News tagged with earth system

Related topics: climate change

Critical turning point can trigger abrupt climate change

Ice ages are the greatest natural climate changes in recent geological times. Their rise and fall are caused by slight changes in the Earth's orbit around the Sun due to the influence of the other planets. But we do not know ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Apr 20, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (58) | comments 9

Maglev track could launch spacecraft into orbit

(PhysOrg.com) -- With the aim to make it easier to launch spacecraft into low Earth orbit (LEO), two researchers have turned to maglev technology to catapult a payload hundreds of miles above the Earth. While ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Mar 13, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (58) | comments 37 | with audio podcast report

Professor: We have a 'moral obligation' to seed universe with life

(PhysOrg.com) -- Eventually, the day will come when life on Earth ends. Whether that’s tomorrow or five billion years from now, whether by nuclear war, climate change, or the Sun burning up its fuel, the last ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Feb 09, 2010 | popularity 3.1 / 5 (49) | comments 114 | with audio podcast report

Climate models make too hot forecasts of global warming

Data from NASA's Terra satellite shows that when the climate warms, Earth's atmosphere is apparently more efficient at releasing energy to space than models used to forecast climate change have been programmed to "believe."

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jul 29, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (32) | comments 161 | with audio podcast

The Earth and Moon formed later than previously thought

The Earth and Moon were created as the result of a giant collision between two planets the size of Mars and Venus. Until now it was thought to have happened when the solar system was 30 million years old or ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Jun 07, 2010 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (28) | comments 26 | with audio podcast

Voyager set to enter interstellar space

(PhysOrg.com) -- More than 30 years after they left Earth, NASA's twin Voyager probes are now at the edge of the solar system. Not only that, they're still working. And with each passing day they are beaming ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Apr 29, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (26) | comments 18 | with audio podcast

Beaming rockets into space

Space launches have evoked the same image for decades: bright orange flames exploding beneath a rocket as it lifts, hovers and takes off into the sky. But an alternative propulsion system proposed by some ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jan 21, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (22) | comments 49 | with audio podcast

International scientists set boundaries for survival

Human activities have already pushed the Earth system beyond three of the planet's biophysical thresholds, with consequences that are detrimental or even catastrophic for large parts of the world; six others ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Sep 23, 2009 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (28) | comments 16

GOCE satellite achieves drag-free perfection (w/Videos)

(PhysOrg.com) -- ESA's gravity mission GOCE has achieved a first in the history of satellite technology. The sophisticated electric propulsion system has shown that it is able to keep the satellite completely ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 26, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (19) | comments 11

Scientists discover a nearly Earth-sized planet (Update)

(PhysOrg.com) -- Exoplanet researcher Michel Mayor announces the discovery of the lightest exoplanet found so far. The planet, "e," in the system Gliese 581, is only about twice the mass of our Earth. The ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Apr 21, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (21) | comments 15

New book suggests Earth perhaps not such a benevolent mother after all

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the past 50 years it has become commonplace to think of Earth as a nurturing place, straining mightily to maintain equilibrium so that life might continue and flourish.

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created May 20, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (21) | comments 15

Oceans in distress foreshadow mass extinction

Pollution and global warming are pushing the world's oceans to the brink of a mass extinction of marine life unseen for tens of millions of years, a consortium of scientists warned Monday.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jun 20, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (20) | comments 22

Silver tells a volatile story of Earth's origin: Water was present during its birth

Tiny variations in the isotopic composition of silver in meteorites and Earth rocks are helping scientists put together a timetable of how our planet was assembled beginning 4.568 billion years ago. The new ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 13, 2010 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (19) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

NOAA study suggests aerosols might be inhibiting global warming

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study led by the U.S, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows that tiny particles that make their way all the way up into the stratosphere may be offsetting a global ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Jul 22, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (17) | comments 28 | with audio podcast report

Earth's dust tail points to alien planets

Did you know that the Earth has a dust tail? The Spitzer Space Telescope sailed right through it a few months ago, giving researchers a clear idea of what it looks like. That could be a big help to planet ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 15, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (15) | comments 0 | with audio podcast