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Undersea mountains provide crucial piece in climate prediction puzzle

By Guest PostSeptember 20, 2013Environmentantarctic continent, Antarctica, british antarctic survey, carbon dioxide, chemical tracer, climate models, climate prediction puzzle, climate projections, drake passage, ice age, ocean currents, ocean mixing, professor andrew watson, south america, susie grant, undersea mountains, university of exeter

A mystery in the ocean near Antarctica has been solved by researchers who have long puzzled over how deep and mid-depth ocean waters are mixed.

They found that sea water mixes dramatically as it rushes over undersea mountains in Drake Passage – the channel between the southern tip of South America and the Antarctic continent. Mixing of water layers in the oceans is crucial in regulating the Earth’s climate and ocean currents.

The research provides insight for climate models which until now have lacked the detailed information on ocean mixing needed to provide accurate long-term climate projections. The study was carried out by the University of Exeter, the University of East Anglia, the University of Southampton, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the British Antarctic Survey and the Scottish Association for Marine Science and is published in the journal Nature. (more…)

Giving refuge, advancing research

By Guest PostSeptember 20, 2013Healthbehavioral techniques, gambling addictions, healing of body, holistic approach, life stressors, yale stress center

Yale Stress Center head promotes healing of the body, mind, and brain

Rajita Sinha, Ph.D., says that the emotional expressiveness of the Indian classical dance studies of her youth laid the foundation for a lifelong interest in the brain-body tango that regulates mood and behavior. As an undergraduate in her native Delhi, she studied biopsychology, conducting research on the effects of marijuana and working at a counseling center. For her graduate work at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, she studied how emotion is manifested physiologically, a thread that she has carried through her subsequent work on the brain-altering effects of drugs and alcohol. (more…)

Emotional attachment to robots could affect outcome on battlefield

By Guest PostSeptember 19, 2013Weaponsbiological, chemical, disarm explosives, disposal military, emotional attachment; robots, explosive ordnance, field robots, human robot attachment, jeremy l wood, julie carpenter, military, nuclear weapons, personnel, radiological, roomba, soldiers, united states

Too busy to vacuum your living room? Let Roomba the robot do it. Don’t want to risk a soldier’s life to disable an explosive? Let a robot do it.

It’s becoming more common to have robots sub in for humans to do dirty or sometimes dangerous work. But researchers are finding that in some cases, people have started to treat robots like pets, friends, or even as an extension of themselves. That raises the question, if a soldier attaches human or animal-like characteristics to a field robot, can it affect how they use the robot? What if they “care” too much about the robot to send it into a dangerous situation? (more…)

Politikwechsel für mehr Natur- und Umweltschutz

By Guest PostSeptember 19, 2013Environmentatom endlagersuchgesetz, blaues band, bundesregierung, eeg umlage, fdp, hochwasserschutz, nabu, natur, olaf tschimpke, philipp roesler, politikwechsel, umweltschutz

Die Energiewende muss nach der Wahl verlässlich weitergeführt werden

Angesichts der bislang schleppenden Umsetzung der Energiewende, des anhaltenden Verlusts der biologischen Vielfalt und der notwendigen Neuausrichtung des vorbeugenden Hochwasserschutzes hält der NABU einen Kurswechsel in der Bundespolitik für mehr Natur- und Umweltschutz für überfällig. Der NABU fordert die Kandidatinnen und Kandidaten für den Deutschen Bundestag dazu auf, eine naturverträgliche Energie- und Ressourcenpolitik in den Mittelpunkt zu rücken und wirksame Maßnahmen von der neuen Bundesregierung einzufordern.

Wichtigstes bundespolitisches Thema bleibt die verlässliche Fortführung der Energiewende. Der gesetzlich verbindliche Ausstieg aus der Atomenergienutzung sei die einzig richtige Reaktion auf die Fukushima-Katastrophe gewesen. Nun torpediere aber vor allem die FDP mit ihren Forderungen nach einem Ausbaustopp für erneuerbare Energien die Energiewende. „Die steigenden Stromkosten werden politisch instrumentalisiert, um unter dem Deckmantel des Wettbewerbs erneuerbare Energien auszubremsen und den angeblich günstigeren Atom- und Kohlekraftwerken die Absatzmärkte zu sichern“, so NABU-Präsident Olaf Tschimpke. Mit dem Kostenargument solle gezielt die hohe Akzeptanz der Energiewende in der Bevölkerung untergraben werden. (more…)

Birds choose sweet-smelling mates

By Guest PostSeptember 19, 2013Naturebreeding season, choosing mates, scent based communications, sweet smelling mates

For most animals, scent is the instant messenger of choice for quickly exchanging personal profiles. Scientists, however, have long dismissed birds as odor-eschewing Luddites that don’t take advantage of scent-based communications. (more…)

Tech: The necessary accessory for New York Fashion Week 2013

By Guest PostSeptember 19, 2013Technology3d experience, bing satellite images, cesar galindo, christine dente, czar, fashion week 2013, lincoln center, Microsoft, new york, nyfw, spring 2014 collection, Technology

Digital storytellers go behind-the-scenes to show how technology inspired Cesar Galindo’s spring 2014 collection preview.

REDMOND, Wash. – Digital storytellers go behind-the-scenes to show how technology inspired Cesar Galindo’s spring 2014 collection preview. (more…)

Giant ice island shatters

By Guest PostSeptember 18, 2013Environmentandreas muenchow, Antarctica, aqua satellites, canadian ice service, giant ice island, greenland, ice cubes, icy seas blog, modis, NASA, oregon state university, petermann glacier, size of manhattan, terra, university of delaware

Ice island reported by UD researcher breaks into mammoth ‘ice cubes’

The giant ice island that broke off Greenland’s Petermann Glacier in July 2012 has plowed into the ocean floor and shattered into a couple of mammoth “ice cubes” sitting in the ocean, according to the University of Delaware researcher who reported the initial glacial event last year.

Andreas Muenchow, an associate professor in UD’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, said the ice chunk twice the size of Manhattan that snapped off the glacier in July 2012 ground into the ocean floor and has split into at least two ice islands and a number of large icebergs. (more…)

How Do We Know When Voyager Reaches Interstellar Space?

By Guest PostSeptember 18, 2013Sciencealpha centauri, data on plasma, direct measurements, ed stone, exploration, galactic cosmic rays, interstellar magnetic fields, interstellar plasma, interstellar space, ionized gas, mid ocean ridges, milky way galaxy, neptune, particles, plasma environment, plasma influence, plasma oscillations, saturn, sea floors, solar storms, solar system, uranus, visited jupiter, voyager

Whether and when NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft, humankind’s most distant object, broke through to interstellar space, the space between stars, has been a thorny issue. For the last year, claims have surfaced every few months that Voyager 1 has “left our solar system.” Why has the Voyager team held off from saying the craft reached interstellar space until now?

“We have been cautious because we’re dealing with one of the most important milestones in the history of exploration,” said Voyager Project Scientist Ed Stone of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. “Only now do we have the data — and the analysis — we needed.” (more…)

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