Tag Archives: earth

Seeing Stars, Finding Nukes: Radio Telescopes Can Spot Clandestine Nuclear Tests

By Guest PostDecember 11, 2012Environment, Scienceagu, american geophysical union, amplitudes, astronomical radio telescopes, atmosphere, China, distant galaxy, dorota grejner brzezinska, earth, global community, gnss, gps stations, gps systems, hunters trophy, ionosphere, Japan, jihye park, joseph helmboldt, kilotons, nevada, nevada test site, new mexico, north korea, north korean bomb, north korean explosion, north korean test, nuclear test, ohio state university, radio astronomer, radio telescopes, ralph von frese, rogue nukes, russia, socorro, south Korean, telltale atmospheric disturbances, thomas wilson, underground nuclear explosions, university of nottingham, very large array, vla, yu jade morton

SAN FRANCISCO — In the search for rogue nukes, researchers have discovered an unlikely tool: astronomical radio telescopes.

Ohio State University researchers previously demonstrated another unlikely tool, when they showed that South Korean GPS stations detected telltale atmospheric disturbances from North Korea’s 2009 nuclear test.

Both techniques were born out of the discovery that underground nuclear explosions leave their mark—on the outer reaches of Earth’s atmosphere. (more…)

NASA’s GRAIL Creates Most Accurate Moon Gravity Map

By Guest PostDecember 10, 2012Scienceapollo lunar missions, basin rings, bouguer gravity anomalies, cambridge, celestial body, crater central peaks, earth, ebb, flow, grail, gravity anomalies, gravity field, gravity field map, gravity gradients, gravity recovery, interior laboratory, jeff andrews hanna, linear gravity anomalies, maria zuber, mark wieczorek, massachusetts institute, mission, moon, moon basin, moon dike map, moon dikes, NASA, olivine materials map, probe, rocky planets, solar system, solar system history, Technology, tectonic structures, thin moon crust, volcanic landforms

PASADENA, Calif. — Twin NASA probes orbiting Earth’s moon have generated the highest resolution gravity field map of any celestial body.

The new map, created by the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, is allowing scientists to learn about the moon’s internal structure and composition in unprecedented detail. Data from the two washing machine-sized spacecraft also will provide a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed and evolved.

The gravity field map reveals an abundance of features never before seen in detail, such as tectonic structures, volcanic landforms, basin rings, crater central peaks and numerous simple, bowl-shaped craters. Data also show the moon’s gravity field is unlike that of any terrestrial planet in our solar system. (more…)

Scientists Find Oldest Dinosaur – or Closest Relative Yet

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2012Nature, Scienceafrica, alan charig, ancestry, Antarctica, archosaurs, australia, bone cells, bone tissues, cape town, dinosaur family tree, dinosaur like characteristic, dinosaur lineage, diversification, earliest dinosaur, earth, eoraptor, evidence, evolution of dinosaurs, familiar dinosaurs, fossil, fossilized bones, fossilized footprints, herrerasaurus, humerus, labrador retriever, late triassic, lizard, london, middle triassic, middle triassic dinosaurs, natural history museum, nyasa, nyasasaurus parringtoni, oldest dinosaur, paleontologist, paleontology, pangaea, paul barrett, period, permian extinction, primitive dinosaurs, royal society, sarah werning, saurus, single bone, south african museum, south america, southern pangaea, sterling nesbitt, Tanzania, taxon, transitional fossil, triassic period, united kingdom, university, upper arm bone, vertebrae, Washington

Researchers have discovered what may be the earliest dinosaur, a creature the size of a Labrador retriever, but with a five foot-long tail, that walked the Earth about 10 million years before more familiar dinosaurs like the small, swift-footed Eoraptor and Herrerasaurus.

The findings mean that the dinosaur lineage appeared 10 million to 15 million years earlier than fossils previously showed, originating in the Middle Triassic rather than in the Late Triassic period. (more…)

Search for Life Suggests Solar Systems More Habitable than Ours

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2012Sciencecayman unterborn, Chile, dataset, dynamic, earth, european southern observatory, Galaxy, geologically active, habitable, habitable zone, heat source, jennifer johnson, microbial form, Milky Way, ohio state university, planet, plate tectonics, potassium, radioactive decay, radioactive element, san francisco, search for life, solar systems, solar twin, subsurface heat, terrestrial planet, thorium, uranium, wendy panero

SAN FRANCISCO — Scattered around the Milky Way are stars that resemble our own sun—but a new study is finding that any planets orbiting those stars may very well be hotter and more dynamic than Earth.

That’s because the interiors of any terrestrial planets in these systems are likely warmer than Earth—up to 25 percent warmer, which would make them more geologically active and more likely to retain enough liquid water to support life, at least in its microbial form.

The preliminary finding comes from geologists and astronomers at Ohio State University who have teamed up to search for alien life in a new way. (more…)

Space Life

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2012Scienceask magazine, astrobiology, biology, c elegans, chandran sabanayagam, cubesat projects, dbi, desg, DNA, does life exist, earth, Environment, evolution, microbes, microscopic worms, NASA, physicist, proteins, space life, space research, telemetry, trl3, universe, zero gravity

NASA funds astrobiology research by Delaware Biotechnology Institute scientist

Does life exist anywhere else in the universe? That’s the type of broad but poignant question NASA likes to ask, according to Chandran Sabanayagam, associate scientist in the Bioimaging Center at the Delaware Biotechnology Institute (DBI). And he would know, because he’s preparing to help answer it.

NASA will receive $100 billion from the federal government over the next five years to assure America is number one in space exploration, according to Astrobiology.com. As part of its push to seek new partnerships and broaden its vision, NASA is offering grants to people conducting transformational science. With this opportunity, Sabanayagam is merging his love of physics and biology. (more…)

Grand Canyon as Old as the Dinosaurs, Suggests New Study Led by CU-Boulder

By Guest PostDecember 6, 2012Scienceapatite, apatite crystals, arizona, atom, bottom, caltech, colorado boulder, colorado river, detect, earth, evolution, grand canyon, helium atom, hydrology, kenneth farley, landscape, mineral grains, phosphate mineral, radioactive decay, rebecca flowers, surface, tectonics, thermal structure, thorium, topography, university, uranium, variation, western

An analysis of mineral grains from the bottom of the western Grand Canyon indicates it was largely carved out by about 70 million years ago — a time when dinosaurs were around and may have even peeked over the rim, says a study led by the University of Colorado Boulder.

The new research pushes back the conventionally accepted date for the formation of the Grand Canyon in Arizona by more than 60 million years, said CU-Boulder Assistant Professor Rebecca Flowers. The team used a dating method that exploits the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium atoms to helium atoms in a phosphate mineral known as apatite, said Flowers, a faculty member in CU-Boulder’s geological sciences department. (more…)

Ecologists Shed New Light on Effects of Light Pollution on Wildlife

By Guest PostDecember 3, 2012Environment, Naturealarm calls, animal behaviour, Antarctica, artificial light, asia, common redshank, data, earth, ecologist, electrical lighting, Europe, exeter, feeding habit, forth estuary, full moon, gas flare, grangemouth, light pollution, longannet, marshes, negative effect, nervous birds, oil refinery, power station, ross dwyer, satellite, scotland, sentinel, shorebirds, spring migration, teu hoo, uk coasts, university, us military, wildlife

Light pollution is often associated with negative effects on wildlife. Now, ecologists have found that by mimicking a perpetual full moon, the gas flares and electrical lighting along Scotland’s Forth estuary are helping shorebirds stock up on more food during the winter to fuel their spring migration.

The research is the first to use night-time light data from US military satellites to study animal behaviour.

Coasts and estuaries are among the most rapidly developing areas on Earth. Night-time satellite images of the planet show that except Antarctica, continents are ringed with halos of brightly-lit human development. But coasts are also key wildlife sites. Every year, millions of waterbirds arrive from the Arctic to overwinter on UK coasts, yet scientists remain largely in the dark about how these birds respond to the bright lights of coastal cities and industry. (more…)

Hearty Organisms Discovered in Bitter-Cold Antarctic Brine

By Guest PostNovember 26, 2012Environmentammonia, anoxic brine, antarctic ice, aquatic environment, brine, cryo environment, earth, east antarctica, ecosystem, europa, extreme environment, frozen environment, hearty microbes, jupiter, lake vida, life, mcmurdo dry valleys, michigan state university, microbial life, microbial metabolism, model, moon, nathaniel ostrom, nitrogen, nitrous oxide, permanent darkness, subzero temperature, sulfur, supersaturated, vacation destination, water, zoologist

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Where there’s water there’s life – even in brine beneath 60 feet of Antarctic ice, in permanent darkness and subzero temperatures.

While Lake Vida, located in the northernmost of the McMurdo Dry Valleys of East Antarctica, will never be a vacation destination, it is home to some newly discovered hearty microbes. In the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Nathaniel Ostrom, Michigan State University zoologist, has co-authored “Microbial Life at -13ºC in the Brine of an Ice-Sealed Antarctic Lake.” (more…)