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Thawing Permafrost Could Release Vast Amounts of Carbon and Accelerate Climate Change by the end of this Century

By Guest PostAugust 27, 2011Environmentalternative energies and atomic energy commission, amount of soil carbon, atmosphere, berkeley lab, boreal and arctic land ecosystems, canada, carbon, carbon dioxide, charles koven, climate changes, combine, computer modeling, energy, European Union, france, frozen soils, global warming, high latitude permafrost, intergovernmental panel on climate change, land surface ecosystem model, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, methane emissions, orchidee, organic matter, plant growth, project, rate of soil carbon decomposition, simulation, supercomputing facility, temperature, united kingdom

*New computer modeling study, led by a Berkeley Lab scientist, could help revise understanding of permafrost’s role in global warming*

Billions of tons of carbon trapped in high-latitude permafrost may be released into the atmosphere by the end of this century as the Earth’s climate changes, further accelerating global warming, a new computer modeling study indicates.

The study also found that soil in high-latitude regions could shift from being a sink to a source of carbon dioxide by the end of the 21^st century as the soil warms in response to climate change. (more…)

Study of HIV Increase in Pakistan Could Benefit Other Research

By Guest PostAugust 26, 2011General, Healthafghanistan, aga khan university, behavioral data, blood samples, disease, dna sequences, dow university of health sciences, genetic evidence, hiv, hiv epidemic in pakistan, hiv positive groups, hiv strains, karachi, marco salemi, middle east, north africa, Pakistan, virus, willi mcfarland

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Rates of HIV have increased in Pakistan’s general population, as the virus has spread beyond at-risk groups to women and their children, according to an international team of researchers, including a University of Florida scientist.

The researchers raise concern that the transmission across subgroups into Pakistan’s general population may serve as indication that the virus may be spreading into populations within neighboring Afghanistan. The team’s epidemiological findings were published in July in the journal PLoS One. (more…)

Fossil Discovery Represents New Milestone in Early Mammal Evolution

By Guest PostAugust 26, 2011Nature, Scienceancestors of mammals, carnegie mammalogist, carnegie museum of natural history, China, chong xi yuan, chuck lydeard, dna based methods of dating evolution, earliest known fossil of eutherians, eomaia, eutherian mammals, evolutionary hypotheses, fossil, fossil record, genetic data, john wible, juramaia sinensis, jurassic, jurassic mother from china, kangaroos, mammal evolution, marsupials, metatherians, molecular clock, monotremes, national science foundation, northeast china fossil, nsf, paleontologist, placental mammals, platypus, qiang ji, qing jin meng, shrew like mammal, zhe xi luo

*Northeast China fossil provides new information about earliest ancestors of today’s mammals*

A well-preserved fossil discovered in northeast China provides new information about the earliest ancestors of most of today’s mammal species–the placental mammals. (more…)

IBM Survey Reveals New Type of Energy Concern: Lack of Consumer Understanding

By Guest PostAugust 25, 2011Technologyconsumer survey, energy choices, energy concern, energy providers, ibm survey

Behavioral economics a key factor to realizing the benefits of smarter energy

ARMONK, N.Y., – 25 Aug 2011: IBM today unveiled findings from its “2011 IBM Global Utility Consumer Survey,” which revealed that many consumers around the globe do not understand the basic unit of electricity pricing and other energy concepts used by energy providers. The company also identified a list of crucial behavioral patterns that have the potential to impact how providers communicate and drive motivation amongst consumers. (more…)

Ancient Whale Skulls and Directional Hearing: A Twisted Tale

By Guest PostAugust 25, 2011Natureancient whale skulls, asymmetric skulls, asymmetrical ear openings, biological sonar, direction of sounds, directional hearing, water

Skewed skulls may have helped early whales find direction of sounds in water

Skewed skulls may have helped early whales find the direction of sounds in water and are not solely, as previously thought, a later adaptation related to echolocation. (more…)

NASA’s Wise Mission Discovers Coolest Class of Stars

By Guest PostAugust 25, 2011Sciencebrown dwarfs, coldest star, dark orbs, failed stars, infrared vision, y dwarfs

PASADENA, Calif. – Scientists using data from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) have discovered the coldest class of star-like bodies, with temperatures as cool as the human body. (more…)

Etch-a-sketch with Superconductors

By Guest PostAugust 24, 2011Scienceaeppli, bianconi, catalysts, computing technology, copper, elettra synchrotron radiation facility, fractal like structures in superconductors, ibm scientists, lanthanum, london centre for nanotechnology, new generation of electronic devices, oxygen, oxygen atoms, paradigm, rare earth element, rome, sapienza university, shapes in two dimensions, superconductivity, x ray beam

Reporting in Nature Materials this week, researchers from the London Centre for Nanotechnology and the Physics Department of Sapienza University of Rome have discovered a technique to ‘draw’ superconducting shapes using an X-ray beam. This ability to create and control tiny superconducting structures has implications for a completely new generation of electronic devices.

Superconductivity is a special state where a material conducts electricity with no resistance, meaning absolutely zero energy is wasted. (more…)

USGS Releases New Assessment of Gas Resources in the Marcellus Shale, Appalachian Basin

By Guest PostAugust 24, 2011Environmentappalachian basin, marcellus shale, marcellus shale assessment, natural gas liquids

The Marcellus Shale contains about 84 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas and 3.4 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas liquids according to a new assessment by the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS). (more…)

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