Plants picked up to 150 years ago by Victorian collectors and held by the million in herbarium collections across the world could become a powerful – and much needed – new source of data for studying climate change, according to research published this week in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Ecology.
New Haven, Conn.—Ever since audiences heard Goldfinger utter the famous line, "No, Mr. Bond; I expect you to die," as a laser beam inched its way toward James Bond and threatened to cut him in half, lasers have been thought of as white-hot beams of intensely focused energy capable of burning through anything in their path.
IEEE-USA commends the confirmation of Nobel Laureate Dr. Carl E. Wieman to be associate director for science in the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Wieman was nominated by President Barack Obama in March and confirmed by the Senate Sept. 16.
Washington, D.C. (September 21, 2010) -- For months, Anthony West could hardly believe what he and his colleagues were seeing in the lab -- or the only explanation for the unexpected phenomena that seemed to make sense.
Reflecting sunlight from the Earth by geoengineering would undoubtedly cool the climate, but would different countries agree on how much to reflect? Research by climate scientists at the University of Bristol shows that the impact of geoengineering would be felt in very different ways across the world.
ANN ARBOR, Mich.---How could climate change and our response to it affect the Great Lakes' water quality? That's the primary question a team of 27 researchers from across the University of Michigan and collaborators at other institutions will answer with a new $5-million grant from the National Science Foundation.
WASHINGTON — The nation's ability to detect and forecast tsunamis has improved since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, but current efforts are still not sufficient to meet challenges posed by tsunamis generated near land that leave little time for warning, says a new congressionally requested report from the National Research Council. The report calls for a comprehensive national assessment of tsunami risk and improved communication and coordination among the two federal Tsunami Warning Centers, emergency managers, media, and the public.
The world will need to make substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions below current levels over the next few decades if the worst impacts of dangerous climate change are to be avoided. This was a key conclusion from UK and US climate scientists at an international workshop on the UK AVOID program in Washington, DC exploring the most policy-relevant aspects of understanding dangerous climate change.
A multinational team that includes a North Carolina State University researcher has found another piece of the atmospheric puzzle surrounding the effects of aerosol particles on climate change. Their findings will contribute to our ability to more accurately measure human impact on climate, and to determine how much pollution may "mask" the actual rate of climate change.
Magnetometers come in many shapes and sizes – an ordinary hand-held compass is the simplest – but alkali-vapor magnetometers are extrasensitive devices that measure magnetic fields using light and atoms. They can detect archaeological remains and mineral deposits underground by their faint magnetic signatures, among a host of other scientific applications.
Cambridge, Mass. and Manaus, Brazil – September 16, 2010 – Environmental engineers who might better be called "archeologists of the air" have, for the first time, isolated aerosol particles in near pristine pre-industrial conditions.
