Washington, April 9 : A new research by NASA scientists has suggested that much of the atmospheric warming observed in the Arctic since 1976 may be due to changes in tiny airborne particles called aerosols.

Emitted by natural and human sources, aerosols can directly influence climate by reflecting or absorbing the sun''s radiation.

The small particles also affect climate indirectly by seeding clouds and changing cloud properties, such as reflectivity.

Washington, April 8 : Scientists have completed the first study of microbes that live within the plumbing of deep-sea mud volcanoes in the Gulf of Mexico, where conditions may resemble those in extraterrestrial environments and early Earth.

The study, which was partially funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), was conducted in an area where clusters of seafloor vents spew mud, oil, brine and gases that support food chains independently of the Sun.

Washington, April 8 : Researchers at North Carolina State University have found that a tiny aquatic plant can be used to clean up animal waste at industrial hog farms and be used for ethanol production, thus contributing to solve the global energy crisis.

Their research shows that growing duckweed on hog wastewater can produce five to six times more starch per acre than corn, according to researcher Dr. Jay Cheng.

This means that ethanol production using duckweed could be "faster and cheaper than from corn," said fellow researcher Dr. Anne-Marie Stomp.

"We can kill two birds - biofuel production and wastewater treatment - with one stone - duckweed," Cheng said.

Washington, April 8 : In a new study, scientists have analyzed the DNA of 68 whale sharks from 11 locations across the Indian and Pacific Oceans and the Caribbean Sea, in an effort to study the migration of the threatened species.

The study was conducted by Jennifer Schmidt, University of Illinois at Chicago associate professor of biological sciences, and her colleagues.

The results showed little genetic variation between the populations, which indicates migration and interbreeding among far-flung populations of the big fish.

Berlin, April 8 : The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured the image of an oddball galaxy that is highlighted with striking swirling dust lanes and glittering globular clusters.

Dubbed NGC 7049, the galaxy is found in the constellation of Indus, and is the brightest of a cluster of galaxies, a so-called Brightest Cluster Galaxy (BCG).

Typical BCGs are some of the oldest and most massive galaxies. They provide excellent opportunities for astronomers to study the elusive globular clusters lurking within.

The globular clusters in NGC 7049 are seen as the sprinkling of small faint points of light in the galaxy's halo.

Washington, April 8: A new analysis by scientists has determined that climate change would bring about rapid shifts in worldwide wildfire patterns, and those changes are coming fast.

The analysis was done by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, in collaboration with scientists at Texas Tech University.

Researchers used thermal-infrared sensor data obtained between 1996 and 2006 from European Space Agency satellites in their study of pyrogeography – the distribution and behavior of wildfire – on a global scale.