Hawaiian Island Dissolving From Within

Plan your island getaway now: In time, the mountainous tropical paradise of Oahu will erode, according to new research, with the biggest losses coming from within the island itself.

To be accurate, you do have some time to book that vacation before Hawaii's Oahu flattens from an island into a low-lying seamount. Researchers writing in the upcoming February 15 issue of the journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta estimate that the volcanic island will continue to grow, thanks to plate tectonics, for another 75,000 to 1.75 million years. After that, however, the forces working to eat away at Oahu from the inside out will begin to triumph.

Researchers at Brigham Young University in Utah investigated the forces that add and subtract material from Oahu. The island offers an ideal place to conduct such a study, the researchers said, as it consists of one kind of rock that is exposed to very different levels of precipitation. Various regions in Oahu can record between 2 and 23 feet (0.6 to 7 meters) of precipitation a year, depending on the local climate. 

The researchers measured solids dissolved in both surface and groundwater from 45 streams and 30 springs and wells around the island, adding those new measurements to previously reported data, for a total of 170 water samples scattered across Oahu.

Using that data, scientists calculated the mass Oahu loses each year. Although one might expect rain to carry away most of the soil in such a wet climate, underground freshwater springs actually removed the bulk of the mineral material from Oahu, the researchers found.

"More material is dissolving from those islands than what is being carried off through erosion," study researcher Steve Nelson, a Brigham Young University geologist, said in a statement.

In fact, groundwater carried between three and 12 times as much dissolved solids compared to surface water, the researchers report.

Oahu is made up of the remnants of two collapsed shield volcanoes, the kind known for burping out thick, oozy lava that hardens into new land. One volcano, Waianae, was active from about 4 to 2.6 million years ago; the other, Koolau, developed later.

Today, Oahu grows not because of volcanism, but from geologic uplift. As the younger Hawaiian Islands push the Pacific tectonic plate downward, nearby Oahu "pops up," as if on a seesaw. That uplift pushes Oahu's landforms upward at a rate of 0.2 feet (0.06 m) per thousand years, enough (for now) to compensate for the losses caused by groundwater carrying away the island's mass.

Researchers hope that the same methods they used on Oahu can help clarify how other tropical islands change in response to different climate conditions.

College student's turtle project takes dark twist

Clemson University student Nathan Weaver set out to determine how to help turtles cross the road. He ended up getting a glimpse into the dark souls of some humans.

Weaver put a realistic rubber turtle in the middle of a lane on a busy road near campus. Then he got out of the way and watched over the next hour as seven drivers swerved and deliberately ran over the animal. Several more apparently tried to hit it but missed.

"I've heard of people and from friends who knew people that ran over turtles. But to see it out here like this was a bit shocking," said Weaver, a 22-year-old senior in Clemson's School of Agricultural, Forest and Environmental Sciences.

To seasoned researchers, the practice wasn't surprising.

The number of box turtles is in slow decline, and one big reason is that many wind up as roadkill while crossing the asphalt, a slow-and-steady trip that can take several minutes.

Sometimes humans feel a need to prove they are the dominant species on this planet by taking a two-ton metal vehicle and squishing a defenseless creature under the tires, said Hal Herzog, a Western Carolina University psychology professor.

"They aren't thinking, really. It is not something people think about. It just seems fun at the time," Herzog said. "It is the dark side of human nature."

Herzog asked a class of about 110 students getting ready to take a final whether they had intentionally run over a turtle, or been in a car with someone who did. Thirty-four students raised their hands, about two-thirds of them male, said Herzog, author of a book about humans' relationships with animals, called "Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat."

Weaver, who became interested in animals and conservation through the Boy Scouts and TV's "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, wants to figure out the best way to get turtles safely across the road and keep the population from dwindling further.

Among the possible solutions: turtle underpasses or an education campaign aimed at teenagers on why drivers shouldn't mow turtles down.

The first time Weaver went out to collect data on turtles, he chose a spot down the road from a big apartment complex that caters to students. He counted 267 vehicles that passed by, seven of them intentionally hitting his rubber reptile.

He went back out about a week later, choosing a road in a more residential area. He followed the same procedure, putting the fake turtle in the middle of the lane, facing the far side of the road, as if it was early in its journey across. The second of the 50 cars to pass by that day swerved over the center line, its right tires pulverizing the plastic shell.

"Wow! That didn't take long," Weaver said.

Other cars during the hour missed the turtle. But right after his observation period was up, before Weaver could retrieve the model, another car moved to the right to hit the animal as he stood less than 20 feet away.

"One hit in 50 cars is pretty significant when you consider it might take a turtle 10 minutes to cross the road," Weaver said.

Running over turtles even has a place in Southern lore.

In South Carolina author Pat Conroy's semi-autobiographical novel "The Great Santini," a fighter-pilot father squishes turtles during a late-night drive when he thinks his wife and kids are asleep. His wife confronts him, saying: "It takes a mighty brave man to run over turtles."

The father denies it at first, then claims he hits them because they are a road hazard. "It's my only sport when I'm traveling," he says. "My only hobby."

That hobby has been costly to turtles.

It takes a turtle seven or eight years to become mature enough to reproduce, and in that time, it might make several trips across the road to get from one pond to another, looking for food or a place to lay eggs. A female turtle that lives 50 years might lay over 100 eggs, but just two or three are likely to survive to reproduce, said Weaver's professor, Rob Baldwin.

Snakes also get run over deliberately. Baldwin wishes that weren't the case, but he understands, considering the widespread fear and loathing of snakes. But why anyone would want to run over turtles is a mystery to the professor.

"They seem so helpless and cute," he said. "I want to stop and help them. My kids want to stop and help them. My wife will stop and help turtles no matter how much traffic there is on the road. I can't understand the idea why you would swerve to hit something so helpless as a turtle."

First 'Alien Earth' Will Be Found in 2013, Experts Say

The first truly Earth-like alien planet is likely to be spotted next year, an epic discovery that would cause humanity to reassess its place in the universe.

While astronomers have found a number of exoplanets over the last few years that share one or two key traits with our own world — such as size or inferred surface temperature — they have yet to bag a bona fide "alien Earth." But that should change in 2013, scientists say.

"I'm very positive that the first Earth twin will be discovered next year," said Abel Mendez, who runs the Planetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo.

Planets piling up

Astronomers discovered the first exoplanet orbiting a sunlike star in 1995. Since they, they've spotted more than 800 worlds beyond our own solar system, and many more candidates await confirmation by follow-up observations.

NASA's prolific Kepler Space Telescope, for example, has flagged more than 2,300 potential planets since its March 2009 launch. Only 100 or so have been confirmed to date, but mission scientists estimate that at least 80 percent will end up being the real deal.

The first exoplanet finds were scorching-hot Jupiter-like worlds that orbit close to their parent stars, because they were the easiest to detect. But over time, new instruments came online and planet hunters honed their techniques, enabling the discovery of smaller and more distantly orbiting planets — places more like Earth.

Last December, for instance, Kepler found a planet 2.4 times larger than Earth orbiting in its star'shabitable zone — that just-right range of distances where liquid water, and perhaps life as we know it, can exist.

The Kepler team and other research groups have detected several other worlds like that one (which is known as Kepler-22b), bringing the current tally of potentially habitable exoplanets to nine byMendez' reckoning.

Zeroing in on Earth's twin

None of the worlds in Mendez' Habitable Exoplanets Catalog are small enough to be true Earth twins. The handful of Earth-size planets spotted to date all orbit too close to their stars to be suitable for life. 

But it's only a matter of time before a small, rocky planet is spotted in the habitable zone — and Mendez isn't the only researcher who thinks that time is coming soon.

"The first planet with a measured size, orbit and incident stellar flux that is suitable for life is likely to be announced in 2013," said Geoff Marcy, a veteran planet hunter at the University of California, Berkeley, and a member of the Kepler team.

Mendez and Marcy both think this watershed find will be made by Kepler, which spots planets by flagging the telltale brightness dips caused when they pass in front of their parent stars from the instrument's perspective.

Kepler needs to witness three of these"transits" to detect a planet, so its early discoveries were tilted toward close-orbiting worlds (which transit more frequently). But over time, the telescope has been spotting more and more distantly orbiting planets — including some in the habitable zone.

An instrument called HARPS (short for High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher) is also a top contender, having already spotted a number of potentially habitable worlds. HARPS, which sits on the European Southern Observatory's 3.6-meter telescope in Chile, allows researchers to detect the tiny gravitational wobbles that orbiting planets induce in their parent stars.

"HARPS should be able to find the most interesting and closer Earth twins," Mendez told SPACE.com via email, noting that many Kepler planets are too far away to characterize in detail. "A combination of its sensitivity and long-term observations is now paying off."

And there are probably many alien Earths out there to be found in our Milky Way galaxy, researchers say.

"Estimating carefully, there are 200 billion stars that host at least 50 billion planets, if not more," Mikko Tuomi, of the University of Hertfordshire in England, told SPACE.com via email.

"Assuming that 1:10,000 are similar to the Earth would give us 5,000,000 such planets," added Tuomi, who led teams reporting the discovery of several potentially habitable planet candidates this year, including an exoplanet orbiting the star Tau Ceti just 11.9 light-years from Earth. "So I would say we are talking about at least thousands of such planets."

What it would mean

Whenever the first Earth twin is confirmed, the discovery will likely have a profound effect on humanity.

"We humans will look up into the night sky, much as we gaze across a large ocean," Marcy told SPACE.com via email. "We will know that the cosmic ocean contains islands and continents by the billions, able to support both primitive life and entire civilizations."

Marcy hopes such a find will prod our species to take its first real steps beyond its native solar system.

"Humanity will close its collective eyes, and set sail for Alpha Centauri," Marcy said, referring to the closest star system to our own, where an Earth-size planet was discovered earlier this year.

"The small steps for humanity will be a giant leap for our species. Sending robotic probes to the nearest stars will constitute the greatest adventure we Homo sapiens have ever attempted," Marcy added. "This massive undertaking will require the cooperation and contribution from all major nations around world. In so doing, we will take our first tentative steps into the cosmic ocean and enhance our shared sense of purpose on this terrestrial shore."

Cameras for every personality

Face it: Even at home, we often find ourselves lazily reaching for the smartphone to capture moments for posterity, and we rationalize it by telling ourselves that our hastily taken shots look "good enough."

Deep down, we know that they don't, though, which is why we'll be asking for a higher-quality camera this holiday season. If cell-phone photography is bumming you out too, we encourage you to add one of the eight impressive cameras below to your wish list.

For the Eternally Nostalgic Polaroid Z2300

Amazingly, Polaroid is still chugging along. With the Z2300, the storied company's patented technology has been freed from the clunky, black-plastic camera design prison. Still, you'll get a nostalgic thrill whenever the Z2300 goes old-school and spits out a 2x3 photograph—which it accomplishes in under a minute using the same technology found in many printers. If you insist on staying in the 21st century, the image can also be stored digitally on an SD card. $159

For Facebook Oversharers(Photo: courtesy of Samsung)
Samsung Galaxy

This offbeat gizmo combines a 16-megapixel, ultrazoom camera with Android 3G Internet connectivity—a gearhead way to say that it allows you to shoot, edit, and share your images with the tap of a finger. The Galaxy makes it a breeze to add Instagram filters and other social-media bells and whistles before you push pictures up to the cloud. When you're not feeling the shot, check your e-mail or play Fruit Ninja instead.

$500, optional AT&T data plan


For Shutterbugs Into Leather(Photo: courtesy of Fujifilm)
Fujifilm XF1

It's the Usain Bolt of the camera world, with a swift .55-second startup time and .15-second focus speed. But we love this compact point-and-shoot bad boy because it wears more leather than David Lee Roth circa 1983. Available in tan, red, and black, the XF1 gets bonus points for its retractable manual zoom and its 12-megapixel sensor, each as impressive as a vintage Diamond Dave leg kick.
$499.95


For the Jittery-Handed(Photo: courtesy of Lytro)
Lytro Light-Field Camera

Featuring something called light-field photography, this camera lets you take a photo and focus the image after it's shot. This means there'll be no more worrying about autofocus and shutter lag, freeing your mind to think about more important things, such as what the hell to shoot.
Starts at $399








For Weather Channel Addicts(Photo: courtesy of Pentax)
Pentax K-30

Completely weather-sealed, this DSLR is man enough to hack being dunked in water, buried in dust, and exposed to extreme temperatures. This means you can bring it along on scuba dives, snake hunts, and ski trips, or just simple strolls in the rain. Rest assured, it also has the guts (i.e., a 16-megapixel CMOS image sensor and 1080p HD video capture at a rate of 30 frames per second) to make its competitors look like sissy cameras.
$849.94

For Richard Avedon Wannabes(Photo: courtesy of Sony)
Sony RX1

The pro: The newest Cyber-shot is the world's first fixed-lens digital camera to sport a full-frame 35mm-format. Specifically, it has a Carl Zeiss lens and ISO range of 100 to 25600, up to 5-fps (frames per second) continuous shooting speed, and 14-bit RAW image-data recording. Translation: It's professional-grade. Did we mention it fits in your pocket? The con: Check the price tag.
$2,799


For Steven Spielberg Wannabes(Photo: courtesy of Canon)
Canon EOS 6D

Most videos uploaded to YouTube are crudely shot cell-phone jobs that scream "amateur!" This excellent entry produces anything but, wielding 20.2-megapixel DSLR power and shooting in remarkable full-HD video, while giving you manual control over exposure and audio levels. The 6D is the real deal: It boasts the same remarkable video-capturing capabilities as Canon's 5D, which, as camera geeks already know, was used to shoot scenes in a little movie called The Avengers.
$2,099

For Status-Conscious Spendthrifts(Photo: courtesy of Leica)
Leica M

The New York Times deemed Leicas the accessory of choice for the celebrity class on red carpets, film sets, or vacation. Brad Pitt, Jude Law, and Daniel Craig are all fans. It's fitted out with a 24-megapixel full-frame sensor (and able to accommodate different lenses). Plus, there's a giant upgrade to 1080p HD video recording. Sadly, the seven grand you just shelled out doesn't come with a guarantee of getting into hot clubs—worse, the lenses cost extra. $6,950