alien – a devastated landscape, barren of vegetation, scarred by erosion from showers of acid rain, huge "dead zones" in the oceans and runaway greenhouse gases leading to sizzling temperatures. Earth 251 million years ago had no exotic vacation getaway spots.

Low elevations hold climate surprises

Low elevations hold climate surprises

Contrary to expectations, climate change has had a significant effecton mountain plants at low elevations, says a new study led by a UCDavis researcher.

The information could guide future conservation efforts at localscales by helping decision makers anticipate biological responses toclimate changes, said lead author Susan Harrison, a UC Davisprofessor of environmental science and policy.

NOAA: Tagged narwhals track warming near Greenland

In a research paper published online Saturday in the Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans, a publication of the American Geological Union (AGU), scientists reported the southern Baffin Bay off West Greenland has continued warming since wintertime ocean temperatures were last effectively measured there in the early 2000s.

A speed gun for the Earth's insides

Researchers at the University of Bristol reveal today in the journal Nature that they have developed a seismological 'speed gun' for the inside of the Earth. Using this technique they will be able to measure the way the Earth's deep interior slowly moves around. This mantle motion is what controls the location of our continents and oceans, and where the tectonic plates collide to shake the surface we live on.

6 new isotopes of the superheavy elements discovered

Berkeley, CA—A team of scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has detected six isotopes, never seen before, of the superheavy elements 104 through 114. Starting with the creation of a new isotope of the yet-to-be-named element 114, the researchers observed successive emissions of alpha particles that yielded new isotopes of copernicium (element 112), darmstadtium (element 110), hassium (element 108), seaborgium (element 106), and rutherfordium (element 104). Rutherfordium ended the chain when it decayed by spontaneous fission.

Purdue-led research team finds Haiti quake caused by unknown fault

Purdue-led research team finds Haiti quake caused by unknown fault

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers found a previously unmapped fault was responsible for the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti and that the originally blamed fault remains ready to produce a large earthquake.

As Arctic warms, increased shipping likely to accelerate climate change

As Arctic warms, increased shipping likely to accelerate climate change

Clues about carbon dioxide patterns at end of Ice Age

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — New University of Florida research puts to rest the mystery of where old carbon was stored during the last glacial period. It turns out it ended up in the icy waters of the Southern Ocean near Antarctica.

The findings have implications for modern-day global warming, said Ellen Martin, a UF geological sciences professor and an author of the paper, which is published in this week's journal Nature Geoscience.

New American Chemical Society Prized Science video focuses on 'green gasoline'

New American Chemical Society Prized Science video focuses on 'green gasoline'

Quakes don't completely shake China's environmental gains, thanks to conservation programs

Quakes don't completely shake China's environmental gains, thanks to conservation programs

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The impact of China's devastating 2008 earthquake was substantially lessened by environmental conservation programs for some of the country's most fragile habitats, according to research published in a journal of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science this week.

Study describes a tabletop source of bright, coherent X-rays

Producing tightly focused beams of high energy X-rays, to examine everything from molecular structures to the integrity of aircraft wings, could become simpler and cheaper according to new research.

Today, in Nature Physics, researchers from Imperial College London, the University of Michigan and Instituto Superior Téchnico Lisbon describe a tabletop instrument that produces synchrotron X-rays, whose energy and quality rivals that produced by some of the largest X-ray facilities in the world.

Putting a bull's-eye on the flu: Paper details influenza's structure for future drug targeting

Paper details influenza's structure for future drug targeting

Beating the flu has always been tough, but it has gotten even more difficult in recent years. Two of the four antiviral drugs used to treat a nasty case of the influenza A virus no longer work.

Isotope near 'doubly magic' tin-100 flouts conventional wisdom

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Oct. 21, 2010 -- Tin may seem like the most unassuming of elements, but experiments performed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are yielding surprising properties in extremely short-lived isotopes near tin-100's "doubly magic" nucleus.

Plants play larger role than thought in cleaning up air pollution

Plants play larger role than thought in cleaning up air pollution

Vegetation plays an unexpectedly large role in cleansing the atmosphere, a new study finds.

Iowa State, Ames Lab chemists discover proton mechanism used by flu virus to infect cells

Iowa State, Ames Lab chemists discover proton mechanism used by flu virus to infect cells

AMES, Iowa – The flu virus uses a shuttle mechanism to relay protons through a channel in a process necessary for the virus to infect a host cell, according to a research project led by Mei Hong of Iowa State University and the Ames Laboratory.