Other Sciences News

Helheim Glacier. Image credit: Nick Selmes / Swansea University.

Scientists Determine What Causes Glacial Earthquakes

Jun 26, 2015 by News Staff

A group of geoscientists led by Dr Tavi Murray of Swansea University, UK, has shown that during the glacier edge breaking process, known as calving, the...

Inside the head of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, an antenna-like structure at the tip of the AFD neuron (green) is the sensor for Earth’s magnetic field. Image credit: Andrés Vidal-Gadea.

Scientists Discover First Magnetosensitive Neuron in Animal

Jun 18, 2015 by News Staff

A group of scientists, led by Dr Jon Pierce-Shimomura of the University of Texas at Austin, has identified a magnetosensitive neuron in the brain of Caenorhabditis...

Arctic Ocean Becoming Less Hospitable to Shelled Species

Jun 17, 2015 by News Staff

The surface waters of the Arctic Ocean could reach levels of acidity that threaten the ability of animals to build and maintain their shells by 2030, according...

Groundwater storage trends for world’s 37 largest aquifer systems. Of these, 21 have exceeded sustainability tipping points and are being depleted, with 13 considered significantly distressed, threatening regional water security and resilience. Image credit: University of California, Irvine / NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Earth’s Groundwater Reserves Likely Far Smaller than Thought

Jun 17, 2015 by News Staff

Two new studies using data from NASA’s GRACE satellites have found that 21 of planet’s 37 largest aquifers are being rapidly depleted by human consumption,...

Light emission from graphene suspended above a silicon chip. Image credit: Young Duck Kim / Columbia University.

Researchers Create ‘Light Bulb’ with Graphene Filament

Jun 15, 2015 by News Staff

Scientists have demonstrated for the first time a visible light source using graphene as a filament. Optical image of remarkably bright visible light emission...

Bronze Age DNA Gives Clues to How Modern Eurasia Was Formed

Jun 11, 2015 by News Staff

The Bronze Age was a period of major cultural changes in Europe and Central Asia. However, there is debate about whether these changes resulted from the...

An artist’s impression of plasma tubes in the Earth’s magnetosphere. Image credit: Mats Bjorkland / ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics.

Scientists Detect Plasma Tubes in Earth’s Magnetosphere

Jun 5, 2015 by News Staff

Scientists using the Murchison Widefield Array in the Western Australian desert have confirmed the existence of tubular plasma structures between the plasmasphere...

Thousands of supraglacial lakes form each spring and summer on top of the Greenland Ice Sheet. When they drain, they send torrents of water to the base of the ice sheet, lubricating the interface between rock and ice. That allows the ice sheet to flow faster to the ocean and discharge ice into ocean, which causes sea levels to rise faster. Image credit: Laura Stevens / Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

New Study Explains What Triggers Sudden Drainages of Greenland Supraglacial Lakes

Jun 4, 2015 by News Staff

Many glacial lakes atop the Greenland Ice Sheet disappear completely within hours when large cracks form below them, draining the lakes and sending torrents...

This scanning electron microscope image shows a single Archimedean nano-spiral. Image credit: Haglund Laboratory / Vanderbilt University.

Gold Nano-Spirals Could Protect Against Identity Theft

Jun 4, 2015 by News Staff

A team of researchers led by Dr Roderick Davidson II of Vanderbilt University has created nano-spirals with unique optical properties that would be almost...

This map shows the California Borderland and its major tectonic features, as well as the locations of earthquakes greater than magnitude 5.5. The dashed box shows the area of the new study. Large arrows show relative plate motion for the Pacific-North America fault boundary. Image credit: Mark Legg.

Researchers Map Active Fault Zones off Southern California Coast

Jun 1, 2015 by News Staff

According to a group of scientists headed by Dr Mark Legg of Legg Geophysical in Huntington Beach, residents of coastal Southern California could be surprised...

Image of a pair of engram (mCherry+) and nonengram (mCherry–) cells in the hippocampal dentate gyrus. Image credit: Tomás J. Ryan et al.

Neuroscientists Reactivate ‘Lost’ Memories in Mice

Jun 1, 2015 by News Staff

According to a group of researchers led by Prof Susumu Tonegawa from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, memories that have been lost as a result of...

Everest and Khumbu glacier in the Dudh Koshi basin. Image credit: Patrick Wagnon.

Everest Glaciers Very Sensitive to Global Warming, Researchers Say

May 28, 2015 by News Staff

According to a team of scientists led by Dr Joseph Shea of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in Kathmandu, Nepal, if greenhouse-gas...

Sima de los Huesos hominins lived in what is now Spain about 400,000 years ago. Image credit: © Kennis & Kennis / Madrid Scientific Films.

Sima de los Huesos Hominin Skull Shows Evidence of Earliest Known Murder

May 28, 2015 by News Staff

Wounds identified on a 430,000-year-old hominin skull from the archaeological site of Sima de los Huesos in northern Spain may indicate one of the first...

The left half of the lower jaw of Australopithecus deyiremeda. Image credit: Yohannes Haile-Selassie / Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

Australopithecus deyiremeda: New Hominin Species Discovered in Ethiopia

May 27, 2015 by News Staff

A multinational group of anthropologists has described a new human ancestor species that lived in what is now the Afar region of Ethiopia about 3.3 –...

Babies are able to learn abstract relations before the first year of life. Image credit: Kang Heungbo.

Babies Can Form Abstract Relations Before They Learn Words

May 26, 2015 by News Staff

According to a new study published in the journal Child Development, infants are capable of understanding abstract relations like ‘same’ and ‘different.’ Babies...

Molecular structure of thiophene-1,1-dioxide oligomers and schematic of the molecular junction created using asymmetric area electrodes. Image credit: Brian Capozzi et al.

Scientists Create Single-Molecule Diode

May 26, 2015 by News Staff

A group of scientists led by Dr Latha Venkataraman of Columbia University has developed a single-molecule diode that may have real-world technological...

Nearly cloud-free view of the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Image credit: NASA / GSFC / MODIS Rapid Response Team.

Researchers Observe Sudden Increase of Ice Loss on Southern Antarctic Peninsula

May 22, 2015 by News Staff

Using measurements of the elevation of the Antarctic ice sheet made by a suite of satellites, a group of scientists led by Dr Bert Wouters from the University...

This transparent and photoluminescent nanocellulose paper could lead to sustainable, roll-up electronics. Image credit: American Chemical Society.

Researchers Create Glowing Nanocellulose Paper

May 20, 2015 by News Staff

A team of scientists at Sichuan University in China has developed the first light-emitting, transparent and flexible paper out of environmentally friendly...

Early farmers. Image credit: sjs.org / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Agriculture, Fall in Mobility Made Humans More ‘Domestic,’ Finds News Study

May 19, 2015 by News Staff

A new study of the bones of hundreds of humans who lived during the past 33,000 years in Europe finds the rise of agriculture and a corresponding fall...