ScienceDaily: New approach to reveal function of Greenland’s ice sheet

Jay OwenEarth Systems Science

ScienceDaily: Top Environment News


New approach to reveal function of Greenland’s ice sheet

Posted: 15 Aug 2013 01:15 PM PDT

Findings from a large-scale ice drilling study on the Greenland ice sheet may revise the models used to predict how ice sheets move.

Slow earthquakes may foretell larger events

Posted: 15 Aug 2013 11:51 AM PDT

Monitoring slow earthquakes may provide a basis for reliable prediction in areas where slow quakes trigger normal earthquakes, according to geoscientists.

New possibilities for efficient biofuel production

Posted: 15 Aug 2013 11:50 AM PDT

Limited availability of fossil fuels stimulates the search for different energy resources. The use of biofuels is one of the alternatives. Sugars derived from the grain of agricultural crops can be used to produce biofuel but these crops occupy fertile soils needed for food and feed production.

New species of carnivore looks like a cross between a house cat and a teddy bear

Posted: 15 Aug 2013 11:31 AM PDT

Observed in the wild, tucked away in museum collections, and even exhibited in zoos around the world — there is one mysterious creature that has been a victim of mistaken identity for more than 100 years. A team of Smithsonian scientists, however, uncovered overlooked museum specimens of this remarkable animal, which took them on a journey from museum cabinets in Chicago to cloud forests in South America to genetics labs in Washington, D.C. The result: the olinguito (Bassaricyon neblina) — the first carnivore species to be discovered in the American continents in 35 years.

Mountaintop mining pollution has distinct chemical signatures

Posted: 15 Aug 2013 10:36 AM PDT

Three elements commonly found at elevated levels in an Appalachian river polluted by runoff from mountaintop coal mining have distinctive chemistries that can be traced back to their source, according to a new study.

Scientists reveal how deadly ebola virus assembles

Posted: 15 Aug 2013 10:31 AM PDT

Scientists have discovered the molecular mechanism by which the deadly Ebola virus assembles, providing potential new drug targets. Surprisingly, the study showed that the same molecule that assembles and releases new viruses also rearranges itself into different shapes, with each shape controlling a different step of the virus’s life cycle.

Beneficial jumping gene discovered

Posted: 15 Aug 2013 08:37 AM PDT

Also referred to as jumping genes, transposons are snippets of “selfish DNA” that spread in their host genomes serving no other biological purpose but their own existence. Two geneticists now challenge that understanding. Working on the model plant Arabidopsis, they found that the COPIA-R7 transposon, which has jumped into the plant disease resistance gene RPP7, enhances the immunity of its host against a pathogenic microorganism.

Posted: 15 Aug 2013 05:48 AM PDT

Climate change is set to trigger more frequent and severe heat waves in the next 30 years regardless of the amount of carbon dioxide we emit into the atmosphere, a new study has shown.

Containing infectious disease outbreaks

Posted: 14 Aug 2013 04:16 PM PDT

Researchers have identified a rapid response which could help halt infectious diseases such as bird flu, swine flu and SARS before they take hold. Focusing on the avian flu virus strain H5N1, research identifies key stages in the poultry trade chain which lead to its transmission to other birds, animals and humans.

 

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