Topic: Geophysics

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What makes a planet livable? Five things scientists look for.

Scientists have so far detected at least 550 planets outside the solar system – and another 2,000-plus await confirmation. But how to pick out the ones that may be Earth-like havens for life? Here's what one team looks for in assessing any planet's potential habitability and its similarity to Earth's properties.
Heat wave: Four things that will rise with the temperatures

Slowing down because of rising heat is the expected response in any summer heat wave. But in a week like this one, where high temperatures fanned across the country, sizzling toward 100 degrees F. from Texas to Boston, some things also go up. Here are four things to expect to rise along with our desire to stay indoors and beat the heat.
Photos of the Day: Photos of the Day 04/24
Ring of fire: the five non-Japan nuclear sites in quake zone

Responsible for 90 percent of the world's earthquakes, the "ring of fire" stretches from Australia to Russia around to Alaska and America's West Coast and down to Chile in South America. Here are the five non-Japanese plants in the world's most active earthquake zone.
5 books on understanding/preparing for natural and manmade disasters

The mix of natural and man-made disasters unfolding in Japan is almost incomprehensible. But it’s just at such moments that we most want to understand what can happen in our world. This history is still in the making, but my regular reading list is taking a break while I search out material on disasters past and future. What are you reading in the wake of the tragic events of the past few days? Here are a few potential places to start:

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Crystals found in magma chambers may help scientists predict volcanic eruptions

To learn more about volcanic activity in an effort to help predict it, researchers investigated the magma from within volcanoes. Crystals often grow within magma chambers, large crevices of searing hot fluid rock beneath volcanoes.
How a solar flare could send us back to the Stone Age

A powerful enough solar flare could knock out our power grids, disrupt our GPS satellites, and bring the global economy to a halt, warns a British scientists.
Will Saturday's 'supermoon' destroy the Earth?

No, it won't. You people really need to learn to calm down.
Latin America Monitor
Drug violence? Mexicans say Popocatepetl is a bigger concern.

A recent poll shows Mexican concern about natural disaster outranks fears of violence and organized crime. The reason: an active volcano and recent earthquakes.
Himalayan glaciers could be growing, new study finds

A new study published in Nature Geoscience has discovered Himalayan glaciers that are not shrinking at all. They could be getting larger.
Global News Blog
Italy goes big to save Venice as it sinks into the sea

A multibillion-dollar flood-prevention system will be put in place starting next year, a decade after the project began.
Report cites fracking-related activities as potential suspect in minor quakes

The rate of minor earthquakes from Colorado to Ohio has quickened in the past decade. But the report doesn't make a direct link between fracking and quakes, notes an Interior official.
Latin America Monitor
Series of quakes hit Mexico: What's going on?

Four earthquakes have rattled Mexico City in four months. The Monitor's Mexico City bureau chief explains how the frequent aftershocks have kept earthquakes on the mind.
Wisconsin sonic booms: Is a 1.5-magnitude jiggle the whole story?

The US Geological Survey suggests a small quake under Clintonville, Wis., and associated micro-tremors, could be the source of the mysterious sonic booms. Not everyone buys that.
Better prepared: Mexico's 7.4 quake causes damage, but no deaths

Mexico's worst earthquake in nearly 30 years was met by stricter building codes and a city prepared by evacuation drills and early warning systems.
Earthquake in Mexico: Powerful, destructive but not deadly (+video)

Earthquake in Mexico: The magnitude 7.4 quake was the biggest since 1986, when at least 10,000 died. But improved construction and where this earthquake hit, say officials, has left Mexico with limited damage, and no fatalities.
Solar flares: Be glad you're on Earth, not Mars (+video)

The recent solar flares provide a dramatic backdrop for a study that shows Mars gets far more of its atmosphere stripped away by solar storms than does Earth. Thank you, magnetosphere.
Solar storm could become severe 'bell ringer' in next 24 hours (+video)

Solar storm forecasters say the particles disgorged in a massive solar flare could strike Earth in a particular way, which would make a currently moderate solar storm more severe.
Biggest solar storm in years now bombarding Earth (+video)

The two huge solar flares that erupted on the sun on Tuesday have produced a wave of charged particles that are now glancing off our planet's magnetic field.
Solar flare: Biggest in six years hits the Earth (+video)

Solar flare: The Sun is in an 11-year cycle of solar flare activity, with a peak next year. Solar flares can disrupt power grids, satellites, oil pipelines and high-accuracy GPS systems
Will the solar storm disrupt power grids? (+video)

The sun has hurled a cloud of charged particles in our direction, potentially disrupting satellites and inducing current in our power grids.
Two powerful 'X-class' flares erupt on sun (+video)

The sun unleashed two extremely powerful flares Tuesday. NASA tentatively says that particles from the solar storms are probably heading in Earth's direction, but will likely deliver a glancing blow at most.
Saturn's frigid moon holds wisps of oxygen, scientists say

After the Cassini probe's flyby over Dione, Saturn's cratered icy moon, scientists have found strong evidence of a thin layer of oxygen in its atmosphere.
Growth of Himalayas slowing down, study finds

The collision between Eurasia and the Indian subcontinent, which created the world's highest mountain range, is slowing down, a new study has found.
Marsquake? How rumblings could bolster hope for life on Mars.

If seismic activity on Mars is recent, and it can be traced to a volcano, it could mean that there is a source of heat to melt ice and provide potential habitats for simple forms of life.
4.0 earthquake in Missouri shakes 9 states

The US Geological Survey says the magnitude 4.0 earthquake was centered near the town of East Prairie, Missouri.
What makes a planet livable? Five things scientists look for.

Scientists have so far detected at least 550 planets outside the solar system – and another 2,000-plus await confirmation. But how to pick out the ones that may be Earth-like havens for life? Here's what one team looks for in assessing any planet's potential habitability and its similarity to Earth's properties.
Negros earthquake: President Aquino criticizes shoddy road building

Negros earthquake: President Aquino visited Negros province where an earthquake struck Monday. Dozens of people are still missing, perhaps buried in landslides caused by the 6.9 magnitude quake.
Rescuers dig to reach dozens after Philippines quake

At least 13 people were killed and 40 are believed missing, most of them along the shore near the epicenter of the 6.9-magnitude quake that struck in a narrow strait just off Negros Island.
Volcanic eruptions emerge as lead cause for Little Ice Age

The Little Ice Age began in the late 13th century, scientists now posit, and lasted about 400 years. Some regions cooled significantly. A series of volcanic eruptions has become a leading culprit.