Two-legged robot walks outside at U-Michigan
ANN ARBOR — With prosthetic feet and hips that can swing sideways for stability, the University of Michigan’s newest two-legged robot has taken its first steps outside. (more…)
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Hubble Sees Evidence of Water Vapor at Jupiter Moon
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has observed water vapor above the frigid south polar region of Jupiter’s moon Europa, providing the first strong evidence of water plumes erupting off the moon’s surface. (more…)
Ancient crater may be clue to Moon’s mantle
A massive impact on the Moon about 4 billion years ago left a 2,500-mile crater, among the largest known craters in the solar system. Smaller subsequent impacts left craters within that crater. Comparing the spectra of light reflected from the peaks of those craters may yield clues to the composition of the Moon’s lower crust and mantle — and would have implications for models of how the Moon formed.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Researchers from Brown University and the University of Hawaii have found some mineralogical surprises in the Moon’s largest impact crater. (more…)
Machen schlechte Luft: Outdoor-Jacken
Ob China, Arktis oder Südafrika – und vermutlich auch bei Ihnen zu Hause: PFC-Chemikalien lassen sich weltweit nachweisen. Sie gelangen in Hausstaub, Trinkwasser und Blut, weil sie in großen Mengen in der Textilproduktion eingesetzt werden. Greenpeace wollte wissen, wie viel davon in unserer Outdoor-Kleidung steckt und hat Jacken und Handschuhe ins Labor geschickt.
In allen 17 Produkten wiesen zwei unabhängige Labore per- und polyfluorierte Chemikalien (PFC) und andere Schadstoffe nach. An neun der 17 Proben hat Greenpeace erstmals testen lassen, ob die Giftstoffe aus den Textilien auch an die Luft abgegeben werden. Auch das ist der Fall. (more…)
UCLA researchers’ new technique improves accuracy, ease of cancer diagnosis
‘Deformability cytometry’ can closely analyze more than 1,000 cells per second
A team of researchers from UCLA and Harvard University have demonstrated a technique that, by measuring the physical properties of individual cells in body fluids, can diagnose cancer with a high degree of accuracy.
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What are Future Climate Projections for Precipitation and Temperature for Your County?
USGS Website Lets You See
For the first time, maps and summaries of historical and projected temperature and precipitation changes for the 21st century for the continental U.S. are accessible at a county-by-county level on a website developed by the U.S. Geological Survey in collaboration with the College of Earth, Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University.
The maps and summaries are based on NASA downscaling of the 33 climate models used in the 5th Climate Model Intercomparison Project and the current Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Report. The resulting NASA dataset is on an 800-meter grid with national coverage. (more…)
Flaggschiff in schwerer See
EU-Parlament rettet Emissionshandel vorerst vor Untergang. / WWF: Deutschland bremst Reform weiter aus
Am Dienstag wurde im Europaparlament mit klarer Mehrheit das sogenannte „Backloading“ beschlossen. Damit sollen ab dem Jahr 2014 900 Million Zertifikate temporär aus dem Emissionshandelsmarkt herausgenommen werden. Der WWF lobt den Entschluss als „überfälligen kleinen Schritt in die richtige Richtung“, vor allem da Deutschland ein Jahr lang die notwenige Reform blockiert hatte. Ein Überschuss von zwei Milliarden Zertifikaten hatte die Emissionspreise zuletzt auf ein Ramschniveau gedrückt. (more…)
Model Suggests Ocean Currents Shape Europa’s Icy Shell in Ways Critical for Potential Habitats
AUSTIN, Texas — In a finding of relevance to the search for life in our solar system, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin’s Institute for Geophysics, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research have shown that the subsurface ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa may have deep currents and circulation patterns with heat and energy transfers capable of sustaining biological life.
Scientists believe Europa is one of the planetary bodies in our solar system most likely to have conditions that could sustain life, an idea reinforced by magnetometer readings from the Galileo spacecraft detecting signs of a salty, global ocean below the moon’s icy shell. (more…)