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| 11/20/2008 Where there's wildfire smoke, there's toxicity
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| (University of Southern California) Detailed particulate analysis of the smoke produced by previous California wild fires indicates that the composition posed more serious potential threats to health than is generally realized, according to a new paper analyzing particulate matter from wildfires in Southern California.
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| 11/19/2008 Fluid dynamics virtual press room now open
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| (American Institute of Physics) The virtual press room for next week's 61st Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics in San Antonio is now open. On this page, you will find news tips, stunning images and cool videos depicting cutting-edge research with applications in engineering, technology, astronomy, alternative energy, biology and medicine.
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| 11/19/2008 Climate change opens new avenue for spread of invasive plants
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| (University of Florida) A team of researchers from the Netherlands and the University of Florida has found that plants that range beyond their normal distribution because of warming climates may have advantages over native plants. Global warming-induced biological invasions may represent an additional threat to biodiversity.
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| 11/19/2008 NAS announces initiative to connect entertainment industry with top experts
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| (National Academy of Sciences) The National Academy of Sciences announced today the creation of "The Science and Entertainment Exchange," an initiative designed to connect entertainment industry professionals with top scientists and engineers to help the creators of television shows, films, video games, and other productions incorporate science into their work.
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| 11/19/2008 Animal and biological science highlights: San Antonio Fluid Dynamics Conference, Nov. 23-25
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| (American Institute of Physics) From dolphins to clams to flying creatures like hummingbirds and bats, many of nature's most fascinating creatures exhibit forms of fluid flow. When the 61st Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics takes place from Nov. 23-25 at the San Antonio Convention Center, researchers from across the globe will describe cutting-edge research with applications in astronomy, engineering, alternative energy, biology, and medicine.
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| 11/19/2008 The physics of star-forming clouds and the urban environment
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| (American Institute of Physics) From the collapse of star-forming clouds to the flow of the molten Earth's core, from the combustion of gasoline in your car engine to the coursing blood in your veins, from the aerodynamics of flight to the concentration of microscopic animals in the ocean, many of nature's most fascinating phenomena are forms of fluid flow.
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| 11/19/2008 UCAR weather forecasts aim to reduce African meningitis epidemics
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| (National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research will provide long-term weather forecasts to medical officials in Africa to help reduce outbreaks of meningitis. The forecasts will enable local health providers to target vaccination programs more effectively for this deadly disease, which is correlated with dry and dusty conditions.
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| 11/19/2008 Montana State partnership receives $66.9M for carbon sequestration
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| (Montana State University) The US Department of Energy on Monday awarded $66.9 million to the Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership at Montana State University to fund a project that will inject a million tons of carbon dioxide into the sandstone rock layer beneath southwestern Wyoming.
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| 11/19/2008 Major conference on food Dec. 1-2, 2008
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| (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) The worlds largest alliance on agricultural research will convene more than 700 leading food and environmental scientists, policy makers and donor representatives in Maputo, Mozambique, on Dec. 1-2, 2008 to discuss the best approaches for meeting the food needs of the poor in Africa.
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| 11/19/2008 A model to measure soil health in the era of bioenergy
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| (Soil Science Society of America) The loss of soil organic matter due to poor land-management practice threatens farmlands, and while the use for crop residues as feedstock for biomass ethanol and bio-based products increases, these materials no longer contribute to the health of the soil. Scientist have now developed a method of measuring soil quality to assure an adequate amount of soil organic matter, called the CQESTR model.
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| 11/19/2008 Global warming predictions are overestimated, suggests study on black carbon
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| (Cornell University Communications) A detailed analysis of black carbon -- the residue of burned organic matter -- in computer climate models suggests that those models may be overestimating global warming predictions.
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| 11/19/2008 Metcalf Institute publishes book about communicating climate change
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| (University of Rhode Island) The Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting has published a book to help scientists and journalists communicate more clearly and effectively with one another about climate change.
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| 11/18/2008 Carbon dioxide already in danger zone, warns study
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| (The Earth Institute at Columbia University) A group of 10 prominent scientists says that the level of globe-warming carbon dioxide in the air has probably already reached a point where world climate will change disastrously unless the level can be reduced in coming decades. The study is a departure from recent estimates that truly dangerous levels would be reached only later in this century.
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| 11/18/2008 Pitt researchers use fluorescence to develop method for detecting mercury in fish
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| (University of Pittsburgh) Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have developed a simple and quick method for detecting mercury in fish and dental samples, two substances at the center of public concern about mercury contamination. The technique involves a fluorescent substance that glows bright green when it comes into contact with oxidized mercury, the researchers report in the current online edition of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
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| 11/18/2008 Missing radioactivity in ice cores bodes ill for part of Asia
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| (Ohio State University) When Ohio State glaciologists failed to find the expected radioactive signals in the latest core they drilled from a Himalayan ice field, they knew it meant trouble for their research. But those missing markers of radiation, remnants from atomic bomb tests a half-century ago, foretell much greater threat to the half-billion or more people living downstream of that vast mountain range.
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| 11/18/2008 Issues at intersection of climate change and health impact global well-being
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| (Elsevier Health Sciences) The American Journal of Preventive Medicine special issue on climate change (November 2008), will be featured at the "Changing Climate ... Changing People" conference today in Los Angeles. Leading off the event is Guest Editor Howard Frumkin, M.D., Dr.P.H., speaking about the impacts of climate change on human health.
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| 11/18/2008 Duke study pinpoints potential 'green collar' job growth in US
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| (Duke University) During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama proposed an economic plan that would create 5 million jobs in environmental industries. These so-called "green collar" jobs do, in fact, present the next frontier for US manufacturing, says a new report from Duke University.
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| 11/18/2008 Alpine rivers hold important clues for preserving biodiversity and coping with climate change
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| (European Science Foundation) Marginal plants, particularly trees, play a crucial role in sustaining the biodiversity of Europe's big river systems, according to a recently held workshop organized by the European Science Foundation. This finding provides important clues for protecting Europe's rivers against a combined onslaught from human development and climate change, which are tampering with existing ecosystems and changing both the physical and biological forces acting upon them.
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| 11/17/2008 Michigan State University scientist to help lead climate-change study for Congress
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| (Michigan State University) A Michigan State University scientist will help lead a climate change study charged with advising the next US Congress on environmental policy.Supported by mounting evidence -- and a more sympathetic US administration -- the national global warming debate is expected to quickly shift toward action, according to Thomas Dietz, director of MSU's Environmental Science and Policy Program. The National Academy of Sciences appointed Dietz to the leadership committee for the $6 million America's Climate Choices study, which gets under way this week.
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| 11/17/2008 Water vapor confirmed as major player in climate change
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| (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Water vapor is known to be Earth's most abundant greenhouse gas, but the extent of its contribution to global warming has been debated. Using recent NASA satellite data, researchers have estimated more precisely than ever the heat-trapping effect of water in the air, validating the role of the gas as a critical component of climate change.
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| 11/17/2008 PNNL leadership in carbon sequestration featured at international conference
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| (DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) Internationally recognized climate scientist and economist Jae Edmonds will speak on Monday about the potential role of carbon capture and sequestration in climate stabilization in the plenary opening session of the 9th International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Technologies. He is one of nearly a dozen scientists with the Department of Energys Pacific Northwest National Laboratory who will present new findings and insights to the greenhouse gas and carbon management challenge.
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| 11/17/2008 Small satellite takes on large thunderstorms
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| (National Science Foundation) Firefly, it's called, this new small satellite mission sponsored by the National Science Foundation. It's designed to help solve the mystery of the most powerful natural particle accelerator in Earth's atmosphere: TGFs, or terrestrial gamma-ray flashes. TGFs likely result from thunderstorms.
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| 11/17/2008 Acid soils in Slovakia tell somber tale
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| (United States Geological Survey) Increasing levels of nitrogen deposition associated with industry and agriculture can drive soils toward a toxic level of acidification, according to a study published in Nature Geoscience.
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| 11/17/2008 NSF/NASA 'Firefly' cubesat to study link between lightning and terrestrial gamma ray flashes
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| (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Massive energy releases occur every day in the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere. Lightning may give rise to these bursts of radiation. However, unlike the well-known flashes of light and peals of thunder familiar to Earth-dwellers, these energy releases are channeled upward and can be detected only from space. Our atmosphere protects us from the effects of this radiation, but the mechanisms at work can impact Earth's upper atmosphere and its space environment.
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| 11/17/2008 MIT: Safe storage of greenhouse-gas carbon dioxide
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| (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) To prevent global warming, researchers and policymakers are exploring a variety of options to significantly cut the amount of carbon dioxide that reaches the atmosphere. One possible approach involves capturing greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide at the source, then injecting them underground. Now MIT engineers have come up with a new software tool to determine how much CO2 can be sequestered safely in geological formations.
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