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Categories: Geoscience: Geology, Physics: Quantum Computing

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A new study that reconstructs the history of sea level at the Bering Strait shows that the Bering Land Bridge connecting Asia to North America did not emerge until around 35,700 years ago, less than 10,000 years before the height of the last ice age (known as the Last Glacial Maximum). The findings indicate that the growth of the ice sheets -- and the resulting drop in sea level -- occurred surprisingly quickly and much later in the glacial cycle than previous studies had suggested.

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Much of modern electronic and computing technology is based on one idea: add chemical impurities, or defects, to semiconductors to change their ability to conduct electricity. These altered materials are then combined in different ways to produce the devices that form the basis for digital computing, transistors, and diodes. Indeed, some quantum information technologies are based on a similar principle: adding defects and specific atoms within materials can produce qubits, the fundamental information storage units of quantum computing.

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A machine-learning algorithm reveals the shape of massive subterranean structures linking active volcanoes.

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As the supersonic solar wind surges towards Earth, its interaction with our planet's magnetic field creates a shock to deflect its flow, and a foreshock filled with electromagnetic waves. How these waves can propagate to the other side of the shock has long remained a mystery.

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A team is collecting data that will be used to create models that can help improve lava flow forecasting tools that are useful in determining how hazards impact populations. One such tool, known as MOLASSES, is a simulation engine that forecasts inundation areas of lava flow.

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Two seemingly different areas of physics are related in subtle ways: Quantum theory and thermodynamics. How can the laws of thermodynamics arise from the laws of quantum physics? This question has now been pursued with computer simulations, which showed that chaos plays a crucial role: Only where chaos prevails do the well-known rules of thermodynamics follow from quantum physics.

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Quantum dots are normally made in industrial settings with high temperatures and toxic, expensive solvents -- a process that is neither economical nor environmentally friendly. But researchers have now pulled off the process at the bench using water as a solvent, making a stable end-product at room temperature. Their work opens the door to making nanomaterials in a more sustainable way by demonstrating that protein sequences not derived from nature can be used to synthesize functional materials.

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Changes in Earth's orbit that favored hotter conditions may have helped trigger a rapid global warming event 56 million years ago. Researchers found the shape of Earth's orbit, or eccentricity, and the wobble in its rotation, or precession, favored hotter conditions at the onset of the PETM and that these orbital configurations together may have played a role in triggering the event.

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The first global analysis of larval orientation studies found that millimeter-size fish babies consistently use external cues to find their way in the open ocean.  There are many external cues available to marine fish including the Sun, Earth's magnetic field, and sounds. The new study offers important insight into understanding this perilous phase of marine fish.

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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.

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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.

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Mathematical analysis identifies a vortex structure that is impervious to decay.

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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.

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A chance find of an unstudied Antarctic sediment core has led researchers to flip our understanding of how often ice ages occurred in Antarctica.

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Earthquakes are notoriously hard to predict, and so too are the usually less-severe aftershocks that often follow a major seismic event.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.