FOXNews.com: Antarctica once covered in palm trees, scientists discover

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Antarctica once covered in palm trees, scientists discover Aug 2nd 2012, 15:25 Today the frozen Antarctic ice sheet borders the Southern Ocean. But tropical palm trees once flourished there. An intense warming phase occurred 52 million years ago, leading tropical vegetation, including palms and relatives of today's tropical Baobab trees, to grow on the continent's now frozen coasts. The surprising discovery came from a study of drill cores obtained from the seafloor near Antarctica. The results, published in the journal Nature, show that warm ocean currents and high carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the air boosted temperatures, allowing tropical vegetation to grow where visitors today meet only icebergs and freezing cold. "The CO2 content of the atmosphere as assumed for that time interval is not enough on its own to explain the almost tropical conditions in the Antarctic," said Jörg Pross, a paleoclimatologist at the Goethe University and member of the Biodiversity and Climate Research Center in Frankfurt, Germany. 'The CO2 content of the atmosphere ... is not enough on its own to explain the almost tropical conditions in the Antarctic.' - Jörg Pross "Another important factor was the transfer of heat via warm ocean currents that reached Antarctica." When the warm ocean current collapsed and the Antarctic coast came under the influence of cooler ocean currents, the tropical rainforests, palm trees and Baobab relatives also disappeared. The scientists used rock samples from drill cores on the seabed obtained off the coast of Wilkes Land, Antarctica, as part of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP). The samples are between 53 and 46 million years old and contain fossil pollen and spores that are known to originate from the Antarctic coastal region. The researchers were thus able to reconstruct the local vegetation on Antarctica and, accordingly, interpret the presence of tropical and subtropical rainforests covering the coastal region 52 million years ago. The scientists' evaluations show that the winter temperatures on the Wilkes Land coast were warmer than 50 degrees Fahrenheit at that time, despite three months of polar night. The continental interior, however, was noticeably cooler, with the climate supporting the growth of temperate rainforests characterized by southern beech and Araucaria trees of the type common in New Zealand today. Additional evidence of extremely mild temperatures was provided by analysis of organic compounds that were produced by soil bacteria populating the soils along the Antarctic coast. "By studying naturally occurring climate warming periods in the geological past, our knowledge of the mechanisms and processes in the climate system increases," Pross said.

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FOXNews.com: Amazing photo: 'Fire rainbow' over Florida

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Amazing photo: 'Fire rainbow' over Florida Aug 2nd 2012, 12:09 So-called "fire rainbows" are neither on fire nor are they rainbows, but they sure are stunning. They are technically known as iridescent clouds, a relatively rare phenomenon caused by clouds of water droplets of nearly uniform size, according to a release by NASA. These clouds diffract, or bend, light in a similar manner, which separates out light into different wavelengths, or colors. That makes them similar to rainbow-colored glories, which are also formed by diffraction, and also produce an oscillating pattern of colors ranging from blue to green to red to purple and back to blue again. Although iridescent clouds have rainbow-like colors, the way light is scattered to produce them is slightly different. Rainbows are formed by refraction and reflection. When light is refracted, it is bent by passing through mediums of different densities, such as water or a prism. Reflected light bounces off a surface at an angle equal to the angle it hit the surface at. Diffraction, though, involves light waves being scattered into a ring-like pattern. As with other iridescent objects, like peacock feathers, the color changes depending upon one's position relative to the sun and the object. Iridescence usually occurs in newly formed clouds. That appears to be the case here as well. According to the Weather Channel, these are pileus clouds caused by a fast-growing thunderstorm that shoved air into the upper atmosphere through a layer of moisture. This created a fog-like cloud that looks like a glowing dome atop the thunderstorm. Iridescent clouds are not to be confused with circumhorizontal arcs, which form bands of color parallel to the horizon. The phenomenon was captured in a photo taken on Tuesday (July 31) in the clouds over South Florida. Weirdo Weather: 7 Rare Weather Events Video: Double Rainbow, Now With Lightning! Quadruple Rainbow Photographed for First Time Copyright 2012 OurAmazingPlanet, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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FOXNews.com: Cargo spaceship makes superspeed trip to space station

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Cargo spaceship makes superspeed trip to space station Aug 2nd 2012, 11:45 An unmanned Russian cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station Wednesday, less than six hours after it launched into orbit. The successful maneuver marked the first time a same-day docking has ever been accomplished at the massive orbiting outpost. The robotic Progress 48 cargo freighter automatically parked to the Pirs docking compartment on the Russian segment of the complex slightly ahead of schedule, at 9:19 p.m. EDT (0119 GMT Aug. 2), as both spacecraft flew over the Pacific Ocean. In addition to delivering fresh supplies to the space station, the spacecraft also tested the novel same-day rendezvous and docking procedure. According to NASA officials, the docking test proceeded smoothly and the Progress vehicle's systems responded flawlessly throughout the shortened flight to the space station. The Progress 48 launched into orbit atop a Soyuz rocket earlier today, at 3:35 p.m. EDT (1935 GMT), from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in central Asia. Roughly six hours later, the spacecraft arrived at the orbiting outpost. 'You've got to basically launch and be in the right spot, and the space station has to be in the right spot.' - space station flight director Chris Edelen Russia is aiming to eventually implement this same-day docking plan for future manned flights of Soyuz space capsules to the International Space Station.  "They're looking to eventually take this into the Soyuz phase," Dan Harman, NASA's space station manager of operations and integration, said in a news briefing last week. "If you can get the crew to orbit in six hours and onboard the International Space Station, that could be a tremendous benefit over the two-plus days it takes today." [Photos: Russia's 1st Same-Day Cargo Ship Flight to Space Station] Shortening the orbital chase Progress and Soyuz vehicles typically spend two days chasing the space station in orbit after launch. A quicker arrival to the orbiting complex could cut down the overall amount of consumables — such as food, water and fuel — needed for the onboard crew. Docking to the station within hours of launch also minimizes the amount of time the astronauts spend inside the small Soyuz capsule, which could improve the comfort of the spaceflyers, said space station flight director Chris Edelen. "The quicker rendezvous that you have, the less consumables you would need for the first day, and the better crew comfort in a small capsule," he said. The idea of arriving at a destination on the same day as launch is not a new one. NASA first tested the same-day rendezvous procedures between spacecraft in the mid-1960s during the agency's Gemini program. "This is actually old technology," Edelen explained. "Our first ground-up rendezvous on the Gemini program was a Flight Day 1 rendezvous, and the Russians have done this before, so it's sort of a back to the future." Orbital mechanics Conducting same-day procedures, however, requires extremely precise calculations and also limits the flexibility of available launch times. "It does impose more constraints on the geometry — the orbital mechanics — of the launch, because you have less time to catch up to the space station," Edelen said. "You've got to basically launch and be in the right spot, and the space station has to be in the right spot." The Progress 48 spacecraft hauled 2 tons of food, clothing and supplies to the station for its Expedition 32 crew. There are currently six spaceflyers living and working aboard the orbiting outpost: Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka, Sergei Revin and Yuri Malenchenko, NASA astronauts Joe Acaba and Sunita Williams, and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide. The hatch of the Progress 48 vehicle is scheduled to be opened on Thursday afternoon (Aug. 2), according to NASA officials. The disposable Progress cargo ship is expected to remain attached to the station until December, before it is filled with trash and intentionally sent to burn up during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.

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FOXNews.com: Seals blamed for increased shark sightings, great white attack off Cape Cod

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Seals blamed for increased shark sightings, great white attack off Cape Cod Aug 1st 2012, 18:28 Efforts to protect the once-dwindling seal population along the New England coast have been so successful that sharks have noticed. The first great white shark attack off Cape Cod in 75 years has put the spotlight on the adorable critters, because the sharks have come ever closer to beaches in pursuit of seals. And with the regional gray seal population -- down to just 10,000 in the 1960s and now as high as 300,000 -- shark sightings are on the rise, too. "We believe that the reason the great white sharks are coming closer to shore in the Cape Cod area, specifically on the eastern shore is because of the growing gray seal population." - Greg Skomal, marine biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. "We believe that the reason the great white sharks are coming closer to shore in the Cape Cod area, specifically on the Eastern shore, is because of the growing gray seal population," Greg Skomal, marine biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, told FoxNews.com. "Sharks like to eat seals [and] because the gray seal population has really grown dramatically in the last couple of years, they're targeting them."  Monday's attack took place in front of several horrified witnesses. Christopher Myers and his son were about 80 yards off of Ballston Beach in Truro when he was bitten on the lower part of both legs.He managed to make it to shore and is recuperating in Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Great white shark sightings have increased off the coast of Massachusetts in the last several years, and state researchers have been monitoring and tagging the sharks since 2009. And since their food supply likes the beach, so do they, according to experts. "The areas along the outer beaches have fairly good channels along the edges of them," said Gordon Waring, Fisheries Research Biologist with the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. "The seals use those sand bars and beaches [to congregate]. There could be hundreds to thousands of seals around those areas on any given day." Once at the brink of extinction, seals have been untouchable since the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (MMP), and were virtually unseen in the U.S. until the 1980s. Since then, the animals have 're-colonized and established a year-round presence,' according to Waring. Muskeget Island, roughly 20 miles off Cape Cod, in the Nantucket Sound, is the largest seal pupping colony in U.S. waters. "Something needs to be done. We control all the other species, why can't we control these?" John Our, commercial fisherman in Chatham, Mass., and captain of the Miss Fitz, told FoxNews.com. The Seal Abatement Coalition [SCA], whose website urges "sensible management of the Cape and Island shorelines," to reclaim them from the "infestation of gray seals," could not be reached for comment. But the group stops short of advocating hunting seals, instead calling for "dispersal."  Brian Rothschild, a marine science professor at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, told the Boston Herald that getting control of the seal population may require help from lawmakers in Washington.. "Society has some tough decisions to make," he said. "Most people believe the seals are attracting the sharks, and the only thing they can do is control the seal population. But to do that would require a revision of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and that's a big deal."

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FOXNews.com: 10 most amazing flying machines ever

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10 most amazing flying machines ever Aug 1st 2012, 10:00 Humanity has reached out to the stars on the wings and rockets of incredible flying machines, culminating in a permanent space station orbiting above the Earth. But the journey from the skies to space includes many smaller steps that opened humans' eyes to knowing what is possible under the heavens. Each step represented a human flight of fancy transformed into a real flying machine — the Wright Brothers flyer, the supersonic Blackbird spy plane, and the huge Apollo rocket that carried men to the moon. Each machine, whether it resembled the fragile Wright flyer or the sleek SpaceShipOne, channeled human spirit and ingenuity through its mechanical shell to do amazing things. The First Airplane: Wright Flyer: Kites, gliders and a toy helicopter inspired the Wright Flyer's boxy design that became the first manned, powered, heavier-than-air and controlled flying machine. The brothers achieved their first historic 12-second flight at Kitty Hawk on Dec. 17, 1903, after hundreds of previous gliding tests and experiments with a homemade wind tunnel. The Red Baron & Aerial Weapons of World War I: Manfred von Richthofen, the World War I flying ace known as the Red Baron, viewed his German fighter aircraft as flying platforms for his guns rather than aerial stunt machines. But he and his fellow pilots on both sides pushed the limits of their biplanes and triplanes to shape their designs into graceful and speedy weapons of war. The Zeppelin Hindenburg: When Airships Ruled: The luxurious Hindenburg represented the queen of the skies as the largest aircraft ever built, before it met the fiery ending that reduced it to a smoldering wreck within 32 seconds. The zeppelin airship loomed larger than three jumbo jets in order to carry a dining room, a lounge room with a grand piano, sleeping quarters and its own post office during transatlantic voyages. The First Fighter Jet: Me 262 Schwalbe: Germany's secret flying weapon, the Messerschmidt Me 262, arrived too late to save Hitler's Third Reich from its downfall. But the world's first operational fighter jet racked up an impressive kill ratio against the much slower Allied bombers and fighters, and influenced later designs of U.S. military jet aircraft. SR-71 Blackbird: Supersonic Spy Aircraft: The U.S. military's demand for a supersonic spy aircraft capable of flying fast and high beyond the reach of fighter jet interceptors or missiles led to the SR-71 Blackbird. The record-holder for fastest manned air-breathing jet aircraft could regularly fly beyond 2,000 mph (Mach 3) and at altitudes that required its crew to wear astronaut-style suits just in case. Saturn V Rocket & Apollo Spacecraft: When American astronauts flew to the moon, they rode into space aboard the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. The Saturn V Rocket stood taller than a 36-story building and thundered into space with the power of five engines creating 7.5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. Space Shuttle: The First Reusable Spacecraft: The U.S. space shuttle launched like a rocket and returned like a glider as it ferried satellites, science equipment and astronauts into Earth orbit. Five of them served as the workhorses for constructing the International Space Station as well as launching and repairing the Hubble Space Telescope, but not without tragedy striking twice. International Space Station: The largest structure put into space by humans required 15 countries and $100 billion to assemble its living quarters, laboratories and solar panels. Astronauts who have lived aboard the International Space Station had stunning views of Earth as they circled the globe every 90 minutes at a speed of about 17,500 miles per hour (28,000 kph). SpaceShipOne: First Private Spacecraft: A $10 million prize inspired the first privately funded reusable spacecraft — the cigar-shaped SpaceShipOne that launched in midair from beneath the belly of its airplane mother ship. Its early success led to SpaceShipTwo, a spacecraft designed to fly two pilots and six passengers on suborbital trips that give everyone a few minutes of weightlessness. V-22 Osprey: Controversial Dream Machine: The V-22 Osprey has fulfilled the longstanding dream of making an aircraft that can hover like a helicopter and fly like an airplane — a feat requiring wing-mounted rotors that can tilt to act as helicopter blades or propellers. But the U.S. military aircraft only emerged after years of development troubles.

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FOXNews.com: Tomb of Mayan prince discovered in jungle ruins

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Tomb of Mayan prince discovered in jungle ruins Aug 1st 2012, 12:00 Excavators have uncovered what they believe to be the 1,300-year-old remains of a Mayan prince entombed within a royal complex of the ancient city of Uxul, located in Mexico near the Guatemalan border. The fossilized man, who researchers estimate was between 20 and 25 when he died, was found lying on his back, with his arms folded inside a tomb 4.9 feet (1.5 meters) below the floor in a building within the city's royal complex. When the researchers first slipped a camera into the tomb to peek at what was inside they saw ceramics at the feet of the skeleton, said Kai Delvendahl, field director for the project with the University of Bonn. They found a total of nine pieces of ceramics, including a plate painted in the distinctively black-lined Mayan Codex-Style covering the man's skull. At Mayan sites, it is not uncommon to find plates placed over the skulls of the deceased, Delvendahl, said. [See Photos of Mayan Prince's Tomb] The other ceramics offered additional clues. One bore hieroglyphics reading: "[This is] the drinking vessel of the young man/prince." A second vessel also bore a mention of a young man or prince. 'The person that was buried there is a son of a local ruler, someone who ... had certain connections to the Calakmul dynasty.' - Kai Delvendahl, field director for the project However, if this young man had been a prince, he did not appear to be in line for the throne, the researchers believe, since certain status markers, such as jade jewelry, were not found. One of the ceramic vessels bears a scene, which includes a date that corresponds to the year A.D. 711. "Maybe the drinking cup was dedicated at that time, and if we assume the cup belonged to a person who died at age 20 to 25, we can more or less restrict the death," Delvendahl told LiveScience, meaning that the date on the cup gives archaeologists an idea of when the man died. This is not the first tomb archaeologists have discovered in Uxul, as other, simpler tombs have also been uncovered, Delvendahl said. The Mayan city of Uxul is located deep in the jungle, and accessible to archaeologists only for two to three months a year during the dry season. The researchers have found evidence that Uxul was ruled by the dynasty of Calakmul, a regional center 21 miles (34 kilometers) to the northeast. The date on the vessel indicates the man was buried during a 90-year period after the Calakmul rulers had lost power in Uxul, and before Uxul was abandoned, Delvendahl said. "We feel that the person that was buried there is a son of a local ruler, someone who was not in direct line to the throne, but we feel this ruler still had certain connections to the Calakmul dynasty," a connection supported by the style of the ceramics, he said. Uxul has been the site of looting in the past, but the researchers found only one looter's trench into the building that contained the tomb, so they are hopeful they will find more tombs inside it. Nikolai Grube, also of the University of Bonn, is project director for the research at Uxul, which is funded by the German Science Foundation (DFG). This latest discovery has not yet been published in a scientific journal. Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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FOXNews.com: China announces plans for moon landing in 2013

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China announces plans for moon landing in 2013 Jul 31st 2012, 20:39 China has announced plans to send an unmanned rocket to the moon in 2013, an effort to further the country's ambitious space program -- but Beijing faces serious competition to plant the next flag on the moon. The official China News Service said that the Chang'e Three orbiter will carry out surveys on the surface of the moon, according to a report on Reuters -- catching up to a U.S. achievement from 45 years ago. The communist country tested a new rocket engine Sunday that uses liquid oxygen and kerosene, which will power future missions to the moon, according to news reports. If successful, China's probe would be the first craft to land on the moon as part of a mission since the Soviets managed it in the 1970s. The country also said it plans to land a man on the moon, a feat only achieved by the United States, most recently in 1972, the AFP noted. "I think it's well within China's capability and budget," Chen Lan, an independent space analyst, told the AFP of next year's planned mission. Neither the Russians nor the U.S. is currently capable of landing a man on the moon. Since the end of the space shuttle era, NASA's has focused its eyes on a new spacecraft for manned exploration of space, the Orion multipurpose vehicle, which won't be ready until 2017 at the earliest. But China will nonetheless face stiff competition from a growing private space industry in the U.S. and elsewhere. The industry has its eyes on the moon and the cash that can be extracted from rocks and craters. Astrobotic Technology announced plans in May for an ice prospecting robot, Polaris, to be launched to the Moon on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket like the one that successfully lifted this spring from Cape Canaveral. That vehicle is set to launch in 2015, the company said. Moon Express has announced plans to piggyback on private space cargo flights, using them to carry its lunar landers and mining platforms to the moon. "People ask, why do we want to go back to the moon? Isn't it just barren soil?" Jain told FoxNews.com last year. "But the moon has never been explored from an entrepreneurial perspective." And a host of other companies from a variety of countries are competing for a $30 million prize from Google to reach the moon's surface, a competition called the Lunar X Prize. One country no longer in the battle: Russia, which has said manned missions are no longer a priority. Indeed, the country recently sold four 1970s-era Soviet Almaz program three-crew capsules and two Russian Salyut-class 63,800-pound space station pressure vessels to spaceflight firm Excalibur Almaz, which plans to sell about 30 seats between 2015 and 2025, for $150 million each. Green cheese indeed.

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