Earth | Page 556 | Science Codex

Journey to the center of the core of the Earth

About 85 percent of the Earth's core is made of iron, while nickel makes up an additional 10 percent. What is the final 5 percent? A variety of of light elements, it's been assumed, but no one knows.

The core, which is the deepest region of the Earth, is composed of a liquid outer core (2900~5100 km in depth) and solid inner core (5100~6400 km in depth). The core is one of the most important "final frontiers" for scientists looking to understand the history of Earth, and the conditions during its formation 4.5 billion years ago.

The Alps are growing

The Alps are steadily "growing" by about one to two millimeters per year. Likewise, the formerly glaciated subcontinents of North America and Scandinavia are also undergoing constant upward movement.

Formaldehyde formed during chemical breakdown of the flavored liquid in E-cigarettes

Atmospheric scientists at the Desert Research Institute (DRI) have turned their attention toward the growing e-cigarette industry and found that toxic aldehydes, such as formaldehyde, are formed during the chemical breakdown of the flavored e-liquid during the rapid heating process (pyrolysis) that occurs inside e-cigarettes or electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS).

Swimming lizards of the Antarctic seas

Kaikaifilu is a new species of giant sea lizard (mosasaur) discovered in 66 million year-old rocks of Antarctica. At about 10 m long, it is the largest known top marine predator from this continent. It lived near the end of the dinosaur age, when Antarctica was a much warmer ecosystem, and fed on filter-feeding marine reptiles.

Evolution from single-celled ancestors to multi-celled organisms, now with less drama

The first animals evolved from their single-celled ancestors around 800 million years ago, but a new paper suggests that this leap was a lot less dramatic than scientists have assumed, because the single-celled ancestor of animals likely already had some of the mechanisms that animal cells use today to develop into different tissue types.

Plastic: There's value in marine waste

The Biomat research group of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) is using marine waste on the Basque coast (squid, fish and algae waste) to obtain new materials. This line of research is offering a fresh take on plastics aligned with the principles of the circular economy, which is based on preserving and improving natural capital by controlling finite stocks and balancing the flows of renewable resources.

Wetlands and agriculture, not fossil fuels, behind the global rise in methane

A new paper shows that recent rises in levels of methane in our atmosphere is being driven by biological sources, such as swamp gas, cow burps, or rice fields, rather than fossil fuel emissions.

Atmospheric methane is a major greenhouse gas that traps heat in our atmosphere, contributing to global warming. Its levels have been growing strongly since 2007, and in 2014 the growth rate of methane in the atmosphere was double that of previous years, largely driven by biological sources as opposed to fossil fuel emissions.

Conventional wisdom refuted

How would you like a kitchen surface that cleans itself?

Using experimental techniques, researchers have made the first ever direct observation of the elusive dewetting process, which takes place when a liquid film retracts to form a bead-shaped drop. The achievement could now spark a new line of research and lead to breakthroughs involving the use of liquids, such as better coatings and more effective self-cleaning surfaces.

Why Certain Chemicals Reach Toxic Levels in Food Webs

Researchers have figured out what makes certain chemicals accumulate to toxic levels in aquatic food webs. And, scientists have developed a screening technique to determine which chemicals pose the greatest risk to the environment.

According to the study led by the U.S. Geological Survey, two traits were identified that indicate how chemicals can build up and reach toxic levels: how easily a chemical is broken down or metabolized by an organism and the chemical’s ability to dissolve in water.

Microbiome forecasting in the ocean

A new mathematical model developed at the University of British Columbia integrates environmental and molecular sequence information to better explain how microbial networks drive nutrient and energy cycling in marine ecosystems.

The work could dramatically improve researchers’ and policy makers’ ability to predict how the world’s marine microbial communities (microbiome) respond to climate change, and resulting impacts on fisheries, biodiversity, climate and more.

Predicting chemicals’ harmful effects without animal testing wins a prize

Humans are exposed to a large number of chemical substances on a daily basis. These substances come from e.g. foods, consumer products – including cosmetics – and impurities in pharmaceuticals. Regulation requires assessments of some of these substances to see whether they can cause harmful effects such as carcinogenic or endocrine disrupting effects or DNA damage. For other substances there are fewer requirements related to testing and as such knowledge is lacking regarding the substances’ potential harmful properties.

Computers instead of laboratory animals

Pop science: Stanford engineers stop soap bubbles from swirling

The spinning rainbow surface of a soap bubble is more than mesmerizing - it's a lesson in fluid mechanics. Better understanding of these hypnotic flows could bring improvements in many areas, from longer lasting beer foam to life-saving lung treatments.

NASA sees formation of Central Atlantic Tropical Storm Ian

The low pressure area known as System 94L developed into Tropical Storm Ian on Sept. 14. NOAA's GOES-East satellite data was made into an animation that showed the development of the central Atlantic storm.

Cold plasma will heal non-healing wounds

Russian scientists at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), the Joint Institute for High Temperatures of the Russian Academy of Sciences (JIHT RAS), and Gamaleya Research Centre of Epidemiology and Microbiology found that treating cells with cold plasma leads to their regeneration and rejuvenation. This result can be used to develop a plasma therapy program for patients with non-healing wounds. The paper has been published in the Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics.

Asphalt-based carbon-capture material advances

HOUSTON - (Sept. 12, 2016) - A Rice University laboratory has improved its method to turn plain asphalt into a porous material that can capture greenhouse gases from natural gas.

In research detailed this month in Advanced Energy Materials, Rice researchers showed that a new form of the material can sequester 154 percent of its weight in carbon dioxide at high pressures that are common at gas wellheads.