A massive week for earth science

A massive week for earth science

Barely a week on from last Saturday's 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Canterbury, scientists have paused to outline what they have learned about the quake from examining the previously undiscovered fault and seismographic and GPS data that has been gathered in the region.

Dr Ken Gledhill, Duty Seismologist at GNS Science and the GeoNet platform and Professor Martha Savage from Victoria University held a public lecture in Wellington today which can be listened to on the SMC website.

Scientists from GNS Science and several of the countries universities mobilised this week to gather data on the quake, deploying seismometers in Canterbury to measure more accurately the size and location of aftershocks. Around 200 seismometers from Stanford University are also being deployed, in some cases in people's houses.

Among the big questions raised by the quake, the scientists speaking in Wellington today identified the following:

- How can we find other unknown faults in New Zealand?
- Can earthquakes interact and have an impact on each other? If so, how?
- What can we learn about the emotional impact of people in the wake of disasters like this? Can we better predict earthquakes?
- What can we learn to improve building standards?

Check out the Sciblogs highlights section below to see the extensive analysis of the earthquake our science bloggers provided during the week.
Food safety under the spotlight
An international line-up of food safety experts will be in Auckland next week for the New Zealand Food Safety Authority's conference.

Among the international speakers is Professor Gordon Robertson from the University of Queensland who will be looking at how food contact materials can leach chemicals into food and discuss recent incidents that have made headlines around the world including printing inks, recycled content, plasticisers, heavy metals and Bisphenol-A.

The SMC will be on hand at the conference recording keynote speeches and issuing updates - check out the SMC website, Sciblogs and Twitter for updates. Journalists who want to find out more can contact Gary Bowering at NZFSA.
Prof Tim Flannery coming to town
Outspoken Australian scientist and conservationist Professor Tim Flannery will be in New Zealand next week as one of the headline speakers at a conference in Wellington on soil carbon and climate change.

Among the issues that will be discussed at the conference, being held from September 15 - 16 at Te Papa in Wellington:
- The science behind climate change and soil carbon
- The on-farm benefits of biological farming
- How research can support innovative farmers
- An overview of the new biological economy and market opportunities
- Practical tips to build soil carbon, humus and soil biology
- Future directions for NZ agriculture and extension services

Full conference details are available here. The SMC recently held a briefing for journalists on soil carbon and featuring scientists involved in the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre. You can listen to the briefing here.

On the science radar
Understanding Shakespeare, sneaky (boy) birds, early extinction indicators, new dinosaur, how much is left?, cockroach-derived antibiotics, and the smallest world map

Research highlights
NOTE: All links point to the research article/abstract in the relevant journal.

Some of the articles in this week's edition of the New Zealand Medical Journal, themed around public health:
Editorials

• On male occupation mortality
• Driving disease emergence: will land-use changes beat climate change to the punch?
Original Articles
• Occupation mortality in New Zealand males: 2005
• Classification of 'healthier' and 'less healthy' supermarket foods by two Australasian nutrient profiling models
Viewpoint

• Land-use change and emerging public health risks in New Zealand: assessing Giardia risks
Cooling North may have warmed South - The Younger Dryas (a period of cooling in the Northern Hemisphere which happened in just a few years, over 12,000 years ago) may not have been a global event, suggests research published in Nature. A team of scientists, including researchers from New Zealand, has found that New Zealand glaciers in the Southern Alps retreated during that time period, suggesting that a series of climate feedbacks (including atmospheric carbon dioxide changes) caused warming in the Southern Hemisphere.

Engineering soil to solve multiple problems - By treating soil as the living ecosystem it is, and then engineering it appropriately in vivo (i.e. outside of the lab), scientists propose that it could be used to solve a multitude of problems - examples include carbon sequestration, hazardous waste disposal, global warming, and brownfields cleanup - simultaneously. A paper in Journal of the Royal Society Interface looks at the potential, opportunities and challenges which would accompany the field.

Fast decisions less likely to be good, even for mould - Scientists researching speed-accuracy tradeoffs - seen in both humans and animals, decisions which are made fast are less accurate - have discovered that slime mould also make mistakes if making decisions fast. The research, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, suggests that such trade-offs must be dealt with even by organisms which lack brains.

Computing hotly - Heat is often seen as the enemy of computing, slowing down calculation speed. Now, however, researchers have developed tiny (nanoscale) electronic switches which are able to operate well at very high temperatures (500 deg C). The switches could be useful in electronics which need to work under heat stress, for example propulsion or geothermal systems. Published in Science.

New dinosaur: a very strange-looking carnivore - Scientists have unearthed the skeleton of a previously unknown dinosaur in Spain. The animal was 6 metres long, with a hum-like structure on its back (something not seen before in dinosaurs), a strange spine and, possibly, quill knobs on its forearms. The find could shed further light on the early evolution of therapods. Published in Nature.

Magic mushrooms a valid treatment for some conditions - Moderate doses of psilocybin, the hallucinogenic compound found in 'magic mushrooms' could be a valid, safe treatment for people suffering from advanced-stage cancer and anxiety, according to research published in Archives of General Psychiatry. Researchers are urging more study into the field.

Fossil fuels: if we stop now, we might be ok - Researchers publishing in Science have found that carbon dioxide levels could stabilise at 430 ppm (and a 1.3 deg C rise) if we stopped production of any new carbon-emitting structures and devices (like cars and power plants). However, they also believe that the most carbon-emitting devices have still be built, and 30 terrawatts of carbon-neutral energy will be needed by 2050 if economies are to continue growing while still keeping under the two degree rise threshold necessary to prevent major climate change.

Urban people more likely to suffer psychosis - Psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia are more prevalent amongst urban than rural people, finds a study published in Archives of General Psychiatry. Furthermore, neighbourhood-based factors such as population and ethnic density, deprivation, social fragmentation/reduced social cohension were associated with an increased risk of developing such disorders. The study highlights the importance of feelings of safety, cohesion and community spirit for the mental health of a population.
New from the SMC
Expert on psychological impacts on Canterbury quake victims - Tony Taylor, emeritus professor at Victoria University's School of Psychology, provided some comments on the short and potentially long-term psychological impacts of the Canterbury earthquake on the people who experienced it and its numerous aftershocks.

Professor Euan Smith on lessons from the quake - Euan Smith, Professor of Geophysics, Institute of Geophysics Victoria University of Wellington, provided comments on various aspects of the earthquake, including liquefaction, the fault being unknown, multiple quakes and lessons learnt.

GNS: The Christchurch quake in context - GNS Science created a useful graphic comparing the 7.1 magnitude Christchurch earthquake to other strong earthquakes in New Zealand.

Stories of note:

NZ Herald: Climate expert tells NZ to cut the carbon - British economist Lord Stern is warning that New Zealand needs to cut its carbon emissionsor face the risk of being excluded from trade markets, or falling behind technologically.

Waikato Times: Ancient history and the age when dinosaurs roamed - A recent talk by Professor Cam Nelson looked at New Zealand's geological history - from its beginnings attached to Gondwanaland, to its current position.

Media Coverage: The Canterbury Earthquake - Since the magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit the Canterbury region a little before 5am on Saturday, 4 September, the media has been covering events closely.

Dom Post: The pursuit of science before happiness - An article about Massey University's agriculture director, Jacqueline Rowarth, and her thoughts on Generation X and Y's engagement with science.

NZ Herald/NZPA: Male moa stayed at home to sit on eggs - Analysis of moa eggshells suggest that, much like modern ratites like the kiwi, it was male moa that sat on eggs to incubate them while the females went looking for food.

7.4 magnitude quake hits Christchurch - A reported 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch at around 4.35am on Saturday morning.

AusSMC:

Vitamin B and Alzheimer's disease - Experts respond to research published in PLoS ONE on B vitamins and cognitive decline.
Register for back stage access

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Sciblogs highlights

Some of the latest blog posts include:

Not surprisingly, many of this week's blog posts have been earthquake-related, with two of our newest bloggers, Jesse Dykstra and Chris McDowall, heavily involved. Here are the posts (oldest first):
• Earthquake, South Island, New Zealand - Code for Life
• Canterbury Earthquake - Genetics Otago
• New fault surprises scientists - Griffin's Gadgets
• Mapping quakes in Canterbury - seeing data
• What happened under Canterbury yesterday morning - The Atavism
• Haiti: 230,000 Deaths. Canterbury: 0 Deaths. Why? Canterbury Earthquake (Pt I) - Shaken Not Stirred
• Initial Thoughts on the Canterbury Earthquake - The Science of Architecture
• Christchurch's liquefaction (infographic) - Visibly Shaken
• Hand drawn chart of aftershock intensity - seeing data
• Earthquakes and Polarized light - Marcus Wilson
• What Lies Beneath the Canterbury Plains? A Fault Revealed - Shaken Not Stirred
• Two Christchurch quake animations - seeing data
• Liquefaction Explained - Shaken Not Stirred
• What's With Those Aftershocks?! - Shaken Not Stirred
• Six months of seismic activity in under a minute - seeing data
• Canterbury Earthquake - first flyover of fault trace - Videos
ENDS

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