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Categories: Engineering: Biometric, Geoscience: Geology
Published Fossil site reveals giant arthropods dominated the seas 470 million years ago


Discoveries at a major new fossil site in Morocco suggest giant arthropods -- relatives of modern creatures including shrimps, insects and spiders -- dominated the seas 470 million years ago.
Published Signals from the ionosphere could improve tsunami forecasts


The powerful volcanic eruption in January 2022 created ripple effects throughout the world's atmosphere and oceans. Analysis of the Hunga Tonga eruption shows how signals from the ionosphere could help monitor future volcanoes and tsunamis.
Published Finding faults deeply stressful


Evidence that a complete stress release may have contributed to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake that broke records. Both sedimentary formations above and below the plate boundary fault lie in the stress state of normal faults in which vertical stress is greater than maximum horizontal stress. The new data show good consistency with previous results above the fault -- at the boundary between the North American plate and the subducting Pacific plate -- suggesting that combining geophysical data and core samples to comprehensively investigate stress states is effective.
Published Fresh understanding of ice age frequency


A chance find of an unstudied Antarctic sediment core has led researchers to flip our understanding of how often ice ages occurred in Antarctica.
Published Earthquake lab experiments produce aftershock-like behavior


Earthquakes are notoriously hard to predict, and so too are the usually less-severe aftershocks that often follow a major seismic event.
Published The evolution of Asia's mammals was dictated by ancient climate change and rising mountains


A new study compiles data on more than 3,000 species to show how climate and geologic changes across Asia over the last 66 million years have shaped the evolution of the continent's mammals.
Published Exploring the deep: Drones offer new ways to monitor sea floor


Researchers have developed a novel method for measuring the earth's crust on the seafloor. A lightweight geodetic measurement device was mounted on a sea-surface landing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The mobility of this new system will enable rapid, efficient collection of real-time deep seafloor information, which is critical for understanding earthquake risk, as well as various other oceanographic observations.
Published Monitoring 'frothy' magma gases could help evade disaster


Volcanic eruptions are dangerous and difficult to predict. A team has found that the ratio of atoms in specific gases released from volcanic fumaroles (gaps in the Earth's surface) can provide an indicator of what is happening to the magma deep below -- similar to taking a blood test to check your health. This can indicate when things might be 'heating up.' Specifically, changes in the ratio of argon-40 and helium-3 can indicate how frothy the magma is, which signals the risk of different types of eruption. Understanding which ratios of which gases indicate a certain type of magma activity is a big step. Next, the team hopes to develop portable equipment which can provide on-site, real-time measurements for a 24/7 volcanic activity monitoring and early warning system.
Published Earth can regulate its own temperature over millennia, new study finds


A new study confirms that the planet harbors a 'stabilizing feedback' mechanism that acts over hundreds of thousands of years to keep global temperatures within a steady, habitable range.
Published Unlocking deep carbon's fate



Carbon dioxide in the deep Earth may be more active than previously thought and may have played a bigger role in climate change than scientists knew before, according to a new study.
Published Desert dust collected from glacier ice helps document climate change


Researchers are using dust trapped in glacier ice in Tibet to document past changes in Earth's intricate climate system -- and maybe one day help predict future changes.
Published Evolution of tree roots may have driven mass extinctions



A study has found evidence that the evolution of tree roots over 300 million years ago triggered mass extinction events through the same chemical processes created by pollution in modern oceans and lakes.
Published Earth's oldest stromatolites and the search for life on Mars


The earliest morphological traces of life on Earth are often highly controversial, both because non-biological processes can produce relatively similar structures and because such fossils have often been subjected to advanced alteration and metamorphism. Stromatolites, layered organo-sedimentary structures reflecting complex interplays between microbial communities and their environment, have long been considered key macrofossils for life detection in ancient sedimentary rocks; however, the biological origin of ancient stromatolites has frequently been criticized.
Published Automatic speaker recognition technology outperforms human listeners in the courtroom


The forensic-voice-comparison system, based on state-of-the-art automatic-speaker-recognition technology, outperformed all the listeners.
Published New report offers blueprint for regulation of facial recognition technology


A new report outlines a model law for facial recognition technology to protect against harmful use of this technology, but also foster innovation for public benefit.
Published How old is that fingerprint?


Forensic dramas on TV make it seem easy to determine when fingerprints were left at the scene of a crime. In reality, the oils in fingerprints degrade over time, and it's difficult to figure out their age. Now, researchers have discovered molecular markers for changes to these oils over a seven-day time period -- information that could be used to estimate fingerprints' ages more accurately.
Published Optical imaging of dynamic interactions between molecules in a cell


Researchers develop the 'photoswitching fingerprint analysis'. A unique technology that for the first time allows the analysis of molecular processes and the regulation of individual proteins in living cells with sub-10 nm spatial resolution. The application ranges from biological to medical research.
Published Sniffing out your identity with breath biometrics


Researchers have developed an artificial 'nose' that can identify individuals from their breath. Built with a 16-channel sensor array that can detect different compounds found in a person's breath, the olfactory sensor system has the potential to become another option in the biometric security toolkit. Combined with machine learning, the 'artificial nose' was able to authenticate up to 20 individuals with an average accuracy of more than 97%.
Published Sensor imperfections are perfect for forensic camera analysis


In a project aimed at developing intelligent tools to fight child exploitation, computer scientists have developed a system to analyze the noise produced by individual cameras. This information can be used to link a video or an image to a particular camera.
Published Radio waves for the detection of hardware tampering


Up to now, protecting hardware against manipulation has been a laborious business: expensive, and only possible on a small scale. And yet, two simple antennas might do the trick.