Posts Tagged ‘methane’

Gulf ‘swirl’ key to recovery after oil spill

UC SANTA BARBARA (US) — A new computer model shows how bacteria, topography, and water currents combined to remove methane and other chemicals from the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010. Continue…

Tuesday, January 10, 2012 17:02 - 0 Comments

Computer model explains Titan mystery

CALTECH (US) — A new computer model may explain the mysterious polar lakes, rainstorms, and clouds on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Nov 10, 2011 15:46 - 0 Comments

Methane likely fueled Earth’s big warm-up

RICE (US) — New calculations suggest the release of massive amounts of carbon from methane hydrate frozen under the seafloor 56 million years ago likely led to a major climate shift on Earth. (more…)

Science & Technology - Nov 9, 2011 11:41 - 0 Comments

Algorithm finds 300 crystals to store methane

NORTHWESTERN (US) — A new algorithm automatically generates and tests porous crystals to quickly find the most promising structure for natural gas storage out of millions of possibilities. (more…)

Science & Technology - Aug 23, 2011 17:46 - 0 Comments

Snow White’s an icy dwarf (planet)

CALTECH (US) — The red-tinged dwarf planet Snow White, once an environment awash in watery volcanoes, is now an icy world that astronomers believe may be covered by a thin layer of methane. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Jun 9, 2011 11:12 - 3 Comments

Dung debate: Most methane from cows?

U. LEEDS (UK) — A compound in feces may be developed as a biomarker to estimate how much methane is produced by cows and other animals. (more…)

Earth & Environment - May 11, 2011 11:43 - 2 Comments

Methane 17x higher in wells near fracking

DUKE (US) — Researchers found high levels of leaked methane in well water collected near shale-gas drilling and hydrofracking sites in Pennsylvania. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Apr 25, 2011 11:43 - 2 Comments

Pressure makes hydrocarbons

UC DAVIS (US) — At deep Earth pressures and temperatures, longer hydrocarbons may form from the simplest one, the methane molecule. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Jan 11, 2011 10:21 - 0 Comments

Freshwater adds to greenhouse equation

IOWA STATE (US) — Methane emissions from inland freshwater has been underestimated, according to a new study, that finds that greenhouse gas uptake by continents is less than previously thought. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Jan 7, 2011 13:11 - 1 Comment

Methane levels near normal in Gulf

TEXAS A&M / UC SANTA BARBARA (US) — Calling the results “extremely surprising,” researchers report that methane gas concentrations in the Gulf of Mexico have returned to near normal levels only months after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Aug 27, 2010 14:58 - 0 Comments

Dash of oregano curbs cow burps

PENN STATE (US)—An oregano-based supplement appears to decrease cow belches, a major source of greenhouse gases. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Jun 7, 2010 14:56 - 0 Comments

Extreme spring points to life on Mars

McGILL (CAN)—Methane-eating bacteria are able to survive in a highly unique spring located on Axel Heiberg Island in the Nunavut Territory in Canada’s extreme North. (more…)

Science & Technology - Jun 4, 2010 10:58 - 0 Comments

Early haze likely shaded Earth from UV

U. COLORADO (US)—A thick organic haze that enshrouded early Earth several billion years ago may have been similar to the haze now hovering above Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, and would have protected primordial life on the planet from the damaging effects of ultraviolet radiation. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Mar 18, 2010 13:32 - 0 Comments

‘Livestock revolution’ taking a toll

STANFORD (US)—The growing worldwide demand for meat is likely to have a significant impact on human health, the environment, and the global economy in the next 50 years, according to a new report by an international research team. (more…)

Science & Technology - Feb 4, 2010 11:42 - 2 Comments

Lost City microbes vie for control

U. WASHINGTON (US)—On the marine microbial stage, there appears to be a vast group of understudies only too ready to step in when “star” microbes falter. At least that’s what happens at the Lost City hydrothermal vent field in the mid-Atlantic Ocean—the only one of its kind found thus far. (more…)

Science & Technology - Dec 18, 2009 18:27 - 0 Comments

Fog found on Titan

CALTECH (US)—Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, looks to be the only place in the solar system—aside from our home planet, Earth—with copious quantities of liquid (largely, liquid methane and ethane) sitting on its surface. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Oct 26, 2009 16:29 - 0 Comments

CO2 not the only gorilla in the room

UC BERKELEY (US)—When world leaders meet in Copenhagen in December to hash out a treaty limiting carbon dioxide emissions, they should begin planning a future summit to address other pollutants—from soot to ozone—that don’t remain in the atmosphere as long as carbon dioxide, but nevertheless are major contributors to global warming. (more…)

Earth & Environment, Science & Technology - Oct 22, 2009 16:43 - 0 Comments

New clues in quest for liquid methane

UNC-CHAPEL HILL/U. WASHINGTON (US)—Researchers have taken an important step in converting methane gas to a liquid, potentially making it more useful as a fuel and as a source for making other chemicals. (more…)