Earth

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Rocky pillars dotting Iceland's Skaelingar valley were projectiles tossed into the fields by warring trolls. That, at least, is the tale that University at Buffalo geologist Tracy Gregg heard from a tour guide and local hiker when she visited the site on two occasions.

But Gregg and a colleague have a new explanation for the presence of the lava formations — this one also unexpected.

New York University chemists have discovered crystal growth complexities, which at first glance appeared to confound 50 years of theory and deepened the mystery of how organic crystals form. But, appearances can be deceiving.

Their findings, which appear in the latest edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, have a range of implications -- from the production of pharmaceuticals and new electronic materials to unraveling the pathways for kidney stone formation.

A team of researchers led by University of Arizona assistant professor Vanessa Huxter has made the first detailed observation of how energy travels through diamonds that contain nitrogen-vacancy centers – defects in which two adjacent carbon atoms in the diamond's crystal structure are replaced by a single nitrogen atom and an empty gap.

These "flaws" result in unexpected and attractive properties that have put such diamonds in the spotlight as promising candidates for a variety of technological advances.

Alexandria, VA –Throughout the history of Earth, supercontinents have formed and ocean basins have opened and closed over timescales of 300 million to 500 million years. But scientists haven't found direct evidence of the in-between phase — an ocean basin that was opening, starting instead to close — until now. Thanks to new high-resolution surveys of the seafloor, scientists think they have evidence of that process starting in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Portugal. If they are right, this nascent subduction zone could close the Atlantic Ocean — in roughly 200 million years.

Alexandria, VA – Recent analysis of over 400 responses from the National Geoscience Student Exit Survey from 71 geoscience departments identified distinct trends for bachelor's-, master's- and PhD-level participants on quantitative classes and core science courses. Notably, 70% of all participants had taken Calculus I and II; following those courses, there was a significant drop in bachelor's- and master's-level candidates pursuing further mathematics coursework. Meanwhile, PhD candidates listed multiple courses past Calculus II.

The following highlights summarize research papers that have been recently published in Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres (JGR-D), Journal of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface (JGR-F), Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans (JGR-C), Geophysical Research Letters, and Paleoceanography.

In this release:

Over 80% of the world's ice-free land is at risk of profound ecosystem transformation by 2100, a new study reveals. "Essentially, we would be leaving the world as we know it," says Sebastian Ostberg of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany. Ostberg and collaborators studied the critical impacts of climate change on landscapes and have now published their results in Earth System Dynamics, an open access journal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU).

This is shown by complementary studies now published by scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).

HOUSTON – (Oct. 7, 2013) – Atomically thin sheets of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) have the handy benefit of protecting what's underneath from oxidizing even at very high temperatures, Rice University researchers have discovered.

One or several layers of the material sometimes called "white graphene" keep materials from oxidizing – or rusting -- up to 1,100 degrees Celsius (2,012 degrees Fahrenheit), and can be made large enough for industrial applications, they said.

A recent study by researchers at the University of Hawaii – Manoa (UHM) School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) and the University of Rhode Island (URI) changes the understanding of how the Hawaiian Islands formed. Scientists have determined that it is the eruptions of lava on the surface, extrusion, which grow Hawaiian volcanoes, rather than internal emplacement of magma, as was previously thought.

Hydroxyl (OH) radicals – known as the detergent of the atmosphere – decompose isoprene in the air. This leads to the creation of new OH radicals, which are then able to purify the air of other pollutants and trace gases. The scientific community had previously only been able to speculate about this mechanism.

DETROIT – Three years after an earthquake killed more than 200,000 people and left an estimated 1.5 million people homeless in Haiti, a Henry Ford Hospital study found that more mobilized medical care is necessary to bridge cultural and health care barriers and better serve the Haitian population.

Highlights of the study:

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Researchers at MIT, working with partners at NASA, have developed a new concept for a microscope that would use neutrons — subatomic particles with no electrical charge — instead of beams of light or electrons to create high-resolution images.

The mystery of why life on Earth evolved when it did has deepened with the publication of a new study in the latest edition of the journal Science.

Scientists at the CRPG-CNRS University of Lorraine, The University of Manchester and the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris have ruled out a theory as to why the planet was warm enough to sustain the planet's earliest life forms when the Sun's energy was roughly three-quarters the strength it is today.

Portland, Ore., USA (October 4, 2013) --- Being overweight shortens a dog's life expectancy according to new research by the WALTHAM® Centre for Pet Nutrition. Data on a range of popular dog breeds from across the USA showed that dogs that are overweight in middle age have a shorter life expectancy than ideal weight dogs. Specifically, overweight dogs were found to suffer a reduction in life expectancy of up to ten months compared to ideal weight dogs.