November 2017 on EARTH Magazine

Opportunist organisms rafted across the Pacific on plastic

Tue, 21 Nov 2017 17:02:02 -0500

This Japanese boat washed ashore in Oregon, carrying a load of nonnative species, following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Credit: John W. Chapman

Since World War II, fiberglass and plastic — which are stronger, lighter and require less maintenance than wood — have become the materials of choice for coastal infrastructure like docks. An unforeseen consequence of this transition, however, is that when structures built from these durable materials break free from their moorings and drift out to sea, they can serve as resilient rafts for opportunistic organisms. In a new study in Science, researchers document hundreds of marine species that made their way 7,000 kilometers across the Pacific Ocean from Japan on debris — much of it made of plastic and other modern materials — following the magnitude-9 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

Extinct lunar magnetic field lasted longer than previously thought

Fri, 17 Nov 2017 15:52:54 -0500

Lunar breccia sample 15498, collected during the Apollo 15 mission, consists of basalt fragments welded together by dark lunar glass that formed during an impact event. The scale cube marked "E" is one centimeter wide. Credit: NASA

Magnetized lunar rocks collected by the Apollo missions indicate the moon had its own magnetic field, generated by motion of liquid metal in its core, until at least 3.2 billion years ago. However, what powered the lunar field and how long it lasted has been unclear. Now, new research reveals that the lunar magnetic field lasted until at least 2.5 billion years ago, and possibly even until 1 billion years ago.

Dino deaths cleared the way for frogs

Wed, 15 Nov 2017 14:34:29 -0500

Certain frog lineages, including the family Microhylidae to which this male Microhyla rubra belongs, flourished after the dinosaur extinction left environmental niches open. Credit: L. Shyamal, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Frogs make up almost 90 percent of amphibians, and with 6,775 described species, frogs are considered one of the most diverse groups of vertebrates on the planet. In a new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers indicate that frogs’ rapid diversification stems back to the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg, formerly the K-T) boundary, about 66 million years ago, when nonavian dinosaurs and many other animals went extinct.

Caldera clays may hold key to lithium independence

Wed, 15 Nov 2017 14:29:17 -0500

Oregon's Crater Lake was created when water filled the caldera created by an enormous eruption of Mount Mazama about 7,700 years ago. Clay deposits at the bottom of the lake may concentrate lithium, according to a new study. Credit: Mary Caperton Morton.

Most of the world’s lithium is mined in South America and Australia. New research suggests that the United States may have its own untapped lithium supplies in lake deposits in the calderas left behind by large volcanic eruptions. In the study, published in Nature Communications, researchers detail a new way to detect deposits of the silvery white metal in places such as Crater Lake in southern Oregon.

Can fossil footprints reveal the weight of a dinosaur?

Wed, 15 Nov 2017 14:23:17 -0500

These footprints — in roughly 150-million-year-old sandstone at the Copper Ridge tracksite in eastern Utah — were made by a single sauropod, possibly a Diplodocus or Camarasaurus. Credit: James St. John, CC BY 2.0.

Body mass is a fundamental factor in determining how much food an animal requires, how it moves and grows, and what role it plays in its ecosystem. Measuring modern animals is often a straightforward matter of putting them on a scale, but it’s no easy feat for paleontologists interested in extinct creatures like dinosaurs, since many of these animals’ weighty parts — their organs, muscles and skin, for example — are long gone. Frequent claims of “the heaviest dinosaur of all time,” for example, as in the case of the recently named Patagotitan, are fraught with uncertainty. Recent research, however, is offering a novel approach to estimating dinosaur body masses by examining the footprints they left behind.

Seismic patterns help forecast eruptions from quiet stratovolcanoes

Wed, 15 Nov 2017 14:14:51 -0500

Sinabung Volcano in Sumatra, Indonesia, began erupting in 2010 after a 400-year hiatus, with major eruptions again in 2014 and 2016. Credit: Nekomong, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Earth is home to more than 1,500 potentially eruptive volcanoes on land, each with a unique character and history. Predicting when and how a particular volcano may erupt is notoriously difficult, in large part because each eruption is unique. Recent work tracking pre-eruptive seismic behavior beneath two dozen reawakened volcanoes has revealed a distinctive pattern that seismologists may be able to use to assess when — and how violently — a rumbling volcano could blow its top.

Antimony may have poisoned Pompeii's drinking water

Wed, 15 Nov 2017 14:00:13 -0500

Lead pipes were used in water distribution systems in ancient Roman cities. Credit: Larry, CC BY 2.0.

The ancient Romans may have had advanced water distribution systems, but the water pipes they used were highly toxic. Many Roman-era water pipes were lined with lead, leading some archaeologists to suspect a public health crisis among Romans that may have contributed to the empire’s eventual fall. But others point out that the high levels of calcium carbonate in the Romans’ water supply would have quickly coated the pipes with scale, limiting the exposure of drinking water to lead. However, a new study suggests lead wasn’t the only concern: A sample of pipe from Pompeii dating to A.D. 79 has shown that the Italian city’s drinking water may have also contained alarmingly high levels of antimony. Antimony is an acutely poisonous element, ingestion of which can lead to severe vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration and/or death from ailments such as kidney failure and cardiac arrhythmia.

Volcanic activity contributed to first of the "Big Five" mass extinctions

Wed, 15 Nov 2017 13:52:36 -0500

Researchers found mercury concentration spikes in Late Ordovician rock sampled from this site in Nevada's Monitor Range, indicating a possible role for large-scale volcanic activity in a mass extinction roughly 444 million years ago. Credit: David S. Jones

During the Ordovician, between about 488 million and 444 million years ago, plant life first emerged on land, while primitive fish and a variety of marine invertebrates flourished in the oceans. Toward the end of the period, however, a mass extinction — the first of the so-called “Big Five” Phanerozoic extinctions — wiped out roughly 60 percent of all marine invertebrate genera. In a recent study, researchers shed new light on a possible cause of the Late Ordovician extinction: volcanic activity.

Imaging Iceland's volcanic roots

Thu, 09 Nov 2017 15:28:10 -0500

Ultralow-velocity zones (ULVZ) are patches of molten rock at the core-mantle boundary in which passing seismic waves slow significantly. Such patches may fuel plumes of hot rock that rise through the mantle to feed some volcanic hot spots, such as those beneath Hawaii and Iceland. Credit: Kaiqing Yuan and Barbara Romanowicz; modified by K. Cantner, AGI.

Home to more than 30 active volcanoes, Iceland is one of the most vigorous volcanic settings on Earth. A new look at the core-mantle boundary thousands of kilometers below the island is offering one of the most complete pictures yet of how Iceland’s volcanoes are fueled.

Alaskan subduction zone mirrors Tohoku zone that unleashed tsunami

Thu, 09 Nov 2017 15:21:06 -0500

This diagram shows the generalized structure of the subduction zone off the Alaska Peninsula near the Shumagin Islands. A large normal fault cuts through the entire overriding North American Plate at a roughly 45-degree angle and connects to the megathrust fault along which the North American and Pacific plates move against each other. Credit: K. Cantner, AGI, based on data from Bécel et al., Nature Geoscience, 2017.

In 2011, a large swath of coastal Japan was devastated and more than 15,000 people were killed when the magnitude-9.1 Tohoku earthquake unleashed massive tsunami waves that inundated land with run-up heights of 30 meters in places. In a new study, researchers have discovered that the seafloor off the Alaska Peninsula exhibits structures and fault patterns similar to the region where the Tohoku quake originated — a finding that may indicate a higher tsunami risk for coastal Alaska than previously thought.

Marine megafaunal extinction discovered

Thu, 09 Nov 2017 15:07:39 -0500

Fossils from Pliocene megafauna: sharks' teeth from Carchahinus leucas (left) and Negaprion (right). Credit: University of Zurich.

Extinctions of large land animals during the Pleistocene are well documented. In a new study, scientists report that marine megafauna also suffered severe losses several million years ago, around the time that the first hominid ancestors were emerging in Africa.

Desktop seismology: How a maker-inspired device is changing seismic monitoring

Wed, 08 Nov 2017 12:37:49 -0500

Created in 2016, the Raspberry Shake is a personal seismograph that can detect local to regional earthquakes. The Shake was developed by OSOP, a geophysical instrument company headquartered in Panama. Marketed toward makers and the earthquake-curious, it also has the potential to help professionals increase the station density of seismic monitoring networks. Credit: OSOP.

Earth groans and shimmies constantly, producing everything from occasional building-collapsing earthquakes to subtle shaking humans don’t even feel. There are many ways to track this shaking, ranging from sensitive, expensive seismograph stations to various citizen-science approaches, including the U.S. Geological Survey’s “Did You Feel It?” program, through which people can report what they felt during an earthquake using an online survey.

Where on Earth? - November 2017

Wed, 01 Nov 2017 09:52:53 -0400

Click to enlarge photo.

Clues for November 2017:

This small canyon — only about 10 meters wide at the bottom and less than a kilometer long — was carved by a river that easily cut down through Tertiary sediments but then encountered the more resistant Precambrian granite of this ridge in the Granite Mountains. Trapped in its channel, the river incised the granite, forming a textbook example of superimposed drainage.
Travelers along one of early America’s westward trails, which passed to the south of the ridge, often camped near this landmark and enjoyed potable water from the river that carved it. The gorge lies about 10 kilometers southwest of another granite pioneer landmark: a large, rounded outcrop formed by exfoliation and spalling, which was aptly named on July 4, 1824.
The name of the gorge comes from a Native American legend that says the opening was carved by an evil prairie beast that was killed by warriors and, in its death throes, gouged out the rock with its mammoth tusks.

Benchmarks: November 18, 1929: Turbidity currents snap trans-Atlantic cables

Fri, 27 Oct 2017 12:15:18 -0400

The first trans-Atlantic submarine cable was laid in 1858, from Newfoundland, Canada, to Ireland. Credit: public domain.

On the evening of Monday, Nov. 18, 1929, a magnitude-7.2 earthquake ruptured off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Those living on the Burin Peninsula, a foot of land that reaches into the Atlantic Ocean, reportedly felt five minutes of shaking — a confusing sensation, since no one in the area had experienced an earthquake before. “Suddenly this roar — this loud banging — [occurred] and the kettle and the plates started to dance,” Gus Etchegary, a resident of the Burin Peninsula who had experienced the quake, described in a documentary video produced by The Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Website.

Geologic Column: Giving Konrad Zuse his due

Fri, 27 Oct 2017 12:02:16 -0400

Statue of Konrad Zuse, Bad Hersfeld, Germany. Credit: Profiler 1888, CC BY-SA 3.0.

German engineer Konrad Zuse is considered the first inventor of the programmable electronic computer in his home country, but sadly, few students elsewhere learn of his pioneering efforts. Zuse’s legacy extends beyond his groundbreaking circuit designs, also encompassing advances in computational theory and even philosophical musings about the computational nature of the universe.

Getting there and getting around Scotland's Southwestern Islands

Thu, 26 Oct 2017 21:08:16 -0400

The Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) ferry service is the primary way to access Arran and Islay from mainland Scotland. Credit: James Stringer, CC BY-NC 2.0.

Ferry service to Arran and Islay is the primary way to access the islands from the Scottish mainland. Caledonian MacBrayne (“CalMac”) offers a “hopscotch” ticket package that goes from Ardrossan (close to Glasgow) to Brodick (Arran), across the Kintyre Peninsula, to Port Ellen (Islay), and then back to Kintyre, all on your own schedule, for £150, including ferrying your rental car. (We brought a rental car with us from the mainland, in the interest of being able to access outcrops where and when we wanted, but each island offers a municipal bus service as well.) Reserve a space for your car on the ferry during peak tourist times. Also, be prepared to be stuck on an island for a bit (usually not more than a few hours) if the weather turns.

Travels in Geology: The diverse geology, landscapes and whiskys of Scotland's Southwestern Islands

Thu, 26 Oct 2017 20:41:54 -0400

Goatfell is the highest point on the Isle of Arran. The granitic mountain is also a showpiece of alpine glaciation. Credit: ©iStockphoto.com/mille19.

Arran and Islay are two large islands of southwestern Scotland that showcase a suite of interesting rocks and landscapes, and Scotland’s second-finest product (after the geology): single malt whisky. Visiting Arran and Islay together is an enjoyable experience in contrasts. Both islands are sparsely populated, with a few thousand permanent residents each, but amenable to tourists, boasting well-developed infrastructure, including regular ferry service from the mainland. Arran is mountainous, while Islay has relatively subdued topography. Both get a lot of visitors in the summer and feature a wealth of cultural and recreational opportunities, in addition to outcrops that will prove insightful to the geologically minded traveler.

Comment: The Congressional ecosystem: A paleontologist's perspective

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 14:17:59 -0400

Credit: Callan Bentley, 2017.

At the height of the 2016 presidential election, the nation’s eyes were on Washington, D.C., and prominent voices were critical of the Capital. “Washington is full of fossils” and “the swamp is rotten” were common refrains all along the political spectrum. Who better to head to Congress than a paleontologist with a specialty in soft-tissue preservation? I spent years dealing with fossils and rot. I was prepared for anything — or so I thought.

Down to Earth With: Deep-sea biologist Stace Beaulieu

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 14:10:58 -0400

Stace Beaulieu is a senior research specialist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole, Mass., who studies the biology of deep-sea ecosystems, including hydrothermal vents. Credit: Tom Kleindinst, WHOI.

People often find their way to the geosciences after a college class sparks their interest. But not Stace Beaulieu, a senior research specialist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole, Mass. — she knew what she wanted to do at age 6. Beaulieu grew up in Florida and spent her childhood snorkeling and reading science magazines with pictures of deep-sea creatures that tantalized her imagination and piqued her curiosity. “I had a one-track mind pretty much from elementary school through grad school — I never changed my mind. I was so excited about learning about what was deeper. I still am today.”

Ice (Re)Cap: November 2017

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 12:21:26 -0400

Jarvis Glacier flows from Mount Silvertip in the eastern Alaska Range. Runoff from mountain glaciers supplies water to streams and recharges aquifers in Alaskan watersheds. Credit: Anna Liljedahl.

From Antarctica to the Arctic; from polar caps, permafrost and glaciers to ocean-rafted sea ice; and from burly bears to cold-loving microbes, fascinating science is found in every nook and crevasse of Earth’s cryosphere, and new findings are announced often. Here are a few of the latest updates.

Microbes influence ooid formation

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 12:17:43 -0400

A thin section of ooids showing their concentric carbonate coatings. Credit: Strekeisen, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The formation of carbonate spheroids called ooids is a bit of a mystery. They are thought to form in warm waters saturated with carbonate, which combines with calcium to form concentric layers of calcium carbonate on shell fragments or sand grains. Some scientists have suggested that the presence of microbes might encourage calcium carbonate to precipitate out of water to form ooids in a process called organomineralization.

Second stars can distort planet size estimates

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 12:11:52 -0400

An artist's illustration of a two-star system: One star can be obscured by the light of another, making it difficult to estimate the size of planets orbiting the stars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

When light from a star is blocked by another celestial body — as when the moon obstructed light from the much-larger sun during the recent solar eclipse — astronomers can estimate the density of exoplanets that orbit the star. And from the density, they can determine whether a planet is rocky like Earth or gaseous like Jupiter. But a new study in the Astronomical Journal shows that such density assessments, which are normally calculated from the size of the planet, may be skewed by the presence of “hidden” stars.

Humans arrived Down Under earlier than thought

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 12:07:17 -0400

Chris Clarkson of the University of Queensland talks with Djurrubu Aboriginal Rangers at the Madjedbebe excavation site in Australia's Northern Territory. Credit: Dominic O'Brien, Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation.

Analysis of sediments surrounding a trove of artifacts discovered in northern Australia suggests the first humans arrived on the continent about 10,000 years earlier than previously thought, a finding that has implications for the hypothesized role of humans in the extinctions of Australian megafauna.

When agriculture went to our heads

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 12:04:46 -0400

Researchers used points, or landmarks, on numerous crania and mandibles from a variety of preindustrial farming and foraging populations to compare features of post-agricultural skulls. Credit: David Katz and Tim Weaver, UC Davis.

The dawn of agriculture left an indelible mark on early human societies, and a new study finds that eating softer, cultivated foods subtly changed the shape of human skulls. Scientists have long suspected that the transition from hunting and foraging to farming and raising livestock would have affected our skulls, specifically the mandible and other anatomy involved in chewing, but quantifying such changes has proven difficult.

Geomedia: Books: Vivid anecdotes abound in "Eruption: The untold story of Mount St. Helens"

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 14:05:55 -0400

"Eruption: The Untold Story of Mount St. Helens," Steve Olson, W. W. Norton & Company, 2017, ISBN-13: 978-0393353587.

The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens was a pivotal event in the geologic careers of many volcanologists. Maybe it drove them to the geosciences, maybe it opened a door for more monitoring and research jobs in the United States, or maybe it was just an excellent example that the lower 48 states are volcanically active. However, as seminal as the 1980 eruption was, it happened almost 20 years before most of today’s college students were even born. To them, the eruption is another example from history, like Pelée or Vesuvius. They likely don’t have the same visceral reaction to it as those who remember it (even if, like me, you were still in preschool when the eruption occurred.)

Northern Finns didn't starve during Little Ice Age

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 14:01:29 -0400

Today, Finland’s Northern Ostrobothnia region is one of the northernmost places in Europe that can support agriculture. But how this region fared during the Little Ice Age — a period of globally cooler temperatures that lasted roughly from A.D. 1300 to 1850 — is unknown. Scientists assume the climatic cooling would have adversely affected food supplies. Now, however, the discovery of a mysterious medieval cemetery in northern Finland dating to the middle of the Little Ice Age is offering clues that the inhabitants were well fed and well suited to the northern clime.

Can distant earthquakes trigger submarine landslides?

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 13:58:45 -0400

Underwater landslides, called turbidity currents, occur when material on seafloor slopes destabilizes and flows downhill. In a new study, researchers suggest that shaking from a major earthquake in the Indian Ocean caused turbidity currents 13,500 kilometers away on the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Credit: K. Cantner, AGI.

Large earthquakes can nudge both nearby and distant faults closer to failure, sometimes setting off additional earthquakes halfway around the world. New evidence from the Cascadia Subduction Zone suggests that large seismic events can also trigger submarine landslides, called turbidity currents, perhaps as far as 13,500 kilometers away. If true, researchers say such long-distance connections could complicate interpretations of paleoseismic records from the Cascadia margin and elsewhere that rely on data from turbidites — the stratified remains of the underwater slides — to piece together when past local earthquakes occurred. But not everyone is convinced that long-distance landslide triggering is possible.

How long will the lava flow? Predicting eruption durations with satellite monitoring

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 13:55:49 -0400

This false-color image of the 2014 Holuhraun eruption and lava field in Iceland was captured by the Landsat 8 satellite. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen.

If you live near a lava-spewing volcano, it could be helpful to know just how long molten rock might flow during a fiery eruption. In a new study, scientists report that they can calculate how long lava-flowing eruptions might last based on satellite data.

Another whiptail dinosaur added to sauropod family tree

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 13:53:08 -0400

With their massive size, long necks and whip-like tails, the sauropods are one of the most recognizable dinosaur groups. They grew as large as 100 metric tons, and it seems their huge frames were an effective adaptation: The sauropods were among the most diverse dinosaur groups, with more than 15 species known from North America alone. That list is now one species longer, with the identification of a new species based on a specimen found in Wyoming in 1995.

Mangroves sprouted in Arctic during Eocene

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 13:51:03 -0400

Evidence of ancient mangrove plants was found in lignite seams, such as in this outcrop on Faddeevsky Island. Credit: Guillaume Suan.

Mangrove trees, which today thrive in tropical and subtropical climates in the low and midlatitudes, grew in the high Russian Arctic about 56 million years ago, scientists reported in Geology. It’s the northernmost occurrence of mangrove trees ever documented.

Microbes care about energy efficiency

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 13:48:20 -0400

Researchers found that archaea collected from this hot spring in Yellowstone National Park chose unexpectedly when offered a variety of food sources. Credit: Maximiliano Amenabar.

Microbes live in some of the most extreme environments on Earth, from the crushing depths of deep-sea trenches to scalding geothermal springs. Part of the reason microbes thrive in many different environments is their ability to use a variety of energy sources — including light, organic matter, and inorganic materials like hydrogen, sulfur, and iron — to power the metabolic reactions that allow them to grow and survive.

Pharmaceuticals in urban sediments reveal wastewater treatment effectiveness

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 09:57:47 -0400

Scientists collected sediment samples from a dammed pond on the Loiret River in Orléans, France, to investigate the accumulation of pharmaceutical products downstream of wastewater treatment plants. Credit: ASRL.

People take pills to relieve headaches or syrups to ease a hacking cough, and eventually these medications can make their way into streams and rivers around the world as humans excrete the chemicals. Scientists are now using concentrations of common pharmaceutical products (PPs) in river sediments in Orléans, France, to determine how effective four water treatment plants have been at removing chemicals from the environment.

Two-faced space worm could inform regenerative medicine

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 09:54:06 -0400

An amputated flatworm fragment sent into space spontaneously regrew into an extremely rare double-headed worm. Credit: Junji Morokuma, Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University.

It sounds like the plot of a science fiction movie: Worms sent into space return to Earth with two heads. But it isn’t fiction at all. In a recent study, researchers sent worms with regenerative capabilities — some left whole and some cut into pieces — to the International Space Station (ISS) to study how the worms’ bodies would respond in space and whether their behavior might help efforts to treat human ailments.

Limestone reservoirs boost volcanic carbon emissions

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 09:44:40 -0400

New research suggests that arc volcanoes, which release large amounts of carbon when they erupt, draw their carbon from limestone platforms found along subduction zones. Credit: K. Cantner, AGI.

Volcanoes have been the main source of atmospheric carbon over Earth’s history, with some types of eruptions injecting more carbon into the atmosphere than others. Arc volcanoes, for example, which form in chains along subduction zones, are responsible for up to two-thirds of all volcanic carbon emissions today, and have likely been major contributors for as long as they’ve existed. New research suggests a reason why: These volcanoes draw large amounts of carbon from limestone platforms found along many subduction zones. The finding has implications for how the volcanic carbon cycle affects climate over geologic timescales.

Chemical clues illuminate fossil plant relationships

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 09:35:59 -0400

To reconstruct relationships among extinct plants and animals, paleontologists often compare genetic sequences from distinct organisms or analyze differences in fossil shapes. But both techniques have limitations: DNA does not last more than about a million years in the rock record, so genetic comparisons are typically limited to relatively recent species; and finding fossils intact enough to use for shape comparisons can be difficult. In a recent study, scientists describe a new technique that could help get around these issues — for some plants at least — using molecular remnants that are more robust than DNA and are preserved in fossil leaves.

T-A-P (Testing, Awareness, Prevention)

Fri, 13 Oct 2017 09:21:04 -0400

Not all water corrosivity issues are obvious. For this reason, a hydrogeologist at the Maine Geological Survey, recommends that regular tests be conducted at least once every three years.

Troubled waters: Lead lurking in U.S. water supplies

Thu, 12 Oct 2017 12:27:02 -0400

Naturally occurring corrosive water is not necessarily dangerous to drink, but it can become dangerous when it encounters lead or other toxic metals in pipes, solders and fixtures. Credit: ©iStockphoto.com/eldadcarin.

Lake Huron, situated between Michigan and Ontario, Canada, is the third-largest freshwater lake on Earth by area and one of the five Great Lakes that together hold some 23,000 cubic kilometers of freshwater. Most of the water in the Great Lakes originated as glacial meltwater, and the lakes are underlain by huge subterranean reservoirs in glacial deposits and underlying bedrock. These groundwater aquifers hold about 4,200 cubic kilometers of freshwater — approximately equivalent to Lake Michigan — and, along with the Great Lakes, help meet the water needs of millions of people. Until recently, Lake Huron supplied water to the city of Flint, Mich. However, in 2011, Flint city officials decided to switch the source of the city’s municipal water supply from treated water taken from Lake Huron to water from the Flint River — a decision that would have grave consequences for public health.

Cretaceous collagen: Can molecular paleontology glean soft tissue from dinosaurs?

Thu, 12 Oct 2017 12:08:51 -0400

Mary Schweitzer, of North Carolina State University, and her colleagues first reported the discovery of soft tissue in a Tyrannosaurus rex femur in 2005. The vial contains a sample of the bone. Credit: both: ©Science.

In the early 1990s, “Jurassic Park” hatched a wild idea: that dinosaurs could be reincarnated using tiny amounts of preserved DNA. In the bestselling books and blockbuster movies, the premise hinged on extracting fragments of dinosaur DNA from ancient blood-sucking insects preserved in amber, filling in the genetic gaps with snippets of modern amphibian DNA and hatching the engineered dinosaurs out of ostrich eggs. In reality, however, while many amazing things have been found in fossilized tree sap, DNA isn’t one of them.