http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (AP)—Researchers from Portland State University say the Columbia River has suitable conditions for invasive freshwater mussels to grow if they get a toehold. http://phys.org/news280400691.html Biology Mon, 18 Feb 2013 09:05:12 EST news280400691 A University of Utah seismologist analyzed seismic waves that bombarded Earth's core, and believes he got a look at the earliest roots of Earth's most cataclysmic kind of volcanic eruption. But don't worry. He says it won't happen for perhaps 200 million years. http://phys.org/news279432184.html Space & Earth Thu, 07 Feb 2013 04:03:23 EST news279432184 With somber ceremonies, the United States on Friday commemorated the loss of the space shuttle Columbia and its seven-member crew on the tenth anniversary of the disaster. http://phys.org/news278959925.html Space & Earth Fri, 01 Feb 2013 17:20:03 EST news278959925 A NASA top official wrestled with what he thought was a hypothetical question: What should you tell the astronauts of a doomed space shuttle Columbia? http://phys.org/news278918809.html Space & Earth Fri, 01 Feb 2013 05:40:01 EST news278918809 NASA will honor the seven astronauts who perished when the space shuttle Columbia was destroyed 10 years ago. http://phys.org/news278918932.html Space & Earth Fri, 01 Feb 2013 05:29:00 EST news278918932 NASA lost the space shuttle Columbia 10 years ago Friday and 12 children lost a parent. http://phys.org/news278780149.html Space & Earth Wed, 30 Jan 2013 14:55:57 EST news278780149 Sony Corp. is finally pressing its advantage as a conglomerate that owns both high-tech gadgets and the content that plays on them by being the only electronics maker to offer ultra-HD TVs—and a way to get movies to the new super clear screens. http://phys.org/news276842785.html Electronics Tue, 08 Jan 2013 06:20:01 EST news276842785 (Phys.org)—Food webs needed by young salmon in the Columbia River basin are likely compromised in places, something that should be considered when prioritizing expensive restoration activities aimed at rebuilding endangered runs. http://phys.org/news273394893.html Biology Thu, 29 Nov 2012 07:01:42 EST news273394893 Now that the dust has settled in the New Mexico desert where supersonic skydiver "Fearless Felix" Baumgartner landed safely on his feet, researchers are exhilarated over the possibility his feat could someday help save the lives of pilots and space travelers in a disaster. http://phys.org/news269714165.html Space & Earth Wed, 17 Oct 2012 18:30:05 EST news269714165 When rivers drain into oceans through narrow mouths, hydraulic forces squeeze the river water into buoyant plumes that are clearly visible in satellite images. Worldwide, river plumes not only disperse freshwater, sediments, and nutrients but also spread pollutants and organisms from estuaries into the open ocean. In the United States the Columbia River, the largest river by volume draining into the Pacific Ocean from North America, generates a plume at its mouth that transports juvenile salmon and other fish into the ocean. Clearly, the behavior and spread of river plumes, such as the Columbia River plume, affect the nation’s fishing industry as well as the global economy. http://phys.org/news263667046.html Space & Earth Wed, 08 Aug 2012 17:50:54 EST news263667046 Not having enough Chinook salmon to eat stresses out southern resident killer whales in the Pacific Northwest more than having boatloads of whale watchers nearby, according to hormone levels of whales summering in the Salish Sea. http://phys.org/news258217510.html Biology Wed, 06 Jun 2012 17:00:23 EST news258217510 Sony Pictures Entertainment on Wednesday said that the Academy Award winning screenwriter behind "The Social Network" will write the script for a film about Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. http://phys.org/news256398705.html Technology Wed, 16 May 2012 14:52:04 EST news256398705 (AP) -- Sony Corp. racked up a record annual loss of 457 billion yen ($5.7 billion) in its fourth straight year of red ink as the once-glorious maker of the Walkman and PlayStation struggles toward a turnaround under a new president. http://phys.org/news255856589.html Technology Thu, 10 May 2012 08:16:46 EST news255856589 (Phys.org) -- As human ancestors rose on two feet in Africa and began their migrations across the world, the climate around them got warmer, and colder, wetter and drier. The plants and animals they competed with and relied upon for food changed. Did the shifting climate play a direct role in human evolution? http://phys.org/news254473098.html Other Sciences Tue, 24 Apr 2012 07:59:00 EST news254473098 (Phys.org) -- The results of two separate but complementary analyses on 400 samples of Hanford Site groundwater appeared together in the journal of the International Society for Microbial Ecology. The studies take different approaches, each providing unique insights that, when combined, result in a better understanding of what environmental forces affect the composition of microbial communities, and in turn, how those communities may influence the biogeochemistry of subsurface sediments. http://phys.org/news253352487.html Biology Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:10:02 EST news253352487 (AP) -- A Washington state wildlife spokesman says two salmon-eating California sea lions have been captured this week at Bonneville Dam and killed by lethal injection. http://phys.org/news252917917.html Biology Fri, 06 Apr 2012 07:58:46 EST news252917917 Like a stream of air shooting out of an airplane's broken window to relieve cabin pressure, scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego say lava formations in eastern Oregon are the result of an outpouring of magma forced out of a breach in a massive slab of Earth. Their new mechanism explaining how such a large volume of magma was generated is published in the Feb. 16 issue of the journal Nature. http://phys.org/news248526890.html Space & Earth Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:00:09 EST news248526890 (PhysOrg.com) -- Uranium prefers petite particles. The radionuclide attaches quickly and abundantly to smaller subsurface grains, according to scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The team found that gravel and other large bits adsorbed less uranium(IV) than smaller grains. The larger particles also adsorbed uranium more slowly than the smaller ones. Using this information, the team wrote a series of mathematical formulas to predict uranium adsorption and desorption affinity and kinetics in sediments containing different grain sizes. The predictions were successfully tested using sediment from the Hanford Site. http://phys.org/news238752599.html Space & Earth Tue, 25 Oct 2011 09:10:10 EST news238752599 (AP) -- Astronauts may need to take the unprecedented step of temporarily abandoning the International Space Station if last week's Russian launch accident prevents new crews from flying there this fall. http://phys.org/news233842761.html Space & Earth Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:19:39 EST news233842761 A piece of the ill-fated space shuttle Columbia has surfaced in eastern Texas, where a severe drought has dried up a lake and exposed debris from the 2003 accident, NASA said Tuesday. http://phys.org/news231521686.html Space & Earth Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:10:01 EST news231521686 The crew of Atlantis prepared to link up with the International Space Station Sunday as part of the final mission of the US space shuttle program. http://phys.org/news229489134.html Space & Earth Sun, 10 Jul 2011 03:59:09 EST news229489134 The Atlantis crew on Saturday inspected the craft's thermal protection system, the outer barrier that protects it from the searing heat upon re-entry into the earth's atmosphere, NASA said. http://phys.org/news229444819.html Space & Earth Sat, 09 Jul 2011 15:40:26 EST news229444819 (AP) -- Usually space shuttle astronauts are awakened in orbit by a song sent by a loved one. But not much is routine for the final space shuttle flight, not even a wake-up call. http://phys.org/news229444454.html Space & Earth Sat, 09 Jul 2011 15:35:11 EST news229444454 (AP) -- The government sent a plane equipped with radiation monitors over the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory Wednesday as a 110-square-mile wildfire burned at its doorstep, putting thousands of scientific experiments on hold for days. http://phys.org/news228589041.html Space & Earth Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:58:00 EST news228589041 Using a model organism isolated from a uranium seep of the Columbia River, scientists recently quantified how extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in subsurface environments can be used to immobilize heavy metal and radionuclide contaminants such as uranium [U(VI)]. http://phys.org/news226247762.html Space & Earth Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:40:27 EST news226247762 (AP) -- A federal judge on Friday refused to order a cut in flows from the Grand Coulee Dam that threaten millions of fish raised in pens downstream in the Columbia River. http://phys.org/news225776656.html Biology Sat, 28 May 2011 04:45:37 EST news225776656 NASA is examining seven heat shield tiles that appear to have been damaged during the shuttle Endeavour's ascent into orbit, but the US space agency said Wednesday there was no cause for concern. http://phys.org/news224958877.html Space & Earth Wed, 18 May 2011 17:34:55 EST news224958877 (AP) -- Wind farms and fossil-fuel power plants in the Pacific Northwest were all but shut down for five hours early Wednesday as the Columbia River basin's hydroelectric generators ran at full capacity and river managers dealt with one of the largest volumes of spring runoff in years. http://phys.org/news224949068.html Technology Wed, 18 May 2011 14:51:24 EST news224949068 (AP) -- The manager of most of the electricity in the Pacific Northwest is running such a surplus of power from hydroelectric dams that it put wind farms on notice Friday that they may be shut down as early as this weekend. http://phys.org/news224573492.html Technology Sat, 14 May 2011 06:32:04 EST news224573492 Precipitation and runoff in California's major river basin will not fall dramatically with climate change, according to a new federal study that shows rising temperatures will have an uneven effect on the West's water supplies. http://phys.org/news223056577.html Space & Earth Tue, 26 Apr 2011 17:09:55 EST news223056577