Washington, Oct 16 : New evidence has emerged that, given enough time, climate change can even alter the course of plate tectonics, by grinding them down.
The march of plate tectonics had previously seemed impervious to water and air’s fickle motions. No matter the weather, plates would grind past and crash into one another to build mountain ranges, or sink into the hot depths of the mantle.
But, according to Brendan Meade of Harvard University, the mighty Andes mountain range, the longest on Earth, might not be here today if it wasn’t for a drastic shift in climate 14 million years ago.
Stockholm - A Swedish lawyer Thursday said he doubted claims by the US military alleging that they have killed a non-Iraqi individual who was the second-in-command of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
A US military statement on Wednesday said that the body of Abu Qaswarah, also known as Abu Sara, was positively identified after an October 5 raid in the northern-Iraqi city of Mosul.
Moroccan-born Abu Qaswarah also had Swedish citizenship.
The Swedish Security Service said they had been aware of the 43- year-old, who had been suspected, but never charged, of being active in militant Islamist groups in Sweden.
Washington, October 16 : Michigan-based Fanuc Robotics claims to have developed a robot stronger than the KUKA Titan, which has been regarded as the world’s strongest to date.
Washington, Oct 16 : A scientist has claimed that night-shining clouds bounce radar because they are coated with a thin layer of metals.
The ability to reflect radar is one of a handful of mysteries about noctilucent clouds, so named because of their luminescence in deep twilight.
The electric-blue clouds, also known as polar mesospheric clouds, appear at the far outer fringes of the atmosphere, particularly during summer. Originally, the clouds were confined to arctic latitudes, but they have appeared more recently as far south in the United States as Utah and Colorado.
Conventional theories about why the clouds bounce radar so well suggest that charged particles in the clouds may be responsible.
Islamabad, Oct 16 : Top military commanders from Pakistan, Afghanistan and NATO met here last evening for their first three-way talks since the US forces infuriated Pakistan last month with an attack on a border village.
The commanders also discussed the prevailing condition in the tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghan border.
Pakistan Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, his Afghan counterpart Gen Bismullah Khan, and the commander of Afghanistan’s NATO force, General David McKiernan, attended the talks, reported The News.
Washington, Oct 16 : A new technique using X-rays has enabled scientists to play ‘detective’ and solve the debate about the origins of a 3 billion-year-old molten rock fragment.
The technique can be used to analyze tiny samples of molten rock called magma, yielding important clues about the Earth’s early history.
Working in conjunction with Australian and US scientists, an Imperial College London researcher analyzed a magma using the Chicago synchrotron, a kilometre sized circular particle accelerator that is commonly used to probe the structure of materials.
In this case, the team used its X-rays to investigate the chemistry of a rare type of magmatic rock called a komatiite, which was preserved for billions of years in crystals.
