Earth Sciences

News

Schematic image of the Earth’s internal structure
06 May 2021
A stable isotope of helium, 3He, was produced by the Big Bang and a remnant of the solar nebula. 3He is included in ocean island basalts, such as in Hawaiian volcanos, indicating it has been stored somewhere in the deep Earth and carried up to the surface in upwelling plumes. New computer simulations demonstrate that even in small amounts, helium can be dissolved in liquid iron at ultrahigh-pressure conditions, suggesting that there is a reservoir in the Earth’s core.
22 Apr 2021
An international research team has unearthed more about the crustal growth history of the Central African shield—one of the oldest continental pieces on the planet that formed part of the supercontinent Columbia.
22 Apr 2021
A research team, led by researchers from Tohoku University, has defined the events that punctuated the crustal history Northeast Japan. Their study has revealed the main ages of the events that shaped the geological roots of Japan.
Population heatmap of Tehran
16 Apr 2021
A person who owns a car or who has a college education may be less vulnerable to COVID-19, according to an analysis of cases in Tehran, Iran, one of the early epicenters of the pandemic. While such variables do not inherently lower a person’s risk, they do indicate an infrastructure of protection that persists despite how densely populated a person’s district might be.
Qaanaaq Village in July 2018. The ocean is still covered in sea ice
13 Apr 2021
Hokkaido University researchers have clarified different causes of past glacial river floods in the far north of Greenland, and what it means for the region’s residents as the climate changes.
Associate Professor Masahiko Fujii of Faculty of Environmental Earth Science.
05 Apr 2021
“The earth is suffering from several ‘diseases’: global warming, ocean acidification, habitat loss, etc. If any of these diseases remains uncured, other diseases will accelerate and cause new ones to appear, hence putting humanity’s well-being in danger,” said Associate Professor Masahiko Fujii. For this reason, the research staff of the Faculty of Environmental Earth Science keeps on assessing the current global environmental issues and promoting renewable energy sources as a possible solution.
31 Mar 2021
Researchers from the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo calculate sources of uncertainty in flood risks to improve global flood predictions
31 Mar 2021
Tokyo summers are notorious for their sweltering heat and humidity. Scientists have found that the meandering Kuroshio Current may be the cause of increasing hot and humid summers in the Kanto region.
Figure 1: The drawing shows a clam with its foot extending deep into the sediment to gain access to hydrogen sulfide. The foot and mantle of the clam are red due to the presence of haemoglobin for gas transport in the blood, which is an adaptation to the low-oxygen environment. (Drawn by HKBU student Hu Juntong)
29 Mar 2021
A study led by scientists at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) has decoded the genomes of the deep-sea clam (Archivesica marissinica) and the chemoautotrophic bacteria (Candidatus Vesicomyosocius marissinica) that live in its gill epithelium cells. Through analysis of their genomic structures and profiling of their gene expression patterns, the research team revealed that symbiosis between the two partners enables the clams to thrive in extreme deep-sea environments.
The studied subglacial discharge plume
25 Mar 2021
For the first time, scientists have succeeded in continuous monitoring of a subglacial discharge plume, providing a deeper understanding of the glacier-fjord environment.
The epicenter of the Beirut Explosion.
17 Mar 2021
A 2020 explosion in Lebanon’s port city of Beirut led to a southward-bound, high-velocity atmospheric wave that rivaled ones generated by volcanic eruptions.
04 Mar 2021
Using data from the 1995 Kobe Earthquake, researchers have uncovered a better understand about radon concentration in the atmosphere before and after earthquakes. The findings move us closer to being able to predict when large earthquakes will occur.
03 Mar 2021
A team of scientists has, for the first time, identified landfalls of tropical cyclones (TCs) in Japan for the period from 1877 to 2019; this knowledge will help prepare for future TC disasters.
26 Feb 2021
Twenty-two scholars of The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) were named on Stanford University’s list of the top two per cent most-cited scientists in various disciplines, including President Professor Stephen Cheung Yan-leung, Chair Professor of Public Policy; Professor Jim Chi-yung, Research Chair Professor of Geography & Environmental Science; and Professor Wong Ming-hung, Advisor (Environmental Science).
25 Feb 2021
Medical staff and researchers from Tohoku University and Fukushima Medical University conducted a collaborative, multifaceted training program for healthcare workers to better prepare them for disasters. The training incorporated a wide range of subjects such as data analysis, cultural revitalization in the wake of disasters, and post-disaster psychological and physical well-being.
24 Feb 2021
Springer Nature and the University of Tokyo to hold SDGs Symposium 2021, “Interdisciplinary science solutions for food, water, climate and ecosystems Sustainable Development Goals”
16 Feb 2021
Fujitsu, Tohoku University, and Tokyo University have unveiled a new AI model that can accurately predict tsunami flooding in coastal areas within seconds. The new technology, which harnessed the power of the world’s fastest supercomputer Fugaku, will bolster authorities ability to effectively direct evacuation orders.
Femtosecond pulse light source and photoelectron spectrometer
03 Feb 2021
Hokkaido University scientists show that under laboratory conditions, ultraviolet light reacts with nitrophenol to produce smog-generating nitrous acid.
21 Jan 2021
Lingnan University in Hong Kong (LU) has recently established a publicly accessible Natural History Collection (the Collection) of specimens of local amphibians and reptiles to document Hong Kong’s biodiversity, and for research, conservation and education purposes.
07 Dec 2020
A team of researchers understands more about the melting of the Greenland ice sheet. They discovered a flow of hot rocks, known as a mantle plume, rising from the core-mantle boundary beneath central Greenland that melts the ice from below.
S-velocity modeling and schematic image of water transportation
01 Dec 2020
Researchers at Ehime University have recently measured the propagation speed of ultrasonic waves in an aluminum-rich hydrous mineral called Al-phase D at pressure conditions relevant to the Earth’s deep mantle. Their results suggest that seismic shear anomalies observed locally beneath subduction zones may reveal the presence of hydrous minerals in the uppermost lower mantle, which would have important implications for the Earth’s interior because hydrogen affects considerably the physical and chemical properties of mantle minerals.
12 Nov 2020
Computational models suggest that melting water originating in the deep interior of Greenland could flow the entire length of a subglacial valley and exit at Petermann Fjord, along the northern coast of the island. Updating ice sheet models with this open valley could provide additional insight for future climate change predictions.
12 Nov 2020
A team of researchers has discovered more about the grain-scale fluid connectivity beneath the earth's surface, shedding new light on fluid circulation and seismic velocity anomalies in subduction zones.
10 Nov 2020
Researchers in Japan, the US and China say they have found more concrete evidence of the volcanic cause of the largest mass extinction of life. Their research looked at two discrete eruption events: one that was previously unknown to researchers, and the other that resulted in large swaths of terrestrial and marine life going extinct.
Image for sedimentary DNA analysis
10 Nov 2020
Far too little is known about the long-term dynamics of the abundance of most macro-organism species. We used sedimentary DNA technology to quantify marine fish DNA abundance in sediment sequences spanning the last 300 years. This study first shows the existence of fish DNA in the sequences and proves that fish abundance can be tracked using sedimentary DNA, highlighting the utility of sedimentary DNA for researchers to acquire lengthy records of macro-organism species abundance.
Eco-engineered tiles
06 Nov 2020
A joint-study led by a team of marine ecologists from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has found that the eco-engineered tiles can increase habitat complexity on seawalls in Hong Kong, thereby effectively enhancing the marine biodiversity. The Hong Kong study is part of a global research project on the relationship between habitat complexity and marine biodiversity on human-built marine structures.
03 Nov 2020
A recent study, affiliated with South Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) has developed a new nanocatalyst that recycles major greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), into highly value-added hydrogen (H2) gas.
03 Nov 2020
A recent study, affiliated with South Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) has proposed a new approach for the highly spatially resolved human health risk assessment of both gaseous and particulate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
12 Oct 2020
Governments around the world are taking steps to slow the pace of global warming. In the report titled "Hong Kong’s Climate Action Plan 2030+", a 70 per cent reduction in carbon intensity by the year 2030 was set. Achieving this ambitious target will require a major change in behaviour at both the corporate and individual levels.
06 Oct 2020
Tohoku University researchers have improved a method for probing semiconducting crystals with light to detect defects and impurities. The details of their 'omnidirectional photoluminescence (ODPL) spectroscopy' set-up were published in the journal Applied Physics Express, and could help improve the fabrication of materials for electric cars and solar cells.

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