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Motion capture is guiding the next generation of extraterrestrial robots

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“How do we build robots that can optimally explore space?” is the core question behind Dr Frances Zhu’s research at the University of Hawai’i. One part of the answer is, “with motion capture”.

“It is my hope that my research contributes to the way extraterrestrial robots move and make decisions on other planets,” explains Zhu (main picture), an assistant researcher and deputy director at the University’s Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology.

That research is in its early stages, but NASA has seen the value in it and awarded Zhu an EPSCoR grant by the name “Autonomous Rover Operations for Planetary Surface Exploration using Machine Learning Algorithms”. [Read more…] about Motion capture is guiding the next generation of extraterrestrial robots

Planetary defense: Physicists propose new way to defend Earth against cosmic impacts

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Is Planetary Defense PI in the Sky?

In February of 2013, skywatchers around the world turned their attention toward asteroid 2012 DA14, a cosmic rock about 150 feet (50 meters) in diameter that was going to fly closer to Earth than the spacecraft that bring us satellite TV.

Little did they realize as they prepared for the once-in-several-decades event that another bit of celestial debris was hurtling toward Earth, with a more direct heading.

On February 15, 2013, the Chelyabinsk meteor, a roughly 62-foot (19 meter)-diameter asteroid exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia, as it entered Earth’s atmosphere at a shallow angle. The blast shattered windows and damaged buildings, and nearly two thousand people were hurt, though thankfully no one died. [Read more…] about Planetary defense: Physicists propose new way to defend Earth against cosmic impacts

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  • Did heat from impacts on asteroids provide the ingredients for life on Earth?
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    Did heat from impacts on asteroids provide the ingredients for life on Earth?A research group from Kobe University has demonstrated that the heat generated by the impact of a small astronomical body could enable aqueous alteration and organic solid formation to occur on the surface of an asteroid. They achieved this by first conducting high-velocity impact cratering experiments using an asteroid-like target…
    Tags: impact, asteroid, asteroids, earth, space

A long day for microbes, and the rise of oxygen on Earth

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Virtually all oxygen on Earth was and is produced by photosynthesis, which was invented by tiny organisms, the cyanobacteria, when our planet was still a rather uninhabitable place.

Cyanobacteria evolved more than 2.4 billion years ago, but Earth only slowly transformed to the oxygen-rich planet we know today.

“We do not fully understand why it took so long and what factors controlled Earth’s oxygenation,“ said geomicrobiologist Judith Klatt. “But when studying mats of cyanobacteria in the Middle Island Sinkhole in Lake Huron in Michigan, which live under conditions resembling early Earth, I had an idea.” [Read more…] about A long day for microbes, and the rise of oxygen on Earth

Early Earth was bombarded by series of city-sized asteroids

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Scientists know that the Earth was bombarded by huge impactors in distant time, but a new analysis suggest that the number of these impacts may have been x10 higher than previously thought.

This translates into a barrage of collisions, similar in scale to that of the asteroid strike which wiped out the dinosaurs, on average every 15 million years between 2.5 and 3.5 billion years ago. Some of these individual impacts may have been much bigger, possibly ranging from city-sized to small province sized.

Researchers are also considering what effect the impacts may have had on the Earth’s evolving near-surface chemistry. This work is presented at the Goldschmidt geochemistry conference. [Read more…] about Early Earth was bombarded by series of city-sized asteroids

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  • Dinosaurs were in decline before the end, according to new study
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    Dinosaurs were in decline before the end, according to new studyThe death of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago was caused by the impact of a huge asteroid on the Earth. However, palaeontologists have continued to debate whether they were already in decline or not before the impact. In a new study, published today in the journal Nature Communications, an international…
    Tags: years, impact, ago, earth, huge, life, time, features
  • Water on ancient Mars
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    Water on ancient MarsThere's a long-standing question in planetary science about the origin of water on Earth, Mars and other large bodies such as the moon. One hypothesis says that it came from asteroids and comets post-formation. But some planetary researchers think that water might just be one of many substances that occur…
    Tags: years, billion, ago, impact, ancient, earth, life, time, universe

Changes in Earth’s orbit enabled the emergence of complex life

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Scientists at the University of Southampton have discovered that changes in Earth’s orbit may have allowed complex life to emerge and thrive during the most hostile climate episode the planet has ever experienced.

The researchers – working with colleagues in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Curtin University, University of Hong Kong, and the University of Tübingen – studied a succession of rocks laid down when most of Earth’s surface was covered in ice during a severe glaciation, dubbed ‘Snowball Earth’, that lasted over 50 million years.

Their findings are published in the journal Nature Communications. [Read more…] about Changes in Earth’s orbit enabled the emergence of complex life

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  • Melting ice sheets over the past 300 years raised sea levels 18 metres
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    Melting ice sheets over the past 300 years raised sea levels 18 metresIt is well known that climate-induced sea level rise is a major threat. New research has found that previous ice loss events could have caused sea-level rise at rates of around 3.6 metres per century, offering vital clues as to what lies ahead should climate change continue unabated. A team…
    Tags: ice, ocean, climate, sheets, features

The main reason for the worldwide heatwaves, wildfires and floods

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Now, this is not a scientifically researched theory – it’s not even a complete enough thought to be classed as a theory. Perhaps you could call it just a whim or musing, but it’s uncomfortably hot in here and I feel the need to vent somewhat. 

Think of me as a mad citizen scientist who mostly talks rubbish, or speculatively, if you want to be kind, but there might be something in what I’m saying that’s worth looking into.

What I would like to rage about right now is dams. Yes, those magnificent constructions that stop the flow of gigantic rivers in order to harness Mother Nature’s awesome power and convert it to usable energy for lightbulbs and other creature comforts of modern towns and cities. [Read more…] about The main reason for the worldwide heatwaves, wildfires and floods

Dinosaurs were in decline before the end, according to new study

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The death of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago was caused by the impact of a huge asteroid on the Earth. However, palaeontologists have continued to debate whether they were already in decline or not before the impact.

In a new study, published today in the journal Nature Communications, an international team of scientists, which includes the University of Bristol, show that they were already in decline for as much as ten million years before the final death blow.

Lead author, Fabien Condamine, a CNRS researcher from the Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution de Montpellier (France), said: “We looked at the six most abundant dinosaur families through the whole of the Cretaceous, spanning from 150 to 66 million years ago, and found that they were all evolving and expanding and clearly being successful. [Read more…] about Dinosaurs were in decline before the end, according to new study

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  • Early Earth was bombarded by series of city-sized asteroids
    37
    Early Earth was bombarded by series of city-sized asteroidsScientists know that the Earth was bombarded by huge impactors in distant time, but a new analysis suggest that the number of these impacts may have been x10 higher than previously thought. This translates into a barrage of collisions, similar in scale to that of the asteroid strike which wiped…
    Tags: impact, earth, years, ago, life, huge, time, features
  • When humans disturb marine mammals, it’s hard to know the long-term impact
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    When humans disturb marine mammals, it’s hard to know the long-term impactFrom seismic surveys and Navy sonar to fisheries and shipping, many human activities in the ocean environment cause short-term changes in the behaviors of marine mammals. A longstanding challenge for scientists and regulatory agencies alike has been to understand the biological significance of those changes in terms of their overall…
    Tags: species, models, life, impact, mammals, conditions, study, features, looked, huge

Scientists detect signatures of life remotely

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Left hands and right hands are almost perfect mirror images of each other. But whatever way they are twisted and turned, they cannot be superimposed onto each other. This is why the left glove simply won’t fit the right hand as well as it fits the left. In science, this property is referred to as chirality.

Just like hands are chiral, molecules can be chiral, too. In fact, most molecules in the cells of living organisms, such as DNA, are chiral. Unlike hands, however, that usually come in pairs of left and right, the molecules of life almost exclusively occur in either their “left-handed” or their “right-handed” version.

They are homochiral, as researchers say. Why that is, is still not clear. But this molecular homochirality is a characteristic property of life, a so-called biosignature. [Read more…] about Scientists detect signatures of life remotely

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  • On the quest for other Earths
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    On the quest for other EarthsIn the search for planets capable of sustaining life, an international research team with members from ETH has taken a significant step forward. As the researchers reported recently in the journal Nature Communications, they found signs of a Neptune-sized planet in the Alpha Centauri star system, a mere 4.4 light years…
    Tags: planets, life, light, measurements, earth, signals, signal, capable, study, team
  • Life on Venus? First we need to know more about molecules in the atmosphere
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    Life on Venus? First we need to know more about molecules in the atmosphereThe search for life on other planets has received a major boost after scientists revealed the spectral signatures of almost 1000 atmospheric molecules that may be involved in the production or consumption of phosphine, a study led by UNSW Sydney revealed. Scientists have long conjectured that phosphine – a chemical…
    Tags: life, molecules, scientists, will, planets, team, light, space, study, molecular

Did heat from impacts on asteroids provide the ingredients for life on Earth?

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A research group from Kobe University has demonstrated that the heat generated by the impact of a small astronomical body could enable aqueous alteration and organic solid formation to occur on the surface of an asteroid.

They achieved this by first conducting high-velocity impact cratering experiments using an asteroid-like target material and measuring the post-impact heat distribution around the resulting crater.

From these results, they then established a rule-of-thumb for maximum temperature and the duration of the heating, and developed a heat conduction model from this. [Read more…] about Did heat from impacts on asteroids provide the ingredients for life on Earth?

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  • Planetary defense: Physicists propose new way to defend Earth against cosmic impacts
    31
    Planetary defense: Physicists propose new way to defend Earth against cosmic impactsIs Planetary Defense PI in the Sky? In February of 2013, skywatchers around the world turned their attention toward asteroid 2012 DA14, a cosmic rock about 150 feet (50 meters) in diameter that was going to fly closer to Earth than the spacecraft that bring us satellite TV. Little did…
    Tags: earth, asteroid, asteroids, impact, space

An unbroken record of climate during the age of dinosaurs

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A scientific drilling project in China has retrieved a continuous history of conditions from Earth’s most recent “greenhouse” period that may offer insights about future climate scenarios.

In the Cretaceous period, 100 million years ago give or take a few tens of millions, Earth was a very different place than today. Flowering plants and trees had only recently evolved to coexist with conifers, ferns, cycads, and other groups, while a diverse array of dinosaurs was the dominant form of megafauna on land.

The global climate in which these plants and animals lived was also very different: warmer, steamier, and virtually devoid of ice. [Read more…] about An unbroken record of climate during the age of dinosaurs

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  • Will global warming bring a change in the winds? Dust from the deep sea provides a clue
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    Will global warming bring a change in the winds? Dust from the deep sea provides a clueThe westerlies – or westerly winds – play an important role in weather and climate both locally and on a global scale, by influencing precipitation patterns, impacting ocean circulation and steering tropical cyclones. So, finding a way to assess how they will change as the climate warms is crucial. Typically,…
    Tags: will, climate, change, earth, future, years, cores, today, news, environment
  • Fossil trees on Peru's Central Andean Plateau tell a tale of dramatic environmental change
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    Fossil trees on Peru's Central Andean Plateau tell a tale of dramatic environmental changeOn an expedition to the Central Andean Plateau, researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and colleagues were astounded to find a huge fossil-tree buried in the cold, grassy plain. The plant fossil record from this high-altitude site in southern Peru contains dramatic reminders that the environment in the…
    Tags: climate, years, record, meters, today, carbon, project, will, conditions, al
  • Population and climate change point to future water shortages
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    Population and climate change point to future water shortagesA new study suggests that reductions in agricultural water use will probably play the biggest role in limiting future water shortages. Climate change plus population growth are setting the stage for water shortages in parts of the U.S. long before the end of the century, according to a new study…
    Tags: future, will, climate, news, environment