Tag Archives: Japan

Where the Earth’s Heat Comes From

By Guest PostJuly 18, 2011Scienceanti electron, berkeley lab, borexino experiment, brian fujikawa, bse, bulk silicate earth, department of physics, earth crust and mantle, earth interior, earth magnetic field, geo antineutrinos, geologists, geoneutrinos, gran sasso, heat, heat energy, italy, itaru shimizu, Japan, kamioka liquid-scintillator antineutrino detector, kamland, kamland collaboration, ke han, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, lithophiles, muon neutrinos, neutrinos, partial radiogenic heat model for earth, photomultiplier, potassium, radioactive decay of uranium, radioactive isotopes decay, rock loving elements, sea floors, siderophiles, stuart freedman, study antineutrinos, sunken layer, tau neutrinos, thomas banks, thorium, tohoku university, university of california

*Berkeley Lab scientists join their KamLAND colleagues to measure the radioactive sources of Earth’s heat flow*

What spreads the sea floors and moves the continents? What melts iron in the outer core and enables the Earth’s magnetic field? Heat. Geologists have used temperature measurements from more than 20,000 boreholes around the world to estimate that some 44 terawatts (44 trillion watts) of heat continually flow from Earth’s interior into space. Where does it come from?

Radioactive decay of uranium, thorium, and potassium in Earth’s crust and mantle is a principal source, and in 2005 scientists in the KamLAND collaboration, based in Japan, first showed that there was a way to measure the contribution directly. The trick was to catch what KamLAND dubbed geoneutrinos – more precisely, geo-antineutrinos – emitted when radioactive isotopes decay. (KamLAND stands for Kamioka Liquid-scintillator Antineutrino Detector.) (more…)

Imagine Cup Competitors Fired Up by Ballmer, Sachs, and Crowley; Finalists Announced

By Guest PostJuly 12, 2011Technologyarthur vanderveen, Bangladesh, brazil, bulgaria, columbia university, cyber knightz, dennis crowley, earth institute, economist, foursquare, france, imagine cup, imagine cup 2011, India, information technology, Japan, jeffrey sachs, limits of ecosystems, limits of food supply, malaysia, Microsoft, microsoft ceo, Netherlands, new york city, new york city department of education, new zealand, resource limits, romania, senegal, steve ballmer, Thailand, wai lun chan, world finals

*Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, economist Jeffrey Sachs, and Foursquare founder and CEO Dennis Crowley opened the Imagine Cup 2011 World Finals on Friday night. The competition heated up over the weekend with the first set of finalists being announced Sunday night.*

NEW YORK CITY – Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer inspired them to be great, economist Jeffrey Sachs gave them the homework assignment of saving the world, and Foursquare founder and CEO Dennis Crowley showed them how tangibly close they are to success.

Students representing 70 countries and regions descended on New York City over the weekend to participate in the Imagine Cup 2011 Worldwide Finals, which challenges students from across the globe to use technology to solve world problems like feeding the hungry, fighting disease, and creating new forms of energy. Finalists in the competition’s nine categories were announced on Sunday and the overall winners will be announced on Wednesday. (more…)

Berkeley Scientists Pioneer Nanoscale Nuclear Materials Testing Capability

By Guest PostJuly 2, 2011Environment, Scienceandrew minor, berkeley lab, clean energy future, compression tests of copper specimens, crystal structure, daniel kiener, dislocations, electricity, emission free sources, fukushima disaster, irradiated materials, Japan, lifetime of a nuclear reactor, macroscale materials strength properties, medical industry, nanoscale testing technique, national center for electron microscopy, ncem, nuclear materials, nuclear plants, nuclear power, operation and safety, peter hosemann, power generation, production of radioisotopes, renewable, safer nuclear technologies, stress tests, stuart maloy, sub nanoscale resolution, Technology, united states

Nuclear power is a major component of our nation’s long-term clean-energy future, but the technology has come under increased scrutiny in the wake of Japan’s recent Fukushima disaster. Indeed, many nations have called for checks and “stress tests” to ensure nuclear plants are operating safely.

In the United States, about 20 percent of our electricity and almost 70 percent of the electricity from emission-free sources, including renewable technologies and hydroelectric power plants, is supplied by nuclear power. Along with power generation, many of the world’s nuclear facilities are used for research, materials testing, or the production of radioisotopes for the medical industry. The service life of structural and functional material components in these facilities is therefore crucial for ensuring reliable operation and safety. (more…)

Scientists Study Earthquake Triggers in Pacific Ocean

By Guest PostJuly 2, 2011Environmentaccretionary margins, alaska to patagonia, basalt rock, costa rica, costa rica seismogenesis project, crisp, earthquake generating region, earthquakes, eastern pacific ocean, expedition, fault, global earthquakes, integrated ocean drilling program, iodp, italy, Japan, joides resolution, kohtaro ujiie, kristin hillis, large earthquakes, marianas, masaoki uno, mass transfer, michael stipp, nankai trough seismogenic zone experiment, nantroseize, national science foundation, nsf, pacific northwest, paola vannucchi, plate boundary, rodey batiza, samples of rock and sediment, scientific drilling vessel, seafloor, seismic plate boundary, seismogenic region, subduction processes, subduction zones, subseafloor, sumatra quakes, tectonic activity, the aleutians, tohoku earthquake, understanding of the earth, university of florence, university of tsukuba

*Samples of rock, sediment from beneath the sea-floor help explain quakes like Japan’s*

New samples of rock and sediment from the depths of the eastern Pacific Ocean may help explain the cause of large, destructive earthquakes similar to the Tohoku Earthquake that struck Japan in mid-March.

Nearly 1,500 meters (almost one mile) of sediment cores collected from the ocean floor off the coast of Costa Rica reveal detailed records of some two million years of tectonic activity along a seismic plate boundary. (more…)

Google Android Leads Acceleration in Smartphone Adoption in Japan

By Guest PostJune 30, 2011Technologyandroid devices, apple, apple iphones, canada, Comscore, comscore japan, comscore mobilens, daizo nishitani, european mobile media landscapes, google android, Japan, japan kk, Microsoft, mobile usage in japan, regza, smartphones, sony ericsson, toshiba, xperia

*iPhones Still Account for 3 of Top 5 Smartphone Models*

*comScore Releases Latest Mobile Industry Insights from its MobiLens Product*

Tokyo, Japan, June 30, 2011 – comScore Japan KK, a wholly owned subsidiary of comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the latest insights into mobile usage in Japan from its comScore MobiLens product. The report found that Google Android led as the top smartphone platform in March 2011 with 4.6 million users, more than doubling its subscriber base from December 2010. Apple ranked second with 3.9 million mobile subscribers in Japan. (more…)

Air Quality Worsened by Paved Surfaces

By Guest PostJune 11, 2011Environmentair pollution, atmospheric measurements, brad smull, china meteorological administration, coastal cities, computer simulations, emissions, fei chen, ground-level ozone, Houston, houston area, Japan, land and sea temperatures, los angeles, national center for atmospheric research, national science foundation, ncar, nsf, pavement, petrochemical facilities, pollutants, sea, shanghai, smog, traffic jams, unhealthy air, united states, university of tsukuba, urban areas on air pollution, urban development, urbanization, warm summer weather, weather patterns, wind patterns

*Widespread urban development alters weather patterns*

New research focusing on the Houston area suggests that widespread urban development alters weather patterns in a way that can make it easier for pollutants to accumulate during warm summer weather instead of being blown out to sea.

The international study, led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), could have implications for the air quality of fast-growing coastal cities in the United States and other mid-latitude regions overseas. (more…)

Television and Fixed Internet Found to be Most Important Information Sources in Japan Following Earthquake and Tsunami

By Guest PostJune 8, 2011Technologyasahi shimbun, Comscore, comscore media metrix, comscore mobilens, daizo nishitani, earthquake and tsunami, fixed internet, Japan, japanese media sources, mainichi shimbun, march earthquake, mobile application, mobile browser, mobile phones, radio, sankei shimbun, tsunami disaster, tv

*comScore Releases Report on Media Usage After March Disaster*

Tokyo, Japan, June 8, 2011– comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study on the use of various Japanese media sources in the aftermath of the March earthquake and tsunami disaster based on data from the comScore MobiLens and comScore Media Metrix services. The study found that the largest percentage of people (83 percent) identified television to be very important as an information source after the disaster, followed by fixed Internet (72 percent), radio broadcasts (66 percent) and mobile phones (49 percent).

“After the events in March, people relied on a variety of media sources for the latest information and developments,” said Daizo Nishitani, comScore vice president for Japan. “TV, fixed Internet, radio and mobile phones were all critical communication channels across the country in the days and weeks following the events. The media sources that were most important and useful during this time were heavily influenced by both people’s age and regional location, underscoring the fragmented nature of media consumption in Japan.” (more…)

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to Lead Expedition to Measure Radioactive Contaminants in the Pacific Ocean

By Guest PostJune 3, 2011Environmentacoustic doppler current profiler, adcp, assessment, atlantic, cesium 137, contamination pathways and dispersion, drinking water standard, fukushima nuclear power plant, fukushima plant, gordon and betty moore foundation, gulf stream, iodine and cesium isotopes, Japan, kaimikai o kanoloa, ken buesseler, kuroshio current, levels and dispersion of radioactive substances in the pacific ocean, marine organisms, moore funding, nick fisher, ocean current, phytoplankton, radiation, radioactive contaminants, radioactivity in ocean, radioisotope geochemistry, radionuclides, reactors, research vessel, spain, susan avery, tepco, tokyo electric power company, tokyo institute of technology, university of bremen, university of hawaii, us environmental protection agency, vicki chandler, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will lead the first international, multidisciplinary assessment of the levels and dispersion of radioactive substances in the Pacific Ocean off the Fukushima nuclear power plant—a research effort funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

“This project will address fundamental questions about the impact of this release of radiation to the ocean, and in the process enhance international collaboration and sharing of scientific data,” said Vicki Chandler, Chief Program Officer, Science at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. “It is our hope that through this adverse event, we can increase our current knowledge about various natural and man-made sources of radioactivity in the ocean, and how they might ultimately impact ocean life and health around the world.” (more…)