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Environment - Earth Sciences - 27.09.2022
Seawater could have provided phosphorous required for emerging life
Seawater could have provided phosphorous required for emerging life
The problem of how phosphorus became a universal ingredient for life on Earth may have been solved by researchers from the University of Cambridge and the University of Cape Town, who have recreated primordial seawater containing the element in the lab.

Earth Sciences - 16.09.2022
Lava from 2021 Icelandic eruption gives rare view of deep churnings beneath volcano
Lava from 2021 Icelandic eruption gives rare view of deep churnings beneath volcano
After centuries without volcanic activity, Iceland's Reykjanes peninsula sprang to life in 2021 when lava erupted from the Fagradalsfjall volcano. New research involving the University of Cambridge helps us see what is going on deep beneath the volcano by reading the chemistry of lavas and volcanic gases almost as they were erupted.

Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 07.09.2022
Birmingham telescope discovers two new temperate rocky worlds
Birmingham telescope discovers two new temperate rocky worlds
An international research team has announced the discovery of two "super-Earth" planets orbiting a star 100 light-years from Earth. The team, which includes astronomers at the University of Birmingham detected the planets orbiting LP 890-9, a small, cool star located about 100 light-years from Earth.

Earth Sciences - 19.08.2022
Wave created by Tonga volcano eruption reached 90 metres - nine times taller than 2011 Japan tsunami
Wave created by Tonga volcano eruption reached 90 metres - nine times taller than 2011 Japan tsunami
New research reveals more about the magnitude of January eruption, as researchers call for better preparedness The eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha-apai volcano in January created an initial wave 90 metres high - almost the height of the Statue of Liberty (93m) University of Bath tsunami expert calls for better warning systems to detect volcanic eruptions, saying systems are 30 years behind comparable earthquake detection tools The initial t

Earth Sciences - 03.08.2022
Super eruptions are millions of years in the making - followed by rapid surge
New research suggests that super-eruptions occur when huge accumulations of magma deep in the Earth's crust, formed over millions of years, move rapidly to the surface, disrupting pre-existing rock. Researchers from the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) and the University of Bristol led an international team of scientists to make the discovery using a model for crustal flow.

Earth Sciences - Astronomy / Space Science - 30.06.2022
Powerful Tonga volcano eruption triggered atmospheric gravity waves reaching the edge of space
Powerful Tonga volcano eruption triggered atmospheric gravity waves reaching the edge of space
Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha-apai eruption in January was unique in observed science, creating waves that reverberated around Earth, reaching 100km into the ionosphere. The eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha-apai submarine volcano on 15 January 2022 was one of the most explosive volcanic events of the modern era, a new study has confirmed.

Earth Sciences - Astronomy / Space Science - 29.06.2022
University of Oxford throws open its doors to prospective students
University of Oxford throws open its doors to prospective students
The eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai on 15 January 2022 created waves that reverberated around the earth and reached 100km into the ionosphere. The eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai submarine volcano in January 2022 was one of the most explosive volcanic events of the modern era, a new study has confirmed.

Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 14.06.2022
No signs (yet) of life on Venus
No signs (yet) of life on Venus
The unusual behaviour of sulphur in Venus- atmosphere cannot be explained by an -aerial- form of extra-terrestrial life, according to a new study. Even if -our- Venus is dead, it-s possible that Venus-like planets in other systems could host life Paul Rimmer Researchers from the University of Cambridge used a combination of biochemistry and atmospheric chemistry to test the -life in the clouds- hypothesis, which astronomers have speculated about for decades, and found that life cannot explain the composition of the Venusian atmosphere.

Earth Sciences - Environment - 13.06.2022
Scientists provide explanation for exceptional Tonga tsunami
Scientists say they have identified the exact mechanism responsible for the exceptional tsunami that spread quickly across the world after the colossal eruption of the Tonga volcano earlier this year. In a new paper , an international team including researchers from Cardiff University say the exceptional event was caused by acoustic-gravity waves (AGWs) triggered by the powerful volcanic blast, which travelled into the atmosphere and across the ocean as the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano erupted.

Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 31.05.2022
Scientists explain why Uranus and Neptune are different colours
Scientists explain why Uranus and Neptune are different colours
Layers of haze particles are responsible for the different blue hues of the ice giants Neptune and Uranus. Neptune and Uranus have much in common - they have similar masses, sizes, and atmospheric compositions - yet Neptune looks distinctly bluer than its planetary neighbour Uranus. New research led by Professor Patrick Irwin, Department of Physics , University of Oxford suggests that a layer of haze that exists on both planets is behind the different hues of blue.

Paleontology - Earth Sciences - 20.05.2022
Discovery of 'ghost' fossils reveals plankton resilience to past global warming events
Discovery of ’ghost’ fossils reveals plankton resilience to past global warming events
An international team of scientists from UCL, the Swedish Museum of Natural History, the University of Florence and Natural History Museum have found a remarkable type of fossilization that has remained almost entirely overlooked until now. The fossils are microscopic imprints, or "ghosts", of single-celled plankton, called coccolithophores, that lived in the seas millions of years ago, and their discovery is changing our understanding of how plankton in the oceans are affected by climate change.

Earth Sciences - 19.05.2022
Scientists 'see' puzzling features deep in Earth's interior
Scientists ’see’ puzzling features deep in Earth’s interior
New research led by the University of Cambridge is the first to obtain a detailed 'image' of an unusual pocket of rock at the boundary layer with Earth's core, some three thousand kilometres beneath the surface. Of all Earth's deep interior features, these are the most fascinating and complex Zhi Li The enigmatic area of rock, which is located almost directly beneath the Hawaiian Islands, is one of several ultra-low velocity zones - so-called because earthquake waves slow to a crawl as they pass through them.

Earth Sciences - Environment - 28.04.2022
Space-based system using GPS satellites could warn of incoming tsunamis
Space-based system using GPS satellites could warn of incoming tsunamis
A new method for detecting tsunamis using existing GPS satellites orbiting Earth could serve as an effective warning system for countries worldwide, according to a new study by an international team led by UCL researchers. Initial tsunami waves are typically a few centimetres high but nonetheless cause a disturbance in the Earth's upper atmosphere by pushing up air and creating an acoustic wave that is amplified as it goes higher.

Earth Sciences - Life Sciences - 13.04.2022
Diverse life forms may have evolved earlier than previously thought
Diverse life forms may have evolved earlier than previously thought
Diverse microbial life existed on Earth at least 3.75 billion years ago, suggests a new study led by UCL researchers that challenges the conventional view of when life began. For the study, published in Science Advances , the research team analysed a fist-sized rock from Quebec, Canada, estimated to be between 3.75 and 4.28 billion years old.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 08.03.2022
Core aspects of climate models are sound - the proof's in the plankton
Core aspects of climate models are sound - the proof’s in the plankton
Continents reconfigure, oceans shift, and ice sheets thicken and thaw, but for the past 95 million years Earth's engine for distributing ocean heat has remained remarkably consistent, a new study co-led by UCL has found. The study, published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , and led by Yale University, offered a novel way of examining plankton shells to better gauge the accuracy of climate models and the Earth's temperature gradients.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 10.02.2022
Biodiversity is facing the repayment of debts and credits
Biodiversity is facing the repayment of debts and credits
A new method suggests that past landscape changes can cast a shadow on future bird biodiversity, leading to avian communities facing impeding species extinctions, as well as the arrival of new colonising species. The study revealed widespread extinction debts and colonisation credits in USA bird biodiversity.

Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 09.02.2022
Seismometer technology field-tested in Antarctica before space missions
Seismometer technology field-tested in Antarctica before space missions
Scientists from the University of Oxford are field-testing seismic sensors in the bitter conditions of Antarctica to simulate the solar system's icy moons. The Antarctic deployment is the first in what is hoped to be a series of extreme environment tests for the short-period (SP) sensor - a seismometer that records the high-frequency (high pitched) seismic waves generated by movement in the ice sheets.

Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 03.02.2022
New research uncovers ancient Martian meteorite’s shocking history
Planetary scientists from the University of Glasgow have lent their support to an important new study of a Martian meteorite. The research, led by Curtin University in Australia, has found the first physical evidence of high-intensity damage caused by asteroid impact in ancient Martian meteorites, which could help identify when conditions suitable for life may have existed on early Mars.

Earth Sciences - 31.01.2022
Scientists identify geological ’Goldilocks zone’ for the formation of metal ore deposits
Scientists have identified a mechanism through which important metals, crucial to the manufacturing of renewable energy technologies, are passed from the Earth's mantle to the crust. The team, including researchers from Cardiff University, has discovered a 'Goldilocks zone' at the base of the Earth's crust where the temperate is just right at around 1000°C for metals to be transported to shallower levels near the surface, where they can be mined.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 13.01.2022
Damaging microplastic particles stay trapped in rivers
Damaging microplastic particles stay trapped in rivers
Swirling river waters can trap lightweight microplastics that otherwise might be expected to float - depositing them in riverbeds where it can take up to seven years to transport them just a kilometre further towards the ocean, a new study reveals. As rivers are in near-constant motion, researchers had previously assumed that lightweight microplastics were swept rather swiftly towards the ocean and rarely interacted with riverbed sediments.