Science & Technology - Dec 2, 2011 15:39 - 0 Comments

‘Speedy’ adaptation genes may save fish

U. OREGON (US) — Two distinct populations of rainbow trout—one in Alaska, the other in Idaho—share a genetic trait that could have huge implications for fisheries, conservation, and management, according to new research. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Nov 16, 2011 13:03 - 4 Comments

Ancient landslide blocked California river

U. OREGON / CALTECH (US) — New evidence suggests a catastrophic landslide 22,500 years ago dammed the upper reaches of northern California’s Eel River and formed a now gone 30-mile-long lake. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Sep 20, 2011 12:46 - 2 Comments

Salmon can’t handle heat in streams

UC DAVIS (US) — Warming streams could spell the end of spring-run Chinook salmon in California by the end of the century, according to a study. (more…)

Big croc shared river with 42-foot snake

U. FLORIDA (US) — A new 20-foot extinct crocodile species discovered in the same Colombian coal mine may have given Titanoboa, the world’s largest snake, a run for its money. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Mar 3, 2011 13:37 - 0 Comments

Southwest welcomes tree-eating beetle

UC SANTA BARBARA (US) — Simply by eating the leaves of an invasive tree that soaks up river water, an Asian beetle may help to slow down water loss in the southwestern United States. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Oct 14, 2010 17:13 - 0 Comments

Clues to how food chains grow

YALE (US) — New research helps settle an old debate among ecologists about what determines the length of nature’s food chains, which sustain all life on earth. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Aug 17, 2010 9:45 - 0 Comments

Humans flip Texas river’s native carbon cycle

RICE (US)—Damming and other human activity has completely obscured the natural carbon dioxide cycle in Texas’ longest river, the Brazos. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Aug 2, 2010 12:12 - 0 Comments

Robotic sub records flow of undersea river

U. LEEDS (UK)—A team of scientists has used a robotic submarine to observe detailed flows within an deep-sea river for the first time. (more…)

Science & Technology - Jun 14, 2010 14:46 - 2 Comments

Ocean may have covered one-third of Mars

U. COLORADO (US)—A vast ocean likely covered one-third of the surface of Mars some 3.5 billion years ago. The volume of the ancient Mars ocean would have been about 10 times less than current volume of Earth’s oceans, researchers say. Mars is slightly more than half the size of Earth. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Jun 8, 2010 14:50 - 2 Comments

Will oil spill expand Gulf’s dead zone?

MICHIGAN STATE (US)—The worst oil spill in U.S. history could worsen and expand the oxygen-starved “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico, known for its inhospitability to marine life, suggests Michigan State University professor Nathaniel Ostrom. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Jun 2, 2010 9:24 - 3 Comments

Steep rise in dioxins from antibacterial soap

U. MINNESOTA (US)—Specific dioxins derived from the antibacterial agent triclosan, used in many hand soaps, deodorants, dishwashing liquids, and other consumer products, account for an increasing proportion of total dioxins found in Mississippi River sediments. (more…)

Earth & Environment - May 11, 2010 15:17 - 0 Comments

Stressors choking life out of NY rivers

SYRACUSE U. (US)—More than one-third of the 90-kilometer length of Central New York’s Three Rivers system failed to meet the state’s water quality oxygen standard in a recent study. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Mar 17, 2010 10:44 - 1 Comment

Mini river delta could help predict flooding

U. PENN (US)—An interdisciplinary team of physicists and geologists has made a major step toward predicting where and how large floods occur on river deltas and alluvial fans. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Dec 17, 2009 12:27 - 1 Comment

Arctic rivers as climate change forecasters

TEXAS A&M (US)—Scientists may be able to gauge the effects of climate change in the polar regions by monitoring bacterial communities in six large Arctic rivers, new research shows. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Oct 5, 2009 19:08 - 0 Comments

Alfalfa sprouts recreate meandering stream

UC BERKELEY (US)—Researchers report the first experimental creation of meanders in a flume—a scaled-down model of a natural channel using alfalfa sprouts to represent vegetated stream banks. The experiments reveal some of the necessary conditions to form meanders on Earth and throughout the solar system. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Sep 21, 2009 15:58 - 0 Comments

Human activity threatens world’s river deltas

An image of the Pearl River Delta in China taken by NASA’s space shuttle Endeavour during the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission in 2000. The areas below sea level are shown in purple. (Courtesy: NASA/CSDMS/University of Colorado)

Earth & Environment - Aug 19, 2009 4:00 - 0 Comments

When a toxic pond runneth over

A Duke graduate student takes samples from coal ash sludge shortly after a December 2008 spill at a power plant in Tennessee. (Courtesy: Avner Vengosh/Duke University)

Earth & Environment - Jul 21, 2009 12:32 - 0 Comments

Out West, hotter temps shrink water supply

Lake Powell in Utah is one of several massive Colorado River reservoirs that could be severely depleted in the coming decades as a result of warming temperatures in the West, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder. (Courtesy: Bureau of Reclamation)

Posts Tagged ‘rivers’

Monday, January 23, 2012 11:52 - 1 Comment