Chinese spacecraft parachutes to Earth
BEIJING, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- An unmanned Chinese spacecraft that took part in the country's first docking maneuver in space returned to Earth late Thursday, officials said.
The Shenzhou 8 capsule landed in the Gobi desert in a descent slowed by parachute, the BBC reported.
During its time in orbit, the Shenzhou capsule had rendezvoused and docked twice with China's mini space laboratory module Tiangong-1, which remains in orbit.
The successful dockings are a step toward missions with astronauts visiting the Tiangong-1 next year, Chinese space officials said.
One of those missions could include China's first female astronaut, they said.
Shenzhou 8 was in orbit for 17 days, the longest Shenzhou mission to date.
China says its ultimate goal is construction of a space station similar to the International Space State Station operated by the United States, Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan.
Construction could begin before 2020, experts said.
Ozone levels could be earthquake warning
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Ozone from rock breaking under pressure, if detected early enough, could serve as an earthquake early warning sign, U.S. scientists say.
Ozone, a natural gas, is a byproduct of electrical discharges into the air from several sources, such as from lightning or, the new research suggests, from rocks fracturing as stress builds up in earthquake faults under pressure, scientists say.
Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science conducted experiments to measure ozone produced by crushing or drilling into different igneous and metamorphic rocks, including granite, basalt, gneiss, rhyolite and quartz.
Different rocks produced different amounts of ozone, they said, with rhyolite producing the strongest ozone emission.
"If future research shows a positive correlation between ground-level ozone near geological faults and earthquakes, an array of interconnected ozone detectors could monitor anomalous patterns when rock fracture induces the release of ozone from underground and surface cracks," said Raul A. Baragiola, professor of engineering physics.
"Such an array ... could be useful for giving early warning to earthquakes."
New York City gets namesake bee species
ITHACA, N.Y., Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Eleven new bee species, including one named for New York City, have been discovered in the eastern United States, Cornell University researchers say.
Lasioglossum gotham is one of the new bees discovered and earned its "Gotham" tag because it is one of four found living in New York City and its suburbs, researchers said in a release Thursday.
All eleven of the newly discovered species are tiny "sweat bees," so-called for their attraction to the salt in human sweat.
"It's remarkable that so many bees are able to live in such a major urban area," Cornell entomologist Jason Gibbs said. "Natural areas like urban parks and rooftop and botanical gardens provide the nesting sites and floral diversity that bees need."
"Bees are vitally important pollinators but there is a great deal we still need to learn about our native species," he said.
Gibbs' research was in collaboration with the American Museum of Natural History.
Trees offer clues of ancient U.S. droughts
TUCSON, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Tree ring studies yielded evidence of prolonged drought long ago in the U.S. West, suggesting mega-droughts aren't as rare as once thought, researchers say.
Core samples from ancient living and dead bristlecone pines in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado show signs of extreme drought in the second century that matches or exceeds the better-known droughts of the medieval period, University of Arizona researchers said.
The researchers concluded the second century drought was regional, extending from what is now southern New Mexico north and west into present-day Idaho, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
Some scientists had considered the severe Western U.S. droughts that occurred between 900 and 1400 unique, paleoclimatologist Connie Woodhouse said.
The new tree ring record indicates they weren't, she said, and they could occur again.
"There is no good reason that we shouldn't expect to have those," Woodhouse said.
