In a major new climate finding, researchers have calculated that dinosaur flatulence could have put enough methane into the atmosphere to warm the planet during the hot, wet Mesozoic era. Like gigantic, long-necked, prehistoric cows, sauropod dinosaurs roamed widely around the Earth 150 million years ago, scientists reported in the journal Current Biology on Monday. And just like big cows, their plant digestion was aided by methane-producing microbes. READ MORE: Dinosaur flatulence may have warmed Earth
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In a major new climate finding, researchers have calculated that dinosaur flatulence could have put enough methane into the atmosphere to warm the planet during the hot, wet Mesozoic era.

Like gigantic, long-necked, prehistoric cows, sauropod dinosaurs roamed widely around the Earth 150 million years ago, scientists reported in the journal Current Biology on Monday.

And just like big cows, their plant digestion was aided by methane-producing microbes.

READ MORE: Dinosaur flatulence may have warmed Earth

The Space Shuttle Enterprise rides atop a NASA modified 747 plane over New York April 27, 2012. The Space Shuttle Enterprise officially arrived in New York to be placed at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, [REUTERS/Lucas Jackson] 
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The Space Shuttle Enterprise rides atop a NASA modified 747 plane over New York April 27, 2012. The Space Shuttle Enterprise officially arrived in New York to be placed at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, [REUTERS/Lucas Jackson] 

Space Shuttle Enterprise flew by the Reuters building in New York City on Friday morning. (taken with Instagram)
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Space Shuttle Enterprise flew by the Reuters building in New York City on Friday morning. (taken with Instagram)

Camilla the rubber chicken is seen at over 120,000 feet (36,576 m) above California in this NASA handout still image taken from video dated March 3, 2012. During last month’s solar storm a group of students called “Earth to Sky” from Bishop, California, launched a helium balloon which lifted the chicken into space to study solar radiation. Camilla, which is the mascot of NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, reached the stratosphere along with a payload carrying radiation sensors, cameras, GPS trackers, a thermometer, insects and sunflower seeds. The flight took two and a half hours and reached an altitude of approximately 40 km (25 miles) before the balloon burst parachuting Camilla’s spacecraft safely back to earth. [REUTERS/NASA/Earth to Sky/Bishop Union High School/Handout]
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Camilla the rubber chicken is seen at over 120,000 feet (36,576 m) above California in this NASA handout still image taken from video dated March 3, 2012. During last month’s solar storm a group of students called “Earth to Sky” from Bishop, California, launched a helium balloon which lifted the chicken into space to study solar radiation.

Camilla, which is the mascot of NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, reached the stratosphere along with a payload carrying radiation sensors, cameras, GPS trackers, a thermometer, insects and sunflower seeds.

The flight took two and a half hours and reached an altitude of approximately 40 km (25 miles) before the balloon burst parachuting Camilla’s spacecraft safely back to earth. [REUTERS/NASA/Earth to Sky/Bishop Union High School/Handout]

The space shuttle Discovery rides on top of a NASA 747 transport jet over Washington before landing at it permanent home in the Smithsonian Museum at Dulles International Airport, April 17, 2012. [REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque & Jonathan Ernst]

Coca-Cola Co and PepsiCo Inc are making changes to the production of an ingredient in their namesake colas to avoid the need to label the packages with a cancer warning. The changes will not alter the colas’ taste, color or formula, according to statements from both companies. The change is meant to reduce the amount of a chemical called 4-methylimidazole, or 4-MI, which in January was added to the list of chemicals covered by California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, also known as Proposition 65. High levels of that chemical have been linked to cancer in animals. Earlier this week, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a U.S. watchdog group, said it found unsafe levels of the chemical in cans of Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc’s Dr Pepper and Whole Foods Markets Inc’s 365 Cola. Read more: Coke, Pepsi to alter caramel color ingredient
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Coca-Cola Co and PepsiCo Inc are making changes to the production of an ingredient in their namesake colas to avoid the need to label the packages with a cancer warning.

The changes will not alter the colas’ taste, color or formula, according to statements from both companies.

The change is meant to reduce the amount of a chemical called 4-methylimidazole, or 4-MI, which in January was added to the list of chemicals covered by California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, also known as Proposition 65.

High levels of that chemical have been linked to cancer in animals.

Earlier this week, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a U.S. watchdog group, said it found unsafe levels of the chemical in cans of Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc’s Dr Pepper and Whole Foods Markets Inc’s 365 Cola.

Read more: Coke, Pepsi to alter caramel color ingredient

Wondering how a solar flare is formed? A large solar storm is headed for Earth at approximately 4.5 million miles per hour, with scientists calling it the strongest event in about six years. [REUTERS]
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Wondering how a solar flare is formed? A large solar storm is headed for Earth at approximately 4.5 million miles per hour, with scientists calling it the strongest event in about six years. [REUTERS]

A strong geomagnetic storm is racing from the Sun toward Earth, and its expected arrival on Thursday could affect power grids, airplane routes and space-based satellite navigation systems, U.S. space weather experts said. The storm, a big cloud of charged particles flung from the Sun at about 4.5 million miles per hour (7.2 million km per hour), was spawned by a pair of solar flares, scientists said. This is probably the strongest such event in nearly six years, and is likely more intense than a similar storm in late January, said Joseph Kunches, a space weather specialist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This solar disturbance is a three-stage affair, or as Kunches said in a telephone interview from Boulder, Colorado: “We hit the trifecta.” Read more: Strong solar storm heading for Earth
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A strong geomagnetic storm is racing from the Sun toward Earth, and its expected arrival on Thursday could affect power grids, airplane routes and space-based satellite navigation systems, U.S. space weather experts said.

The storm, a big cloud of charged particles flung from the Sun at about 4.5 million miles per hour (7.2 million km per hour), was spawned by a pair of solar flares, scientists said.

This is probably the strongest such event in nearly six years, and is likely more intense than a similar storm in late January, said Joseph Kunches, a space weather specialist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

This solar disturbance is a three-stage affair, or as Kunches said in a telephone interview from Boulder, Colorado: “We hit the trifecta.”

Read more: Strong solar storm heading for Earth

discoverynews: Swiss to Grab World’s Biggest Space Problem by its Junk One of the world’s smallest nations may have found a low-cost solution to one of the world’s biggest space problems. keep reading Headline of the day.
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discoverynews:

Swiss to Grab World’s Biggest Space Problem by its Junk

One of the world’s smallest nations may have found a low-cost solution to one of the world’s biggest space problems.

keep reading

Headline of the day.

Source: news.discovery.com

Mount Etna spews lava on the southern Italian island of Sicily February 9, 2012. Mount Etna is Europe’s tallest and most active volcano. [REUTERS/Antonio Parrinello]

See more photos of Mount Etna’s eruption in Italy