Earth

Stronger snowfall increases future ice discharge from Antarctica. Global warming leads to more precipitation as warmer air holds more moisture – hence earlier research suggested the Antarctic ice sheet might grow under climate change. Now a study published in Nature shows that a lot of the ice gain due to increased snowfall is countered by an acceleration of ice-flow to the ocean. Thus Antarctica's contribution to global sea-level rise is probably greater than hitherto estimated, the team of authors from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) concludes.

Scientists have used powerful X-rays from the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, to study and measure, in atomic detail, a key process at work in extreme plasmas like those found in stars, the rims of black holes and other massive cosmic phenomena.

International researchers from 14 institutions met in Nicosia (Cyprus) on the 10th and 11th of December to present and debate the results of studies on water, conflict and security conducted in the past three years in a variety of locations in the Mediterranean, Middle East and Sahel under the CLICO research project. The CLICO project explored the social dimensions of climate change and in particular, conflicts related to water, and the threats this may pose for national and human security.

Chemical reactions occur so quickly that it is completely impossible to observe their progress or to control them using conventional methods. However, new developments in electrical engineering and quantum technology enable us to achieve a more exact understanding and improved control of the behaviour of atoms and molecules. At the TU Vienna, scientists have succeeded in influencing the splitting of large molecules with up to ten atoms using ultra-short laser pulses.

The flash of light which splits molecules

AMHERST, Mass. – A new high-resolution climate study by University of Massachusetts Amherst climate scientists, the first to apply regional climate models to examine likely near-term changes in temperature and precipitation across the Northeast United States, suggests temperatures are going to be significantly warmer in all seasons in the next 30 years, especially in winter. Also, they project that winters will be wetter, with more rain likely than snow.

A detailed analysis of sediments from the island of Bonaire in the Caribbean presents convincing evidence for an extraordinary wave impact dating back some 3,300 years, even though no historical records of tsunamis exist for this island. Of particular interest are the consequences this large wave impact had on the island's ecosystem. The sediments studied by the scientists suggested that this tsunami entirely changed the coastal ecosystem and sedimentation patterns in the area. The work by Dr.

Understanding the arrangement of atoms in a solid — one of solids' fundamental properties — is vital to advanced materials research. For decades, two camps of researchers have been working to develop methods to understand these so-called crystal structures. "Solution" methods, championed by experimental researchers, draw on data from diffraction experiments, while "prediction" methods of computational materials scientists bypass experimental data altogether.

and Spanish.

Montreal, 10 December 2012—Right now, if businesses or environmental officials need to estimate the impact of different greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction measures in one country or region of North America compared to another, they face multiple GHG reporting regimes with varying levels of detail and complexity.

An analysis of sulfide ore deposits from one of the world's richest base-metal mines confirms that oxygen levels were extremely low on Earth 2.7 billion years ago, but also shows that microbes were actively feeding on sulfate in the ocean and influencing seawater chemistry during that geological time period.

The research, reported by a team of Canadian and U.S. scientists in Nature Geoscience, provides new insight into how ancient metal-ore deposits can be used to better understand the chemistry of the ancient oceans – and the early evolution of life.

A decade ago, a British philosopher put forth the notion that the universe we live in might in fact be a computer simulation run by our descendants. While that seems far-fetched, perhaps even incomprehensible, a team of physicists at the University of Washington has come up with a potential test to see if the idea holds water.

A North Carolina State University researcher has taken a "snapshot" of the way particles combine to form carbon-12, the element that makes all life on Earth possible. And the picture looks like a bent arm.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — You'd think it would be easy to use seismic waves to find tunnels dug by smugglers of drugs, weapons or people.

You'd be wrong.

Nedra Bonal of Sandia's geophysics and atmospheric sciences organization is nearing the end of a two-year study, "Improving Shallow Tunnel Detection From Surface Seismic Methods," aimed at getting a better look at the ground around tunnels and learning why seismic data finds some tunnels but not others.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10, 2012 — The chemistry of early photography comes under the lens in a new episode of Bytesize Science, the American Chemical Society (ACS) award-winning video series. Produced by the ACS Office of Public Affairs, it is available at www.BytesizeScience.com.

Mountaintop mining is the practice of using huge machines to remove layers of soil and rock to reach thin seams of coal.

It is an efficient way to reach the high-thermal value, low-impurity coal in the central Appalachian range, which accounts for one-fifth of the nation's coal, and it is a resource for American energy independence.

But it has disadvantages — mountaintops are deposited into valleys, trees and habitats are destroyed, chemical drainage may pollute streams, and many find it ugly.

The most pressing issues that UK marine science needs to address over the next two decades are the subject of a prospectus published as a themed issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A last month. The volume is co-edited and carries contributions by scientists based at the National Oceanography Centre Southampton (NOCS).