NASA studies details of a greening Arctic
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jun 07, 2016 -
The northern reaches of North America are getting greener, according to a NASA study that provides the most detailed look yet at plant life across Alaska and Canada. In a changing climate, almost a third of the land cover - much of it Arctic tundra - is looking more like landscapes found in warmer ecosystems.
With 87,000 images taken from Landsat satellites, converted into data that reflec ...
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Research proves Aboriginal Australians were first inhabitants
Nathan, Australia (SPX) Jun 07, 2016 -
Griffith University researchers have found evidence that demonstrates Aboriginal people were the first to inhabit Australia, as reported in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal this week. The work refutes an earlier landmark study that claimed to recover DNA sequences from the oldest known Australian, Mungo Man.
This earlier study was interpreted as evide ...
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Inbred Neanderthals left humans a genetic burden
Washington DC (SPX) Jun 07, 2016 -
The Neanderthal genome included harmful mutations that made the hominids around 40% less reproductively fit than modern humans, according to estimates published in the latest issue of the journal GENETICS. Non-African humans inherited some of this genetic burden when they interbred with Neanderthals, though much of it has been lost over time.
The results suggest that these harmful gene var ...
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This desert moss has developed the ultimate water collection toolkit
Logan UT (SPX) Jun 07, 2016 -
Finding water in the desert is a relatively easy task for a species of moss that seems to flourish in even the most arid regions. That's according to a new study by a team of scientists and engineers who wanted to understand how Syntrichia caninervis succeeds despite its limited and inconsistent water supplies. The findings show for the first time how the highly evolved bryophyte survives in ext ...
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What Satellites Show About Arctic Climate Change
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jun 07, 2016 -
It is not news that Earth has been warming rapidly over the last 100 years as greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere. But not all warming has been happening equally rapidly everywhere. Temperatures in the Arctic, for example, are rising much faster than the rest of the planet.
Patrick Taylor, an atmospheric scientist at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, says that ...
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Pristine landscapes haven't existed for thousands of years due to humans
Oxford UK (SPX) Jun 07, 2016 -
'Pristine' landscapes simply do not exist anywhere in the world today and, in most cases, have not existed for at least several thousand years, says a new study in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). An exhaustive review of archaeological data from the last 30 years provides details of how the world's landscapes have been shaped by repeated human activity over ma ...
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USGS assesses carbon potential of Alaska lands
Boulder CO (SPX) Jun 06, 2016 -
In comparison to the lower 48 states, Alaskan forests, wetlands and permafrost contain larger stores of carbon, according to the first-of-its-kind assessment recently completed by the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Forest Service and the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.
"This benchmark assessment establishes significant baseline information to better understand carbon dynamics in Alask ...
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