Science Teachers

Association of Nigeria

Environmental Science

Woods Hole Research Center plans controlled burn in Amazon rainforest
Fire is an important agent of transformation in the Amazon landscape. Every year, low intensity fires burn thousands of square miles of Amazon forest. To study the effects of these, and the forests' ability to recover from repeated burning, Woods Hole Research Center scientists will burn two and a half square kilometers of forest in the transition forest of northern Mato Grosso state, at Fazenda Tanguro in Querencia, from late August into early September.

ebraun@whrc.org
Woods Hole Research Center

ESA 90th Annual Meeting
The Ecological Society of America's (ESA) 90th Annual Meeting will be held jointly with the INTECOL IX International Congress of Ecology in Montréal, Quebec, August 7-12, 2005. The meeting theme is, "Ecology at Multiple Scales." Over 4,000 ecological scientists, researchers, educators, administrators, and policy-makers from around the globe are expected to attend.

Contact: Annie Drinkard
annie@esa.org
Ecological Society of America

NASA satellite data capture a big climate effect on tiny ocean life
New research found that phytoplankton population and size can change dramatically due to the physical processes associated with the climate phenomena known as El Niño and La Niña. In turn, these changes not only affect ocean ecology, but also influence our climate by impacting carbon storage in the ocean.
Robert.J.Gutro.1@gsfc.nasa.gov
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center--EOS Project Science Office

New Scripps Oceanography project to study sediments and ecosystem restoration in Venice lagoon
Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, in conjunction with Italy's Venice Water Authority, Consorzio Venezia Nuova and Thetis SPA, has launched a multifaceted scientific program aimed at providing fundamental information about the effects of sediment translocation in Venice lagoon, a vital facet of the historic city of Venice, Italy.
scrippsnews@ucsd.edu
University of California - San Diego

Discovering an ecosystem beneath a collapsed Antarctic ice shelf
The chance discovery of a vast ecosystem beneath the collapsed Larsen Ice Shelf will allow scientists to explore the uncharted life below Antarctica's floating ice shelves and further probe the origins of life in extreme environments. Researchers discovered the sunless habitat after a recent underwater video study examining a deep glacial trough in the northwestern Weddell Sea following the sudden Larsen B shelf collapse in 2002.
hleifert@agu.org
American Geophysical Union

Methane's impacts on climate change may be twice previous estimates
Scientists face difficult challenges in predicting and understanding how much our climate is changing. When it comes to gases that trap heat in our atmosphere, called greenhouse gases (GHGs), scientists typically look at how much of the gases exist in the atmosphere.

ROBERT.J.GUTRO.1@GSFC.NASA.GOV
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center--EOS Project Science Office

NRL study finds shuttle exhaust is source of mysterious clouds in Antarctica
A new study, funded in part by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) reports that exhaust from the space shuttle can create high-altitude clouds over Antarctica mere days following launch, providing valuable insight to global transport processes in the lower thermosphere. The same study also finds that the shuttle's main engine exhaust plume carries small quantities of iron that can be observed from the ground, half a world away.
nrl1030@ccs.nrl.navy.mil
Naval Research Laboratory

Space shuttle Columbia's last flight formed clouds over Antarctica
A burst of mesospheric cloud activity over Antarctica in January 2003 was caused by the exhaust plume of the space shuttle Columbia during its final flight, reports a team of scientists who studied satellite and ground-based data from three different experiments. The data also call into question the role these clouds may play in monitoring global climate change.
kloeppel@uiuc.edu
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Are aerosols reducing coastal drizzle and increasing cloud cover?
Scientists are conducting a six-month atmospheric research campaign at the Point Reyes National Seashore in California. The experiment's goal is to help understand how aerosols -- small particles such as soot, dust and smoke -- influence the structure of marine stratus clouds, and how aerosols are associated with drizzle – the misty rain regularly produced by these types of clouds. The scientists think aerosols may be reducing coastal drizzle while increasing cloud cover.
jeff.sherwood@hq.doe.gov
DOE/US Department of Energy

Researchers get clearer view of Earth's atmosphere --- from the laboratory
For scientists who want to discern the complex chemistry at work in Earth's atmosphere, detecting a particular gas molecule can be as hard as finding a proverbial needle in a haystack. Frank De Lucia, a professor of physics at Ohio State University, and his colleagues recently used their FAST Scan Submillimeter Spectroscopy Technique (FASSST) to make the job easier.

Delucia.2@osu.edu
Ohio State University

Device creates electricity and treats wastewater
An environmental engineer at Washington University in St. Louis has created a device similar to a hydrogen fuel cell that uses bacteria to treat wastewater and create electricity. Lars Angenent, Ph.D., an assistant professor of Chemical Engineering, and a member of the University's Environmental Engineering Science Program, has devised a microbial fuel cell which he calls an upflow microbial fuel cell (UMFC) that is fed continually.

tony_fitzpatrick@wustl.edu
Washington University in St. Louis

Arsenic - not the same for everyone
Children with a particular genetic variation metabolize arsenic from drinking water differently than adults with the same variation. The findings have important implications for the safety of drinking water worldwide and the use of arsenic as a cancer drug.

stolte@email.arizona.edu
University of Arizona

A new discovery helps us to understand the complex nature of earthquakes
Álvaro Corral, a physicist at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, has discovered that the structure of the time interval between successive earthquakes is similar to the spatial structure of physics systems in the "critical points". The research, published in Physical Review Letters, shows that the time interval between successive earthquakes depends on the time that elapsed between previous earthquakes. Although this is dependent upon statistics, the discovery may help to improve risk estimation.

octavi.lopez@uab.es
Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona

Soil fertility in the tropics can be influenced by landscape and precipitation, study finds
A new study conducted in the Hawaiian Islands has revealed that landscape and erosion play crucial roles in determining soil fertility in tropical ecosystems.
mshwartz@stanford.edu
Stanford University

Boosting vitamin C in plants can help reduce smog damage
The harmful effects of smog on people and animals – the stinging eyes and decreased lung capacity – are the stuff of well-researched fact. Now, the body of knowledge about air pollution's effects on plants has grown with University of California, Riverside Biochemistry Professor Daniel Gallie's discovery of the importance of vitamin C in helping plants defend themselves against the ravages of ozone – smog's particularly nasty component.

ricardo.duran@ucr.edu
University of California - Riverside

June 5 Is World Environment Day
San Francisco will host the 12th annual World Environment Day celebration, an international event sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programme where mayors, city planners, and other stakeholders will gather to discuss environmental issues and sustainable development in urban areas. This year's theme is called "Green Cities -- Plan for the Planet!"
  World Environment Day was established by the U.N. General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. Another resolution, adopted by the assembly the same day, led to the creation of UNEP.

The National Academies

Report Calls for National Volcano Early Warning System
  May 13 -- A new report from the U.S. Geological Survey sets up the framework for a National Volcano Early Warning System. The system would assess various hazard and risk factors to calculate a "threat score" for each U.S. volcano. The report also calls for improved monitoring of volcanoes across the country.
  Rapid population growth, increased air traffic, and economic development over and near volcanic regions mean that volcanic activity and eruptions pose a greater threat to both business and people's lives. Since the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, advances in volcanic studies have been used to create and test models of volcanic behavior, allowing scientists to make reliable forecasts of such activity. The report says that while active volcanoes do not always erupt, accurate and constant volcanic monitoring will allow threatened communities to respond quickly and appropriately.

The National Academies

Charon Passes in Front of a Star

Astronomers from MIT and Williams College have teamed up to capture an event seen only once, 25 years ago. On the night of July 10/11, Pluto's moon Charon briefly passed in front of a distant star - this is called an occultation. By studying how the light from this star dimmed and then brightened again, the astronomers will be able to determine if Charon has an atmosphere. Charon is small, so it doesn't have much gravity to hold an atmosphere, but it's so cold that some gasses could be held in place.

Universe Today

Planet Outside Solar System is Observed

A team of European and American astronomers report that new images taken of an object five times the mass of Jupiter is a giant planet closely orbiting a distant star. The team first spotted the object last year as a faint reddish speck of light circling a dim brown dwarf or failed star 225 light-years away from Earth near the constellation Hydra. Scientists guessed the faint light was a planet, but said further observation was needed.

‘Red and Dead’ Galaxies Surprise Astronomers

In a survey of the distant, early universe, the Spitzer Space Telescope has identified the corpses of three “dead” galaxies. An infrared telescope on Earth first found the galaxies two years ago. They appeared red (a sign that most of their stars were old). But the Earth’s heat clouded the observations, making it impossible to rule out whether dust was obscuring the light from younger stars. Scientists note the latest finding bolsters a theory that colossal black holes can starve galaxies of the gas needed to create new stars.

Mars Discoveries Spur Talk of New Mission

Scientists have called for a follow-up mission to find out if life exists on Mars, after discovering active volcanoes and frozen seas on the Red Planet. The recommendation follows an analysis of data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars probe. Ice packs have been found at the planet’s poles and the likely existence of a frozen sea near its equator. Signs of lava flows 20 million years ago and several recent cones have been discovered near Mars’ North Pole. “From what we’ve seen, Mars meets all the requirements that are needed for life to exist,” observed Everett Gibson, a NASA scientist invited to join in the analysis of the ESA project.

Saturn’s Moon Titan a Frozen World

Data from the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft shows Saturn’s moon Titan was a world frozen in its youth. “Titan is the Peter Pan of our solar system. It’s a little world that never grew up,” observed University of Hawaii’s Tobias Owen, a member of an international team monitoring the findings from the spacecraft. Ice appears to form the bedrock of Titan and there is a possibility of cryovolcanoes—volcanic-like vents that spew forth ice instead of lava—on the moon. Dennis Matson of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory notes the “ice volcano concept is still a theory, but it offers the best explanation for some features seen on the surface of Titan.”

Astronomers Spy Galaxy’s Strongest Explosion Yet

Telescopes across the globe have recorded the brightest explosion ever detected in our galaxy. The initial burst lasted less than a second, followed by a tail of x-rays lasting six minutes. Material ejected by the blast sped outward at speeds close to one-third the speed of light. “It was the mother of all magnetic flares—a true monster,” observed Kevin Hurley of the University of California at Berkeley. Radio waves from the flare’s aftermath continue to be recorded by telescopes around the world.