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Super trees that suck up and destroy toxic chemicals from the air and water faster than regular trees are the latest creation by scientists at the University of Washington.
When the scientists stick a rabbit gene into poplar trees, the trees become dramatically better at eliminating a dozen kinds of pollutants commonly found on poisoned properties.
When the scientists stick a rabbit gene into poplar trees, the trees become dramatically better at eliminating a dozen kinds of pollutants commonly found on poisoned properties.
To better understand global warming -- and the role of largely man-made changes that began with the Industrial Age two centuries ago and are now galloping at breakneck speed -- scientists aboard the CCGS Amundsen hunt for clues in the mud and bedrock, peat moss and plankton and permafrost. Using sonars and CAT scans, radioactive isotopes like carbon 14 and other indelible markers, they seek to chart and date everything from where the seawater came from, and when, to how long sediment layers have rested undisturbed on the sea floor.
NACHVAK FJORD, Labrador -- Beneath their sheaths of ice and permafrost, those blustery islands at the top of the world hide souvenirs of a distant tropical past. Remnants of fossil forests are strewn across the ridges of Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg in Canada's High Arctic. In Norway's Svalbard archipelago, the rocky cliffs of Spitsbergen are embedded with coral shells, relics from centuries spent somewhere south of modern-day Fort Lauderdale.
NACHVAK FJORD, Labrador -- Beneath their sheaths of ice and permafrost, those blustery islands at the top of the world hide souvenirs of a distant tropical past. Remnants of fossil forests are strewn across the ridges of Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg in Canada's High Arctic. In Norway's Svalbard archipelago, the rocky cliffs of Spitsbergen are embedded with coral shells, relics from centuries spent somewhere south of modern-day Fort Lauderdale.
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| ©REUTERS/Graphics |
Neanderthals, often portrayed as grunting, club-carrying brutes, may have been capable of sophisticated speech, researchers said on Thursday.
For early humans, one of the first displays of modern behavior was a sort of beach party and clam bake along the coast of South Africa.
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| ©REUTERS/The Mossel Bay Archaeology Project/Handout |
| A view of the sea and a staircase leading up to Cave 13B at Pinnacle Point in South Africa where Arizona State University paleoanthropologist Curtis Marean and an international team of researchers found ochre, bladelets and evidence of shellfish - findings that reveal the earliest dated evidence of modern humans. |
Using a little-known Google Labs widget, computer scientists from UC San Diego and UCLA have brought common sense to an automated image labeling system. This common sense is the ability to use context to help identify objects in photographs.
Apple Inc said on Tuesday the newest version of its Macintosh operating system would go on sale on October 26, hitting the market after a four-month delay due to the company's work on the iPhone.
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| ©REUTERS/Courtesy of Apple/Handou |
| An undated screenshot of Apple's "Leopard" operating system. Apple Inc said on Tuesday the newest version of its Macintosh operating system would go on sale on October 26, hitting the market after a four-month delay due to the company's work on the iPhone. |
Robert Quimby has an unusual distinction among astronomers. The Caltech postdoctoral researcher has discovered the two brightest star explosions ever witnessed within months of each other.
Quimby's latest find is supernova 2005ap, which at its peak blazed 100 billion times brighter than the sun and was twice as luminous as the previous record holder, a supernova called 2006gy, which he also discovered.
Quimby's latest find is supernova 2005ap, which at its peak blazed 100 billion times brighter than the sun and was twice as luminous as the previous record holder, a supernova called 2006gy, which he also discovered.
Celebrated scientist attacked for race comments: "All our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours - whereas all the testing says not really".
Today there are more than 100 entries on NASA's list of asteroids that just might possibly hit Earth, even if it's less than a one-in-a-million chance. One of them, called Apophis, currently has a risk rating of 1 in 45,000 - serious enough to get people thinking about how to avoid a "cosmic Katrina." Chances are that Apophis will soon no longer be considered a threat, but what about those others? And what about the thousands of space rocks that are expected to be added to the list over the next few years?
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| ©NASA |
| A massive asteroid strike would
have a catastrophic effect. |
