Global change conference sets the scene for next round of Kyoto Protocol talks
...e Earth is rapidly changing. Tropical glaciers are melting fast and some will disappear within 15 years if current warming trends continue. Fifty percent of the land surface has been modified and more than half the worlds accessible freshwater is being used directly or indirectly by humans. These and many ot...DOE funds commercialization program for new energy-saving sensing device
...ction of harsh environment sensors due to its high melting point, excellent transparency, and well-documented resistance to corrosion." But the sapphire has been limited in its uses due to some technical constraints. Based on VTPLs past success in developing the self-calibrating temperature and pressure sens...February media highlights: Geology and GSA today
... Zoback In our article we investigate whether the melting of the last ice sheet could be responsible for the...y was stored during the ice sheet's existence. Ice melting initiated the release of this accumulated seismic energy, possibly causing the large earthquakes nea...October Geology and GSA Today highlights
...The authors suggest two possible scenarios for ice melting and subsequent extremely fast supercooling: (1) massive subglacial volcanic activity, or (2) a large impact. Fast supercooling of water would have initially led to brine retention in the ice phase; however, after some time these brines would have bee...Research paves the way for faster, better, cheaper DNA detection method
...which the temperature is raised to just before the melting point of the target DNA. At this point, any mismatches will break apart because partially matched strands are more weakly bound than strands of perfectly matched DNA. Only the perfect matches remain, each with a gold nanoprobe attached and acting as ...June 'Geology' and 'GSA Today' highlights
...st is hot enough to melt, and the products of this melting form peculiar volcanic lavas called adakites. The ...ies extending over several centuries. Can slab melting be caused by flat subduction? Marc-Andr Gutscher et al., p. 535 Current models of plate subduct...Evidence for historic global warming published in Science
...e landslide layer that fits with the theory of the melting of buried methane--methane clathrates--from an ice-like solid into a gas. The article concludes with a call for further research, "Even though our results suggest that methane was released from the Blake Nose region, during the LPTM, the...Huge Antarctic ice sheet could be in its death throes
...robably caused byrising sea level initiated by the melting of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheetsat the end of the last ice age," he said. "But the process could easily speed upif we continue to contribute to warming the atmosphere and oceans." UW geophysics professor Edwin Waddington; Anthony Gades, a UW geo...Ancient viruses lurking in polar ice
...ure could unleash theentombed viruses. "The ice is melting constantly around the poles," says Rogers.If released, they could cause outbreaks of disease. "If you've got these thingslying in the ice for a thousand years or more and their usual host has not hadto deal with them, this may be a source of epidemic...Microbes in basalt thrive on mixed diet of toxic waste
... of the rock. "When water infiltrates from rain or melting snow, aburst of nutrients reaches them through fissures in the rock, and they bloomlike flowers in the desert" -- suggesting that microbes might play a role inmetal-ion reactions. It was uncertain which microorganisms might be involved in a ...Catastrophic draining of huge lakes tied to ancient global cooling event
... the future come true, itcould lead to significant melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet and create moreprecipitation at high latitudes," said CU-Boulder geological sciences ProfessorJohn Andrews. "Adding very large amounts of freshwater to large rivers couldconceivably close down the vertical circulati...Technotes -- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's summer news tipsheet
...lightweight materials based on their difference in melting temperature. Asecond project, which is being led by Alcoa Technical Center, of Alcoa, Penn.,focuses on creating an automated process to sort up to five aluminum alloyfamilies at once. This concept is based on a unique color that develops on thesurf...Salamanders may one day monitor degradation in small streams
...dity andhigh aluminum in the spring when rains and melting snow greatly increase streamflow. In the summer and fall, these same streams are not as acidic. Streams suffering from acid mine drainage (AMD) are abundant inPennsylvania and the Appalachians and occur when coal-bearing rock is expose......ke structural changes and get virtually any melting point we would like." The research team has worked with the U.S. Air Force and Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines on potential aerospace applications. By altering the surface properties, the researchers believe they could produce ...Largest Acoustics Meeting In History Expected
...mate; scientists and others are concerned that the melting of glaciers and rises in sea level would drastically alter the world's climate. To measure climate variability and look for signs of global warming in this part of the world, a Norway-UK-Germany-Russian collaboration has embarked on a program called...Perfect Powders For Improved Implants
...icaltitanium powders in three broad size ranges by melting titanium wire using aplasma torch, forming a spray and cooling the tiny droplets once they haveformed into spheres. By using spheres instead of the angular irregularly shapedpowders produced by other techniques, manufacturers can accurately spray th......ey appear to be shielded from solvent melting effects. These experimental results quantify the dynamical heterogeneity of bacteriorhodopsin, which meets the functional requirements of bulk flexibility, on the one hand, to allow large conformational changes in the molecu...Corn Byproduct Shows Promise As Biodegradable Packaging Material
...lastics from corn gluten meal. Theprocess involves melting the zein with fatty acids to produce moldable resins.When disposed of, the plasticized zein will degrade naturally, acting asa slow-release nitrogen source for soil, Padua said. In the Cereal Chemistry report, Padua, Huey-Min Lai, who has since earn...Methane Deep In Ocean Crust Could Feed Chemical-Hungry Microorganisms
...ough her microscope. By noting such things as the melting temperature of the ice formed, she can determine the composition of the fluid, the generations of fluids and even calculate the temperature at which those fluids were once circulating through the crust....