Earth | Page 1155 | Science Codex

Climate projections don't accurately reflect soil carbon release

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A new study concludes that models may be predicting releases of atmospheric carbon dioxide that are either too high or too low, depending on the region, because they don't adequately reflect variable temperatures that can affect the amount of carbon released from soil.

The study points out that many global models make estimates of greenhouse gas emissions from soils based on "average" projected temperatures. But temperatures vary widely from those averages. That variability, along with complex biological processes, makes the issue far more complicated.

This is what the margins of the Ebro looked like 6 million years ago

A Spanish research team, using 3D reflection seismology, has for the first time mapped the geomorphological features of the Ebro river basin between five and six million years ago. The images obtained show that the surface analysed is today 2.5 or 3 kilometres below the sea bed.

Building a better dam map

Humans have been building reservoirs and dams for thousands of years. Over the past few decades, their construction has spiked as our need to harness water – critical in flood control, irrigation, recreation, navigation and the creation of hydroelectric power – has grown. And while dams and reservoirs have important benefits, they can also be disruptive and costly to both humans and the environment.

Microscopic worms could help open up travel into deep space

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NIH-funded researchers find new ways to confuse blood-seeking mosquitoes

Female blood-feeding mosquitoes, some species of which can transmit deadly diseases such as malaria and dengue to humans, largely find their human blood meals by detecting carbon dioxide emitted when people exhale. In a new study funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, a research team led by Anandasankar Ray of the University of California, Riverside, identified three types of odor molecules that disrupt the carbon dioxide-sensing machinery of mosquitoes.

New map reveals giant fjords beneath East Antarctic ice sheet

Scientists from the U.S., U.K. and Australia have used ice-penetrating radar to create the first high- resolution topographic map of one of the last uncharted regions of Earth, the Aurora Subglacial Basin, an immense ice-buried lowland in East Antarctica larger than Texas.

The map reveals some of the largest fjords or ice cut channels on Earth, providing important insights into the history of ice in Antarctica. The data will also help computer modelers improve their simulations of the past and future Antarctic ice sheet and its potential impact on global sea level.

New findings by UCR scientists hold big promise for fight against mosquito-borne diseases

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Female mosquitoes are efficient carriers of deadly diseases such as malaria, dengue and yellow fever, resulting each year in several million deaths and hundreds of millions of cases.

To find human hosts to bite and spread disease, these mosquitoes use exhaled carbon dioxide as a vital cue. A disruption of the vital carbon dioxide detection machinery of mosquitoes, which would help control the spread of diseases they transmit, has therefore been a long sought-after goal.

Quantum knowledge cools computers

From a laptop warming a knee to a supercomputer heating a room, the idea that computers generate heat is familiar to everyone. But theoretical physicists have discovered something astonishing: not only do computational processes sometimes generate no heat, under certain conditions they can even have a cooling effect. Behind this finding are fundamental considerations relating to knowledge and a lack of knowledge. The researchers publish their findings today in the journal Nature.

Study finds greenhouse gas reduction strategy may be safe for soil animals

A new study has found that an emerging tool for combating climate change may cause less harm to some soil animals than initial studies suggested.

Earthworms perform many essential and beneficial functions in the soil ecosystem, including soil structure improvement and nutrient mineralization. However the earthworms' ability to perform these crucial functions can be suppressed when they are exposed to toxic substances.

Making complex fluids look simple

Jülich, 1 June 2011. An international research team has successfully developed a widely applicable method for discovering the physical foundations of complex fluids for the first time. Researchers at the University of Vienna and University of Rome have developed a microscopic theory that describes the interactions between the various components of a complex polymer mixture. This approach has now been experimentally proven by physicists from Jülich, who conducted neutron scattering experiments in Grenoble.

With global warming, Arctic access will diminish by land but improve by sea

Global warming over the next 40 years will cut through Arctic transportation networks like a double-edged sword, limiting access in certain areas and vastly increasing it in others, a new UCLA study predicts.

"As sea ice continues to melt, accessibility by sea will increase, but the viability of an important network of roads that depend on freezing temperatures is threatened by a warming climate," said Scott Stephenson, a UCLA graduate student in geography and the study's lead author.

Provision of subsidized malaria drugs in shops improves uptake

Reporting the findings of a cluster randomized trial carried out in rural Kenya, Beth Kangwana and colleagues find that provision of packs of the malaria therapy artemether-lumefantrine in shops at a subsidized price more than doubled the proportion of children with fever who received drugs promptly. Importantly, whilst enabling cheap and easy purchase of malaria treatment in shops enabled treatment of about 44% of children with fever, this is still much lower than the target of treating 80% of children with fever set by the Roll Back Malaria Partnership.

Increases in rain, temperature could signal cholera outbreaks months ahead

Deerfield, IL (May 31, 2011) With recent deadly cholera outbreaks in Haiti and Cameroon providing the latest indication of a menacingly resurgent disease, scientists have discovered rain and temperature fluctuations in at-risk areas could predict epidemics months in advance, according to a new study published today in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Team solves decades-old molecular mystery linked to blood clotting

CHAMPAIGN, lll. — Blood clotting is a complicated business, particularly for those trying to understand how the body responds to injury. In a new study, researchers report that they are the first to describe in atomic detail a chemical interaction that is vital to blood clotting. This interaction – between a clotting factor and a cell membrane – has baffled scientists for decades.

The study appears online in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Big city holds empty promise for bats

In the treeless, flat Prairie, you'd think a city would provide a good home for bats who like to snuggle up and roost in trees and buildings. But researchers at the University of Calgary made the surprising discovery that the urban landscape is far from ideal for these animals.