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USGS-SMU volcano monitoring targets hazard threat to Marianas, U.S. military, commercial jets

E_crater1.jpgTechnology designed to detect nuclear explosions and enforce the world’s nuclear test-ban treaty now will be pioneered to monitor active volcanoes in the Mariana Islands near Guam. The island of Guam soon will be the primary base for forward deployment of U.S. military forces in the Western Pacific.

The two-year, $250,000 project of the U.S. Geological Survey and Southern Methodist University will use infrasound — in addition to more conventional seismic monitoring — to “listen” for signs a volcano is about to blow.

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Earth & Climate Fossils & Ruins

“Rosetta Stone” of supervolcanoes discovered in Italian Alps, reveals rare plumbing

Basalt%20Yellowstone.jpgScientists have found the “Rosetta Stone” of supervolcanoes, those giant pockmarks in the Earth’s surface produced by rare and massive explosive eruptions that rank among nature’s most violent events. The eruptions produce devastation on a regional scale — and possibly trigger climatic and environmental effects at a global scale.

A fossil supervolcano has been discovered in the Italian Alps’ Sesia Valley by a team led by James E. Quick, a geology professor at Southern Methodist University. The discovery will advance scientific understanding of active supervolcanoes, like Yellowstone, which is the second-largest supervolcano in the world and which last erupted 630,000 years ago.

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Energy & Matter

Before God particle, scientists must learn soul of new machine

Quadrupole%20placement%20in%20LHC%20tunnel%2C5-20-09.jpgAfter a huge success in first testing, followed by a very public meltdown last September, the Large Hadron Collider may be ready for action again as early as June.

But before the science can proceed, the world’s scientists must come to terms with the complex organism they have created, says one project manager.

“We will have to understand the detector first,” says Ryszard Stroynowski, chair and professor of physics at SMU.

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Student researchers

‘Big iDeas’ net big bucks for SMU undergrads

Ten student teams have been awarded grants through SMU’s Big iDeas program to research big challenges facing the Dallas area, ranging from energy and the environment to education and health care. Big iDeas is an undergraduate research program launched in 2008 by the Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. The purpose […]

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Earth & Climate Economics & Statistics Energy & Matter

Earth’s inner heat holds promise of generating much-needed electric power in Northern Mariana Islands

E_crater1.jpgA chain of 14, breathtaking Pacific islands is paradise lost without reliable electricity.

The Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth some 1,500 miles east of the Philippines, has seen its garment industry waste away in the face of global competition. Attracting replacement industry is difficult, in part because of the commonwealth’s undependable power supply. Rolling blackouts are the norm, caused by aging power plant equipment and the irregular delivery of expensive, imported diesel to run the plants.