Earth

The presence of a trainee during endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) may have negative implications, including increased procedure time and complications. Researchers from the University of Calgary retrospectively reviewed 607 EBUS procedures, of which a trainee was present for 512. Significant differences were seen when a trainee was present vs when no trainee was present for procedure length (58.32 vs 37.69 min) and for the dose of propofol used (178.28 vs 137.11 mg). In addition, more complications were seen in the trainee group (24 vs 1).

PHILADELPHIA — The extensive system of levees along the Mississippi River has done much to prevent devastating floods in riverside communities. But the levees have also contributed to the loss of Louisiana's wetlands. By holding in floodwaters, they prevent sediment from flowing into the watershed and rebuilding marshes, which are compacting under their own weight and losing ground to sea-level rise.

Because the path that one beam travels is fixed in length and the other travels an extra distance or in some other slightly different way, the two light beams overlap and interfere when they meet up, creating an interference pattern that scientists inspect to obtain highly precise measurements.

Global temperatures directly affect the acidity of the ocean, which in turn changes the acoustical properties of sea water. New research suggests that global warming may give Earth's oceans the same hi-fi sound qualities they had more than 100 million years ago, during the Age of the Dinosaurs.

Earthquakes sway buildings, buckle terrain, and rumble – both audibly and in infrasound, frequencies below the threshold of human hearing. New computer modeling by a team of researchers indicates that most of the low-frequency infrasound comes from an unexpected source: the actual "pumping" of the Earth's surface. The researchers confirmed their models by studying data from an actual earthquake.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- A team of researchers from the University of Florida department of chemistry has developed a new technique for growing new materials from nanorods.

Boulder, Colo., USA – Geology articles posted online ahead of print this month survey topography, minerals, faults and tectonics, alluvium, modeling, snowball Earth, fossils and extinction, and pyrite-filled worm burrows. One notable study provides a new eruption date for the Salton Buttes (Calif., USA) of 30,000 years later than that determined by earlier studies, coinciding with the appearance of the earliest known obsidian tools there.

U.S. Forest Service and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) scientists have found that rising levels of ozone, a greenhouse gas, may amplify the impacts of higher temperatures and reduce streamflow from forests to rivers, streams, and other water bodies. Such effects could potentially reduce water supplies available to support forest ecosystems and people in the southeastern United States.

Drawing upon more than 100 interviews with professional staff in large corporations in Melbourne, New York and Toronto, the pilot study found a strong correlation between confidence and occupational success

Participants were asked to describe their level of confidence at primary school, high school, university, and present day. Those who self-reported higher levels of confidence earlier in school earned better wages, and were promoted more quickly.

Nano-ribbons of silicon configured so the atoms resemble chicken wire could hold the key to ultrahigh density data storage and information processing systems of the future.

Philadelphia, PA – October 17, 2012—Studying the dynamics of the ocean system can greatly improve our understanding of key processes of ocean circulations, which have implications for future climate. Can applying mathematics to the research help? Dr. Emily Shuckburgh of the British Antarctic Survey, speaking at the 2012 SIAM Annual Meeting, thinks the answer is an emphatic "yes."

Governments and institutions should focus on developing adaption policies to address and mitigate against the negative impact of global warming, rather than putting the emphasis on carbon trading and capping greenhouse-gas emissions, argue Johannesburg-based Wits University geoscientist Dr Jasper Knight and Dr Stephan Harrison from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom.

The locations of the structures completed this fall were informed by data collected by WCS, the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and identified the pronghorn's preferred migration routes and highway crossing points.

Cambridge, Mass. - October 16, 2012 - Atmospheric chemists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have found that when it comes to secondary organic material in the atmosphere, there are two distinct breeds: liquids and jellies.

Hurricane Rafael is a large hurricane and Bermuda has battened down for Rafael's battering today, Oct. 16. NOAA's GOES-14 satellite revealed Rafael's large span that covers several hundred miles and dwarfs Bermuda.