http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Global warming is giving a boost to Sonoran Desert plants that have an edge during cold weather, according to new research. http://www.physorg.com/news180195543.html Biology Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:19:50 EST news180195543 VISTA is the latest telescope to be added to ESO's Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. It is housed on the peak adjacent to the one hosting the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) and shares the same exceptional observing conditions. VISTA's main mirror is 4.1 metres across and is the most highly curved mirror of this size and quality ever made -- its deviations from a perfect surface are less than a few thousandths of the thickness of a human hair -- and its construction and polishing presented formidable challenges. http://www.physorg.com/news179739402.html Space & Earth Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:10:02 EST news179739402 Researchers from Arizona State University have discovered that several species of microbes (cyanobacteria), at least one found prominently in the deserts of the Southwest, have evolved the trait of rope-building to lasso shifting soil substrates. http://www.physorg.com/news177661962.html Biology Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:33:49 EST news177661962 Coral reefs support some of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet, yet they thrive in a marine desert. So how do reefs sustain their thriving populations? http://www.physorg.com/news177312219.html Biology Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:50:03 EST news177312219 (AP) -- A crisp African dawn is breaking overhead, and Zibo Mounkaila is on the back of a pickup truck bounding across a sparse landscape of rocky orange soil. http://www.physorg.com/news176878702.html Biology Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:59:20 EST news176878702 (PhysOrg.com) -- In the Mojave Desert winds howl across this hottest place in North America, blowing sands across Death Valley and through empty ghost towns, swirling across treeless land for hundreds of miles. But even in the otherworldly Mojave, life thrives. The Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia), an indicator species for this desert, defines the Mojave's boundaries. In spring when the rains come, brightly colored flowers bloom in profusion--nature's paintbrush on an otherwise monotone landscape. http://www.physorg.com/news176660557.html Space & Earth Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:10:05 EST news176660557 The Seoul city government will help fund a tree-planting project in a Chinese desert to reduce the amount of harmful "yellow dust" blowing over South Korea, officials said Wednesday. http://www.physorg.com/news176567358.html Space & Earth Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:29:54 EST news176567358 (PhysOrg.com) -- Europe has long been interested in developing alternative energy sources. And, one of the more interesting places that some Europeans are looking for solar power is the Sahara. With the vast amounts of sun beating down on the Saharan desert, it seems an ideal place for solar panels. The Desertec Industrial Initiative, a consortium of 12 companies, including Siemens and Deutsche Bank, aims to make Saharan solar power for Europe a reality. But it won't exactly be easy. http://www.physorg.com/news176541300.html Technology Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:00:02 EST news176541300 (PhysOrg.com) -- In 2005, a gigantic, 35-mile-long rift broke open the desert ground in Ethiopia. At the time, some geologists believed the rift was the beginning of a new ocean as two parts of the African continent pulled apart, but the claim was controversial. http://www.physorg.com/news176395329.html Space & Earth Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:43:38 EST news176395329 A Japanese sun-powered car won the World Solar Challenge on Wednesday after averaging speeds of more than 100 kilometres (62 miles) per hour in a four-day race through Australia's desert Outback. http://www.physorg.com/news175930898.html Technology Wed, 28 Oct 2009 06:50:01 EST news175930898 Japan's Tokai Challenger was on Monday leading a solar car race across the harsh Australian Outback, having covered about half of the 3,000 kilometre (1,860 mile) desert course, officials said. http://www.physorg.com/news175758644.html Technology Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:00:01 EST news175758644 An invasion of crickets in Mauritania has spread to Morocco and the western Sahara, and could worsen if there is strong rainfall in coming weeks, the United Nations warned Friday. http://www.physorg.com/news174916217.html Biology Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:10:06 EST news174916217 Satellite tracking has allowed a research team to uncover the mysteries of the migration of Eleanora's falcon for the first time. In total, the bird flies more than 9,500 kilometres across the African continent from the Balearic and Columbretes Islands before reaching the island of Madagascar. Some of the previously-obscure secrets now revealed by the scientists show that these falcons migrate by both day and night, and cross supposed ecological barriers such as the Sahara Desert. http://www.physorg.com/news174908334.html Biology Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:43:17 EST news174908334 (PhysOrg.com) -- The windswept deserts of northern China might seem an odd destination for studying the heavy monsoon rains that routinely drench the more tropical regions of Southeast Asia. http://www.physorg.com/news174053760.html Space & Earth Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:18:25 EST news174053760 (PhysOrg.com) -- A knowledge gap exists in the area of climate research: for decades, scientists have been asking themselves whether, and to what extent man-made aerosols, that is, dust particles suspended in the atmosphere, enlarge the cloud cover and thus curb climate warming. http://www.physorg.com/news174049928.html Space & Earth Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:30:06 EST news174049928 (PhysOrg.com) -- Locusts, the grasshopper-like insects of Biblical lore, are normally docile creatures that prefer solitary lives in the desert, away from other members of their species. But sometimes, when the rains come and patches of green begin to dot dry landscapes, their populations skyrocket and something extraordinary can happen. Hormonal changes, triggered by crowding, can cause the insects to change color, become more active and congregate in huge swarms capable of decimating crops. http://www.physorg.com/news172946653.html Space & Earth Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:10:01 EST news172946653 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have discovered an unusual kind of meteorite in the Western Australian desert and have uncovered where in the Solar System it came from, in a very rare finding published today in the journal Science. http://www.physorg.com/news172415123.html Space & Earth Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:09:32 EST news172415123 (PhysOrg.com) -- Every year, for two weeks in the Arizona desert at Black Point Lava Flow, NASA's Desert Research and Technology Studies group (Desert RATS) conducts technology development tests in anticipation of lunar exploration. Teams of engineers and geologists from several NASA laboratories as well as a variety of private and academic partners participated in this year's test, including two key members from ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE). http://www.physorg.com/news172340440.html Space & Earth Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:00:01 EST news172340440 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA has concluded two weeks of technology development tests on two of the agency's prototype lunar rovers. http://www.physorg.com/news172323843.html Space & Earth Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:46:12 EST news172323843 (PhysOrg.com) -- To prepare for human exploration of the moon and other destinations in our solar system, NASA is conducting a field test of rovers and equipment at an Earthly site in the Arizona desert. Hundreds of students are invited to experience it. http://www.physorg.com/news171896246.html Space & Earth Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:58:07 EST news171896246 (PhysOrg.com) -- A giant African lake basin is providing information about possible migration routes and hunting practices of early humans in the Middle and Late Stone Age periods, between 150,000 and 10,000 years ago. http://www.physorg.com/news171790409.html Other Sciences Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:33:53 EST news171790409 (AP) -- A year after they launched a nationwide search for dwindling native ladybugs, New York researchers are breeding colonies of them from insects found by citizen scientists in Oregon and Colorado. http://www.physorg.com/news171307054.html Biology Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:18:01 EST news171307054 A wind storm that ripped across western China's Taklimakan desert kicked up hundreds of thousands of tonnes of dust that high-altitude winds then carried around the world in less than two weeks, a study says. http://www.physorg.com/news167315325.html Space & Earth Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:00:02 EST news167315325 (PhysOrg.com) -- A study published in the July 17 issue of the journal Science details how sandfish -- small lizards with smooth scales -- move rapidly underground through desert sand. In this first thorough examination of subsurface sandfish locomotion, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology found that the animals place their limbs against their sides and create a wave motion with their bodies to propel themselves through granular media. http://www.physorg.com/news166973246.html Physics Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:27:56 EST news166973246 Researchers from the Department of Science Education-Biology at the University of Haifa-Oranim have managed to make out the "self-irrigating" mechanism of the desert rhubarb, which enables it to harvest 16 times the amount of water than otherwise expected for a plant in this region based on the quantities of rain in the desert. This is the first example of a self-irrigating plant worldwide. http://www.physorg.com/news165669392.html Biology Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:30:01 EST news165669392 (PhysOrg.com) -- Accelerated snowmelt--precipitated by desert dust blowing into the mountains--changes how alpine plants respond to seasonal climate cues that regulate their life cycles, according to results of a new study reported this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). These results indicate that global warming may have a greater influence on plants' annual growth cycles than previously thought. http://www.physorg.com/news165516077.html Space & Earth Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:20:03 EST news165516077 Plants or meat: That's about all that fossils ever tell paleontologists about a dinosaur's diet. But the skull characteristics of a new species of parrot-beaked dinosaur and its associated gizzard stones indicate that the animal fed on nuts and/or seeds. These characteristics present the first solid evidence of nut-eating in any dinosaur. http://www.physorg.com/news164453804.html Other Sciences Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:36:56 EST news164453804 Cracks permeate the dried-out desert ground, the landscape bears testimony to the lack of water. But even here, where there are no lakes, rivers or groundwater, considerable quantities of water are stored in the air. In the Negev desert in Israel, for example, annual average relative air humidity is 64 percent - in every cubic meter of air there are 11.5 milliliters of water. http://www.physorg.com/news163415064.html Technology Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:04:54 EST news163415064 (AP) -- Britain's cuckoo bird, known for its distinctive call, is in danger of extinction along with 51 other species, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said in a new report Thursday. http://www.physorg.com/news162743964.html Biology Thu, 28 May 2009 15:40:05 EST news162743964 (PhysOrg.com) -- There are very few places in the world where dynamic activity taking place beneath Earth's surface goes undetected. http://www.physorg.com/news162573232.html Space & Earth Tue, 26 May 2009 16:15:02 EST news162573232