In the first field trial of plants genetically tweaked to absorb more contaminants, researchers found that the transgenic plants handily beat out their wild-type counterparts. The results raised hopes that the plants might become a viable alternative for cleaning up polluted soil.

The new research findings, published today (Tuesday, Feb. 1) in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, show that three transgenic lines of the Indian mustard plant, Brassica juncea, absorbed

It is a premise in ecology that undisturbed ecosystems are relatively stable, and hence that sudden changes in ecosystem are likely to result from external, mostly human influences. Johan van de Koppel, Daphne van der Wal, Jan P. Bakker, and Peter M. J. Herman present a combined theoretical and empirical study indicating that natural processes within salt-marsh ecosystems can lead to ecosystem destruction. They model salt-marsh development based on the mutually enforcing interaction between plant

Physicists in the US have proven that wax is a perfect model of the ocean floors. Using a tub of wax, geophysicists at Cornell and Columbia have produced a predictive model of tectonic microplates – one of the most important and poorly understood features of plate tectonics – for the first time. This research is reported today in the New Journal of Physics (www.njp.org) published jointly by the Institute of Physics and the German Physical Society (Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft).

The February issue of GEOLOGY covers a wide variety of potentially newsworthy subjects. Topics include: earthquakes in the central Indian Ocean and possible break-up of the Indo-Australian tectonic plate; dynamics of the Chicxulub impact tsunami; sea-level rise and the future of reef islands; evidence for abrupt climate change triggered by meltwater from glacial Lake Iroquois; new evidence from the Late Ordovician of CO2 as driver of climate change; and new support for a causal relationship bet

An advanced radar technique to image forests in three dimensions has undergone an ESA-backed test campaign in Indonesia. A future space-based version could measure global biomass to sharpen the accuracy of climate change models.

The campaign, called the Second Indonesian Airborne Radar Experiment (INDREX-II), involved flying a test instrument called the Experimental Synthetic Aperture Radar (E-SAR), built by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), in a Dornier-228 aircraft over eight tes

Transport research must focus on the challenges of the future, such as keeping people and products mobile, improving road safety and energy efficiency, and making the sector more competitive. This is the clear message of the European Road Transport Research Advisory Council (ERTRAC) which will tomorrow unveil its Strategic Research Agenda for the sector. ERTRAC brings together all players of the sector – automotive industry, road infrastructures, local and national governments, NGOs, universit

European scientists confirmed that Arctic high atmosphere is reaching the lowest ever temperatures this winter, warning that destruction of the protective ozone layer is substantially increased under very cold conditions. First signs of ozone loss have already been detected. The ozone layer is located in the so called stratosphere, the lowest layer of the atmosphere, at an altitude of about 8 km in the Poles, and its function is to protect the earth’s surface from harmful solar UV radiation.

Scientists will be able to view the sea bed in incredible 3-D detail following new investment and collaboration in the School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Science at Cardiff University, UK.

The new CodaOctopus laboratory will map extensive areas of the sea bed to create a virtual reality image, allowing scientists to walk the sea bed from the laboratory. It features novel 3-D methods to map the seabed, addressing risks in terms of marine security, the environment and health and s

Evidence is mounting that climate change is adversely affecting wildlife, an international scientific conference on climate change will hear today.

John Lanchbery, Head of Climate Change at the RSPB, Europe’s largest wildlife conservation group, will present a paper to the conference warning that failure to cut levels of the greenhouse gases responsible for air and sea temperature rises, could cause the loss of thousands of species.

“There is substantial and compelling evide

CSIRO Minerals has found a way to reduce waste from car recycling, recycle materials that are currently thrown away, and make the end waste less harmful for disposal.

In the age of environmental responsibility, old cars no longer rust away disgracefully, overgrown by weeds in remote country paddocks. Today they disappear into the jaws of huge shredding machines in metal recycling plants, along with broken washing machines, refrigerators and other metal wastes.

The recycl

Oil-coated birds turning up on southern California beaches in recent weeks have raised concern about potential oil sources. The Coal Oil Point seep field, located offshore and adjacent to the University of California, Santa Barbara, is one of the biggest natural marine oil and gas seeps in the world and is the predominant source of oil to southern California waters. Extensive oil slicks have been observed near Coal Oil Point since the recent severe storms pummeled the region in January. These

It takes seismic force to make the ground give up its secrets. Through the years, those searching for oil and gas have used varied methods to send sound energy into the ground and to record the waves reflected by the geological features beneath the surface.

Modern methods include large vibrator trucks and many thousands of surface sensors called geophones, all precisely located to obtain the most useful information with which to explore for hydrocarbons. Today, seismic surveys pl

Scientists studying satellite data have discovered an immense wintertime pool of pollution over the northern Indian state of Bihar. Blanketing around 100 million people, primarily in the Ganges Valley, the pollution levels are about five times larger than those typically found over Los Angeles.

The discovery was made by researchers analyzing four years of data collected by the Multi-angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MISR) onboard the Terra satellite. Lofted into orbit on Dec. 1

An international team of scientists embarked this week on a journey to improve modeling of global-scale air quality and climate change predictions by conducting high quality measurements of the Arctic region’s atmosphere.

The Polar Aura Validation Experiment (PAVE) will gather information to validate data from NASA’s Aura satellite, launched in July 2004. PAVE is the third in a series of planned Aura validation and science missions. These missions will help understand the trans

Winter is here, snow is falling in many areas of the country, and some of us are already wishing for the return of hot summer days. But, would you believe that even on the hottest summer day the temperature inside some clouds remains icy and winter-like, producing temperature readings as cold as negative 70 degrees Celsius (negative 94 degrees Fahrenheit)? Would you also believe that the ice crystals that form at the top of big summertime clouds may help scientists predict next winter’s

Research offers new opportunities in the fields of renewable energy, pollution control and in the chemical industry.

On January 28th 2005 Science features a paper by researchers from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and Haldor Topsøe A/S. The paper demonstrates that by applying the quantum theory you can calculate the performance of catalysts to be used in everything from cars to the future production of hydrogen.

So far the development of new catalysts have been b