Earth

GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- An international team of scientists is rewriting a page from the quantum physics rulebook using a University of Florida laboratory once dubbed the coldest spot in the universe.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new study of the sense of smell lends support to a controversial theory of olfaction: Our noses can distinguish both the shape and the vibrational characteristics of odorant molecules.

Large normal-sense displacement on the South Tibetan fault system in the eastern HimalayaF.J. Cooper et al., School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA. Posted online 4 Sept. 2012; 10.1130/G33318.1.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) released into the oceans as a result of water pollution by nutrients — a major source of this greenhouse gas that gets little public attention — is enhancing the unwanted changes in ocean acidity due to atmospheric increases in CO2. The changes may already be impacting commercial fish and shellfish populations, according to new data and model predictions published today in ACS's journal, Environmental Science & Technology.

A study on how gold atoms bond to other atoms using a model that takes into account bonds direction has been carried out by physicist Marie Backman from the University of Helsinki, Finland, and colleagues. These findings, which are about to be published in EPJ B, are a first step toward better understanding how gold binds to other materials through strong, so-called covalent, bonds.

A study has highlighted the sensitivity of Australia's species and ecosystems to climate change, and the need for new ways of thinking about biodiversity conservation.

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new computational method for identifying candidate refrigerant fluids with low "global warming potential" (GWP) — the tendency to trap heat in the atmosphere for many decades — as well as other desirable performance and safety features.

While wave watching is a favorite pastime of beachgoers, few notice what is happening in the shallowest water. A closer look by two University of Colorado Boulder applied mathematicians has led to the discovery of interacting X- and Y-shaped ocean waves that may help explain why some tsunamis are able to wreak so much havoc.

MADISON -- Among his many qualities, the pioneering wildlife ecologist Aldo Leopold was a meticulous taker of field notes.

During the first six months of 2012, sea surface temperatures in the Northeast Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem were the highest ever recorded, according to the latest Ecosystem Advisory issued by NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC). Above-average temperatures were found in all parts of the ecosystem, from the ocean bottom to the sea surface and across the region, and the above average temperatures extended beyond the shelf break front to the Gulf Stream.

An international research group – with the participation of the University of Granada – has achieved to measure the effects of layers on super-heavy elements, which provides useful data on the nuclear structure of these as-yet undiscovered elements in Nature. These results might be useful to locate the so-called "Island of Stability" introduced by a theory that states the existence of highly stable super-heavy elements with very long average lives.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The discovery of a new gene could lead to better bug-resistant plants.

Research led by Michigan State University and appearing on the cover of this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrates that domestic tomatoes could re-learn a thing or two from their wild cousins.

Systems paleobiology seeks to interpret the history of life within the framework of Earth's environmental history, using physiology as the conceptual bridge between paleontological and geochemical data sets.

In some cases, physiological performance can be estimated directly and quantitatively from fossils—this is commonly the case for vascular plant remains. In other instances, statistical inferences about physiology can be made on the basis of phylogenetic relationships.

As sea ice in the Arctic continues to shrink during this century, more than two thirds of the area with sufficient snow cover for ringed seals to reproduce also will disappear, challenging their survival, scientists report in a new study.

The ringed seal, currently under consideration for threatened species listing, builds caves to rear its young in snow drifts on sea ice. Snow depths must be on average at least 20 centimeters, or 8 inches, to enable drifts deep enough to support the caves.

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) –– An international team of physicists is working to ascertain more about the fundamental physical laws that are at work in a process known as convection, which occurs in a boiling pot of water as well as in the turbulent movement of the liquid outer core of the Earth. The team's new finding specifies the way that the temperature of a gas or liquid varies with the distance from a heat source during convection. The research is expected to eventually help engineers with applications such as the design of cooling systems, for instance, in nuclear power plants.