Space : Science World Report

Mar 23, 2012 11:48 AM EDT

Leopoldina to Host Conventions of the Multinational Associations of Science Academies, IAP and IAC

From 26 to 28 March, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in Halle (Saale) will host meetings of the two associations of national science academies, the InterAcademy Council (IAC) and the InterAcademy Panel (IAP). The executive committees of the two organisations, which include represe...

Mar 23, 2012 11:34 AM EDT

Astronomers Put Forward New Theory on Size of Black Holes

Astronomers have put forward a new theory about why black holes become so hugely massive - claiming some of them have no 'table manners', and tip their 'food' directly into their mouths, eating more than one course simultaneously.

Mar 23, 2012 08:45 AM EDT

European Cargo Ship Launches to Space Station

The European Space Agency's third Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-3) launched atop an Ariane 5 rocket from the Arianespace launch site in Kourou, French Guiana, at 12:34 a.m. EDT Friday, beginning a six-day journey to the International Space Station. The 13-ton "Edoardo Amaldi" spacecraft, named in...

Mar 23, 2012 07:11 AM EDT

Discovery Sheds New Light on Wandering Continents

A layer of partially molten rock about 22 to 75 miles underground can't be the only mechanism that allows continents to gradually shift their position over millions of years, according to a NASA-sponsored researcher. The result gives insight into what allows plate tectonics - the movement of the Ear...

Mar 22, 2012 04:45 PM EDT

Exercise Has Benefits, Even when It's Done in Space

Astronauts have been taking part in short spaceflight missions since 1961. They have only recently begun to spend significantly longer times in space, with missions extending for months, since the days of the Russian Mir space station (1986-2001) and extended stays on the International Space Station...

Mar 22, 2012 04:32 PM EDT

Seismic survey at the Mariana Trench will Follow Water Dragged Down into the Earth's Mantle

Last month, Doug Wiens, PhD, professor of earth and planetary science at Washington University in St. Louis, and two WUSTL students were cruising the tropical waters of the western Pacific above the Mariana trench aboard the research vessel Thomas G. Thompson.

Mar 22, 2012 03:28 PM EDT

New Understanding of Earth's Mantle Beneath the Pacific Ocean

Scientists have long speculated about why there is a large change in the strength of rocks that lie at the boundary between two layers immediately under Earth's crust: the lithosphere and underlying asthenosphere. Understanding this boundary is central to our knowledge of plate tectonics and thus th...

Mar 22, 2012 12:35 PM EDT

Geologists Discover New Class of Landform -- on Mars

An odd, previously unseen landform could provide a window into the geological history of Mars, according to new research by University of Washington geologists.

Mar 22, 2012 11:41 AM EDT

Runaway Planets Zoom at a Fraction of Light Speed

Seven years ago, astronomers boggled when they found the first runaway star flying out of our Galaxy at a speed of 1.5 million miles per hour. The discovery intrigued theorists, who wondered: If a star can get tossed outward at such an extreme velocity, could the same thing happen to planets?

Mar 22, 2012 11:16 AM EDT

US Scientist Helps Lead International Study of Ocean Value

Professor Robert Diaz of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary, is a co-editor of "Valuing the Ocean" a major new study by an international team of scientists and economists that attempts to measure the ocean's monetary value and to tally the costs and savings associa...

Mar 22, 2012 10:14 AM EDT

Researchers Take First-ever Measurement of Auroral Turbulence Using a Nanosatellite Radar Receiver

Researchers from SRI International and the University of Michigan have taken the first-ever measurement of naturally occurring auroral turbulence recorded using a nanosatellite radar receiver. The research was done with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NASA's Educational Launch...

Mar 22, 2012 09:34 AM EDT

Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Exploring Earth with Seismology

A new addition to The Geological Society of America's Memoir series, this comprehensive volume presents the worldwide history (1850 to 2005) of seismological studies of Earth's crust. Authors Claus Prodehl of UniversitÃ¤t Karlsuhe, Germany, and Walter D. Mooney of the U.S. Geological Survey have a...