British cities – unlike their counterparts on the mainland - are taking the lead in making plans to curb and handle the impact of climate change. So says Diana Reckien, of Columbia University in the US, in a study published in Springer's journal Climatic Change that analysed the relevant strategic policies and planning documents of 200 urban areas in eleven European countries. They found that one in every three European cities has no plans on the table to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while seven in every ten urban areas have no formal adaptation plans in place.
Earth
Boulder, Colo., USA – Locations studied for this month's posting of Geology articles include New Zealand's Taupo Volcanic Zone; Llaima volcano, Chile; the Mississippi Fan (Gulf of Mexico); the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean; Wax Lake Delta, Louisiana; the Atlas Mountains of Morocco; the East Antarctic Ice Sheet; southern Tibet; the Longmenshan fault, Wenchuan, China; the Regab pockmark, offshore Africa; the Siberian Traps; the eastern California shear zone; Cabo de Gata, southern Spain; and the northwest Borborema province, Brazil.
By exploiting flaws in miniscule diamond fragments, researchers say they have achieved enough coherence of the magnetic moment inherent in these defects to harness their potential for precise quantum sensors in a material that is 'biocompatible'.
Nanoscopic thermal and magnetic field detectors - which can be inserted into living cells - could enhance our understanding of everything from chemical reactions within single cells to signalling in neural networks and the origin of magnetism in novel materials.
Classical and high-temperature superconductors differ hugely in the value of the critical temperatures at which they lose all electrical resistance. Scientists have now used powerful X-rays to establish another big difference: high-temperature superconductivity cannot be accounted for by the mechanism that leads to conventional superconductivity. As this mechanism called "electron-phonon coupling" contributes only marginally to the loss of electrical resistance, other scenarios must now be developed to explain high-temperature superconductivity.
Even if carbon dioxide emissions came to a sudden halt, the carbon dioxide already in Earth's atmosphere could continue to warm our planet for hundreds of years, according to Princeton University-led research published in the journal Nature Climate Change. The study suggests that it might take a lot less carbon than previously thought to reach the global temperature scientists deem unsafe.
A unique inside look at the electronic structure of a highly touted metal-organic framework (MOF) as it is adsorbing carbon dioxide gas should help in the design of new and improved MOFs for carbon capture and storage. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have recorded the first in situ electronic structure observations of the adsorption of carbon dioxide inside Mg-MOF-74, an open metal site MOF that has emerged as one of the most promising strategies for capturing and storing greenhouse gases.
DURHAM, N.C. -- Copper adorns the Statue of Liberty, makes sturdy, affordable wiring, and helps our bodies absorb iron. Now, researchers at Duke University would like to use copper to transform sunlight and water into a chemical fuel.
Predictions of sea level rise could become more accurate, thanks to new insight into how glacier movement is affected by melting ice in summer.
Studies of the Greenland ice sheet, including during a record warm summer, are helping scientists better understand how summer conditions affect its flow. This is important for predicting the future contribution made by melting glaciers to sea level rise.
CORVALLIS, Ore. – For years scientists have intensely argued over whether increases of potent methane gas concentrations in the atmosphere – from about 5,000 years ago to the start of the industrial revolution – were triggered by natural causes or human activities.
A new study, which will be published Friday in the journal Science, suggests the increase in methane likely was caused by both.
Researchers at The Field Museum, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (NCMNS), and North Carolina State University (NCSU) have discovered a new, giant predatory dinosaur that walked the Earth approximately 100 million years ago, in the Cedar Mountain Formation in Utah. The new dinosaur is the first of its kind to be discovered in North America. The study appears in the Nov. 22, 2013 issue of Nature Communications.
The new predator, which was over 30 feet long and weighed more than four tons, was doubtless the top predator in its ecosystem.
Faced with inevitable pain, most people choose to "get it out of the way" as soon as possible, according to research published this week in PLOS Computational Biology. In the study, which was conducted from the Institute for Global Health Innovation, Imperial College London, and the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, participants chose between real painful stimuli in the form of electric shocks, and imagined painful dental appointments occurring at different times in the future.
Researchers have created magnetic replicas of sunflower pollen grains using a wet chemical, layer-by-layer process that applies highly conformal iron oxide coatings. The replicas possess natural adhesion properties inherited from the spiky pollen particles while gaining magnetic behavior, allowing for tailored adhesion to surfaces.
MADISON, Wis. – The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a particle detector buried in the Antarctic ice, is a demonstration of the power of the human passion for discovery, where scientific ingenuity meets technological innovation. Today, nearly 25 years after the pioneering idea of detecting neutrinos in ice, the IceCube Collaboration announces the observation of 28 very high-energy particle events that constitute the first solid evidence for astrophysical neutrinos from cosmic accelerators.
COLLEGE PARK, MD – Astrophysicists using a telescope embedded in Antarctic ice have succeeded in a quest to detect and record the mysterious phenomena known as cosmic neutrinos – nearly massless particles that stream to Earth at the speed of light from outside our solar system, striking the surface in a burst of energy that can be as powerful as a baseball pitcher's fastball.