South Dakota’s geology hasn’t changed much during the past few thousand years, but our knowledge of it has grown so much since 1953 that a new geological map of the entire state became necessary.

“The map is multidimensional in its use,” Dr. James Martin said. Martin is the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology’s curator of vertebrate paleontology and a professor in the engineering and science university’s Department of Geology and Geological Engineering. Ma

The scientific community’s work to create the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) enters a new phase today. Bruce Hayden, an ecologist at the University of Virginia and principal investigator for the project, along with William Michener, associate director of NSF’s Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network, will direct the NEON project office at the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) headquarters in Washington, D.C.

With a two-year, $6 million cooperative

Recent analyses of ESA’s Mars Express data reveal that concentrations of water vapour and methane in the atmosphere of Mars significantly overlap. This result, from data obtained by the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS), gives a boost to understanding of geological and atmospheric processes on Mars, and provides important new hints to evaluate the hypothesis of present life on the Red Planet.

PFS observed that, at 10-15 kilometres above the surface, water vapour is well mixed and

Think about a piece of chocolate. Imagine it melting in your mouth. The sensation is delicious. Now think of the same image, but this time the chocolate is covered by a white film on its surface. This white film is produced when chocolate is poorly crystallised or when it is stored under the wrong conditions. We ’eat’ also with our eyes, so such bad-looking chocolate seems less nice to the palate. Here is where scientists come into the picture. Researchers from The Netherlands working at the ESRF

New research published in the September 17 issue of the journal Science sheds light on the evolution of Earth’s climate system by identifying changes in temperature, ocean circulation, and global carbon cycling associated with the rapid growth of Antarctic ice sheets approximately 14 million years ago.

By studying chemical changes in deep sea sediments, scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara discovered that high-latitude Southern Ocean cooling helped to trigg

ENVIRONNEMENT SA, which specialises in instrumentation for the environment sector, has just secured its largest ever contract, which entails providing a turnkey air-quality monitoring network for Poland. The French specialist company is due to install 31 monitoring stations across the country as part of the deal.

ENVIRONNEMENT SA will be participating in the POLLUTEC trade fair in November in Vienna (Austria). ENVIRONNEMENT SA manufactures automated equipment and systems for contin

Infectious disease epidemics are causing widespread and alarming declines in reef-building coral species, the foundation blocks of coral reef ecosystems. The emergence of these diseases has occurred simultaneously with large increases in the abundance of seaweeds, called macroalgae.

Macroalgae frequently interact with corals, usually by overgrowing them from their edges. In the October issue of Ecology Letters, Nugues, Smith, van Hooidonk, Seabra and Bak demonstrate a sinister asp

The first Meteosat Second Generation meteorological satellite is today in operational service as Meteosat-8. The data it streams down from 36000 km over Africa’s Gulf of Guinea assists not just European weather forecasters but also numerous scientific teams.

This dual role was highlighted during a two-day Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) Research Announcement of Opportunity Workshop in Salzburg Austria, last week, running alongside the final two days of ESA’s Envisat S

Remote ‘marine deserts’ and dense plankton blooms could provide scientists with clues for understanding climate change.
A research team will set sail from Southampton, Friday, 17th September 2004, for the start of an expedition to study the interaction between the atmosphere and plankton – tiny floating marine organisms. By monitoring these organisms and the influence of changing climate on their growth, they hope to discover whether they act as a source of carbon dioxide, or a ‘sink’ in

In these days when it costs nearly $50 a barrel, spilled oil – unlike milk – could be worth crying about, especially in Texas.

A team of Texas A&M University researchers has developed – and continues to refine – a system of buoys in the Gulf of Mexico that can accurately predict the movement of oil spills. Such spills can present Texas-sized problems, both environmentally and economically, to the state’s coastline.

The buoys can even be used to locate ship passengers

Work is underway by researchers at the University of Southampton’s School of Biological Sciences to help halt the decline in bumble bees.

‘Survival of at least five rare species is threatened by the spread of intensive agriculture destroying wild flowers and hedgerows, which are the bees’ natural habitat,’ said Dr Dave Goulson, ‘Colonies do not seem able to survive in small areas such as nature reserves and many are dying out. Three species are already extinct in the UK.’

Today, Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) and Devgen N.V. announced a research and development collaboration to develop varieties of crop plants with improved resistance against insect pests.

“This product-focused collaboration provides our researchers with novel approaches and complementary technologies to develop new ways to control insect pests in corn, cotton and soybean,” said Robert T. Fraley, Ph.D., Monsanto executive vice president and chief technology officer.

Pierre Hoch

They hadn’t planned it, but Meriwether Lewis and William Clark picked a fine time for a road trip when they set out to find a water route across the American Northwest two centuries ago.

Leading a small group of explorers, known as the Corps of Discovery, Lewis and Clark experienced favorable climatic conditions from 1804 to 1806 in search of an inland “Northwest Passage,” according to a Georgia State University professor.

The timing of the trip was crucial because ha

Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey are closely watching the long, thin barrier islands that comprise the Gulf of Mexico coast of west Florida as Hurricane Ivan approaches. These islands are particularly vulnerable to storm surge and coastal change during hurricanes because of their low elevation. New elevation maps show just how vulnerable.

“If Hurricane Ivan comes ashore on west Florida’s barrier islands as a major hurricane, Category 3 or stronger, most of the coast has the potenti

Studies demonstrate that trees keep pollutants out of streams, help process pollutants in them

A team of researchers led by scientists from the Stroud Water Research Center in Avondale, Pa., has discovered that streamside (or riparian) forests play a critical – and previously unacknowledged – role in protecting the world’s fresh water.

Their findings, funded jointly by the National Science Foundation and Environmental Protection Agency and published online this week in

The simplest molecule presents the best opportunity for energy. With global energy demands projected to rise 66% by 2030, the world desperately needs alternatives to fossil fuels. Hydrogen power, a recent media phenomenon, presents an enticing alternative – one whose development reaches much further back than most imagine. -When people hear ‘hydrogen power,’ they don’t realize that we’ve been working on it for 25 years, says Trygve Riis, the Norwegian chairman of the International Energy Agency’s