For some corals, meals can come with a side of plastic
Tiny microplastic particles are about as common in the ocean today as plastic is in our daily lives. Synthetic clothing,
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Science
Thirty Meter Telescope set to start construction
Hawaii Gov. David Ige and the Thirty Meter Telescope International Observatory (TIO) today announced that construction of the Thirty Meter
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UH astronomers successfully predict path of incoming asteroid
For the first time, astronomers at the University of Hawaii have demonstrated that their ATLAS and Pan-STARRS survey telescopes can
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TMT construction gets green light
Gov. David Ige announced that the state Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) issued a notice to proceed (NTP)
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UH team studies physics through Japan particle collider
Successfully circulating the electron beam marks the beginning of the phase three of the SuperKEKB project, Japan’s largest electron-positron collider, built 11 meters underground on the KEK Tsukuba campus.
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Onizuka Day of Exploration returns April 27
The Onizuka Day of Exploration offers more than 100 games, activities and exhibits, both indoors and out.
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Great Whale Count volunteers observe humpback whales from Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i, and Maui
This is the first year that both counts are coordinated on the same days, ensuring the data from all main islands is collected simultaneously. It is also the first year that Pacific Whale Foundation is expanding their Great Whale Count on Maui from one month to three.
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Nalu Scientific awarded $300,000 for sensors used in particle physics
“Modern sensors with applications in measuring fundamental properties of matter require modern day electronics for fast processing of data,†explains Isar Mostafanezhad, founder and CEO of Nalu Scientific.
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UH researcher develops heat resistant Ebola vaccine
The potential vaccine remains viable in extreme heat conditions for several months, which is especially important where the disease outbreaks so far have begun in rural, spread-out areas of hot, dry West Africa.
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Latest long-term Mars habitat crew a global mix
Now in its sixth year, the University of Hawaii at Manoa Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) is set to begin its next mission
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King Tides, Supermoon returning for New Year’s Day
Shortly after 2018 begins, we’ll experience an exceptionally rare and noticeable King Tide. It peaks at 3:54 a.m. Jan. 1 in Honolulu when our New Year’s Eve champagne buzz has worn off.
Read MoreCoalition, petitions call for expansion of marine national monument
The White House has sent a delegation to Honolulu to meet with scientists, local fisherman, Native Hawaiians and the conservation community
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UH leads $20 million study on water quality, policy
The National Science Foundation has awarded $20 million to the University of Hawaii to do a five-year, groundbreaking study of water sustainability issues through a collaboration called ‘Ike Wai. UH officials say the project will provide critical data and data models to water resource stakeholders.
Increasing population, changing land use practices and issues relating to climate change are contributing to growing concerns over water quality and quantity in Hawaii.
“Water really is life,” said UH President David Lassner.
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CoralBeat Wins First NASA App Challenge in Hawaii
The threat that climate change and human activity poses to the world’s coral reefs was the focus of the winning entry in Hawaii’s first NASA Space Apps Challenge event.
CoralBeat won “Best Overall App” at the Honolulu competition, which was held at the Manoa Innovation Center from April 22-24. The diverse team included coders, scientists and science enthusiasts, and subject matter experts from NOAA and the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology.
CoralBeat is an app focused on coral bleaching in Hawaii, with an interactive map that displays years of NASA satellite data depicting sea surface temperatures observed over the entire globe. An animation in the app shows how the ocean has warmed during the most recent El Niño event.
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Treat jellyfish stings with heat, not cold
When confronted with a jellyfish sting, people often reach for an ice pack for relief. But a new study out of the University of Hawaii has found that the opposite approach is more effective.
A recent study by researchers at UH MÄnoa, published this month in the journal Toxins, may finally put to rest the ongoing debate about whether to use cold or heat to treat jellyfish stings. Their systematic and critical review provides overwhelming evidence that clinical outcomes from all kinds of jellyfish stings are improved following treatment with hot packs or hot-water immersion.
Jellyfish stings are a growing public health concern worldwide and are responsible for more deaths than shark attacks each year.
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April is Tsunami Awareness Month in Hawaii
Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA) is encouraging the public to take tsunami preparedness into their own hands this April during Tsunami Awareness Month. Seventy years ago, on April 1, 1946, one of the deadliest tsunamis to ever hit Hawaii caused widespread devastation on all islands. Generated by an earthquake in the Aleutian Islands, the massive tsunami took 159 lives and caused more than $26 million in damage. April was chosen as the month to honor and remember the lives lost in all tsunamis to hit the state.
Due to Hawaii’s location in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, we are extremely vulnerable to the threat of tsunamis. Distantly generated tsunamis can reach Hawaii within several hours and are triggered by earthquakes that take place along the Ring of Fire, which circles the Pacific Rim. Locally generated tsunamis are caused by earthquakes or volcanic activity that occur in or near the Hawaiian Islands, and can make landfall in a matter of minutes.
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NASA rocket launches UH student project into space
University of Hawaii community college students watched their scientific payload spin into space today when a two-stage Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding
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KeckWatch App Fuels Fans of Astronomy
Today, W. M. Keck Observatory launched a new smartphone app to stoke the curiosity and wonder of astronomy. KeckWatch offers mankind’s collected knowledge of the cosmos on the screen of your iOS device.
In addition to being able to easily identify stars and planets with both conventional and Hawaiian names, it offers a unique glimpse through the gigantic eyes of the Keck I and Keck II telescopes, the two largest and most scientifically productive telescope on Earth. The app was built by First Light Design, the makers of category-defining app Distant Suns, and can be can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store today.
“Our work studying the cosmos these past two decades has led to remarkable understandings of our Universe and has placed Hawaii as the premiere location on Earth for astronomical research,” said Hilton Lewis, director of Keck Observatory.
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Solar Impulse Extends Hawaii Stay through April 2016
The solar powered airplane of Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg will stay in Hawaii until early spring 2016, despite early efforts to repair the batteries which overheated in the record breaking oceanic flight from Nagoya to Hawaii.
Following the longest and most difficult leg of the round-the-world journey — which lasted five days and five nights (117 hours and 52 minutes) — Solar Impulse will undergo maintenance repairs on the batteries due to damages brought about by overheating.
“After checking what happened, we came to the conclusion that we preferred to change these batteries before going further in the flight around the world,” said Borschberg in a special interview with Bytemarks Cafe on Hawaii Public Radio that will air later today. “And it’s not so simple, it’s not like changing the batteries of a car, it’s a bit more complex, so it will take more time.”
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Astronomers Discover Three Earth-Like Planets
Extrasolar planets are being discovered by the hundreds, but are any of these newfound worlds really like Earth? A planetary system recently discovered by the Kepler spacecraft will help resolve this question.
The system of three planets, each just larger than Earth, orbits a nearby star called EPIC 201367065. The three planets are 1.5-2 times the size of Earth, and the outermost planet orbits on the edge of the so-called “habitable zone,†where the temperature may be just right for liquid water, believed necessary to support life, on the planet’s surface.
“We’ve learned in the past year that planets the size and temperature of Earth are common in our Milky Way galaxy,†explains University of Hawaii astronomer Andrew Howard. “We also discovered some Earth-size planets that appear to be made of the same materials as our Earth, mostly rock and iron.â€
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Thirty Meter Telescope groundbreaking set
A groundbreaking and blessing ceremony for the next-generation Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014, launching a multi-national $1.4 billion project near the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
Although access to the TMT construction site will be limited due to the area’s sensitive environment and harsh physical conditions, the ceremony will be fully accessible via a live-stream webcast.
George Takei, noted actor, director and author, known for his role in the television series Star Trek, will present pre-recorded science segments during the live webcast. Dr. Robert Hurt, researcher, science podcaster and lecturer, will host the webcast.
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Latest crew set for 8-month simulated Mars mission
The six astronaut-like crew members of the next Hawai‘i Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) mission starting October 15 will be isolated in their dome habitat for eight months. This mission is twice as long as any previously completed at the Hawaiʻi site, and second only to Russia’s Mars500 experiment in total duration.
Also, for the first time, HI-SEAS will have a female commander. In NASA history, only two women have ever commanded the spaceship: astronauts Eileen Collins in July 1999, and Pamela Melroy in November 2007.
For true space flight, the commander role requires previous astronaut experience as well as at least 1,000 hours experience piloting a jet aircraft. For HI-SEAS, Commander Martha Lenio was selected based on feedback from fellow crew members and from instructors of the National Outdoor Leadership Skills course that both NASA and HI-SEAS require of their teams in training.
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Microbes touted as key to future agriculture
A local technology commercialization company is working with two mainland biotechnology firms to encourage the adoption of microbial treatments to boost agricultural productivity while reducing water consumption as well as cutting the use of fertilizers and pesticides.
“Everything we’ve been taught about farming is incorrect,†declares Vincent Kimura, president of Inovi Green. “Historical and current agricultural processes of crop fertilization and soil tilling are falling out of favor, damaging ecosystems and producing diminishing returns. Environmentally-friendly microbial treatments have evolved to do this work far more effectively.â€
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Hawaii scientist maps, names ‘Laniakea’ galaxy cluster
An international team of astronomers has defined the contours of the immense supercluster of galaxies containing our own Milky Way. They have named the supercluster “Laniakea,†meaning “immense heaven†in Hawaiian.
The team was led by University of Hawaii at Manoa astronomer R. Brent Tully, who recently shared the 2014 Gruber Cosmology Prize and the 2014 Victor Ambartsumian International Prize. The paper explaining this work is the cover story of the September 4 issue of the prestigious journal Nature.
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Three UH scientists selected for Mars rover teams
NASA has announced the selection of seven science instruments to be included on the Mars 2020 rover. Three scientists from the University of Hawaii at MÄnoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) — Sarah Fagents, Shiv Sharma and Anupam Misra — will be members on the instrument teams to conduct unprecedented science and exploration technology investigations on the Red Planet. The new rover will carry sophisticated hardware and instruments to perform geological assessments of the rover’s landing site, determine the potential habitability of the environment, and directly search for signs of ancient Martian life.
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How do volcanoes affect the weather and climate?
Topography indisputably influences the weather—that’s why precipitation is so much greater on the windward side of the island. But how much did Hawai‘i’s topography influence Iselle? Hurricane Iselle weakened to a tropical storm just as it reached the island, but still managed to make landfall. As it did, the bulk of the storm stalled on the east flank of Mauna Loa, but its weakened upper parts continued moving westward.
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Third historic volcano found off O‘ahu
University of Hawaii researchers, working with colleagues in California and France, have discovered evidence of a third major shield volcano making up the island of O‘ahu.
Previously, geologists believed the island’s current profile is the remnants of two volcanoes, Wai‘anae and Ko‘olau. But extending almost 100 km WNW from Ka‘ena Point, the western tip of the island of O‘ahu, is a large region of shallow bathymetry, called the submarine Ka‘ena Ridge. It is that region that has now been recognized to represent a precursor volcano to the island of O‘ahu, and on whose flanks the Wai‘anae and Ko‘olau Volcanoes later formed.
The team included scientists from the University of Hawai‘i–MÄnoa, Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de L’Environment in France, and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.
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Leaf Doctor: UH plant expert launches third app
Fresh from his success with two widely utilized smartphone apps, plant pathologist Scot Nelson has created a new and more technical app, the Leaf Doctor, for a more specialized audience.
Nelson, who works at the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of Hawaii, doesn’t anticipate that the Leaf Doctor will have the same broad, popular appeal as his Plant Doctor app. For many of those who will use the Leaf Doctor, though, it is likely to be a professional game-changer.
The Leaf Doctor focuses on the finer points of diagnosing plant diseases.
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Deep origins to the behavior of our volcanoes
KÄ«lauea volcano, on the Big Island of Hawaii, typically has effusive eruptions, where magma flows to create ropy pÄhoehoe lava. But KÄ«lauea sometimes erupts more violently, showering scoria and blocks over much of the surface of the island. To explain the variability in KÄ«lauea’s eruption styles, a research team analyzed 25 eruptions that have taken place over the past 600 years.
Their research shows that the ultimate fate of a magma at Kīlauea — that is if the eruption will be effusive or explosive — is strongly influenced by the variability in composition of the deep magma. In short, more gas-rich magmas produces more explosive eruptions.
“Gas-rich magmas are ‘predisposed’ to rise quickly through the Earth’s mantle and crust and erupt powerfully,†Houghton explained.
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Hawaii lab finds dramatic shift in Pacific ecosystem
The Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory (HURL) has enabled scientists to determine that a long-term shift in nitrogen content in the Pacific Ocean has occurred as a result of climate change. Researchers observed overall nitrogen fixation in the North Pacific Ocean has increased by about 20 percent since the mid 1800s and this long-term change appears to be continuing today, according to a study published recently in the journal, Nature.
Using chemical information locked in organic skeletal layers, the team used these ancient deep corals as detailed recorders of changes at the base of the open Pacific food web over the last 1,000 years. This represents the first detailed biogeochemical records for the planet’s largest contiguous ecosystem. This type of sample is only available using deep-diving submersibles, such as those operated by HURL.
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