Earth

A new discovery will make it possible to create pixels just a few hundred nanometres across that could pave the way for extremely high-resolution and low-energy thin, flexible displays for applications such as 'smart' glasses, synthetic retinas, and foldable screens.

TEMPE, Ariz. (July 9, 2014) – An international team, led by Arizona State University scientists, has published today in Nature a groundbreaking study that shows the first snapshots of photosynthesis in action as it splits water into protons, electrons and oxygen, the process that maintains Earth's oxygen atmosphere.

A new study shows that some shark species may be able to cope with the rising salinity of Arctic waters that may come with rising temperatures.

Tropical Storm Fausto was literally born yesterday and strengthened to a tropical storm quickly. Satellite imagery from NOAA's GOES-West satellite shows a rounded Fausto being "chased" by a developing area of low pressure to the east of the storm.

NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite GOES-West captured a combination visible and infrared image of the Eastern Pacific on July 8 at 1500 UTC (10 a.m. EDT). In the image, Tropical Storm Fausto appeared as a rounded area of clouds, compared to the amorphous developing low pressure area behind it.

California's landmark cap-and-trade system for regulating greenhouse gases could be vulnerable to price spikes and market manipulation, according to a new study released by scholars affiliated with the Energy Institute at Haas. But the state's air-quality regulators can prevent that outcome with three straightforward reforms, the study says.

Overturning conventional wisdom stretching all the way to Leonardo da Vinci, new Hebrew University of Jerusalem research shows that how things break (fracture) and how things slide (friction) are closely interrelated. The breakthrough study marks an important advance in understanding friction and fracture, with implications for describing the mechanics that drive earthquakes.

MIAMI – A new study on biological erosion of mesophotic tropical coral reefs, which are low energy reef environments between 30-150 meters deep, provides new insights into processes that affect the overall structure of these important ecosystems. The purpose of the study was to better understand how bioerosion rates and distribution of bioeroding organisms, such as fish, mollusks and sponges, differ between mesophotic reefs and their shallow-water counterparts and the implications of those variations on the sustainability of the reef structure.

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(Edmonton) In the drive to get small, Robert Wolkow and his lab at the University of Alberta are taking giant steps forward.

The digital age has resulted in a succession of smaller, cleaner and less power-hungry technologies since the days the personal computer fit atop a desk, replacing mainframe models that once filled entire rooms. Desktop PCs have since given way to smaller and smaller laptops, smartphones and devices that most of us carry around in our pockets.

WASHINGTON, July 7, 2014 — The World Cup final is almost here, and no matter which two teams meet for the title match, there's one thing they'll both need to win: the ball. This week, Reactions examines the chemistry that goes into making the "brazuca," and what makes it different from most other soccer balls out there. The video is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XNTfslUzt8.

A long-term study of the links between climate and marine life along the rapidly warming West Antarctic Peninsula reveals how changes in physical factors such as wind speed and sea-ice cover send ripples up the food chain, with impacts on everything from single-celled algae to penguins.

For the last century, the concept of crystals has been a mainstay of solid-state physics. Crystals are paragons of order; crystalline materials are defined by the repeating patterns their constituent atoms and molecules make.

Now physicists at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Chicago have evidence that a new concept should undergird our understanding of most materials: the anticrystal, a theoretical solid that is completely disordered.

Techniques for controlling ultra-cold atoms travelling in ring traps currently represent an important research area in physics. A new study gives a proof of principle, confirmed by numerical simulations, of the applicability to ultra-cold atoms of a very efficient and robust transport technique called spatial adiabatic passage (SAP). Yu Loiko from the University of Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues have, for the first time, applied SAP to inject, extract, and filter the velocity of neutral atoms from and into a ring trap.

New research shows projected changes in the winds circling the Antarctic may accelerate global sea level rise significantly more than previously estimated.

Changes to Antarctic winds have already been linked to southern Australia's drying climate but now it appears they may also have a profound impact on warming ocean temperatures under the ice shelves along the coastline of West and East Antarctic.