news from the lab

Physics/Astronomy - Earth Sciences - 21.02
Hubble Reveals a New Type of Planet
Cambridge, MA - Our solar system contains three types of planets: rocky, terrestrial worlds (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars), gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn), and ice giants (Uranus and Neptune). Planets orbiting distant stars come in an even wider variety, including lava worlds and "hot Jupiters." Observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have added a new type of planet to the mix.

Environmental Sciences - Earth Sciences - 6.02
Researchers Uncover a Mechanism to Explain Dune Field Patterns
In a study of the harsh but beautiful White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, University of Pennsylvania researchers have uncovered a unifying mechanism to explain dune patterns. The new work represents a contribution to basic science, but the findings may also hold implications for identifying when dune landscapes like those in Nebraska's Sand Hills may reach a "tipping point" under climate change, going from valuable grazing land to barren desert.

Life Sciences - Earth Sciences - 1.02
Mouse to elephant? Just wait 24 million generations
Scientists have for the first time measured how fast large-scale evolution can occur in mammals, showing it takes 24 million generations for a mouse-sized animal to evolve to the size of an elephant. Research published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (PNAS) describes increases and decreases in mammal body size following the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

Physics/Astronomy - Earth Sciences - 29.01
Astronomers solve mystery of vanishing electrons
Researchers have explained the puzzling disappearing act of energetic electrons in Earth's outer radiation belt, using data collected from a fleet of orbiting spacecraft. The team shows that the missing electrons are swept away from the planet by a tide of solar wind particles during periods of heightened solar activity.

Environmental Sciences - Earth Sciences - 25.01
Injecting sulfate particles into stratosphere won’t fully offset climate change
As the reality and the impact of climate warming have become clearer in the last decade, researchers have looked for possible engineering solutions – such as removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or directing the sun's heat away from Earth – to help offset rising temperatures.

Physics/Astronomy - Earth Sciences - 12.01
Quasicrystal is extraterrestrial in origin, Princeton researchers find
by Catherine Zandonella A rare and exotic mineral, so unusual that it was thought impossible to exist, came to Earth on a meteorite, according to an international team of researchers led by Princeton University scientists.

Earth Sciences - 9.01
Quakes unearth Australia’s underground past
Researchers from The Australian National University have used the latest earthquake-measuring technology to image the tectonic plate beneath southeast Australia and reveal for the first time the continent's geological building blocks.

Physics/Astronomy - Earth Sciences - 4.01
New Computer Model Explains Lakes and Storms on Titan
Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is an intriguing, alien world that's covered in a thick atmosphere with abundant methane. With an average surface temperature of a brisk -300 degrees Fahrenheit (about 90 kelvins) and a diameter just less than half of Earth's, Titan boasts methane clouds and fog, as well as rainstorms and plentiful lakes of liquid methane.

Physics/Astronomy - Earth Sciences - 12.12.2011
Water on Mars: maybe martian microbes
Scientists from The Australian National University have found that extensive regions of the sub-surface of Mars could contain water and be at comfortable temperatures for terrestrial - and potentially martian - microbes.

Physics/Astronomy - Earth Sciences - 8.12.2011
Ageing stars are slow on the outside but fast on the inside
Scientists have made a new discovery about how old stars called 'red giants' rotate, giving an insight into what our sun will look like in five billion years. The international team of scientists, including University of Sydney astronomers Professor Tim Bedding and Dennis Stello, has discovered red giants have slowed down on the outside, while their cores spin at least 10 times faster than their outer layers.

Environmental Sciences - Earth Sciences - 1.12.2011
CO2 levels plunged as Antarctica froze
A Yale University-led research team has found evidence that carbon dioxide levels in Earth's atmosphere plunged prior to and during the initial icing of Antarctica, about 34 million years ago. The new findings provide further evidence of atmospheric carbon dioxide's role as a major trigger of global climate change.

Physics/Astronomy - Earth Sciences - 28.11.2011
’Star wars’ laser offers new insight into Earth’s atmosphere
'Star wars' laser offers new insight into Earth's atmosphere With the need to understand global change one of today's most pressing scientific challenges, ESA is exploring novel techniques for future space missions.

Earth Sciences - Environmental Sciences - 17.11.2011
Massive volcanoes, meteorite impacts delivered one-two death punch to dinosaurs
by Morgan Kelly A cosmic one-two punch of colossal volcanic eruptions and meteorite strikes likely caused the mass-extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous period that is famous for killing the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, according to two Princeton University reports that reject the prevailing theory that the extinction was caused by a single large meteorite.

Physics/Astronomy - Earth Sciences - 15.11.2011
Ancient moth’s true colors
A research team led by Yale University scientists has for the first time determined the original colors of an ancient moth, based on nearly 50 million-year-old fossils from Germany. The discovery could help scientists learn the colors of a wide variety of long-extinct creatures, including birds, fishes, and other insects, and shed light on color's function and evolution.

Earth Sciences - 8.11.2011
Plate shapes may hold secrets to earthquakes
A new study from The Australian National University has brought scientists a step closer to finding out how earthquakes happen. Giampiero Iaffaldano from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences and colleagues in Italy and Germany used simple but innovative laboratory models to examine the forces behind the movement of plates in the Earth's thick outer shell.