University of Utah study listens to the natural bridge vibrate and sing
Utah’s iconic Rainbow Bridge hums with natural and man-made vibrations, according to a new University of Utah study, published September 21 in Geophysical Research Letters. The study characterizes the different ways the bridge vibrates and what frequencies and energy sources cause the rock structure to resonate. The vibrations are small, according to geology and geophysics professor Jeff Moore, but the study provides a baseline measure of the bridge’s structural integrity and shows how human activities can rattle solid rock.(more…)
Utah engineers discover groundbreaking semiconducting material that could lead to much faster electronics
University of Utah engineers have discovered a new kind of 2D semiconducting material for electronics that opens the door for much speedier computers and smartphones that also consume a lot less power.(more…)
A new species of carnivorous dinosaur – one of the three largest ever discovered in North America – lived alongside and competed with small-bodied tyrannosaurs 98 million years ago. This newly discovered species, Siats meekerorum, (pronounced see-atch) was the apex predator of its time, and kept tyrannosaurs from assuming top predator roles for millions of years.
Named after a cannibalistic man-eating monster from Ute tribal legend, Siats is a species of carcharodontosaur, a group of giant meat-eaters that includes some of the largest predatory dinosaurs ever discovered. The only other carcharodontosaur known from North America is Acrocanthosaurus, which roamed eastern North America more than 10 million years earlier. Siats is only the second carcharodontosaur ever discovered in North America; Acrocanthosaurus, discovered in 1950, was the first. (more…)
PASADENA, Calif. — NASA research indicates hunks of frozen carbon dioxide — dry ice — may glide down some Martian sand dunes on cushions of gas similar to miniature hovercraft, plowing furrows as they go.
Researchers deduced this process could explain one enigmatic class of gullies seen on Martian sand dunes by examining images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and performing experiments on sand dunes in Utah and California. (more…)
What are the key ingredients to raising successful, self-sufficient offspring? A new life sciences study using 14 years of data on gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park indicates that cooperative group behavior and a mother’s weight are crucial.
“A female’s body weight is key in the survival of her offspring, and cooperation in the protection and feeding of young pups pays off in terms of the production of offspring,” said Robert Wayne, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA and co-author of the new research, published this week in the online edition of the Journal of Animal Ecology. (more…)
*Tree trunks, leaves, and kukui nuts indirectly feed bottom fish in submarine canyons off Moloka’i*
Scientists from UH Mānoa’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) recently discovered that land-based plant material and coastal macroalgae indirectly support the increased abundances of bottom fish in submarine canyons, like those off the north shore of Moloka’i. Less than a few miles from the shore, these underwater canyons connect to deep river valleys that cut across the landscape of north Moloka’i. The high elevation and forested landscapes along Moloka’i’s north shore provide plant material, including decomposing tree trunks, leaves and tons of kukui nuts, which enter the ocean via river valleys and “pile up” on submarine canyon floors. (more…)
First-Ever Online “Audience Award” Enables Fans to Vote for Best Short Film on Yahoo! Screen
Yahoo! Movies & omg! NOW Feature Behind-The-Scenes Content Straight from Park City
SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Yahoo!, the premier digital media company, is opening the doors to the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, giving independent film fans access to one of the year’s most highly anticipated industry events. The general public will have access to 9 short films from this year’s Festival by visiting sundance.yahoo.com, powered by Yahoo! Screen, Yahoo’s video destination and home to the most comprehensive collection of premium video content. Additionally, for the first time ever, they will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite of those nine short films. Fans will also get behind-the-scenes access to film and entertainment news, celebrities in attendance and the biggest stories of the festival through Yahoo! Movies (https://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/sundance), one of the top destinations online for movie fans with more than 26 million users per month, and omg! (https://omg.yahoo.com), the #1 most-visited celebrity news site on the Internet. (more…)
*The team scoured more than 500 museum drawers of Green River fossils for crickets and katydids with intact front legs, looking for evidence of ears.*
How did insects get their hearing? A new study of 50-million-year-old cricket and katydid fossils sporting some of the best preserved fossil insect ears described to date are helping to trace the evolution of the insect ear.
According to paleontologist Dena Smith of the University of Colorado Boulder’s Museum of Natural History and University of Illinois Professor Roy Plotnick, who collaborated on the new study at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, or NESCent, in Durham, N.C., insects hear with help from some very unusual ears. (more…)
