Glint of Sunlight Confirms Liquid in Northern Lake District of Titan

Glint of Sunlight Confirms Liquid in Northern Lake District of Titan

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (14) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Cassini Spacecraft has captured the first flash of sunlight reflected off a lake on Saturn's moon Titan, confirming the presence of liquid on the part of the moon dotted with many large, ...


Orion Launch Abort System Attitude Control Motor Lights Up Sky

Orion Launch Abort System Attitude Control Motor Lights Up Sky

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- It looked like a light show in Elkton, Md., on Tuesday, Dec. 15, as NASA ground tested a full-scale attitude control motor, or ACM. The motor operated with precision as its elaborate eight-valve ...


New pictures reveal rich Antarctic marine life in area of rapid climate change

New pictures reveal rich Antarctic marine life in area of rapid climate change

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (9) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- New photographs of ice fish, octopus, sea pigs, giant sea spiders, rare rays and beautiful basket stars that live in Antarctica’s continental shelf seas are revealed this week by the British ...


Avatar's moon Pandora could be real

Avatar's moon Pandora could be real

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (27) | comments 10

In the new blockbuster Avatar, humans visit the habitable - and inhabited - alien moon called Pandora. Life-bearing moons like Pandora or the Star Wars forest moon of Endor are a staple of science fiction. ...


Soil Microorganisms? Role Cited as a Missing Factor in Climate Change Equation

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (7) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Those seeking to understand and predict climate change can now use an additional tool to calculate carbon dioxide exchanges on land, according to a scientific journal article co-authored by a University of ...


ROV Jason images the discovery of the deepest explosive eruption on the sea floor (w/ Video)

Oceanographers image the discovery of the deepest explosive eruption on the sea floor (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 1

Oceanographers using the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Jason discovered and recorded the first video and still images of a deep-sea volcano actively erupting molten lava on the seafloor.


Computer simulation strengthens link between climate change and release of subsea methane

Computer simulation strengthens link between climate change and release of subsea methane

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (23) | comments 58

(PhysOrg.com) -- A first-of-its-kind computer simulation that mirrors real-world observations of methane bubbling up from a seabed in the Arctic Ocean provides further evidence that warming oceans may unleash ...


NASA NuSTAR Telescope Being Built at Nevis

NASA NuSTAR Telescope Being Built at Nevis

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- It's an unlikely place to build a NASA telescope: a leafy estate in Irvington, N.Y., that once belonged to the son of Alexander Hamilton. Inside a hangar-like building on the site, which is ...


Colliding auroras produce an explosion of light

Colliding auroras produce an explosion of light

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (8) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A network of cameras deployed around the Arctic in support of NASA's THEMIS mission has made a startling discovery about the Northern Lights. Sometimes, vast curtains of aurora borealis collide, ...


Laurence still causing warnings and watches in northern west Australia

Laurence still causing warnings and watches in northern west Australia

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Although the center of Tropical Cyclone Laurence has been over land for two days, it's still holding together and bringing heavy rains and gusty winds to the northern coastal areas of West Australia and will ...


Fertilizer use not always helpful in revegetation efforts

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 3

Companies and communities trying to restore vegetation on damaged northern landscapes should think twice about using fertilizer to stimulate growth according to new research published in the November issue of Arctic, Antarctic an ...


Study on Great Lakes erosion dredges up controversy

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

The Great Lakes aren't as great as they once were. A U.S.-Canadian study released Tuesday reveals that unexpected erosion in the St. Clair River following a 1962 dredging project has permanently lowered Lakes Michigan and ...


Supernova explosions stay in shape

Supernova explosions stay in shape

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 2

At a very early age, children learn how to classify objects according to their shape. Now, new research suggests studying the shape of the aftermath of supernovas may allow astronomers to do the same.


Forests take center stage at Copenhagen

Forests take center stage at Copenhagen

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

As the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen approaches its conclusion, negotiations are focusing on the role of forests in mitigating climate change. The new 'Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest ...


The volume of garbage dumped in landfills every year in Japan has shrunk to roughly one third of 1990 levels

Japan mines toxic e-waste for precious materials

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 17, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (7) | comments 0

Seeking to turn an environmental problem into an economic opportunity, high-tech companies in resource-poor Japan are mining mountains of toxic e-waste for precious materials.