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. (Phys.org) —A patchwork network of frozen ridges and troughs cover the face of Enceladus, Saturn's most enigmatic of icy moons. http://phys.org/news285929032.html Space & Earth Tue, 23 Apr 2013 09:43:57 EST news285929032 An humidity sensor developed by the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), the SEALDH laser hygrometer, has proven its worth when used aboard an aircraft; it fulfils all pre-conditions to be used as a transfer standard for conventional humidity-measuring instruments. This would allow the quality of air humidity measurements in the Earth's atmosphere - and, thus, also climate model computations - to be improved. http://phys.org/news281607464.html Space & Earth Mon, 04 Mar 2013 08:50:03 EST news281607464 The Ph.D. thesis of Aingeru Remiro-Eguskiza, a chemical engineer of the University of the Basque Country, deals with the quest for a process to produce hydrogen from bio-oil that has a lower impact on the environment than the process using current routes. http://phys.org/news279980152.html Chemistry Wed, 13 Feb 2013 12:30:01 EST news279980152 Gas sensors developed in a European project now enable the implementation of cheaper and smaller instruments with equal or higher speed and sensitivity than current laboratory-grade instruments. http://phys.org/news278062417.html Technology Tue, 22 Jan 2013 07:33:44 EST news278062417 (Phys.org)—When a huge meteor collided with Earth about 2.5 million years ago in the southern Pacific Ocean it not only likely generated a massive tsunami but also may have plunged the world into the Ice Ages, a new study suggests. http://phys.org/news267255104.html Space & Earth Wed, 19 Sep 2012 06:34:49 EST news267255104 Plants elongate their stems when grown at high temperature to facilitate the cooling of their leaves, according to new research from the University of Bristol published today in Current Biology. Understanding why plants alter their architecture in response to heat is important as increasing global temperatures pose a threat to future food production. http://phys.org/news256820336.html Biology Mon, 21 May 2012 12:00:01 EST news256820336 (PhysOrg.com) -- An international team of astronomers led by Zachory Berta of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) made the observations of the planet GJ 1214b. http://phys.org/news249047835.html Space & Earth Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:57:38 EST news249047835 Catalytic materials, which lower the energy barriers for chemical reactions, are used in everything from the commercial production of chemicals to catalytic converters in car engines. However, with current catalytic materials becoming increasingly expensive, scientists are exploring viable alternatives. http://phys.org/news248091637.html Chemistry Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:20:43 EST news248091637 Land unsuitable for tree planting could still be used to reduce levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere thanks to new research. http://phys.org/news241878022.html Space & Earth Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:20:47 EST news241878022 (PhysOrg.com) -- New analysis of data sent back by the SPICAM spectrometer on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft has revealed for the first time that the planet's atmosphere is supersaturated with water vapour. This surprising discovery has major implications for understanding the Martian water cycle and the historical evolution of the atmosphere. http://phys.org/news236529838.html Space & Earth Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:44:36 EST news236529838 The way in which plants space out the pores through which they breathe depends on keeping a protein active during stem cell growth, according to John Innes Centre scientists. http://phys.org/news234709470.html Biology Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:04:30 EST news234709470 A newly released image from ESA's Mars Express shows the north pole of Mars during the red planet's summer solstice. All the carbon dioxide ice has gone, leaving just a bright cap of water ice. http://phys.org/news231758484.html Space & Earth Fri, 05 Aug 2011 10:21:52 EST news231758484 (PhysOrg.com) -- ESA's Herschel space observatory has shown that water expelled from the moon Enceladus forms a giant torus of water vapour around Saturn. The discovery solves a 14-year mystery by identifying the source of the water in Saturn’s upper atmosphere. http://phys.org/news230891391.html Space & Earth Tue, 26 Jul 2011 09:30:04 EST news230891391 The heat in the atmosphere of Venus, induced from a strong greenhouse warming, might actually have a cooling effect on the planet's interior. This counter-intuitive theory is based on calculations from a new model presented at the European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) in Rome on Tuesday 21st September. http://phys.org/news204306439.html Space & Earth Tue, 21 Sep 2010 16:48:20 EST news204306439 ESA's (European Space Agency) Herschel infrared space observatory has discovered that ultraviolet starlight is a key ingredient for making water in the atmosphere of some stars. It is the only explanation for why a dying star is surrounded by a gigantic cloud of hot water vapour. These new results will be published tomorrow in Nature. http://phys.org/news202577650.html Space & Earth Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:36:07 EST news202577650 (PhysOrg.com) -- Catalytic converters are encountered everywhere in our cars and in the chemical industry. However, the chemical reaction is not well understood. A discovery made at the EPFL may help to shed light on a field with high economic and ecological stakes. http://phys.org/news200070115.html Chemistry Tue, 03 Aug 2010 16:02:18 EST news200070115 On April 26, 2010, the ESO Council selected Cerro Armazones as the baseline site for the planned 42-meter European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). Cerro Armazones is a mountain at an altitude of 3060 meters in the central part of Chile's Atacama Desert, some 130 kilometers south of the town of Antofagasta and about 20 kilometers from Cerro Paranal, home of ESO's Very Large Telescope. http://phys.org/news191501849.html Space & Earth Mon, 26 Apr 2010 12:10:02 EST news191501849 (PhysOrg.com) -- Observations of how Saturn’s moon Enceladus interacts with its environment show it leaves a complex pattern of ripples and bubbles in its wake. Sheila Kanani will be presenting the results at the RAS National Astronomy Meeting in Glasgow. http://phys.org/news190536929.html Space & Earth Thu, 15 Apr 2010 07:55:56 EST news190536929 (PhysOrg.com) -- Saturn's moons have become a source of increasing fascination thanks to a stream of data from the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft. http://phys.org/news190321151.html Space & Earth Tue, 13 Apr 2010 02:00:01 EST news190321151 (PhysOrg.com) -- Water is regarded as a key ingredient for life - and water exists plenty in the universe. Now scientists have found the precious element in a disk around a young star, similar to our Sun. This disk, supposedly the birth place for future planets, contains a hundred times more water than all oceans on Earth. The astronomical observations obtained with the IRAM interferometer appear very promising with regard to solving the mystery around the origin of water in our solar system (The Astrophysical Journal, February 10, 2010). http://phys.org/news186410389.html Space & Earth Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:40:10 EST news186410389 Weather forecasts, satellite navigation in cars and the inspection of dikes or natural gas fields: these applications using satellite data would all be even more accurate if we knew more about the distribution of water vapour in our atmosphere, according to Roderik Lindenbergh from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft, The Netherlands). http://phys.org/news184944143.html Space & Earth Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:40:01 EST news184944143 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists working on the Cassini mission to Saturn have found evidence of liquid water on the planet's icy moon Enceladus, suggesting the possibility of life below its surface. http://phys.org/news184855776.html Space & Earth Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:50:12 EST news184855776 Reliable measurements of the air-sea flux of carbon dioxide - an important greenhouse gas - are needed for a better understanding of the impact of ocean-atmosphere interactions on climate. A new method developed by researchers at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS) working in collaboration with colleagues at the Bjerknes Center for Climate Research (Bergen, Norway) promises to make this task considerably easier. http://phys.org/news183124381.html Space & Earth Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:53:27 EST news183124381 (PhysOrg.com) -- The surprising increase in methane concentrations millennia ago, identified in continental glacier studies, has puzzled researchers for a long time. According to a strong theory, this would have resulted from the commencement of rice cultivation in East Asia. However, a study conducted at the University of Helsinki's Department of Environmental Sciences and the Department of Geosciences and Geography shows that the massive expanse of the northern peatlands occurred around 5000 years ago, coincident with rising atmospheric methane levels. http://phys.org/news182679342.html Space & Earth Thu, 14 Jan 2010 08:16:07 EST news182679342 Observations by the European Space Agency’s Venus Express mission have provided strong new evidence that the solar wind has stripped away significant quantities of water from Earth’s twin planet. The data also shed new light on the transfer of trace gases in the Venusian atmosphere and wind patterns.  The results will be presented at the European Planetary Science Congress in Potsdam, Germany, today. http://phys.org/news172307964.html Space & Earth Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:10:01 EST news172307964 Mars may not be as dormant as scientists once thought. The 2004 discovery of methane means that either there is life on Mars, or that volcanic activity continues to generate heat below the martian surface. ESA plans to find out which it is. Either outcome is big news for a planet once thought to be biologically and geologically inactive. http://phys.org/news169120520.html Space & Earth Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:10:03 EST news169120520 A new study has revealed the origins of tiger stripes and a subsurface ocean on Enceladus- one of Saturn's many moons. These geological features are believed to be the result of the moon's unusual chemical composition and not a hot core, shedding light on the evolution of planets and guiding future space exploration. http://phys.org/news166874016.html Space & Earth Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:54:50 EST news166874016 (PhysOrg.com) -- Large bombardments of meteorites approximately four billion years ago could have helped to make the early Earth and Mars more habitable for life by modifying their atmospheres, suggests the results of a paper published today in the journal Geochimica et Cosmochima Acta. http://phys.org/news163071856.html Space & Earth Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:44:47 EST news163071856 The CoRoT satellite has discovered a planet only twice as large as the Earth orbiting a star slightly smaller than the Sun. It is the smallest extrasolar planet (planet outside our solar system) whose radius has ever been measured. The planet's composition is not yet certain, but it is probably made predominantly of rock and water. It orbits its host star in 20 hours, which is the shortest orbital period of all exoplanets found so far. Astronomers infer its temperature must be so high (over 1000 degrees C) that it should be covered in lava or superheated water vapour. http://phys.org/news152880771.html Space & Earth Tue, 03 Feb 2009 10:54:56 EST news152880771