One of the first global-scale simulations of dust and climate from preindustrial times to the year 2100 projects a worldwide decrease in airborne dust of 20–63% by the end of this century. The computer model studies show less wind, more moisture, and enhanced vegetation in desert areas as carbon dioxide increases over the next century, keeping more of the world’s dust on the ground. Coauthor Natalie Mahowald of the National Center for Atmospheric Research presented the results this week at the A

Scientists have developed a system to increase the safety of genetically modified (GM) microbes for release into the environment.

Release of GM micro-organisms is a cause of great concern to many, because the microbes could pass on genes for disease or other harmful traits to others. But, a team of researchers from Spain and Germany believes that it is possible to reduce this risk.

Dr. Eduardo Díaz of Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas-CSIC in Madrid and his colleagues have deve

A previously unnoticed cooling trend that persisted for a millennium caused enough ice to build up in Antarctica’s Ross Sea that thousands of Adelie penguins abandoned their colonies beginning about 2,000 years ago, according to newly published research.

Using radiocarbon analyses of abandoned colonies on the Victoria Land coast of the Ross Sea, scientists believe that modern, ice free conditions developed in the region only within roughly the past 1,000 years and that the present Adelie

Marine seismology reveals Hawaiian volcano’s past, sheds light on future dangers

The Hawaiian Islands are home to the largest documented shoreline collapse in history, an ancient seaward landslide that sent rocks from the island of Oahu to sites more than 100 miles offshore. The avalanche of debris from the northeast shore of Oahu probably occurred between 1.5 and 3 million years ago, and it undoubtedly created one of the largest tsunamis in Earth’s history, a wave large enough t

Nearly 10 years after Los Angeles was shaken by the devastating, magnitude 6.7 Northridge earthquake, scientists at NASA and other institutions say maturing space-based technologies, new ground-based techniques and more complex computer models are rapidly advancing our understanding of earthquakes and earthquake processes.

Dr. Andrea Donnellan, a geophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., says the past decade has seen substantial progress in space-based earthqu

In a first-of-its-kind study, seismologists have used tiny “microearthquakes” along a section of California’s notorious San Andreas Fault to create unique images of the contorted geology scientists will face as they continue drilling deeper into the fault zone to construct a major earthquake “observatory.”

A chain of 32 seismometers recorded the small earthquakes at underground locations along a 7,100-foot-deep vertical drill hole. This eight-inch-diameter pilot hole was excavated last

Results may help settle debate about how Earth sheds its internal heat

Like doctors taking a sonogram of a human body, Princeton geoscientists have captured images of the interior of the Earth and revealed structures that help explain how the planet changes and ages.

The scientists used tremors from earthquakes to probe the inside of the planet just as sound waves allow doctors to look inside a mother’s womb. The technique, a greatly refined version of earlier efforts,

Researchers at the University of Durham are helping to preserve major historical sites.

Led by Professor Robert Allison under NERC’s Urban Regeneration and the Environment (URGENT) Programme, the scientists have developed a novel method of monitoring and testing archaeological sites uncovered by developers. Their research has involved a wide range of sites in central London.

St Mary Spital is one of the most important archaeological finds of our time. Archaeologists unco

The Navajo Sandstone — one of the brightly colored rock formations that comprise southern Utah’s famous redrock — is exposed in the cliffs at Zion National Park, the Petrified Dunes at Arches National Park and in many parts of Capitol Reef National Park.

Now, a new study from the University of Utah concludes that bleaching patterns in the Navajo Sandstone suggest the rock formation once may have harbored vast amounts of hydrocarbons, likely natural gas (methane). And when the once-buried

Nature publishes new findings that could lead to improved earthquake assessments

Seismologists have long known that the buildup of forces along fault zones cause the physical properties of rock and sediments to change deep inside the Earth, at the level where earthquakes occur. Based upon new findings, researchers believe they may be able to design active seismic monitoring systems that continually monitor these subtle changes, looking for telltale signs of an impending earthquake.

A research team from the IRD “Tropical Palaeo-environments and climatic variability” research unit and their American co-workers (1) have succeeded in retracing over a 23 000 year period the history of a coral reef of the Island of Urelapa, in Vanuatu. This fossil reef bears the record of the longest continuous growth – 17 000 years – ever studied by scientists (2). For the first time, researchers have at their disposal uninterrupted records of environmental data on the whole of the deglaciation peri

An international team of researchers has announced the discovery of new fossils from the highlands of Ethiopia. The fossils fill a long-standing gap in scientists’ understanding of the evolution of African mammals. The results are reported in this week’s issue of the journal Nature.

The team is composed of researchers from several U.S. universities, including the University of Texas, Washington University, and the University of Michigan, as well as Addis Ababa University and the N

Pioneering worldwide research has unearthed a major new source of data for weather forecasters hoping to predict future climate changes

For the past three years a team of international experts, led by the University of Sunderland, have been examining a vast array of ships’ logs – from 1750 to 1850 – which has given one of the most accurate pictures yet of daily weather over the oceans.

These logs have never before been examined in such detail and the findings have given scie

Atmospheric protection is a big challenge for the 21st century. In teaching scientists to design outputs that become the stuff of hard policy, the impact of EUROTRAC-2 is far-reaching.

Nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and aerosols, major contributors to atmospheric pollution, do not respect national borders. But thanks to EUREKA project E! 1489 EUROTRAC-2, the EU’s largest ever study on atmospheric pollution, we know much more about where such pollutants were created, under what chemical di

Evolution of genetically distinct species that live exclusively on land can be slowed by over-water dispersal following tropical storms, according to a UCLA study that suggests classic theories of island evolution need an overhaul.

In an article published Thursday, Dec. 4, in the journal Nature, postdoctoral fellow Ryan Calsbeek and Professor Thomas B. Smith of the UCLA Center for Tropical Research report that lizards long thought to be evolving independently on Caribbean Islands in fact e

Half of the southern Pacific Ocean is an immense reservoir of warm subtropical water, yet poor in nutrients and little conducive for the development of living organisms.

However, recent satellite observations have indicated the unexpected occurrence of points of unusually high concentrations of chlorophyll, the green pigment contained in phytoplankton. This would indicate the development of phytoplankton in these zones of otherwise low fertility. How can this occurrence be explained? IRD r