Friday, 25 May, 2012

What are earthquakes? How do we study them? Are we any closer to accurate predictions?

What can we learn from whacking comets, up close and personal? What do comets tell us about the early solar system? And what is the role of comets in history?

Cassini finds lightning strikes on Saturn, haze on moon Titan, dust between the rings, and new rotation rate.

New view of crystals that form into planets in protoplanetary disks. Which came first, the planet or the crystals?

How do volcanoes work (p. 2)? How do we predict them (p. 3)? How do they change the landscape (p. 4)? How does life return after the eruption (p. 6)?

Lunar eclipses are fleeting events, but their history goes deep. And what’s what with that reddish hue?

Earth Observing System uses satellites to accelerate earth science, oceanography, meteorology and global change.

Soils provide new clues to early desert formation in Asia. The vast Loess Plateau of China has good soil; a remnant of wind-blown dust from millions of years ago.

Giant volcano at Yellowstone erupts on schedule. The last eruption covered about 20 states with ash. If Yellowstone blows, think big: Think REALLY BIG!

Gas hydrates under the ocean may contain an almost unlimited supply of energy, but they’re hard to get, and using them could make global warming even worse. Now a UC-Riverside professor says quick releases of frozen methane could cause a climate catastrophe. So is this gas a blessing, a curse, or both?