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. (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Utah mathematicians developed a new cloaking method, and it's unlikely to lead to invisibility cloaks like those used by Harry Potter or Romulan spaceships in "Star Trek." Instead, the new method someday might shield submarines from sonar, planes from radar, buildings from earthquakes, and oil rigs and coastal structures from tsunamis. http://www.physorg.com/news169703752.html Physics Mon, 17 Aug 2009 04:56:57 EST news169703752 Using sophisticated seismometers and GPS devices, scientists have been able to track minute movements along two massive tectonic plates colliding 25 miles or so underneath Washington state's Puget Sound basin. Their early findings suggest that a mega-earthquake could strike closer to the Seattle-Tacoma area, home to some 3.6 million people, than was thought earlier. http://www.physorg.com/news169653448.html Space & Earth Sun, 16 Aug 2009 15:30:03 EST news169653448 (PhysOrg.com) -- New Zealand is the site of one of the world`s youngest subduction zones, where the Pacific Plate of Earth`s crust dives beneath the Australian Plate. Now, a University of Utah study shows how water deep underground helps the subduction zone mature and paves the way for it to generate powerful earthquakes. http://www.physorg.com/news168507035.html Space & Earth Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:00:02 EST news168507035 (PhysOrg.com) -- A research program aimed at using platinum as an exploration guide for nickel has for the first time been able to put a time scale on the planet`s large-scale convection processes. http://www.physorg.com/news168184418.html Space & Earth Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:50:01 EST news168184418 Despite harsh weather and ocean conditions, and complex geological characteristics of its drill site, the deep-sea drilling vessel CHIKYU, for the first time in the history of scientific ocean drilling, conducted riser-drilling operations to drill successfully down to a depth of 1,603.7 meters beneath the seafloor (at water depth of 2,054 meters). http://www.physorg.com/news168178508.html Space & Earth Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:16:36 EST news168178508 A guide* for designing buildings using steel moment frames to resist earthquakes has been published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as part of its support for the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). http://www.physorg.com/news168095757.html Technology Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:17:07 EST news168095757 New research by a team of scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) offers new insight into the San Andreas Fault as it extends beneath Southern California's Salton Sea. The team discovered a series of prominent faults beneath the sea, which transfer motion away from the San Andreas Fault as it disappears beneath the Salton Sea. The study provides new understanding of the intricate earthquake faults system beneath the sea and what role it may play in the earthquake cycle along the southern San Andreas Fault. http://www.physorg.com/news167923440.html Space & Earth Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:40:01 EST news167923440 When the magnitude 8 Sichuan earthquake struck southern China in May 2008, it left more than 69,000 people dead and 4.3 million homeless. Now ecologists have added to these losses an assessment of the earthquake's impact on biodiversity: namely, habitat for some of the last existing wild giant pandas. In an article published today in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment e-view, researchers show that more than 23 percent of the pandas' habitat in the study area was destroyed, and fragmentation of the remaining habitat could hinder panda reproduction. http://www.physorg.com/news167910155.html Biology Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:43:24 EST news167910155 A massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake last week has moved the south of New Zealand closer to Australia, scientists said Wednesday. http://www.physorg.com/news167460342.html Space & Earth Wed, 22 Jul 2009 05:46:09 EST news167460342 The potential for a huge Pacific Ocean tsunami on the West Coast of America may be greater than previously thought, according to a new study of geological evidence along the Gulf of Alaska coast. http://www.physorg.com/news167303056.html Space & Earth Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:04:45 EST news167303056 A destructive earthquake will strike a lone, wooden condominium in Japan next week, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Professor Michael Symans will be on site to watch it happen. http://www.physorg.com/news166375384.html Technology Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:23:24 EST news166375384 (PhysOrg.com) -- Increases in mysterious underground tremors observed in several active earthquake fault zones around the world could signal a build-up of stress at locked segments of the faults and presumably an increased likelihood of a major quake, according to a new University of California, Berkeley, study. http://www.physorg.com/news166369901.html Space & Earth Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:30:01 EST news166369901 China is in a very seismically active area and has had many catastrophic earthquakes during its history. A joint European-Chinese team is using satellite radar data to monitor ground deformation across major continental faults in China to understand better the seismic cycle and how faults behave. http://www.physorg.com/news166096488.html Space & Earth Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:55:20 EST news166096488 The seismometer is snugged in its hole and tamped over with dirt. Now it's time for the stomp test. http://www.physorg.com/news166089342.html Space & Earth Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:57:05 EST news166089342 On May 28 at 2:24 a.m. local time, a deadly earthquake rocked Honduras, killing seven people and injuring several others, demolishing homes, damaging scores of other buildings, and sending terrified residents running through the streets. http://www.physorg.com/news165242901.html Space & Earth Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:48:48 EST news165242901 (AP) -- A strong earthquake jolted a swath of southern Alaska on Monday, sending people diving under desks and huddling in doorways but causing little damage. http://www.physorg.com/news164915519.html Space & Earth Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:53:22 EST news164915519 For the first time scientists have discovered the presence of a natural deep earth pump that is a crucial element in the formation of ore deposits and earthquakes. http://www.physorg.com/news164536333.html Space & Earth Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:32:52 EST news164536333 The Seismological Lab at the University of Nevada, Reno is finishing the first phase of seismic surveying through downtown as part of U.S. Geological Survey study to create an earthquake hazard map in the Reno-Carson City urban corridor. http://www.physorg.com/news164381802.html Space & Earth Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:38:10 EST news164381802 "When an earthquake strikes, hide under a table." "Don't rush outside immediately." Are these actually life-saving actions in an earthquake? The Education, Science and Technology Ministry plans to see if such commonly given advice stands up to scientific scrutiny. http://www.physorg.com/news164175142.html Other Sciences Sun, 14 Jun 2009 05:12:55 EST news164175142 A new study evaluates expected ground motion in Seattle, Victoria and Vancouver from earthquakes of magnitude 7.5 - 9.0, providing engineers and policymakers with a new tool to build or retrofit structures to withstand seismic waves from large "subduction" earthquakes off the continent's west coast. http://www.physorg.com/news163905800.html Space & Earth Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:23:30 EST news163905800 Surprised scientists say that typhoons which hit Taiwan unleash long, slow earthquakes, a phenomenon that may save the island from devastating temblors. http://www.physorg.com/news163859251.html Space & Earth Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:27:49 EST news163859251 (AP) -- The latest earthquake to hit the nation's second-largest city was a garden-variety temblor by California standards, rumbling through on a Sunday evening when most residents were home eating dinner or watching TV. The magnitude-4.7 quake shattered more nerves than glass, and scientists say it could have been worse. http://www.physorg.com/news161936833.html Space & Earth Tue, 19 May 2009 07:33:36 EST news161936833 Hardly anyone noticed the ruckus when Yosemite Valley's largest rockfall in two decades thundered down near Half Dome before sunrise one March morning -- but scientists will hear all about it soon. http://www.physorg.com/news160648562.html Space & Earth Mon, 04 May 2009 09:36:47 EST news160648562 A persistent school of thought in recent years has held that so-called "chevrons," large U- or V-shaped formations found in some of the world's coastal areas, are evidence of megatsunamis caused by asteroids or comets slamming into the ocean. http://www.physorg.com/news160212894.html Space & Earth Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:35:13 EST news160212894 (PhysOrg.com) -- The most powerful earthquakes happen at the junction of two converging tectonic plates, where one plate is sliding (or subducting) beneath the other. Now a team of researchers, led by Teh-Ru Alex Song of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, has found that an anomalous layer at the top of a subducting plate coincides with the locations of slow earthquakes and non-volcanic tremors. The presence of such a layer in similar settings elsewhere could point to other regions of slow quakes. Slow earthquakes, also called silent earthquakes, take days, weeks, or even months to release pent-up energy instead of seconds or minutes as in normal earthquakes. The research is published in the April 24th issue of Science. http://www.physorg.com/news159715838.html Space & Earth Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:31:06 EST news159715838 If you are resident of New Orleans, how would you describe personal events that occurred shortly before August 2005? Would you refer to them as happening "back in July of 2005" or would you describe them as happening "just before Hurricane Katrina"? If you live in Oregon, would you make reference to Hurricane Katrina? A team of researchers, led by psychologist Norman R. Brown from the University of Alberta, investigated how public events (e.g., war, natural disaster, terrorism) shape our personal memories. http://www.physorg.com/news159713449.html Medicine & Health Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:51:21 EST news159713449 China will build at least 20 more reservoirs or hydroelectric projects in the Yangtze river system by 2020, the government said Tuesday, despite growing concerns over dam construction there. http://www.physorg.com/news159520508.html Space & Earth Tue, 21 Apr 2009 08:15:39 EST news159520508 (PhysOrg.com) -- Studying satellite radar data from ESA's Envisat and the Italian Space Agency's COSMO-SkyMed, scientists have begun analysing the movement of Earth during and after the 6.3 earthquake that shook the medieval town of L'Aquila in central Italy on 6 April 2009. http://www.physorg.com/news159015099.html Space & Earth Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:52:41 EST news159015099 Scientists have detected 10,000 aftershocks since last week's earthquake in Italy of which around 1,000 could be felt, a top expert said on Monday, warning that the tremors will probably get stronger. http://www.physorg.com/news158851403.html Space & Earth Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:23:46 EST news158851403 Propagation of earthquake waves within the Earth is not uniform. Experiments indicate that the velocity of shear waves (s-waves) in Earth`s lower mantle between 660 and 2900 km depth is strongly dependent on the orientation of ferropericlase. In the latest issue of Science (Vol. 325, 10.04.2009), researchers from the German Research Center for Geosciences GFZ, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the University of Bayreuth, and Arizona State University report unexpected properties of ferropericlase, which is presumably the second most abundant mineral of the lower mantle. http://www.physorg.com/news158840427.html Space & Earth Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:21:05 EST news158840427