ENN Twitter
Sci/tech
Odd Martian Thermal Rhythm
June 13, 2013 09:46 AM - Andy Soos, ENN
Researchers using NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have found that temperatures in the Martian atmosphere regularly rise and fall not just once each day, but twice. "We see a temperature maximum in the middle of the day, but we also see a temperature maximum a little after midnight," said Armin Kleinboehl of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., who is the lead author of a new report on these findings. Temperatures swing by as much as 58 degrees Fahrenheit (32 kelvins) in this odd, twice-a-day pattern, as detected by the orbiter's Mars Climate Sounder instrument.
Shale and Where it Lies
June 12, 2013 12:54 PM - Andy Soos, ENN
Shale oil is a rapidly developing source of oil and natural gas. Where does it lie? Estimated shale oil and shale gas resources in the United States and in 137 shale formations in 41 other countries represent 10% of the world's crude oil and 32% of the world's natural gas technically recoverable resources, or those that can be produced using current technology without reference to economic profitability, according to a new report released today by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). More than half of the identified shale oil resources outside the United States are concentrated in four countries--Russia, China, Argentina and Libya--while more than half of the non-U.S. shale gas resources are concentrated in five countries--China, Argentina, Algeria, Canada, and Mexico. The United States would be ranked second after Russia for shale oil resources and fourth after Algeria for shale gas resources if compared with the 41 countries assessed
Green Sells: Meaningful Brands Outperform the Stock Market
June 12, 2013 10:30 AM - Bill Roth, Triple Pundit
New research documents that green products and meaningful brands deliver increased sales plus financial performance that outperforms the stock market.
New fossil shines light on primate and human evolution
June 12, 2013 09:47 AM - Allison Winter, ENN
A 55 million year old fossil that has been unearthed from an ancient lakebed in China's Hubei Province has revealed a pivotal event in primate and human evolution. Hailing from the early Eocene Epoch, the fossil is crucial to the branch split that led to anthropoids (monkeys, apes, and humans) on one side, and living tarsiers (small, tree-dwelling nocturnal primates) on the other. The discovered fossil represents a previously unknown genus and species named Archicebus Achilles.
Dancing Atoms
June 11, 2013 05:32 PM - Andy Soos, ENN
Everything is in near constant movement even if it cannot be seen by the naked eye. Just the right movement can cause things like chemical reactions to happen. Catalysts can stop working when atoms on the surface start moving. At the Vienna University of Technology, this dance of the atoms could now be observed and explained.
Panama expects benefits from world's first GM salmon
June 11, 2013 03:45 PM - Eva Aguilar, SciDevNet
Panama's researchers have played a key role in creating a rapidly growing salmon that may soon become the world's first commercially sold genetically modified (GM) animal. The US's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ruled the consumption of GM salmon to be as safe as conventional Atlantic salmon, and is now analyzing public comments on its environmental impact as the final part of the approval process. If the FDA permits the transgenic salmon to be imported for human consumption — which the firm that developed the fish hopes will be granted this year — the research station in Panama that is studying the GM salmon would switch to growing it for the US market.
Volcanic Eruptions Linked to Cold Weather Events
June 10, 2013 03:06 PM - Allison Winter, ENN
When a volcano erupts, it's not just the local area and weather that will be affected. In fact, weather and climate around the world can be influenced, as large eruptions throw volcanic ash particles into the stratosphere. Locally, these particles attract water droplets and therefore cause rain events. In addition, higher occurrences of thunder and lightening are observed in the area. But the release of sulphur dioxide gas into the stratosphere, which converts into sulphate aerosol particles, reflects incoming sunlight and creates an overall temporary cooling effect of a much larger area on Earth's surface.
Salt Maps
June 10, 2013 08:57 AM - Andy Soos, ENN
Salinity is an ecological factor of considerable importance, influencing the types of organisms that live in a body of water and perhaps the climate as well. Salinity influences the kinds of plants that will grow either in a water body, or on land fed by a water (or by a ground water. So salt is a vital ecological restraint. Contrary to common perception, salinity is hardly uniform in the world's oceans. "It's apparent when you look at a surface salinity map of the Indian Ocean," said Subrahmanyam Bulusu, the director of the Satellite Oceanography Laboratory in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of South Carolina. "In the northern part of the Arabian Sea, the salinity is considerably higher than in the northern part of the Bay of Bengal."
200 Year Old Mystery Solved: Why Do Corals Pulsate?
June 10, 2013 08:44 AM - Maya Yarowsky, NoCamels
If you have ever been scuba diving and seen pulsating coral, you may have wondered why such a simple specimen would engage in such an intense activity. Marine biologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology have now begun to discover the biological processes that make the pulsating coral, or Heteroxenia coral, move the way they do.
Titan's Haze
June 7, 2013 02:40 PM - Andy Soos, ENN
Haze in the air means that is not clear and that it is dimmer as a result. Light is blocked. Welcome to Titan whose haze would make the worst day in an earth city clear as a bell. Scientists working with data from NASA's Cassini mission have confirmed the presence of a population of complex hydrocarbons in the upper atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, that later evolve into the components that give the moon a distinctive orange-brown haze. The presence of these complex, ringed hydrocarbons, known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), explains the origin of the aerosol particles found in the lowest haze layer that blankets Titan's surface. Scientists think these PAH compounds aggregate into larger particles as they drift downward.