Latest and Breaking Earth Science News

Brainy worms: Evolution of the cerebral cortex
2 September 2010, 4:00 am
(European Molecular Biology Laboratory) Unexpectedly, scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory have now discovered a true counterpart of the cerebral cortex in an invertebrate, a marine worm. Their findings, published today in Cell, give an idea of what the most ancient higher brain centers looked like, and what our distant ancestors used them for.

Science's policy clout diminished, but oil risk looms large
2 September 2010, 4:00 am
(SAGE Publications UK) More people are likely to believe scientific studies claiming that oil drilling is riskier, not safer, than was previously thought, according to a new study of attitudes in California. What's more the findings, which appear in the journal Public Understanding of Science, published by SAGE, show that scientists' efforts to influence public opinion have a limited effect.

Tropical forests slashed for farmland
2 September 2010, 4:00 am
(Stanford University) A new study led by a Stanford researcher shows that more than 80 percent of the new farmland created in the tropics between 1980 and 2000 came from felling forests, which sends carbon into the atmosphere and drives global warming. But the research team also noted that big agribusiness has largely replaced small farmers in doing most of the tree cutting in Brazil and Indonesia, which may make it easier to rein in the trend.

NASA catches heavy rainfall happening in Category 4 Earl as it approaches the US
2 September 2010, 4:00 am
(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Hurricane Earl is still a powerful category four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale as it approaches the North Carolina coast today. NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite observed the high rates rain was falling within Earl, in some areas more than 2 inches per hour. Today, the Global Hawk unmanned aircraft is also flying into the eye of Hurricane Earl at altitudes of 60,000 feet to gather information about the storm.

New climate change mitigation schemes could benefit elites rather than the rural poor
2 September 2010, 4:00 am
(Burness Communications) With governments across Latin America preparing to implement a new financial mechanism aimed at mitigating climate change by curbing carbon emissions from the destruction of tropical forests, experts gathering here today warned against a "one-size-fits-all" approach, calling instead for flexible, balanced solutions to the thorny dilemmas surrounding this new mechanism. Among the experts' chief worries is that the wealthy and powerful could capture many of the benefits, largely at the expense of rural communities, including indigenous groups.

NASA satellite sees Tropical Storm Kompasu transitioning over Korea and China
2 September 2010, 4:00 am
(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) NASA's Terra satellite captured the changing Tropical Storm Kompasu over Korea and China very early today, as it makes its way east to northern Japan. It is becoming extratropical.

University of Arizona-led group awarded $9.9 million to develop 'super rice'
2 September 2010, 4:00 am
(University of Arizona) Scientists seek to develop a rice strain that is better capable of withstanding drought and poorer soils and produces higher yields than current forms of domesticated rice.

Iowa State chemists discover method to create high-value chemicals from biomass
2 September 2010, 4:00 am
(Iowa State University) Walter Trahanovsky, an Iowa State professor of chemistry, was trying to produce sugar derivatives from biomass using high-temperature chemistry. He was surprised when his research also produced significant yields of high-value chemicals.

Edible nanostructures
2 September 2010, 4:00 am
(Northwestern University) Sugar, salt, alcohol and a little serendipity led Northwestern University researchers to discover a new class of nanostructures that could be used for gas storage and food and medical technologies. And the compounds are edible. The porous crystals are the first known all-natural metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) that are simple to make. Most other MOFs are made from petroleum-based ingredients, but the Northwestern MOFs you can pop into your mouth and eat, and the researchers have.

NASA sees Depression Nine become Gaston then back to a depression
2 September 2010, 4:00 am
(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Tropical Depression Nine strengthened yesterday into Tropical Storm Gaston, but today it ran into dry and stable air and weakened back into a depression again.