A new study by scientists at the University of Virginia (UVa) in Charlottesville and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, suggests that explosive volcanic eruptions in the tropics may increase the probability of an El Niño event occurring during the winter following the eruption. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

“The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the dominant mode of interannual climate variability on the planet,

The highly endangered North Atlantic right whale population is facing a difficult journey to recovery. That recovery may become even more precarious if North Atlantic climate takes a turn for the worse, according to Cornell University ecologists.

Cornell scientists say that winter atmospheric conditions over the North Atlantic affect the abundance of zooplankton eaten by right whales, one of the most endangered species of marine mammal. New models developed by these scientists can be used

A study published this week in the journal Nature has revealed that even the food chain has cliques

Research by a team at Michigan State University, University of Maryland and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory examined what ecologists have previously theorized: that plants and animals in a complex network of interconnecting food chains – called a food web — interact more frequently with each other than with species ou

Back in the old days, when doctors looked for tumors, exploratory surgery was the only option. Today they use CAT scans, x-rays, ultrasound, and other non-intrusive methods for checking out what lies beneath the skin’s surface. But how do we determine what is beneath the Earth’s surface? Invasive surgery on the Earth is just as dated as doctors’ old methods of finding tumors, if you ask Eric Miller, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Northeastern University. If we humans ca

Scientists studying the formation of the sea floor thousands of feet below the surface have a new theory for why there are so many holes and collapsed pits on the ocean bottom. In a recent article in the journal Nature, the researchers say the holes and pits of various sizes are probably formed by lava erupting onto the seafloor so quickly it traps water beneath it, forming bubbles of steam that eventually collapse as the water cools. The hardened crust then breaks, forming pock marks and glassy bla

Once a raging forest fire is quelled, the next worry is erosion of the landscape. With vegetation destroyed, rain easily washes away the soil, causing large flows of debris and landslides. Erosion endangers sources of drinking water, streams, and roads. In an unprecedented study, Chris Pannkuk and Peter Robichaud show that scorched evergreen needles can play a key role in preventing erosion after a forest fire. They found that ponderosa pine needles were effective in reducing erosion caused

Damaging winds can occur in previously overlooked places within a thunderstorm, according to a Purdue University earth scientist. The finding could help meteorologists save lives and reduce injuries by issuing more accurate storm warnings.

Based on new data on the behavior of winds in developing storms, Purdue’s Robert J. “Jeff” Trapp has found that the north side of a storm front can host cyclonic winds that are more intense than those at the storm’s “apex,” or leading point, whi

URI marine biologist says CO2 injection in deep sea would alter ocean chemistry, affect numerous creatures

A Bush Administration proposal to mitigate the effects of global warming by capturing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and injecting it into the deep sea could have disastrous effects on sea life, according to a University of Rhode Island researcher.

Brad Seibel, assistant professor of marine biology at URI, said that while the Administration’s plan is sti

Large, deep earthquakes have shaken the central Puget Sound region several times in the last century, and nerves have been rattled even more often by less-powerful deep quakes. New University of Washington research suggests the magnitude of these temblors might depend on just where beneath the Earth’s surface they occur.

Events such as the 2001 Nisqually earthquake and large quakes in 1965 and 1949 happened in what is called the Wadati-Benioff zone, an area deep below the surface where

Malaria is a major scourge on health in many parts of the world, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa where over 90% of declared cases have been recorded. Mosquito nets impregnated with insecticides are considered as a good prevention and control weapon against the mosquito vectors, in particular in areas where malaria is strongly endemic.

The only insecticides currently recommended by WHO (1) are pyrethroids whose rapid action causes a “knock-down (KD)” (2) effect and high mortality when mos

Plants have a conductive tissue, phloem, for transporting sugars and hormones to non-green parts after photosynthesis. Phloem has two basic cell types, enucleate sieve elements (SE) and companion cells (CC). Scientists from the University of Helsinki have developmentally analyzed the process of phloem development in Arabidopsis plant and identified a mutation in a novel gene that is required for instructing phloem differentiation in young, developing plant tissue. Their article is published in Nature

Columbia economist offers new way to compute prizes for agriculture research

After many decades of economic growth, the single most important cause of human mortality remains malnutrition. The World Health Organization estimates that food deficits cause about 6 million deaths per year, or 14 percent of the total. Surprisingly, most people who die from hunger are actually farmers – not by choice, but by necessity. They are born in rural areas, and have no other resources with which to

Are rainforests as ’natural’ as they appear? How best to replant large forest areas destroyed by fire? A new consultancy service providing the data needed to answer these and other questions has been established at the University of Oxford.

BioGeoSciences for Conservation’ (BGSC) has been set up to help managers having to make those decisions by providing information about how environments have evolved over long timescales. The consultancy service is backed by a specialist la

ESA’s Envisat satellite was witness to the dramatic last days of what was once the world’s largest iceberg, as a violent Antarctic storm cracked a 160-km-long floe in two.

A series of Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) instrument images acquired between mid-September and October record how the bottle-shaped iceberg B-15A was split by the onslaught of powerful storms, waves and ocean currents as its own weight kept it fixed on the floor of Antarctica’s Ros

Unparalleled investigation leads to looters’ haven and arrests

An unprecedented collaboration of archeologists, Maya villagers and Guatemalan authorities has resulted in the recovery of a magnificent Maya altar stone that was carved in 796 AD and sheds new light on the collapse of the classic Maya civilization. In addition to the altar’s archeological importance, its recovery illustrates the value of working with indigenous peoples to restore ancient ruins. Archaeologist Arthur D

A 30-year satellite record of sea ice in the two polar regions reveals that while the Northern Hemisphere Arctic ice has melted, Southern Hemisphere Antarctic ice has actually increased in more recent years. However, due to dramatic losses of Antarctic sea ice between 1973 and 1977, sea ice in both hemispheres has shrunk on average when examined over the 30-year time frame.

This study presents the longest continuous record of sea ice for both hemispheres based primarily on satellites, an