The March 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake that decimated Japan and its Fukushima nuclear reactors with a monster tsunami altered the seafloor off the country’s eastern coast much more than scientists had thought. Analysis released today in the journal Science indicates the ocean bed moved as much as 50 meters laterally and 16 meters vertically. The magnitude 9.0 quake occurred close to the nearby Japan Trench that runs north to south in the Pacific Ocean (dark blue line on the map below).
Read More »Tag Archives: facebook
Feed SubscriptionJive Software Moves Ahead With IPO
The social networking software company--a perennial on the Inc. 5000--is seeking to raise as much as $117 million.
Read More »Can Zoos Play a Role in Climate Change Education?
Hudson the polar bear is a star attraction at Chicago's Brookfield Zoo, where visitors come to watch him romp and swim in the new "Great Bear Wilderness" exhibit.
Read More »Wrong Move, Spotify
With its new apps platform, the music start-up is trying to follow in Facebook's footsteps. But it would be much better off taking a cue from Zynga.
Read More »Marie Curie, Theater, and Science Communication: An Interview with Alan Alda
John de Lancie and Anna Gunn in the world premiere of Alan Alda's "Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie" at the Geffen Playhouse. I grew up watching M*A*S*H reruns with my dad, so even early in life, Alan Alda, who played Dr. Hawkeye Pierce throughout the show’s eleven seasons, was a familiar name and face
Read More »Blow the Best Bubbles
Key concepts [More]
Read More »Which Nations Conform Most?
Editor's Note: This article was originally published in Volume 205, Number 6 of Scientific American in December 1961. [More]
Read More »100 Years Ago: Presidential Letter
December 1961 Protein Structure [More]
Read More »Can’t Touch This Feeling
When real brains operate in the real world, it’s a two-way street.
Read More »Lucid Dreams Unlock Clues about Consciousness (preview)
I moved my eyes, and I realized that I was asleep in bed. When I saw the beautiful landscape start to blur, I thought to myself, “This is my dream; I want it to stay!” And the scene reappeared. Then I thought to myself how nice it would be to gallop through this landscape
Read More »Gumming Up Appetite to Treat Obesity
Losing weight is not always about anticipating swimsuit season or squeezing into skinny jeans--for the clinically obese , losing weight is about fighting serious illness and reclaiming health. But the primal part of the brain that regulates appetite will not place a moratorium on hunger just because someone and their doctor acknowledge the need to lose weight. Researchers at Syracuse University are working toward a unique solution: a stick of chewing gum that suppresses appetite.
Read More »How a Computer Game is Reinventing the Science of Expertise [Video]
A crowd observes the match playing on the main stage at the StarCraft 2 championships in Providence, RI. Credit: Major League Gaming If there is one general rule about the limitations of the human mind, it is that we are terrible at multitasking. The old phrase united we stand, divided we fall applies equally well to the mechanisms of attention as it does to a patriotic cause.
Read More »Skywatcher Snaps Photos of Stranded Russian Mars Probe
A skywatcher has photographed a troubled Russian Mars probe that remains stuck in Earth orbit three weeks after its launch. [More]
Read More »Doorway to Blame for Room Amnesia
You walk into the kitchen to grab a--wait, why did you come in here again? [More]
Read More »CT Imaging Allows Analysis of Hidden Human Fossil
Kristian Carlson (right) discusses the first rib of Australopithecus sediba with colleague Brian Kuhn. Image: Kate Wong JOHANNESBURG At a tea party earlier today for a research team at the University of the Witwatersrand that has grown accustomed to making stunning discoveries of human fossils, a curious excitement erupted when Kristian Carlson unveiled a seemingly modest find: a rib bone from Australopithecus sediba . In fact, it wasn’t even an actual fossil just a resin replica
Read More »