The next time the New Madrid fault zone produces a strong earthquake, buildings in the Midwest may see less damage if they use a new device developed by a researcher at the University of Missouri-Rolla.

Dr. Genda Chen, associate professor of civil engineering at UMR, has spent the past five years developing a “smart” damper that can adapt to external disturbances such as earthquakes and keep buildings from shaking as much. His most recent findings are included in an upcoming issue of the Jo

Researchers from around the globe participating in the world’s largest environmental science experiment, the Large-Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA), will, fittingly, convene in Brazil this week.

From July 27-29, some 800 researchers will attend the Third International Scientific Conference of the LBA in Brasilia, Brazil, to discuss key findings on how the world’s largest rainforest impacts the ecological health of Amazonia and the world. Never before has so mu

This perspective image of a fractured crater near Valles Marineris on Mars was obtained by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board the ESA Mars Express spacecraft.

The image was taken during orbit 61 in January 2004 with a resolution of 12. 5 metres per pixel. It shows part of a cratered landscape to the north of the Valles Marineris, at 0.6° S latitude and 309° E longitude, with this crater having a fractured base.

This crater has a rim diameter of 27.5 kilometres

Living in New Orleans means having to live with water. It’s everywhere. The city’s elevation ranges from about 12 feet (3.65 meters) above sea level to as much as six-and-a-half feet (2 meters) below sea level. Some believe the city faces an ongoing battle against submersion by the rising Gulf of Mexico.

New research reported by a team led by a University of Illinois at Chicago earth scientist suggests the sea level in the lower Mississippi delta near New Orleans has been rising a

Discovery suggests presence of diamonds in northern Saskatchewan

Researchers at the University of Alberta have found evidence that a 2,000-kilometre corridor stretching diagonally across northern Canada was under tremendous pressure to split in two about 2.7 billion years ago. It is the first evidence suggesting enormous continental landforms and plate tectonics existed that long ago. “Rifts are one hallmark of plate tectonics, and there is a huge debate in our field about wheth

Coral reefs and coastal upwelling ecosystems are the subjects of two new Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites awarded funding by the National Science Foundation (NSF). With the addition of the Moorea Coral Reef LTER Site and the California Current Ecosystem LTER Site, there are now 26 NSF-funded sites in the LTER network. The two newest sites will receive approximately $820,000 for the next six years, for a total of about $ 5 million each.

“These two new sites significantly augment th

Recent efforts to improve hurricane tracking and intensity predictions have focused on the effect the ocean has on the movement of hurricanes. University of Rhode Island oceanographers have demonstrated how the roughness of the ocean surface affects the speed and intensity of these powerful storms.

“Hurricanes are very complex weather systems that are affected by any number of parameters in the atmosphere, the ocean, and on land,” said URI Oceanography Professor Isaac Ginis. “The more para

Burning with a core heat approaching 800°C and spreading at up to 100 metres per minute, woodland blazes bring swift, destructive change to landscapes: the resulting devastation can be seen from space. An ESA-shaped service to monitor European forest fire damage will help highlight areas most at risk of future outbreaks.

Last year’s long hot summer was a bumper year for forest fires, with more than half a million hectares of woodland destroyed across Mediterranean Europe. So f

Scientists investigating the possible effect of underwater seismic pulses on marine mammals have conducted a series of tests, designed to better understand the force of sound waves generated by shipboard airguns. These instruments are used by some 100 vessels worldwide to penetrate into the seabed for oil exploration and geophysical research, with an estimated 15 to 20 active on any given day.

Researchers from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University conducted tests in

Now more than 100 000 kilometres away from Earth, ESA’s Moon-bound spacecraft SMART-1 looked back at Earth and returned this planetary perspective of the Middle East and Mediterranean Sea.

’Smart’ usage of the solar-electric propulsion system (the ion engine) has saved a lot of fuel and the spacecraft will get to the Moon earlier than expected.

Almost 20 kilograms of the xenon fuel could be saved out of the original 84 kilograms, which could then be used to get closer to

Far fewer animals would be killed on the roads if planners took the findings of new research into account when designing and building new roads.

According to a study published today in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology, it is possible to predict where most animals will attempt to cross roads, and hence where they are most likely to be killed by vehicles.

Researchers from Madrid University found that 70% of collisions occurred on just 7.7% of

As the government promises an imminent ban on hunting, researchers have produced the first scientifically-based population estimate for foxes living in Britain. Their results show that the number of foxes has remained constant despite changes in culling methods.

The study, published in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology today and funded by the International Fund For Animal Welfare (IFAW), shows that at the end of winter there are 225,000 adult foxes living in rural

Rats are unwelcome visitors, and for most people getting rid of them means putting down poison, such as anticoagulant compounds based on warfarin.

Recent estimates suggest that rat populations are on the increase, and continued reliance on rodenticides as the only means of controlling rats may be building big problems for the future. The use of warfarin and similar poisons can present problems of its own, killing other wildlife and domestic pets and leading to ‘hotspots’ of super-r

An accidental discovery may provide insights into the creation of tubular structures such as those found in caves and at hydrothermal vents.

While doing some electroplating work for a class project, David Stone stumbled upon a way to grow tiny tubes that look like the cave formations known as soda straws. At the time, Stone, a former sculptor and foundry worker, had just returned to school.

“I botched the experiment. I can still remember being in my carport, picking up the

In the first study to directly measure when and how quickly rivers outside of growing mountain ranges cut through rock, geologists at the University of Vermont have determined that it was about 35,000 years ago that the Susquehanna and Potomac rivers, respectively, began carving out the Great Falls of the Potomac and Holtwood Gorge. Great Falls, located about 15 miles outside of Washington, D.C., hosts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year; Holtwood Gorge lies along the Susquehanna River, nea

Although it covers more than two-thirds of Earth’s surface, much of the deep sea remains unknown and unexplored, and many questions remain about how its environment changes over time.

A new study led by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, has shed new light on significant changes in the deep sea over a 14-year period. Scripps Institution’s Henry Ruhl and Ken Smith show in the new issue of the journal Science that changes in climate at