These jellyfish aren't just drifters
Geelong, Australia (SPX) Jan 26, 2015 -
Jellyfish might look like mere drifters, but some of them have a remarkable ability to detect the direction of ocean currents and to swim strongly against them, according to new evidence in free-ranging barrel-jellyfish reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology.
"Detecting ocean currents without fixed visual reference points is thought to be close to impossible and is not seen, fo ...
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When it comes to variations in crop yield, climate has a big say
Minneapolis MN (SPX) Jan 26, 2015 -
What impact will future climate change have on food supply? That depends in part on the extent to which variations in crop yield are attributable to variations in climate. A new report from researchers at the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment has found that climate variability historically accounts for one-third of yield variability for maize, rice, wheat and soybeans worldwid ...
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Early human ancestors used their hands like modern humans
Kent, UK (SPX) Jan 26, 2015 -
New research suggests pre-Homo human ancestral species, such as Australopithecus africanus, used human-like hand postures much earlier than was previously thought.
Anthropologists from the University of Kent, working with researchers from University College London, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig (Germany) and the Vienna University of Technology (Austria), ...
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Alamo Impact Crater: New Study Could Double Its Size
Pocatello ID (SPX) Jan 26, 2015 -
Carbonate rock deposits found within the mountain ranges of south-central Nevada, USA, record evidence of a catastrophic impact event known as the Alamo impact. This event occurred roughly 382 million years ago when the ancient seafloor was struck and a submarine crater was formed.
The crater was filled-in with fragmented rock, and later with more typical ocean deposits, as the energy from ...
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Doubt cast on global firestorm generated by dino-killing asteroid
Exeter, UK (SPX) Jan 26, 2015 -
Pioneering new research has debunked the theory that the asteroid that is thought to have led to the extinction of dinosaurs also caused vast global firestorms that ravaged planet Earth. A team of researchers from the University of Exeter, University of Edinburgh and Imperial College London recreated the immense energy released from an extra-terrestrial collision with Earth that occurred around ...
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Sequestration on shaky ground
Boston MA (SPX) Jan 26, 2015 -
Carbon sequestration promises to address greenhouse-gas emissions by capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and injecting it deep below the Earth's surface, where it would permanently solidify into rock. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that current carbon-sequestration technologies may eliminate up to 90 percent of carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants. ...
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Going with the flow
Santa Barbara CA (SPX) Jan 26, 2015 -
Millions of Americans live in flood-prone areas. In 2012 alone, the cost of direct flood damage hit nearly half a billion dollars. However, because the factors contributing to flood risk are not fully understood, river basin management - and even the calculation of flood insurance premiums - may be misguided.
A new study by UC Santa Barbara's Michael Singer and colleagues presents a para ...
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