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. Researchers from the University of Melbourne and Princeton University have shown for the first time that the difference in reflection of light from the Earth's land masses and oceans can be seen on the dark side of the moon, a phenomenon known as earthshine. http://www.physorg.com/news158328940.html Space & Earth Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:16:18 EST news158328940 (PhysOrg.com) -- The fight over the new education and curriculum standards for the public schools in Texas has been long and publicized. Most of the publicity, though, focuses on the school board's focus on "intelligent design" as it relates to the biological question of evolution. Because evolution has long been contested in public schools, it is no real surprise that this has gotten the most play from the media. But one thing that hasn't been mentioned as much is the fact that the Texas school standards also remove mention of the age of the universe. Long-standing ideas of cosmology are being challenged as well. http://www.physorg.com/news158320278.html Other Sciences Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:51:42 EST news158320278 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have completed the first study of microbes that live within the plumbing of deep-sea mud volcanoes in the Gulf of Mexico, where conditions may resemble those in extraterrestrial environments and early Earth. The study, which was partially funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), was conducted in an area where clusters of seafloor vents spew mud, oil, brine and gases that support food chains independently of the Sun. http://www.physorg.com/news158259974.html Biology Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:07:59 EST news158259974 More than 80 undersea volcanoes and a multitude of islands are dotted along the Hawaii-Emperor seamount chain like pearls on a necklace. A sharp bend in the middle is the only blemish. The long-standing explanation for this distinctive feature was a change in direction of the Pacific oceanic plate in its migration over a stationary hotspot - an apparently unmoving volcano deep within the earth. http://www.physorg.com/news157974368.html Space & Earth Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:46:53 EST news157974368 (PhysOrg.com) -- Putting a new spin on an old technique, Anne M. Hofmeister, Ph.D., research professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has revolutionized scientists' understanding of heat transport in the Earth's crust, the outermost solid shell of our planet. http://www.physorg.com/news157648889.html Space & Earth Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:23:12 EST news157648889 (AP) -- From an Antarctic research base to the Great Pyramids of Egypt and beyond, the world switched off the lights on Saturday for Earth Hour, dimming skyscrapers, city streets and some of the world's most recognizable monuments for 60 minutes to highlight the threat of climate change. http://www.physorg.com/news157452212.html Space & Earth Sat, 28 Mar 2009 18:01:33 EST news157452212 (AP) -- Astronauts aboard space shuttle Discovery conducted a final inspection of the vehicle Thursday and at first glance found no significant damage which would prevent it from returning to Earth. http://www.physorg.com/news157290545.html Space & Earth Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:44:51 EST news157290545 Around a billion people living in the world's major cities are being invited to turn off their lights at 8:30 p.m. local time on Saturday for "Earth Hour," described as the biggest mass campaign to demand action on climate change. http://www.physorg.com/news157289176.html Space & Earth Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:27:17 EST news157289176 (PhysOrg.com) -- Does a twin Earth exist somewhere in our galaxy? Astronomers are getting closer and closer to finding an Earth-sized planet in an Earth-like orbit. NASA's Kepler spacecraft just launched to find such worlds. Once the search succeeds, the next questions driving research will be: Is that planet habitable? Does it have an Earth-like atmosphere? Answering those questions will not be easy. http://www.physorg.com/news156776825.html Space & Earth Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:07:45 EST news156776825 (PhysOrg.com) -- When cities turn off their lights for Earth Hour their occupants will get more than a warm and fuzzy green feeling, they will also see stars hundreds of trillions kilometres away lighting up a moonless night sky in all its glory. http://www.physorg.com/news156627581.html Space & Earth Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:41:41 EST news156627581 This afternoon, the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) satellite developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) was lofted into a near-Sun-synchronous, low Earth orbit by a Rockot launcher lifting off from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia. http://www.physorg.com/news156519344.html Space & Earth Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:36:24 EST news156519344 On 24 February 2009, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captured a photo sequence of four moons of Saturn passing in front of their parent planet. The moons, from far left to right, are the white icy moons Enceladus and Dione, the large orange moon Titan, and icy Mimas. Due to the angle of the Sun, they are each preceded by their own shadow. http://www.physorg.com/news156514110.html Space & Earth Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:09:01 EST news156514110 (PhysOrg.com) -- New interactive features on NASA's Global Climate Change Web site give the public the opportunity to "fly along" with NASA's fleet of Earth science missions and observe Earth from a global perspective in an immersive, 3-D environment. http://www.physorg.com/news156179109.html Space & Earth Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:05:31 EST news156179109 (PhysOrg.com) -- Nyiragongo, an active African volcano, possesses lava unlike any other in the world, which may point toward its source being a new mantle plume says a University of Rochester geochemist. The lava composition indicates that a mantle plume -an upwelling of intense heat from near the core of the Earth -may be bubbling to life beneath the soil of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The findings are presented in the current issue of the journal Chemical Geology. http://www.physorg.com/news156161448.html Space & Earth Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:11:28 EST news156161448 When NASA's Kepler telescope rocketed into the night sky last week, two Berkeley astronomers watching its fading contrail were hoping that the telescope will reveal Earth's - and humanity's - place in the universe. http://www.physorg.com/news156101002.html Space & Earth Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:24:13 EST news156101002 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists and industrialists have invented a sophisticated new air quality measuring device that can act as a pollution radar over cities. http://www.physorg.com/news155818041.html Space & Earth Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:47:53 EST news155818041 A Monash geoscientist and a team of international researchers have discovered the existence of an ocean floor was destroyed 50 to 20 million years ago, proving that New Caledonia and New Zealand are geographically connected. http://www.physorg.com/news155471219.html Space & Earth Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:27:38 EST news155471219 The Martian volcano Olympus Mons is about three times the height of Mount Everest, but it's the small details that Rice University professors Patrick McGovern and Julia Morgan are looking at in thinking about whether the Red Planet ever had - or still supports - life. http://www.physorg.com/news155387639.html Space & Earth Wed, 04 Mar 2009 11:14:29 EST news155387639 An asteroid of a similar size to a rock that exploded above Siberia in 1908 with the force of a thousand atomic bombs whizzed close past Earth on Monday, astronomers said on Tuesday. http://www.physorg.com/news155287963.html Space & Earth Tue, 03 Mar 2009 07:33:05 EST news155287963 An international team of scientists led by the UK has been given the go-ahead to explore one of the planet's last great frontiers - an ancient lake hidden deep beneath Antarctica's ice sheet. Buried under 3 km of ice, the lake - the size of Lake Windermere (UK) - may have been isolated for hundreds of thousands of years and could contain unique forms of life. The team hopes the exploration will yield vital clues about life on Earth, climate change and future sea-level rise. http://www.physorg.com/news155225080.html Space & Earth Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:05:17 EST news155225080 For the first time, a spacecraft from Earth has captured hi-resolution images of a solar eclipse while orbiting another world. http://www.physorg.com/news154885201.html Space & Earth Thu, 26 Feb 2009 15:41:10 EST news154885201 (PhysOrg.com) -- Upward movement of the Earth's crust transformed the Straits of Gibraltar into a dam. Approximately five million years ago, the Mediterranean Sea dried up after it was sealed off from the Atlantic Ocean. According to earth scientist Rob Govers of Utrecht University, Netherlands, a reduction in the weight on the Earth's crust led to the Straits of Gibraltar moving upwards. http://www.physorg.com/news154018302.html Space & Earth Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:52:16 EST news154018302 Astrobiologists have often pondered "life as we do not know it" in the context of extraterrestrial life, says Paul Davies, an internationally acclaimed theoretical physicist and cosmologist at Arizona State University. "But," he asks, "has there been a blind spot to the possibility of 'alien' life on Earth?" http://www.physorg.com/news153903714.html Space & Earth Sun, 15 Feb 2009 07:20:33 EST news153903714 The launch of the first artificial satellite by the then Soviet Union in 1957 marked the beginning of the utilization of space for science and commercial activity. During the Cold War, space was a prime area of competition between the Soviet Union and the U.S. http://www.physorg.com/news153682954.html Space & Earth Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:42:54 EST news153682954 (PhysOrg.com) -- ESA is now gearing up to return to Russia to oversee preparations for the launch of its GOCE satellite - now envisaged for launch on 16 March 2009. This follows implementation of the corrective measures after the anomaly with the Rockot launcher that delayed the launch of GOCE by Eurockot Launch Services last October. http://www.physorg.com/news152966011.html Space & Earth Wed, 04 Feb 2009 10:34:10 EST news152966011 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA and Google announced Monday the release of a new Mars mode in Google Earth that brings to everyone's desktop a high-resolution, three-dimensional view of the Red Planet. http://www.physorg.com/news152809684.html Space & Earth Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:08:29 EST news152809684 Web visitors can now share the excitement of Census of Marine Life explorations as scientists uncover the mysteries of what lives below the surface of the global ocean. http://www.physorg.com/news152803130.html Space & Earth Mon, 02 Feb 2009 13:19:29 EST news152803130 (PhysOrg.com) -- Once a day, Miaki Ishii rides the Earth tide, rising slowly - along with her desk, chair, and entire office - 20 to 30 centimeters before sinking back again. http://www.physorg.com/news152462985.html Space & Earth Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:51:16 EST news152462985 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's first spacecraft dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon dioxide is in final preparations for a Feb. 23 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Carbon dioxide is the leading human-produced greenhouse gas driving changes in Earth's climate. http://www.physorg.com/news152462742.html Space & Earth Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:47:43 EST news152462742 (PhysOrg.com) -- New climate maps of the Earth`s surface during the height of the last Ice Age support predictions that northern Australia will become wetter and southern Australia drier due to climate change. http://www.physorg.com/news151612069.html Space & Earth Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:28:21 EST news151612069