Algal Blooms Could Have Caused Last Ice Age
At various points in Earth’s history, dust fell into the ocean and fed algae, which gobbled up carbon dioxide and sank to the bottom of the sea, taking greenhouse gas with them and cooling the world. That’s a key conclusion scientists are drawing from an unusual 2004 experiment in which they grew a massive algae bloom in the Southern Ocean. Data from the experiment may also tell researchers whether seeding the seas with iron is a good way to curb global warming.
Before the 2004 study, known as EIFEX, the European Iron Fertilization Experiment, scientists had conducted 11 experiments at sea to explore how trace quantities of iron may encourage the growth of algae. Those projects had proven the first half of the so-called iron hypothesis: namely that windblown dust from land provided the trace nutrient of iron to catalyze the growth of massive algae blooms in the ancient ocean. |  |
Roots of medieval rights of common stretch back thousands of years
In the 1920s archaeologists discovered more than 1,000 cattle skulls buried at an early Iron Age stock enclosure at Harrow Hill in Sussex, while a huge Iron Age midden (rubbish heap) covering at least 2.5 hectares has been found at East Chisenbury in Wiltshire. Each is thought to represent the remains of vast annual feasts on grasslands shared between local communities, perhaps during the annual round-ups of their collective herds.
These meetings were much more than the chance for a good meal. Feasts reinforced links and relationships within and between communities: such occasions provided at very least a context for resolving disputes about livestock and grazing, at times when animals were taken to the pastures in the spring or rounded up in the autumn and disagreements were most likely to occur.
These meetings were much more than the chance for a good meal. Feasts reinforced links and relationships within and between communities: such occasions provided at very least a context for resolving disputes about livestock and grazing, at times when animals were taken to the pastures in the spring or rounded up in the autumn and disagreements were most likely to occur.
Nasa counts down the hours to its latest mission: is there life on Mars?
A giant space probe is set to plunge into the atmosphere of Mars at a speed of more than 13,000mph in a few weeks' time. For the following seven minutes, its onboard computer will issue electronic instructions to direct the craft through manoeuvres of unprecedented complexity to guide it to the ground. Atmospheric friction and later a giant parachute will cut its speed to a few hundred miles per hour. Then rocket engines will fire and the probe will slow down until it hovers about 20 metres above the surface of the Red Planet.
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We Should Send Humans to Mars—but Not Let Them Land
As humanity’s reach extends into the universe, there’s an ongoing argument among space exploration buffs: Should humans, or robots, explore the solar system and beyond? At the recent SETIcon II science and sci-fi conference, planetary scientists, a commercial space entrepreneur, and a veteran astronaut tackled the question. Surprisingly, they agreed that the best possible option is one that will never be a reality: sending humans to explore planets like Mars but not letting them put their feet on the ground.
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Who Owns the Asteroids? Space Mining Project Raises Legal Questions
GOLDEN, Colo. – Private groups are shaping business plans to tap into the resource-rich environs of outer space. Early celestial targets with commercial cross hairs on them are the moon, as well as asteroids.
While the financial backing, technology and entrepreneurial spirit to mine asteroids and other space targets is jelling, yet to be grappled with is a mix of thorny issues, such as property and mineral rights, ownership and possession, international treaties, as well as the big "C" — not for Cosmos, but for Capitalism. |  |
Egypt's Sphinx, Pyramids threatened by groundwater, hydrologists warn
One month ago, Giza's antiquities inspectorate installed a new system to pump subterranean water out from under Egypt's historical Sphinx monument and the underlying bedrock.
Subterranean water levels at the Giza Plateau, especially the area under the valley temples and Sphinx, have recently increased due to a new drainage system installed in the neighbouring village of Nazlet Al-Seman and the irrigation techniques used to cultivate the nearby residential area of Hadaeq Al-Ahram. The system involves 18 state-of-the-art water pumps capable of pumping 26,000 cubic metres of water daily. |  |
Timbuktu Arabs set up armed watch at ancient tombs
BAMAKO — Members of Timbuktu's Arab community said Wednesday they have set up an armed brigade to prevent further destruction of the tombs of ancient Muslim saints by Islamists occupying northern Mali.
"Today we have a vigilance brigade so that no one touches the mausolea of Araouane and Gasser-Cheick," said Tahel Ould Sidy, leader of the unit, referring to two tombs in the greater Timbuktu region. "We are armed and there is the required number of people," he added. |  |
Ancient Domesticated Remains Are Oldest in Southern Africa
Researchers have found evidence of the earliest known instance of domesticated caprines (sheep and goats) in southern Africa, dated to the end of the first millennium BC, providing new data to the ongoing debate about the origins of domestication and herding practices in this region.
The full results are published July 11 in the open access journal PLoS ONE. |  |
Neanderthal dental tartar reveals evidence of medicine
The tartar on Neanderthal teeth has a tale to tell. The chemicals and food fragments it contains reveal that our close relations huddled around fires to cook and consume plants – including some with medicinal properties. The find is the earliest direct evidence of self-medication in prehistory.
Despite their reputed taste for flesh, we now know that at least some Neanderthals enjoyed a more varied diet. The latest evidence comes from an analysis of 50,000-year-old Neanderthal teeth from the El Sidrón site in northern Spain. |  |
Record Treasure Hauled From Shipwreck
Deep-sea explorers have pulled up 48 tons of silver treasure from three miles below the surface of the North Atlantic in what may be the deepest, largest precious metal recovery in history.
The haul was retrieved from the S.S. Gairsoppa, a 412-foot steel-hulled British cargo ship that sank in February 1941. The expedition, by Odyssey Marine Exploration, a company specializing in shipwreck exploration, recovered 1,203 bars of silver, totaling 1.4 million ounces. Viewers will have the chance to follow the pursuit of the lost treasure on an upcoming Discovery Channel special produced by JWM Productions. |
Google Lets You Follow in Antarctic Explorers’ Footsteps
A century after the great Antarctic explorers crossed that icy continent, many of their destinations remain inaccessible — at least on foot.
From your desktop, though, you can visit huts built by Ernest Shackleton and Robert Scott, even plant a virtual flag on the Ceremonial South Pole. “It’s the next best thing to being there,” said Alex Starns, technical manager of Google’s Street View program. Using a tripod-mounted version of the Street View cameras, researchers from the University of Minnesota’s Polar Geospatial Center and New Zealand’s Antarctic Heritage Trust captured 360-degree panoramic views of the sites, which were released July 17 as part of Google’s World Wonders project. |  |
Amazing Southern Lights View from Space Leaves Astronaut Awestruck
Shimmering auroras in the night sky are amazing to behold, but nothing prepared one NASA astronaut for seeing the celestial lights dance over Earth from above.
A new photo of the southern lights by astronaut Joe Acaba convey only a portion of the amazing view from his window on the International Space Station during a weekend photo session to catch the auroras over Earth. Acaba watched the auroras on Saturday and Sunday (July 14 and 15) from the station's observation deck, a seven-window cupola that offers astronauts a 360-degree of space and the Earth below. |  |
Nuclear Restart Generates Power, Protest in Japan
Every Friday evening they gather before Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's residence.
The first rally in March was modest: a few hundred citizens joined against nuclear power, marking the anniversary of the earthquake- and tsunami-triggered Fukushima Daiichi disaster a year earlier. But in recent weeks, since Noda decided to restart two of Japan's 54 idled nuclear reactors, the protest has swelled into a mass demonstration blocking the streets of Japan's political center.
Building on their Friday night momentum, protestors on Monday staged their largest rally yet, with tens of thousands of people congregating at Yoyogi Park, and then marching in three groups through the capital.
The first rally in March was modest: a few hundred citizens joined against nuclear power, marking the anniversary of the earthquake- and tsunami-triggered Fukushima Daiichi disaster a year earlier. But in recent weeks, since Noda decided to restart two of Japan's 54 idled nuclear reactors, the protest has swelled into a mass demonstration blocking the streets of Japan's political center.
Building on their Friday night momentum, protestors on Monday staged their largest rally yet, with tens of thousands of people congregating at Yoyogi Park, and then marching in three groups through the capital.
Fukushima increases risk of cancer – but not by much
Radiation from Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will lead to deaths from cancer – but so few that proving a link with the nuclear accident could be impossible.
In the wake of last year's partial meltdown at the plant, a United Nations inquiry concluded that exposure levels to radiation were too low to pose a serious health risk. However, the consensus on radiation exposure is that "even at a very low concentration, there will be a health effect", says Mark Jacobson of Stanford University in California. |  |
Elusive Snow Leopards Collared fore Science
Scientists have outfitted two snow leopards in a wild corner of Afghanistan with satellite-tracking collars, a first for the country and a boon for researchers trying to better understand the habits and favored habitats of the endangered cats.
The snow leopards, both male, were captured in Afghanistan's northeastern Wakhan Corridor, a narrow strip of desolate, windswept mountains sandwiched between Pakistan and Tajikistan, and a spot where camera traps first snapped the elusive cats in 2011. The first snow leopard was captured and released on May 27, the second on June 8. |  |
Commuters Pedal to Work on Their Very Own Superhighway
COPENHAGEN — Picture 11 miles of smoothly paved bike path meandering through the countryside. Largely uninterrupted by roads or intersections, it passes fields, backyards, chirping birds, a lake, some ducks and, at every mile, an air pump.
For some Danes, this is the morning commute. Susan Nielsen, a 59-year-old schoolteacher, was one of a handful of people taking advantage of Denmark’s first “superhighway” for bicycles on a recent morning, about halfway between Copenhagen and Albertslund, a suburb, which is the highway’s endpoint. “I’m very glad because of the better pavement,” said Ms. Nielsen, who wore a rain jacket and carried a pair of pants in a backpack to put on after her 40-minute commute. |  |
Earth's Hot Formation May Solve Water Shortage Mystery
Earth probably formed in a hotter, drier part of the solar system than previously thought, which could explain our planet's puzzling shortage of water, a new study reports.
Our newly forming solar system's "snow line" — the zone beyond which icy compounds could condense 4.5 billion years ago — was actually much farther away from the sun than prevailing theory predicts, according to the study. "Unlike the standard accretion-disk model, the snow line in our analysis never migrates inside Earth's orbit," co-author Mario Livio, of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, said in a statement. |  |
Ocean Acidity Rivals Climate Change As Environmental Threat
Since the Industrial Revolution, ocean acidity has risen by 30 percent as a direct result of fossil-fuel burning and deforestation. And within the last 50 years, human industry has caused the world’s oceans to experience a sharp increase in acidity that rivals levels seen when ancient carbon cycles triggered mass extinctions, which took out more than 90 percent of the oceans’ species and more than 75 percent of terrestrial species.
Rising ocean acidity is now considered to be just as much of a formidable threat to the health of Earth’s environment as the atmospheric climate changes brought on by pumping out greenhouse gases. Scientists are now trying to understand what that means for the future survival of marine and terrestrial organisms. |  |
Climate ocean tech fix 'can work', research suggests
Fertilising the oceans with iron to combat climate change can lock carbon away for centuries, research suggests.
Tiny marine plants induced to grow by the iron sink to the ocean floor taking carbon with them, a German-led team reports in Nature journal. Iron fertilisation is one of the oldest ideas for a climate "technical fix". But much more research is needed before the approach could be put to use, the scientists say, and cutting emissions should be the priority. |  |