|  Half Australia's Great Barrier Reef coral 'dead or dying': scientists  | By Colin Packham SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian scientists said on Wednesday that just seven percent of the Great Barrier Reef, which attracts around A$5 billion ($3.90 billion) in tourism every year, has been untouched by mass bleaching that is likely to destroy half the coral. In the northern Great Barrier Reef, it's like 10 cyclones have come ashore all at once," said Professor Terry Hughes, conveyor of the National Coral Bleaching Taskforce, which conducted aerial surveys of the World Heritage site. "Our estimate at the moment is that close to 50 percent of the coral is already dead or dying," Hughes told Reuters.
| Read More » Searching for the Vikings: 3 Sites Possibly Found in Canada  | Three archaeological sites that may have been used by Vikings around 1,000 years ago were excavated recently in Canada. If confirmed, the discoveries would add to the single known Viking settlement in the New World, located at L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of Newfoundland. Excavated in the 1960s, that Viking outpost was used for a short period of time around 1,000 years agoas well.
| Read More » What Causes Eerie Volcanic Lightning?  | At nighttime, ominous lightning flashes above erupting volcanoes light up the sky like a living nightmare. Now, scientists are closer to understanding volcanic lightning, which stems from both ash and ice, two new studies reveal. In thunderstorms, the culprits are colliding ice crystals, which generate enough of an electric charge to trigger lightning.
| Read More » 'Extraordinary Find': Ancient Roman Villa Unearthed in Britain  | One of Britain's best-preserved Roman-age villas was recently discovered beneath a home in southwest England. Homeowner Luke Irwin, who lives in Wiltshire, wanted to run electrical cables from his house to an old barn, where his children could play table tennis. "It was extraordinary," Irwin told Live Science.
| Read More » How to Photograph Wildflowers  | Bob Wick is a photographer and U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wilderness specialist. California's Carrizo Plain is an amazing canvas for wildflower photography. When conditions are right in the spring, numerous wildflowers can carpet the valley floor — and although they're short-lived, they can be breathtaking.
| Read More » Moon Mosaics: Groundbreaking Science Images of Stunning Lunar Science (Op-Ed)  | Mark Robinson is a professor in ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration, LROC principal investigator, and a science team member on a number of missions including NEAR, CONTOUR, MESSENGER and Mars 2020. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) was conceived and designed a decade ago to support a human return to the moon. In late 2004 after a competitive process, NASA selected seven science instruments for the LRO, including the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, commonly known as LROC (pronounced EL-rock).
| Read More » Collider Unleashed! The LHC Will Soon Hit Its Stride  | Don Lincoln is a senior scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Fermilab, the United States' biggest Large Hadron Collider research institution. The world's largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), is resuming operations after a pause during the winter months, when the cost for electricity in France is highest. So why is it such a big deal that LHC coming back on line?
| Read More » Speedy eye-tracking device seeks to detect concussions By Ben Gruber BOSTON (Reuters) - A newly-approved device using infrared cameras to track eye movements promises to help detect concussions in one minute, offering a speedy insight into whether athletes have sustained the injury. Boston-based neuro-technology company SyncThink got clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in February for its first device, "Eye-Sync", the first of its kind to get the green light from the authority amid growing concerns over brain injuries in contact sports. As the user follows the circle, the cameras follow the eyes and the data collected is compared against a baseline of normal eye movement for diagnosis. Read More » | |
