Earth | Page 1021 | Science Codex

Demographic miracle in the deserts

Using demographic methods, ecologist Roberto Salguero-Gómez investigates desert plants to find out how vulnerable they are to climate change. The results of his newest study are surprising: Climate change may have a positive impact on some plants.

Climate models used by scientists to forecast the effect of climate change on the various ecosystems predict a bleak future for these regions: temperatures will rise, there will be less rain, and it will rain more erratically – all conditions seemingly unfavorable to plants.

EARTH: Arctic humidity on the rise

Alexandria, VA – The Arctic is getting warmer and wetter. As temperatures rise and sea ice melts, scientists suspect that system feedback cycles may further speed up the warming process. Now, a new study out of the University of Colorado at Boulder is showing how shifting patterns of humidity may bring about changes in the Arctic atmosphere.

Near atomic-scale deformation fields of a crack-tip were mapped experimentally at IMUT

The fracture of materials is a very important issue for both structural and functional materials. Crack-tip behavior is among the most basic problems in fracture mechanics. Many theoretical and experimental investigations have been carried out to understand the effect of crack-tip deformation fields. However, direct nanoscale measurement of strain fields around the crack-tip has not yet been achieved, despite many years of research. Professors Zhao ChunWang and Xing YongMing from Inner Mongolia University of Technology set out to tackle this problem.

Freezing water droplets form sharp ice peaks

Researchers at the University of Twente, in the Netherlands, placed water droplets on a plate chilled to -20 degrees Celsius and captured images as a freezing front traveled up the droplet. The photos are published in the American Institute of Physics' (AIP) journal Physics of Fluids. The approximately 4-millimeter diameter droplets took about 20 seconds to freeze. During the final stage of freezing, the ice drop developed a pointy tip, as can be seen in Figure 1d. The effect, which is not observed for most other liquids, arises because water expands as it freezes.

Abortion rates plummet with free birth control

Providing birth control to women at no cost substantially reduced unplanned pregnancies and cut abortion rates by 62 percent to 78 percent over the national rate, a new study shows.

The research, by investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, appears online Oct. 4 in Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Researchers find ancient carbon resurfacing in lakes

RICHMOND, Va. (Oct. 4, 2012) – A new study reveals that a significant amount of carbon released into the atmosphere from lakes and rivers in Southern Québec, Canada, is very old – approximately 1,000 to 3,000 years old – challenging the current models of long-term carbon storage in lakes and rivers.

Lakes react differently to warmer climate

The study in question has been carried out by a group of researchers at the Department of Biology at Lund University. The research team is specifically focusing on predictions regarding how our water resources will be like in the future, in terms of drinking water, recreation, fishing and biodiversity. They have now published findings on the impact of a warmer climate on lakes in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Science fiction is not put to good use in teaching

A study at the University of Valencia ensures that science fiction, especially the cinema, is very popular amongst secondary school students and teachers see it as a good way of motivating interest in the sciences. However, out of the 31 textbooks analysed, only nine make some form of reference to science fiction cinema as a teaching resource.

Southern Hemisphere becoming drier

A decline in April-May rainfall over south-east Australia is associated with a southward expansion of the subtropical dry-zone according to research published today in Scientific Reports, a primary research journal from the publishers of Nature.

CSIRO scientists Wenju Cai, Tim Cowan and Marcus Thatcher explored why autumn rainfall has been in decline across south-eastern Australia since the 1970s, a period that included the devastating Millennium drought from 1997-2009.

The mathematics of leaf decay

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- The colorful leaves piling up in your backyard this fall can be thought of as natural stores of carbon. In the springtime, leaves soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, converting the gas into organic carbon compounds. Come autumn, trees shed their leaves, leaving them to decompose in the soil as they are eaten by microbes. Over time, decaying leaves release carbon back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.

The brief but violent life of monogenetic volcanoes

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A new study in the journal Geology is shedding light on the brief but violent lives of maar-diatreme volcanoes, which erupt when magma and water meet in an explosive marriage below the surface of the earth.

Maar-diatremes belong to a family of volcanoes known as monogenetic volcanoes. These erupt just once before dying, though some eruptions last for years. Though not particularly famous, monogenetic volcanoes are actually the most common form of land-based volcano on the planet.

City of Ottawa sits atop soil, geologic features that amplify seismic waves

Engineers and city planners study surface geology in order to construct buildings that can respond safely to earthquakes. Soft soil amplifies seismic waves, resulting in stronger ground motion than for sites built over bedrock. This study examines the local site response for the city of Ottawa, and the results indicate seismic waves may amplify ground motion greater than expected or referenced in the National Building Code of Canada.

Where there is no paramedic

Aaron Orkin from the Northern Ontario School of Medicine and colleagues describe their collaboration that developed, delivered, and studied a community-based first response training program in a remote indigenous community in northern Canada.

Source: Public Library of Science

Too little nitrogen may restrain plants' carbon storage capability, U of M paper shows

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (10/02/2012) —Plants' ability to absorb increased levels of carbon dioxide in the air may have been overestimated, a new University of Minnesota study shows.

1 glue, 2 functions

Akron, Ohio, Oct. 2, 2012 — While the common house spider may be creepy, it also has been inspiring researchers to find new and better ways to develop adhesives for human applications such as wound healing and industrial-strength tape. Think about an adhesive suture strong enough to heal a fractured shoulder and that same adhesive designed with a light tackiness ideal for "ouch-free" bandages.