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Scientists are to sail to the mid-Atlantic to examine a massive "open wound" on the Earth's surface. Dr Chris MacLeod, from Cardiff University, said the Earth's crust appeared to be missing across an area of several thousand square kilometres. The hole in the crust is midway between the Cape Verde Islands and the Caribbean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The team will survey the area, up to 5km (3 miles) under the surface, from ocean research vessel RRS James Cook. The ship is on its inaugural voyage after being named in February. Dr MacLeod said the hole in the Earth's crust...

CONCORD, N.H. - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday directly challenged her top rivals' claims that she is too conventional to bring needed change to Washington, declaring "you bring change by working in the system." Clinton argued that political transformation can come only by working within established rules and seeking common ground when necessary. Her years as part of the Washington establishment as first lady and as a New York senator have convinced her that real change can come only by seeking consensus, she told a rally on the lawn of the New Hampshire state capitol. "I've learned you bring...

A drill will be used to extract samples of the exposed mantle Scientists are to sail to the mid-Atlantic to examine a massive "open wound" on the Earth's surface.Dr Chris MacLeod, from Cardiff University, said the Earth's crust appeared to be completely missing in an area thousands of kilometres across. The hole in the crust is midway between the Cape Verde Islands and the Caribbean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The team will survey the area, up to 5km (3 miles) under the surface, from ocean research vessel RRS James Cook. The ship is on its inaugural voyage after being...

NEW YORK -- As President Bush smiled and waved from the stands and Mickey Mantle looked on from the dugout, Derek Jeter swung his bat. Talk about pressure. The game never happened, though. It was just someone's idea of a visual gag -- pulled off in a recent Topps baseball card through digital manipulation. "Somewhere in between the final proofing and its printing, someone at our company -- and we won't name names -- thought it would be funny to put in Bush and Mantle," said Clay Luraschi, a spokesman for Topps in Tuesday's edition of the Daily News. The...

EARTH'S natural radioactivity has been measured for the first time. The measurement will help geologists find out to what extent nuclear decay is responsible for the immense quantity of heat generated by Earth. Our planet's heat output drives the convection currents that churn liquid iron in the outer core, giving rise to Earth's magnetic field. Just where this heat comes from is a big question. Measurements of the temperature gradients across rocks in mines and boreholes have led geologists to estimate that the planet is internally generating between 30 and 44 terawatts of heat. Some of this heat comes from...

Seeking the elusive 'Moho' Scientist said this week they had drilled into the lower section of Earth's crust for the first time and were poised to break through to the mantle in coming years. The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) seeks the elusive "Moho," a boundary formally known as the Mohorovicic discontinuity. It marks the division between Earth's brittle outer crust and the hotter, softer mantle. The depth of the Moho varies. This latest effort, which drilled 4,644 feet (1,416 meters) below the ocean seafloor, appears to have been 1,000 feet off to the side of where it needed to...

Public release date: 1-Sep-2004 ] Contact: Mari N. Jensen mnjensen@email.arizona.edu 520-626-9635 University of Arizona Moho gone missing, geologists say -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Sierra Nevada is composed of granite, the rock that shows up in this picture of Temple Crag and Second Lake in the eastern Sierra Nevada. (Photo credit: Mihai Ducea. Photo permission plus full-size images of this and other illustrations are available from the researchers.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About 25 miles beneath the Earth's surface is a discrete boundary between the planet's rocky crust and the mantle below that geologists call the Moho. But in the southern end of California's San...