Mountains that rise from the seafloor, called seamounts, represent one of the most common ecosystems on earth, say scientists from the NOAA and Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi.

Their findings reverse previous beliefs about the prevalence of seamounts, which they say are "treasure troves" of marine biodiversity. The results are published in Oceanography.

Although researchers have thoroughly explored some 200 seamounts and mapped and sampled a hundred others, this study is the first to estimate that more than 45,000 seamounts dot the ocean floor worldwide — a total of roughly 28.8 million square kilometers or an area larger than the continent of South America.

Plants are getting too much blame for global warming, according to a study by scientists at the University of Ediburgh and the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

The research, published in New Phytologist, suggests that plant leaves account for less than one per cent of the Earth's emissions of methane, considered to be about 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The results contrast with a previous scientific study which suggested that plants were responsible for producing large amounts of the greenhouse gas.

Despite significant declines in the cinematic depiction of smoking over the past 20 years, researchers writing in Thorax complain that tobacco imagery is still relatively common in UK films rated suitable for children and young teens.

The findings suggest that movie ratings should take depictions of smoking into account, the authors say.

Researchers analyzed the occurrence of depictions of tobacco use, including brand appearances and smoking paraphernalia, for periods of at least five minutes (tobacco intervals) in the 15 most commercially successful films screened in the UK between 1989 and 2008.

Arctic Tipping Points - #6: Are We There Yet?


What might cause the Arctic sea ice to have a tipping point?

Are we about to reach, or have we already reached a tipping point?



This series is a follow-on to my 3-part series Arctic Ice 2010. 

Note: RPI put out a press release today (4/29/2010) on my work today so I am reposting this with today's date also.

The End of the World seems to roll around every decade or so.   The last time it got a lot of press was the year 2000 A.D., a millennial event in the Gregorian calendar.   COBOL programmers were the convenient catalyst for all that, since banks would shut down due to legacy software, but the end of the world needs vassals, the more unwitting the better, so it made sense that COBOL folks would take the fall.

Next up is 2012, this time due to one Meso-American calendar, and some speculation has been that the LHC will cause it, unleashing an army of Strangelets led by ancient Mayan overlords.

I cannot but be happy about the decision of the Australian government led by Kevin Rudd to further tighten the moral suasion against smoking. They decided that starting in 2012, the name of the brand of cigarettes and other logos will be moved away from the front of the pack, making all the packs of cigarettes look equal in their appearance: the one of the picture below. On the left how packs look like now, on the right the new look.

China's cyberculture may be growing rapidly,  but experts say it is unlikely to usher in an age of social and political freedom in the communist state, and may even facilitate government control free of expression.

According to a new study in Telematics and Informatics, claims that widespread use of blogs threatens government control over democratic discourse and free speech in China are not realistic.

There is no single advanced area of the human brain that gives it language capabilities above and beyond those of any other animal species, according to a new study in the latest edition of PNAS

Instead, humans rely on several regions of the brain, each designed to accomplish different primitive tasks, in order to make sense of a sentence, the study suggests. Depending on the type of grammar used, the brain will activate a certain set of regions to process it.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an equal opportunity destroyer. It attacks the central nervous system and eventually renders most patients disabled. Among its high-profile victims are celebrated cellist Jacqueline du Pre, whose career was ended by MS, and Joan Didion, one of America's greatest writers — but they are far from alone.

The National MS Society estimates that there are currently about 400,000 cases in the U.S. and more that 2 million suffer from the disease over the world. Although there is currently no cure, a breakthrough finding from a Tel Aviv University scientist and physician may lead to earlier diagnosis, more effective intervention, and perhaps even a cure for the autoimmune disease.