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Post-Sandy Survey Shows a Polluted but Generally Intact Barrier System off Long Island

By Guest PostDecember 16, 2013Environmentadelphi university, american geophysical union, austin, barrier system, chirp, data, disaster, erosion, galveston, higher frequency, hurricane sandy, jamie austin, john goff, long island, metro area, new york, offshore barrier systems, post sandy survey, sea-level rise, seafloor mapping system, stony brook university, toxin, university of texas

AUSTIN, Texas — As coastal communities continue to rebuild in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, scientists at last week’s annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union offer some encouraging news: The storm did not seriously damage the offshore barrier system that controls erosion on Long Island. Long-term concerns remain about the effects on the region of sea-level rise, pollutants churned up by the storm within back-barrier estuaries, and the damage closer to shore, but in the near-term, Long Island residents can rebuild knowing that Hurricane Sandy did not significantly alter the offshore barrier systems that control coastal erosion on the island. (more…)

Model Suggests Ocean Currents Shape Europa’s Icy Shell in Ways Critical for Potential Habitats

By Guest PostDecember 11, 2013Scienceaustin, biological life, britney schmidt, chaos terrains, circulation patterns, current patterns model, europa, galileo spacecraft, georgia institute, icy shell, juice mission, jupiter, krista soderlund, magnetometer readings, max planck institute, model, moon europa, ocean currents, potential habitats, solar system, solar system research, subsurface ocean, Technology, three dimensional convection, university of texas

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…)

Seahorse Heads have a ‘No Wake Zone’ That’s Made for Catching Prey

By Guest PostDecember 1, 2013Nature3d holography techniques, austin, bahamas, brad gemmell, catching prey, copepods, dwarf seahorse, ed buskey, hippocampus zosterae, jian sheng, marine food web, method, no wake zone, pipefish, pivot feeding, sea dragons, seahorse heads, seahorse nostrils, small crustaceans, source of energy, syngnathid family, texas tech university, university of texas

AUSTIN, Texas — Seahorses are slow, docile creatures, but their heads are perfectly shaped to sneak up and quickly snatch prey, according to marine scientists from The University of Texas at Austin.

“A seahorse is one the slowest swimming fish that we know of, but it’s able to capture prey that swim at incredible speeds for their size,” said Brad Gemmell, research associate at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute, which is part of the College of Natural Sciences. (more…)

Gas Injection Probably Triggered Small Earthquakes Near Snyder, Texas

By Guest PostNovember 11, 2013Environmentaustin, carbon capture, carbon dioxide, CCS, ccs project, cliff frohlich, co2 eor, cogdell field, earthscope, enhanced oil recovery, gas injection, magnitude 3, northwest texas, salt creek field, scurry area canyon, small earthquake, snyder, snyder earthquake, storage, texas, texas railroad commission, trigger, U.S. Geological Survey, underground, university of texas, usarray data, wei gan

AUSTIN, Texas — A new study correlates a series of small earthquakes near Snyder, Texas between 2006 and 2011 with the underground injection of large volumes of gas, primarily carbon dioxide (CO₂) — a finding that is relevant to the process of capturing and storing CO₂ underground.

Although the study suggests that underground injection of gas triggered the Snyder earthquakes, it also points out that similar rates of injections have not triggered comparable quakes in other fields, bolstering the idea that underground gas injection does not cause significant seismic events in many geologic settings. (more…)

Singing Mice Protect Their Turf With High-Pitched Tunes

By Guest PostOctober 8, 2013Naturealstons singing mouse, austin, bret pasch, chiriqui singing mouse, conflict, costa rica, forest, high pitched tunes, human hearing, lifestyle, mountain cloud, panama, range, s xerampelinus, scotinomys teguina, singing mice, steven phelps, temperature tolerant, university of texas

AUSTIN, Texas — Two species of tawny brown singing mice that live deep in the mountain cloud forests of Costa Rica and Panama set their boundaries by emitting high-pitched trills, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered.

Although males of both the Alston’s singing mouse (Scotinomys teguina) and Chiriqui singing mouse (S. xerampelinus sing to attract mates and repel rivals within their respective species, the findings show for the first time that communication is being used to create geographic boundaries between species.

In this case, the smaller Alston’s mouse steers clear of its larger cousin, the Chiriqui. (more…)

UT Austin Anthropologists Confirm Link Between Cranial Anatomy and Two-Legged Walking

By Guest PostOctober 3, 2013Scienceafrican apes, anatomist raymond dart, anthropology researcher, austin, australopithecus africanus, bipedal, bipedal fossil species, bipedal mammals, bipedal postures, brain size, characteristic, chimpanzees, chris kirk, difference, direct link, eastern gray kangaroo, egyptian jerboa, foramen magnum, four legged postures, gabrielle russo, human ancestor, human evolution, sahelanthropus tchadensis, skull, spinal cord, university of texas

AUSTIN, Texas — Anthropology researchers from The University of Texas at Austin have confirmed a direct link between upright two-legged (bipedal) walking and the position of the foramen magnum, a hole in the base of the skull that transmits the spinal cord.

The study, published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Human Evolution, confirms a controversial finding made by anatomist Raymond Dart, who discovered the first known two-legged walking (bipedal) human ancestor, Australopithecus africanus. Since Dart’s discovery in 1925, physical anthropologists have continued to debate whether this feature of the cranial base can serve as a direct link to bipedal fossil species. (more…)

Texas May Be Feeding its Red Drum Fish More Than They Need, Say Researchers

By Guest PostSeptember 24, 2013Scienceaustin, breeding season, capital breeders, climate change, cynthia faulk, effects of pollution, environmentally friendly, fuiman, lee fuiman, marianna grenadier, migratory patterns, natural population, port aransas, red drum fish, reproductive cycle, spawn, survival rate, university of texas

Austin, TEXAS — It’s not the chicken or the egg, but marine scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have answered a basic question about red drum fish and their eggs that may eventually help save the state of Texas a lot of money in hatcheries management and make fish farming more environmentally friendly.

Every year the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department spends millions of dollars breeding red drum, a popular game fish, releasing between 20 and 30 million hatchery-raised fingerlings into eight different bays and estuaries along the coast. In order to maximize the numbers that survive to adulthood, the practice has been to provide adult fish a diet rich in fatty acids for nine months before breeding season. During breeding season, in order to save money and resources, the diet is less rich. (more…)

IBM Commits $1 Billion to Fuel Linux and Open Source Innovation on Power Systems

By Guest PostSeptember 17, 2013Technologyaustin, big data, brad mccredie, cloud, ecosystem skills, Europe, fuel linux, ibm, ibm power7, jeopardy game, linuxcon conference, new orleans, new york, open source innovation, power systems, prototype, texas, watson

NEW ORLEANS, LA – 17 Sep 2013: At LinuxCon 2013 today, IBM announced plans to invest $1 billion (USD) in new Linux and open source technologies for IBM’s Power Systems servers. The investment aims to help clients capitalize on big data and cloud computing with modern systems built to handle the new wave of applications coming to the data center in the post-PC era.

Two immediate initiatives announced, a new client center in Europe and a Linux on Power development cloud, focus on rapidly expanding IBM’s growing ecosystem supporting Linux on Power Systems which today represents thousands of independent software vendor and open source applications worldwide. Specific details of both initiatives include: (more…)

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