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New
Dino Species: Early Meat-Eaters Crossed Continents
Dec. 10,
2009
New Dinosaur
Species Tawa hallae from New Mexico Had Evolutionary Roots in
South America
Did the first dinosaurs wander across continents
or stay put where they first evolved? The first dinosaurs evolved
230 million years ago when the continents were assembled into one
landmass called Pangea. The question of early dinosaur movements
remained unclear until the discovery of some exciting new
fossils.
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Rich
Ore Deposits Linked to Ancient Atmosphere
Nov. 20,
2009
Much of our
planet’s mineral wealth was deposited billions of years ago
when Earth’s chemical cycles were different from today’s.
Using geochemical clues from rocks nearly 3 billion years old, a
group of scientists including Andrey Bekker and Douglas Rumble
from the Carnegie Institution have made the surprising discovery
that the creation of economically important nickel ore deposits
was linked to sulfur in the ancient oxygen-poor atmosphere.
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Forming
the present-day spiral galaxies
NEW
Feb.
04, 2010
Using
data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have,
for the first time, created a demographic census of galaxy types
and shapes from a time before the Earth and the Sun existed, to
the present day. The results show that, contrary to contemporary
thought, more than half of the present-day spiral galaxies had
so-called peculiar shapes only 6 billion years ago, which, if
confirmed, highlights the importance of collisions and mergers in
the recent past of many galaxies. It also provides clues for the
unique status of our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
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Absorbing
Hydrogen Fluoride Gas to Enhance Crystal Growth
Dec. 10,
2009
Two
scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE)
Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a method to control
the buildup of hydrogen fluoride gas during the growth of
precision crystals needed for applications such as
superconductors, optical devices, and microelectronics. The
invention — by Vyacheslav Solovyov and Harold Wiesmann and
recently awarded U.S. Patent number 7,622,426 — could lead
to more efficient production and improved performance of these
materials.
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Northrop
Grumman and U.S. Air Force's Next-Generation of Global Hawk
Unmanned Aircraft Takes Flight
Dec. 09,
2009
"AF-18,
the eleventh of the next-generation Global Hawk Block 20/30/40s
to arrive at Edwards Air Force Base, performed beautifully,"
said George Guerra, Northrop Grumman vice president of HALE
systems. "This flight marks the continuation of our Global
Hawk flight test program, and is a testament to the team
comprised of people from Northrop Grumman and the Air Force who
have worked so hard to make this happen."
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Scientific
Frontline®
