Assembling fossils from countless tiny pieces can be quite an endeavor, to say the least. Can computers do a better job of fossil identification than expert paleontologists?
Diatoms secrete a glass-like extracellular skeleton and are thought to produce about 25% of Earth’s oxygen. How and why do they produce these skeletons?
The SpaceWeather website reports that many people in the western United States saw a “bright as day” fireball while watching the Leonid meteor shower last night. They link to three videos of the event.
An article at National Geographic reports that the 2009 Leonid Meteor Shower might have a strong outburst where rates reach up to 300 per hour. The shower is expected to peak between 2 and 4 AM on November 17th.
The National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for the Geosciences has released: GeoVision Report: Unraveling Earth’s Complexities through the Geosciences. This is a new guidance document for NSF with a theme of fostering a sustainable future through a better understanding of our complex and changing planet.
A certain type of lipid kills the Emiliania huxleyi phytoplankton by causing its cells to self-destruct. A problem with cancer cells is that they do not self-destruct like normal cells. Studying this lipid could therefore be valuable to a number of scientific fields.
The Vatican recently hosted a conference that brought scientists and clergy together for the purpose of exploring the possibility of sentient extraterrestrial life. This AOL article reports on the conference and relationships between the Catholic Church and science.
Researchers with the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth project are testing the frictional behavior of materials that are known to be in contact along the fault to determine their role in the earthquake mechanics of the fault zone.
February’s collision between a dead Russian military satellite and a working U.S. commercial satellite has many people thinking about the probability of losing an important data stream. The Air Force is tracking 1300 government, military and commercial satellites in Earth orbit to identify the next potential collision.
What landmarks can be used when traveling in space? The GPS reference satellite constellation uses a map of quasars to determine their location. That same map can guide spacecraft and be used to aim telescopes.
A geologist and an environmental toxicologist at Clemson University believe that toxic algae may have played an important role in some of Earth’s mass extinctions.
“On October 8, 2009 about 03:00 Greenwich time, an atmospheric fireball blast was observed and recorded over an island region of Indonesia. The blast is thought to be due to the atmospheric entry of a small asteroid about 10 meters in diameter that, due to atmospheric pressure, detonated in the atmosphere with an energy of about 50 kilotons (the equivalent of 100,000 pounds of TNT explosives).” Quoted from the NASA press release. Fortunately the asteroid exploded in the atmosphere and did not cause any injury or damage.
COROT-7b is an exoplanet that orbits the star COROT-7. It it so close to the star that temperatures are thought to be high enough to vaporize silicate rocks. Above the surface the vapors can cool to produce a rain of igneous rocks.
A new model for the deposition of banded iron formations offers a more complete picture of Earth’s environment between 3.8 and 1.7 billion years ago, including interactions between rocks, water, and air.
A Google map with a pushpin marking the location of the highest point on each continent. Do you know the name of the mountain that has the highest elevation in Europe? Zoom in for a satellite view.
“NASA scientists have discovered water molecules in the polar regions of the moon. Instruments aboard three separate spacecraft revealed water molecules in amounts that are greater than predicted, but still relatively small.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
An article at Parade.com profiles Tristan da Cunha, one of several volcanic islands in the Tristan da Cunha archipelago located in the South Atlantic Ocean. At 1750 miles from the nearest land it is designated as the most remote inhabited island in the world.
Since 1906 only 35 recreational yachts have completed a voyage through the Northwest Passage. This article and photo gallery documents the voyage of the Silent Sound and the people that the crew encountered in communities along the way.
The Planck Mission has captured its first rough images of the sky, demonstrating the observatory is working and ready to measure light from the dawn of time.
“We are beginning to observe ancient light that has traveled more than 13 billion years to reach us,” said Charles Lawrence, the NASA project scientist for the mission.
“Space junk” is any man-made object in orbit around the Earth that no longer serves a useful purpose. To minimize the risk of collision between spacecraft and space junk, the U.S. Space Surveillance Network tracks all debris larger than 10 centimeters. This image is a map of all man-made objects currently being tracked.
An article and video on the Science Daily website present the idea that the L-waves of large earthquakes can trigger smaller quakes far from their source.
Within a few years you might be able to recharge your cell phone or run an electric appliance without plugging them in. A technology is being perfected that will convert electricity into a magnetic field and transmit it through the air.
Here is a website where you can download and print an unlimited number of state maps for students. For all fifty US states there are county maps, cities maps and outline maps.
The BBC sent a team to Mount Bosavi, in the Papua New Guinea rainforest, to explore the volcano’s crater. During their visit, they found some new and intriguing species.
Some of the Easter Island statues have “hats” made from red scoria. How were they made, where did they come from, how were they attached? Some of these questions are finally being answered.
A short article on the Utah Geological Survey blog explores the question… “Does Utah have the biggest natural arch in the world?” The answer depends how you define “biggest”. Does that mean tallest, longest, biggest? There is a more in-depth article in their May, 2009 issue of Survey Notes.
If you have not visited Arches National Park you should put it on your vacation list.
Economists using satellite images? Researchers at Brown University are looking at changes in the density of light to estimate the growth in GDP of developing countries.
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Hobart King
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