|  Magma's Balloon-Like Buoyancy Drives Super-Eruptions  | The most powerful volcanic eruptions on Earth may be caused by the way molten rock buoys up through the ground, like a balloon floats upward in water, researchers say in a new study. The study, detailed online Jan. 5 in the journal Nature Geoscience, also reveals that the largest super-eruption on Earth could be thousands of times larger than anything in recorded history. Twenty or so supervolcanoes exist today, including well-known examples beneath Yellowstone National Park in the United States and at Lake Toba in Indonesia. No supervolcano has been active since the earliest human records began.
| Read More » Swirling 'Polar Vortex' Over Northern US Seen From Space  | A whirling onslaught of frigid air, known as a polar vortex, moves menacingly over the northern United States in a new photo from a weather satellite in orbit. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's GOES-East satellite snapped the telling photo today (Jan. 6) at 11:01 a.m. EST (1601 GMT). In the image, the polar vortex is pushing southward over western Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota, blasting half of the continental United States with chilly Arctic air. The polar vortex is a sprawling area of low pressure typically found over both the North and South poles, according to NASA.
| Read More » Paleo Diet May Have Included Some Sweets, Carbs  | Ancient hunter-gatherers from the area that is now Morocco had cavities and missing teeth, a new study finds. The rotten teeth on the ancient skeletons, which date back to about 15,000 years ago, probably resulted from a carbohydrate-rich diet full of acorns, according to the study, described today (Jan. 6) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The findings show that at least some ancient populations were loading up on carbs thousands of years before the cultivation of grain took hold, said study co-author Louise Humphrey, a paleobiologist at the Natural History Museum in London. The skeletal remains of the hunter-gatherers were found in a large cave known as Grotte des Pigeons, in northern Morocco.
| Read More » Newfound Earth-Mass Planet Is a Gassy Puffball  | Astronomers have spotted a hotter and puffier version of Earth circling a distant star. The oddball exoplanet candidate KOI-314c is located about 200 light-years away and is roughly the same mass as Earth, but its extremely thick atmosphere makes the world about 60 percent larger than our home planet, scientists say. "This planet might have the same mass as Earth, but it is certainly not Earth-like," study lead author David Kipping, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), said in a statement. "It proves that there is no clear dividing line between rocky worlds like Earth and fluffier planets like water worlds or gas giants." [The Strangest Alien Planets (Gallery)]
| Read More » SpaceX Launching First Private Rocket of 2014 Today: Watch It Live  | Private spaceflight firm SpaceX is blasting a telecommunications satellite into orbit today (Jan. 6), and you can watch all the fiery action live online.
| Read More » Finally, A 3D-Printed Drone for Archaeologists  | CHICAGO — Though archaeologists have come a long way since Indiana Jones, they sometimes still cling to antiquated technologies, like balloons and ladders to take photos of their discoveries and trenches from above. This month, a company formed by recent college grads called Arch Aerial rolled out a small drone designed to accompany archaeologists on far-flung expeditions. Arch Aerial showed off their small vehicle — which is made largely from 3D-printed parts and runs on open-source flight software — here at the Archaeological Institute of America's annual meeting this past weekend. For CEO Ryan Baker, 22, the seeds of inspiration for a field-ready drone came while he was working on georeferenced maps of the Poggio Civitate, an Etruscan archaeological site in Italy, using four photos taken (quite expensively) from a helium balloon.
| Read More » Mindfulness Meditation May Reduce Anxiety, Depression Mediation programs may help reduce anxiety, depression and pain in some patients, but may not lead to a boost in positive feelings or overall health, according to a new review study. Most participants had a mental health condition (such as anxiety or depression) or a physical health condition (such as lower back pain or heart disease.) [Mind Games: 7 Reasons You Should Meditate] Participants who practiced mindfulness meditation for about eight weeks to six months showed small but meaningful reductions in anxiety, depression and pain. Mindfulness meditation is a form of meditation in which people learn to pay attention to what they are feeling physically and mentally from moment to moment. Read More » SpaceX Falcon rocket lifts off with Thaicom digital TV satellite  | By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A Space Exploration Technologies' Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Monday to put a commercial communications spacecraft into orbit for Thai satellite operator Thaicom. From that position, the 6,649-pound (3,016 kg) Thaicom 6 satellite is expected to lower itself to about 22,300 miles above Earth and shift the angle of its orbit so that it can be permanently stationed to beam high-definition and digital television services to customers in Thailand and surrounding areas. The satellite, built by Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp, also is equipped to provide other communications services for customers in Southeast Asia and Africa, including Madagascar, Thaicom's website shows. Including launch services and insurance, the Thaicom 6 satellite cost about $160 million, and so far, about two-thirds of the satellite's capacity has been sold, according to Thaicom.
| Read More » Century-Old Photos Provide Glimpse of Historic Antarctic Voyage  | Twenty-two century-old images of Antarctica have been developed for the first time in New Zealand, providing a glimpse of the historic exploration of the southernmost continent. Damaged negatives pulled from Capt. Robert Falcon Scott's last expedition base at Cape Evans on Antarctica's Ross Island reveal landscapes and icebergs from between 1914 and 1917 — and one striking portrait of an expedition geologist. The pictures come from explorer Ernest Shackleton's last Antarctic expedition, the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. The goal of this expedition was to cross the entire continent, passing over the South Pole on the way.
| Read More » Mediterranean Diet May Prevent Diabetes Following a Mediterranean diet may help prevent diabetes in people who are at risk for heart disease, even if they do not also lose weight or increase exercise, a new study from Spain suggests. In the study, people at risk for heart disease who followed a Mediterranean diet — which consisted mostly of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish and fats from either extra-virgin olive oil or nuts — were about 30 percent less likely to develop type 2 diabetes over a four-year period than people who were advised to follow a low-fat diet. Participants who supplemented their diet specifically with fats from extra-virgin olive oil were 40 percent less likely to develop diabetes during the study compared with those who followed a low-fat diet. The study involved mostly white, older adults (ages 55 to 80) who were at high risk for heart disease, so the findings may not apply to other populations, the researchers said. Read More » Mock Mars Mission Begins in Utah  | In the case of Crew 133 — with six people flying from as far away as France to meet here for a simulated Mars mission — weather and other logistics issues meant most of the crew arrived later than planned. Have a burning question about the mission or a picture you really would like to see from the site?
| Read More » 49-Million-Year-Old Cockroach Fossil Found  | A common European and African cockroach may have gotten its evolutionary start in North America, according to new fossil findings. More than 70 species of cockroaches in the genus Ectobius currently crawl through Europe and Africa, making them amongst the most common cockroaches in that part of the world. Researchers have previously thought that Ectobius first evolved in Europe and Africa, scuttling around the region since at least 44 million years ago, based on a specimen preserved in Baltic amber of this age. Now, researchers based at the Slovak Academy of Sciences have discovered 49-million-year-old fossils of four different Ectobius species in northwest Colorado, pushing back the insects' first appearance on Earth by roughly 5 million years and its place of origin as modern-day United States rather than the Old World.
| Read More » One Weird Trick To Improve Women's Chances in Science One simple fix could improve the visibility and opportunities of women in science, a new study finds — possibly combating the "leaky pipeline" that moves female PhDs out of academia. The organization sent him lists of speakers in past years, along with lists of the two-person teams who organize each topic session. Read More » Crop Circle Was a Publicity Stunt: Why 'Experts' Were Fooled  | A mysterious 310-foot-diameter crop circle that appeared in a farmer's barley field in Chualar, Calif., as 2013 ended puzzled the public for more than a week. Echoing the sentiments of many, the field's owner told CNN, "To be that intricate in design, it kind of baffles me as to how that was done."Videos and photos of it went viral, and though some dismissed the crop circle as a hoax, others weren't so sure. The "crop circle" was not an astronomical calendar forewarning of an impending comet, but instead a drawing of the company's new Tegra K1 processing chip.
| Read More » As Schools Boost Access to EpiPens, Do Teachers Know How to Use Them?  | Dr. Dave Stukus, a pediatric allergist at Nationwide Children's Hospital, contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Anyone with severe allergies knows that an epinephrine auto-injector can be the difference between life and death. With approximately two and a half million epinephrine auto-injectors (such as EpiPens and Auvi-Qs) in circulation, my colleagues and I at Nationwide Children's Hospital want to ensure that people know how to administer them appropriately — you could save a life. A new law signed by President Barack Obama on Nov. 13 last year provides states with financial incentives to pass laws that allow schools to stock epinephrine, and to treat children who do not have a prescription for the drug.
| Read More » SpaceX Falcon rocket lifts off with Thaicom digital TV satellite | By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A Space Exploration Technologies' Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Monday to put a commercial communications spacecraft into orbit for Thai satellite operator Thaicom. From that position, the 6,649-pound (3,016 kg) Thaicom 6 satellite is expected to lower itself to about 22,300 miles above Earth and shift the angle of its orbit so that it can be permanently stationed to beam high-definition and digital television services to customers in Thailand and surrounding areas. The satellite, built by Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp, also is equipped to provide other communications services for customers in Southeast Asia and Africa, including Madagascar, Thaicom's website shows. Including launch services and insurance, the Thaicom 6 satellite cost about $160 million, and so far, about two-thirds of the satellite's capacity has been sold, according to Thaicom.
| Read More » Ancient Palace's Painted Floors Display Bronze-Age Creativity  | The brightly patterned floors of an ancient Greek palace were painted to mimic patchworks of textiles and stone masonry — an innovative way that Bronze Age artists decorated palatial rooms, a new study finds. Emily Catherine Egan, a doctoral student at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio, studied the floor of the Throne Room at the Palace of Nestor, one of the best-preserved palaces of Mycenaean Greece, a civilization from the late Bronze Age.
| Read More » Early Earth's Crust Was a Drippy, Hot Mess  | Dense chunks of Earth's crust may have dripped into the mantle layer underneath it early in the planet's history, a new study suggests. This led more of the mantle layer to melt, and this molten rock would have risen upward and cooled to become part of an ancient, primitive crust that was much thicker than it is today. "At mid-ocean ridges on the modern Earth, temperatures are such that around 5 to 10 percent of the mantle melts to produce crust of around 5 to 10 kilometers [3 to 6 miles] thickness," said study lead author Tim Johnson, a petrologist at the University of Mainz in Germany.
| Read More » Trapped Ships Break Free From Antarctic Ice  | Two ships trapped in thick sea ice offshore Antarctica broke free today (Jan. 7) thanks to a weather change that cleared a path to open water, according to news reports. The Russian ship Akademik Shokalskiy, which is escaping via the ice crack, had been snared near Antarctica's Commonwealth Bay since a Christmas Eve blizzard surrounded the ship with tightly packed sea ice. The ship was carrying Australian climate researchers recreating the journey of Australian geologist Douglas Mawson 100 years ago. A combination of impenetrable ice and bad weather meant none of the icebreakers could reach the Shokalskiy by early January, so the Xue Long evacuated the researchers by helicopter to an Australian ship, the Aurora Australis, on Jan. 2.
| Read More » Bad to the Bone: Dealer Pleads Guilty in Fossil Smuggling Scheme  | The feds have unearthed a trove of fossils brought into the United States illegally. An investigation of a Wyoming fossil dealer uncovered dozens of fossils from Mongolia and China, countries that prohibit their export. The Wyoming dealer, John Richard "Rick" Rolater, pleaded guilty on Thursday (Jan. 2) to charges he conspired to smuggle fossils into the United States with the intent of selling them. Rolater, 69, owns two stores called By Nature Gallery, where he sells fossils and other items.
| Read More » Frozen Fun: Try These Cold-Weather Science Experiments  | Here, LiveScience has rounded up a few fun experiments that can be done with just a little time outdoors (make sure to bundle up!), from making frozen soap bubbles to creating your own colorful snow. Seeley says it has to be quite cold to attempt this one, somewhere in the region of minus 30 F (minus 34 C) or lower.
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