Geology professor’s study of olivine provides new data set for understanding plate tectonics
Plate tectonics, the idea that the surface of the Earth is made up of plates that move apart and come back together, has been used to explain the locations of volcanoes and earthquakes since the 1960s. (more…)
Mit einer Förderung von zwei Millionen Euro will der Physiker Marc Schumann die Suche nach Dunkler Materie voranbringen
Sie macht etwa 25 Prozent des Weltalls aus und hält wie ein kosmischer Klebstoff einzelne Galaxien und ganze Galaxienhaufen zusammen – dabei hat sie noch nie jemand direkt gesehen: Dunkle Materie gehört zu den größten Geheimnissen des Universums. (more…)
Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new strategy for fabricating more efficient plastic solar cells. The work has implications for developing solar cells with a wider absorption range and increased efficiency. (more…)
A low level of atmospheric oxygen in Earth’s middle ages held back evolution for two billion years, raising fresh questions about the origins of life on this planet.
New research by the University of Exeter explains how oxygen was trapped at such low levels. (more…)
Berkeley Lab researcher tackling common questions that cut across the field of nuclear science
Nuclear science, a field focused on what’s at work in the center of atoms, brought us a powerful energy source and new medical treatments and imaging tools. (more…)
Tübinger Biologen weisen den „parentalen Umwelteffekt“ in der Praxis nach – und wie dieser evolutionär entsteht
Pflanzen können nicht nur Genvarianten an ihre Nachkommen weitergeben, sondern auch Informationen über Umwelterfahrungen, die sie selber gemacht haben. Dieses Phänomen wird als „parentaler Umwelteffekt“ bezeichnet, er wird sowohl von Klimabedingungen als auch von der Pflanzendichte beeinflusst, also dem Maß, in dem Pflanzen um Ressourcen konkurrieren. (more…)
AUSTIN, Texas — A strangely shaped depression on Mars could be a new place to look for signs of life on the Red Planet, according to a University of Texas at Austin-led study. The depression was probably formed by a volcano beneath a glacier and could have been a warm, chemical-rich environment well suited for microbial life. (more…)
Harry Stern, a polar scientist at the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory, has been studying the Arctic Ocean for decades, and sailed part of the Northwest Passage in 2009. Stern’s latest work uses the earliest explorers’ experiences to better understand a maritime environment that still contains many unknowns. A paper published in November in Polar Geography uses Captain James Cook’s records of sea-ice edge, more than two centuries ago, as a way to understand the changes we’re seeing now. UW Today asked him a few questions about the project. (more…)
