Two of the nation’s premier atmospheric scientists, after reviewing extensive research by their colleagues, say there is no longer any doubt that human activities are having measurable-and increasing-impacts on global climate. Their study cites atmospheric observations and multiple computer models to paint a detailed picture of climate changes likely to buffet Earth in coming decades, including rising temperatures and an increase in extreme weather events, such as flooding and drought. The study

Using qualitative modelling, the risk of earthquakes due to gas extraction can be determined more clearly. “This is done by using three dimensional modelling software to calculate and simulate the forces and movements around geological faults deep under the ground,” says Frans Mulders who, on 3 December, will defend his PhD thesis at TU Delft. “Currently, the KNMI determines the probability of earthquakes primarily through statistical data,” says Mulders. “It is important to complement that data wit

Study in Environmental Health Perspectives Also Finds Interference with Sex Hormone Synthesis

Male school children exposed to the pesticide endosulfan showed delayed sexual maturity compared with similar children who were not exposed, according to a study published today in the December issue of the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP). Endosulfan also appears to interfere with sex hormone synthesis, according to results of the study of males aged 10-19 years

The “Great Dying”, a time of earth’s greatest number of extinctions, appears to have been caused by the impact of a large meteor, according to a research team that includes Luann Becker, a scientist with the Institute for Crustal Studies in the Department of Geology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The theory, recently published by the team in the journal Science (Nov. 21, 2003), explains that this extinction event, which occurred approximately 251 million years ago, is m

A $5 million University of Colorado at Boulder satellite dubbed the “Little Satellite That Did” now is expected to re-enter the atmosphere and burn up in early December following a successful six-year mission.

The Student Nitric Oxide Explorer, or SNOE, is carrying instruments that have measured nitric oxide in the upper atmosphere that affects Earth’s ozone layer, the intensity of X-rays from the sun and ultraviolet light from Earth’s aurora. Developed at CU-Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmosp

A new report showing how one regional community can better manage its eco- systems may have implications for regional areas not only across Australia but around the world.

CSIRO researchers have recently explored ’ecosystem services’ in the Goulburn Broken Catchment and found that Australians are developing a new and deeper understanding of how the environment underpins human activities.

“Services that ecosystems provide to humans are necessary to support and fulfi

Italy Hosts Second Meeting Of Group On Earth Observation

The ad-hoc intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) will hold its second meeting this week in Baveno, Italy. The meeting aims to give direction to the continued development of a 10-year plan to implement a comprehensive, coordinated, and sustained Earth observation system or set of systems. The first meeting took place in August 2003 in Washington, DC, immediately after the first Earth Observation Summit, which estab

“We should not count on carbon storage by land ecosystems to make a massive contribution to slowing climate change,” said Dr. Christopher Field, director of the Department of Global Ecology at the Carnegie Institution. “And lower storage of carbon in these ecosystems results in a faster increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide, leading to more rapid global warming.”

Future atmospheric levels of the notorious heat-trapping gas, carbon dioxide, remain a controversial topic among environmental

A western American pasture grass crossed with wheat can improve resistance to a fungus that can be toxic to plants, animals and people, according to Purdue University researchers.

Resistance genes in the grass that replaced genes in wheat increased protection against Fusarium head blight, or wheat scab, the scientists said. In the December issue of the journal Theoretical and Applied Genetics the researchers also report that they located and mapped the small bits of DNA, or markers, associa

To society, the word means racial, ethnic and cultural differences. To scientists interested in biological diversity, the meaning is no different.

So assembling Hispanic, African-American and Caucasian students and professors to examine the genome of grain sorghum, and tap into the collection of 40,000 different varieties from around the world, seems like the sensible thing to do.

Outreach to under-represented groups in hopes of attracting new scientists is part of a $2 million so

As the first snowfalls mark the opening of the new skiing season in Europe, glaciologists at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (UWA) are warning that time may be running out for ski resorts built on glaciers.

Dr Bryn Hubbard of the Centre for Glaciology at UWA is studying the response of some of the world’s most sensitive ice masses to climate change. As part of the work his team is set to study the decay of the Tsanfleuron glacier in Switzerland, home to one of the country’s premier summ

Continual release of gas from rising magma defuses explosive eruption

Two University of California, Berkeley, geophysicists have proposed an explanation for the unpredictable nature of volcanic eruptions, why volcanoes sometimes ooze lava, but at other times explode in showers of ash and pumice.

“One of the central problems of volcanoes is: Why do they erupt and why do they alternate between relatively benign effusive eruptions and destructive explosive eruptions?” said Mich

A group of scientists from the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), working with the Marine and Coastal Management Branch of South Africa, have perfected an unusual, hands-on method to study great white sharks, where these fearsome predators are gently hauled into research vessels to receive high-tech satellite tags.

According to the scientists, the technique is safe to both shark and researcher, resulting in better data to understand – and ultimately protect – one of nature&#

As squirrels gather nuts for winter, they also plant the seeds of future forests — but the different ways squirrel species hoard nuts, coupled with changes in squirrel populations, may significantly alter the course of forest regeneration, according to a Purdue University study.

The study examined differences in the hoarding behavior of red squirrels and gray squirrels in west-central Indiana. The researchers used that information to develop a model that predicts how these differences may i

The greenhouse gas, methane, has stopped growing in the global background atmosphere and could begin to decrease, CSIRO researchers announced today.

“Methane is the second most important gas after carbon dioxide. It is responsible for a fifth of the enhanced greenhouse effect over the past 200 years,” says Dr Paul Fraser, a chief research scientist at CSIRO Atmospheric Research.

“Over the past four years there has been no growth in atmospheric methane concentrations compared to a

In the Caribbean Sea, coral reefs — those gorgeous, eye-popping, fish-nourishing, ship-scraping biological wonders that are among the region’s crown jewels — continue to die rapidly, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill biologist says. Their future looks bleak.

Dr. John Bruno, assistant professor of marine sciences at UNC, and colleagues at other U.S. universities, believe they have identified one reason why. Results of field experiments they conducted off Mexico’s Yuca