Finding fingerprints in sea level rise
It was used to help Apollo astronauts navigate in space, and has since been applied to problems as diverse as economics and weather forecasting, but Harvard scientists are now using a powerful statistical tool to not only track sea level rise over time, but to determine where the water causing the rise is coming from. View More (2012-05-21)
1,000 years of climate data confirms Australia's warming
In the first study of its kind in Australasia, scientists have used 27 natural climate records to create the first large-scale temperature reconstruction for the region over the last 1000 years. View More (2012-05-18)
North Atlantic storm patterns throw light on 1987 gale
The cyclone that brought about the devastating winds that battered the UK in the great storm of October 1987 was exceptional in both its strength and path across the south of the country. View More (2012-05-11)
EARTH: Volcanoes sparked, and prolonged, the Little Ice Age
olcanism is often implicated in periods of abrupt cooling. After the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, for instance, global temperatures dropped by half a degree Celsius due to airborne particulate matter blocking solar radiation. View More (2012-05-10)
Healthcare for the US Navy's animal warriors could help people stay healthier
Military patrol dogs with your keen sense of smell, step aside. The U.S. Navy has enlisted the biological sonar and other abilities of bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions to protect harbors from enemy swimmers, detect explosives on the seafloor and perform other tasks. View More (2012-05-10)
Scientists discover new site of potential instability in West Antarctic Ice Sheet
Using ice-penetrating radar instruments flown on aircraft, a team of scientists from the U.S. and U.K. have uncovered a previously unknown sub-glacial basin nearly the size of New Jersey beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) near the Weddell Sea. View More (2012-05-10)
Plastic trash altering ocean habitats, Scripps study shows
A 100-fold upsurge in human-produced plastic garbage in the ocean is altering habitats in the marine environment, according to a new study led by a graduate student researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. View More (2012-05-09)
UGA study finds in extinction risk, there's not always safety in numbers
A basic tenet underpinning scientists' understanding of extinction is that more abundant species persist longer than their less abundant counterparts, but a new University of Georgia study reveals a much more complex relationship. View More (2012-05-09)
Groundwater pumping leads to sea level rise, cancels out effect of dams
As people pump groundwater for irrigation, drinking water, and industrial uses, the water doesn't just seep back into the ground - it also evaporates into the atmosphere, or runs off into rivers and canals, eventually emptying into the world's oceans. View More (2012-05-09)
Nutrient supply after algal bloom determines the succession of the bacterial population
Algal blooms can considerably interfere with summer holidays by the sea. In the coastal zone of temperate regions a spring algal bloom is not a sign of excessive nutrient input, but most of all a consequence of the more intense solar irradiation in spring. View More (2012-05-07)
NOAA discovers way to detect low-level exposure to seafood toxin in marine animals
NOAA scientists and their colleagues have discovered a biological marker in the blood of laboratory zebrafish and marine mammals that shows when they have been repeatedly exposed to low levels of domoic acid, which is potentially toxic at high levels. View More (2012-05-07)
Caltech researchers use stalagmites to study past climate change
There is an old trick for remembering the difference between stalactites and stalagmites in a cave: Stalactites hold tight to the ceiling while stalagmites might one day grow to reach the ceiling. View More (2012-05-04)
New form of Mars lava flow dicovered
High-resolution photos of lava flows on Mars reveal coiling spiral patterns that resemble snail or nautilus shells. Such patterns have been found in a few locations on Earth, but never before on Mars. View More (2012-04-27)
Warm Ocean Currents Cause Majority of Ice Loss from Antarctica
Warm ocean currents attacking the underside of ice shelves are the dominant cause of recent ice loss from Antarctica, a new study using measurements from NASA's Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) revealed. View More (2012-04-26)
Geophysicists employ novel method to identify sources of global sea level rise
As the Earth's climate warms, a melting ice sheet produces a distinct and highly non-uniform pattern of sea-level change, with sea level falling close to the melting ice sheet and rising progressively farther away. View More (2012-04-25)
Research on carbon-consuming life-forms in Antarctica published in JoVE
Lake Bonney in Antarctica is perennially covered in ice. It is exposed to severe environmental stresses, including minimal nutrients, low temperatures, extreme shade, and, during the winter, 24-hour darkness. View More (2012-04-24)
IceCube Neutrino Observatory provides new insights into origin of cosmic rays
Analysis of data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a massive detector deployed in deep ice at the U.S. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica at the geographic South Pole, recently provided new insight into one of the most enduring mysteries in physics, the production of cosmic rays. View More (2012-04-23)
What did the scientist say to the sommelier? 'Show me the proof!'
What does lemon pan sauce chicken have to do with biochemistry and molecular biology? If you ask the students in Joseph Provost's class at Minnesota State University Moorhead, they'll tell you that successful execution of the dish requires the Maillard reaction, a chemical process that's responsible for the flavors and colors in a variety of food, including toast and maple syrup. View More (2012-04-23)
Changes in brain's blood flow could cause 'brain freeze'
'Brain freeze' is a nearly universal experience-almost everyone has felt the near-instantaneous headache brought on by a bite of ice cream or slurp of ice-cold soda on the upper palate. View More (2012-04-23)
CU research shows warming climate threatens ecology at mountain research site west of Boulder
A series of papers published this month on ecological changes at 26 global research sites -- including one administered by the University of Colorado Boulder in the high mountains west of the city -- indicates that ecosystems dependent on seasonal snow and ice are the most sensitive to changes in climate. View More (2012-04-19)
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