Glaciers in west Greenland are melting 100 times faster at their end points beneath the ocean than they are at their surfaces, according to a new NASA/university study published online Feb. 14 in Nature Geoscience. The results suggest this undersea melting caused by warmer ocean waters is playing an important, if not dominant, role in the current evolution of Greenland’s glaciers, a factor that had previously been [...]
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For decades, climatologists have studied the gases and particles that have potential to alter Earth’s climate. They have discovered and described certain airborne chemicals that can trap incoming sunlight and warm the climate, while others cool the planet by blocking the Sun’s [...] Research on why early termite offspring remained home with their parents, instead of leaving to create their own colonies, could provide a missing link to the evolution of sterility among social insects Natural selection argues for small biological changes that yield greater chances of survival and successful reproduction. Yet, that process does not square well with the evolution of social insects, particularly when their colonies can have over a million non-reproductive members. A new study of termites may have the answer for such an evolutionary question, first posed by Charles Darwin nearly 150 years ago: How does natural selection produce insect “worker” and “soldier” offspring who never reproduce, find mates or start their own colonies? Apparently, the answer is because for offspring, there is no place like home. “This question about the evolution of social behavior among insects really intrigued me,” said lead researcher and University of Maryland evolutionary biologist Barbara Thorne, who has spent nearly 30 years pursuing the [...] Researchers move one step closer to nature with the development of polymers and directional adhesion that follow the workings of a gecko’s foot Nanotechnology has not only brought nature and engineering closer together; it has encouraged collaboration among researchers of different disciplines. In one such collaboration, two researchers drew on the extraordinary stickiness of a gecko’s foot to develop a synthetic adhesive to help robots scale [...] “I measured my own levels,” Leal said. “I thought I would set a good example. If you do it first, then others won’t be scared.” In truth, there was little, if any, reason to be frightened. The scientists were looking only for the substance itself, not trying to find out whether the compound would lure the insects to a blood meal. And the researchers found it–nonanal, a substance made by humans and birds that creates a powerful scent that Culex mosquitoes find [...] NASA’s Kennedy Space Center turned a shade greener Nov. 19 with the addition of five acres of electricity-producing solar panels to the spaceport’s power grid. The Kennedy Solar Energy Center is the first of two new power facilities being built at Kennedy that use solar panels to convert sunlight into electricity. The process creates no carbon emissions and requires no fuel, such as oil or natural gas, to generate power. It is the first large-scale power plant of its kind at a NASA center, and part of a small but growing solar infrastructure under development in [...] NEWPORT, Ore. – A new genetic analysis of Antarctic minke whales concludes that population of these smaller baleen whales have not increased as a result of the intensive hunting of other larger whales – countering arguments by advocates of commercial whaling who want to “cull” minke whales. Antarctic minke whales are among the few species of baleen whales not decimated by commercial whaling during the 20th century, and some scientists have hypothesized that their large numbers are hampering the recovery of deleted species, such as blue, fin and humpback, which may compete for [...] The Earth’s climate has changed throughout history. Just in the last 650,000 years there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat, with the abrupt end of the last ice age about seven thousand years ago, marking the beginning of the modern climate era —and of human civilization. Most of these changes are attributed to the very small changes in the Earth’s orbit changing the amount of solar energy the Earth [...] There has been lots of talk lately about Antarctica and whether or not the continent’s giant ice sheet is melting. One new paper1, which states there has been less surface melting recently than in past years, has been cited as “proof” that there’s no global warming. Other evidence that the amount of sea ice around Antarctica seems to be increasing slightly2-4 is being used in the same way. But both of these data points are misleading. Gravity data collected from space using NASA’s Grace satellite show that Antarctica has been losing more than a hundred cubic kilometers (24 cubic miles) of ice each year since 2002. The latest data reveals that Antarctica is losing ice at an accelerating rate, too. How is it possible for surface melting to decrease, but for the continent to lose mass anyway? The answer boils down to the fact that ice can flow without [...] The major earthquake that struck Haiti Tuesday may have shocked a region unaccustomed to such temblors, but the devastating quake was not unusual in that it was caused by the same forces that generate earthquakes the world over. In this case, the shaking was triggered by much the same mechanism that shakes cities along California’s San Andreas [...] |
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