Earth

Alexandria, VA - A 2002 eruption of Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that killed more than 100 people also triggered an earthquake eight months later that shook the town of Kalehe in the Lake Kivu region. EARTH Magazine explores just what happened to better understand a region that is being pulled apart by plate tectonics.

Hundreds of feet above the ground, atop a giant sequoia tree, as many as 2 billion leaves vie for resources. Twigs teem with leaves growing long and splayed or short and tight, depending on their placement in the crown. Leaves that establish live for up to 20 years, drawing water up the tree's trunk and sending nutrients down, while the trunk amasses wood and survives for thousands of years. The giant sequoia's size---it's the most massive non-fungal organism on Earth---is possible in part because its leaves are responsive to environmental changes.

MISSOULA, Montana - A University of Montana researcher is part of a team whose research is breaking ground on the complexity of earthquakes and the possibility to forecast them. The journal Nature Geoscience features their research online at http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo2734.html.

A physics experiment performed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has enhanced scientists' understanding of how free neutrons decay into other particles. The work provides the first measurement of the energy spectrum of photons, or particles of light, that are released in the otherwise extensively measured process known as neutron beta decay. The details of this decay process are important because, for example, they help to explain the observed amounts of hydrogen and other light atoms created just after the Big Bang.

A new study from the Cava lab has revealed a unifying connection between seemingly unrelated materials that exhibit extreme magnetoresistance, the ability of some materials to drastically change their electrical resistance in response to a magnetic field, a property that could be useful in magnetic memory applications.

Global emissions of ethane, an air pollutant and greenhouse gas, are on the uptick again, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder.

Researchers from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, have demonstrated the ability to manipulate the vibrations of a drum of nanometre scale thickness - realizing the world's smallest and most versatile drum. This work has implications in improving the sensitivity of small detectors of mass - very important in detecting the mass of small molecules like viruses. This also opens the doors to probing exciting new aspects of fundamental physics.

Cats understand the principle of cause and effect as well as some elements of physics. Combining these abilities with their keen sense of hearing, they can predict where possible prey hides. These are the findings of researchers from Kyoto University in Japan, led by Saho Takagi and published in Springer's journal Animal Cognition.

WASHINGTON, June 14, 2016 -- You might have seen this wacky experiment in a chemistry class or on late-night TV. Dropping a mixture into some hydrogen peroxide produces a huge foamy flume. But what's actually causing that big mess? Turns out it's a great illustration of a key concept in chemistry. In this week's video, Reactions teams up with chemistry professor Matt Hartings, Ph.D., to explain the Elephant Toothpaste experiment. Check it out here: https://youtu.be/PX7TIqAJRSY.

Volcanoes are an explosive and mysterious process by which molten rock from Earth's interior escapes back into the atmosphere. Why the volcano erupts - and where it draws its lava from - could help trace the lifecycle of materials that make up our planet.

New University of Washington research shows that a common type of volcano is not just spewing molten rock from the mantle, but contains elements that suggest something more complicated is drawing material out of the descending plate of Earth's crust.

WELLESLEY, Mass./SAN DIEGO, Calif.--Professor Chris Arumainayagam will announce findings from his research conducted at Wellesley College today, Monday, June 13, as part of the annual press briefings kicking off the American Astronomical Society (AAS) national conference in San Diego, Calif.

Urbana, Ill.--"Jumping genes" are ubiquitous. Every domain of life hosts these sequences of DNA that can "jump" from one position to another along a chromosome; in fact, nearly half the human genome is made up of jumping genes. Depending on their specific excision and insertion points, jumping genes can interrupt or trigger gene expression, driving genetic mutation and contributing to cell diversification.

Naturally formed quasicrystals--crystal-like solids with supposedly impossible symmetries--are among the rarest structures on Earth. Only two have ever been found.

A team led by Paul Asimow (MS '93, PhD '97), professor of geology and geochemistry at Caltech, may have uncovered one of the reasons for that scarcity, demonstrating in laboratory experiments that quasicrystals could arise from collisions between rocky bodies in the asteroid belt with unusual chemical compositions.

Carbon dioxide emissions from dry and oxygen-rich environments will likely strengthen the climate forcing impact of thawing permafrost on top of methane release from oxygen-poor wetlands in the Arctic, according to a study in Nature Climate Change.

The study, published today, was led by Northern Arizona University assistant research professor, Christina Schädel. One of her collaborators is Evan Kane, an assistant professor of soils at Michigan Technological University.

June 13, 2016 - A new study by a multi-institutional team, led by researchers from Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University, has revealed exotic magnetic properties in a rare-earth based intermetallic compound. Similar studies suggest a better understanding of those types of behaviors could lead to applications in quantum computing and improved storage device technologies.