Kansai International Airport is an international airport located on an artificial island in the middle of Osaka Bay, off the shore of the cities of Sennan and Izumisano and the town of Tajiri in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. (It should not be confused with Osaka International Airport, which is closer to the city and now handles only domestic flights.) It was ranked 4th overall in the Airport of the Year 2006 awards named by Skytrax, next to Singapore Changi Airport, Hong Kong International Airport and Munich International Airport.

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Fiery journeys to the center of the Earth occur only in the sci-fi realm, but now scientists have laid out a way to pinpoint our planet’s center of mass, providing a more accurate map of that core destination.

The results will lead to critical information for studying earthquakes, volcanoes, global sea-level rise and warming, and a post-glacial rise in some surface areas related to the melting of ice sheets.

Until now, scientists have defined Earth’s center of mass in two ways—either as the mass center of Earth as a single object or as the mass-center of Earth’s system, including ice sheets, oceans and our atmosphere in the equation.

Jell-O planet

It's tricky finding the center of a giant, squishy object, scientists say.

"By its very nature, Earth's reference frame is moderately uncertain no matter how it is defined," said Donald Argus of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. “The problem is very much akin to measuring the center of mass of a glob of Jell-O, because Earth is constantly changing shape due to tectonic and climatic forces."

If Earth were a completely solid, perfectly round object, finding its center of mass would be sweet and simple. However, as first proposed by Isaac Newton, our planet is not perfectly round.

Now scientists know Earth is somewhat of a “buckled” sphere in which the midsection bulges outward. And because mass is distributed unevenly across its surface (more mass means more gravitational tug), the point around which the planet is balanced is offset from the actual center of Earth.

Plus, mass doesn’t stay put, but instead changes over time as glaciers melt, tectonic plates move and volcanoes empty out to lay massive lava on Earth’s surface. These changes in mass atop and beneath Earth’s surface cause the center of mass to shift slightly over time.

Accurate measure

Argus developed the new center-finding technique to find the mass center of Earth as a single object, which can estimate Earth’s center of mass to within 0.04 inches a year. The center of mass is calculated as a relative measurement, and so the measurement is given as a velocity.

Past estimates calculated the center of the whole Earth system, resulting in the 2000 and 2005 estimates differing by about 0.07 inches a year.

Argus believes the mass center of solid Earth is a more accurate reference frame, because it doesn’t change from year to year.

The new technique, described in the June issue of the Geophysical Journal International, relies on data collected from a string of instruments. These include a network of global positioning system (GPS) receivers, a network of satellites called Laser Geodynamics Satellites (LAGEOS), radio telescopes and satellite-tracking instruments.

The Earth-only reference frame will improve estimates of sea-level rise made by satellite altimeters, which rely on measurements of the location and motion of the center of mass of Earth’s system. Sea-level rise is a gauge of global warming, and so the results will boost scientists’ understanding of the increase in our planet’s average temperature. The rising seas are thought to be the result of melting ice sheets in areas such as Greenland and Antarctica.

“If you changed the velocity of the Earth’s center a millimeter (0.04 inches) per year, you would change the estimate of sea level by less than one millimeter,” Argus told LiveScience, “but even half a millimeter would be important.”

On the rebound

In addition, how Earth will respond physically to past and future glacial melting has been shrouded in uncertainty. When frozen, the mammoth weight of miles-high sheets of ice causes tiny deformations of Earth’s crust. And when this ice melts, the land rebounds a bit. Earth is still on the rebound from the close of the last ice age.

“For scientists studying post-glacial rebound, this new reference frame helps them better understand how viscous Earth's solid mantle is,” Argus said, “which affects how fast Earth's crust rises in response to the retreat of the massive ice sheets that covered areas such as Canada 20,000 years ago.”

He is working on post-glacial-rebound models. One possibility is that these updated models will shed light on the mysterious dip in the gravity field over parts of North America.

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The Tian Shan , also commonly spelled Tien Shan, and known as Tangri Tagh ("celestial mountains" or "mountains of the spirits") in the Uyghur language, is a mountain range located in Central Asia. The now widely used name Tian Shan is a Chinese translation of the Uyghur name, which may in turn go back to a Xiongnu name, qilian reported by the Shiji as the last place where they met and had their baby as in of the Yuezhi, which has been argued to refer to the Tian Shan rather than to the range 1,500 km further the east now known by this name. A nearby mountain range, the Tannu-Ola Mountains , also bears a synonymous name ("heaven/celestial mountains" or "god/spirit mountains").

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The modern emirate of Dubai was created consequent with the formation of the United Arab Emirates in 1971. However, written accounts documenting the existence of the city have existed at least 150 years prior to the formation of the UAE. Dubai shares legal, political, military and economic functions with the other emirates within a federal framework, although each emirate has jurisdiction over some functions such as civic law enforcement and provision and upkeep of local facilities. Dubai has the largest population and is the second largest emirate by area, after Abu Dhabi. Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the only two emirates to possess veto power over critical matters of national importance in the country's legislature. Dubai has been ruled by the Al Maktoum dynasty since 1833. The emirates' current ruler, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, is also the Prime Minister and Vice President of the UAE.

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Scientists have discovered what they say is a completely unexpected new giant dinosaur that lived 70 million years ago in Argentina.

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Ben Bulben (alternatively spelt Benbulben or Benbulbin) is a large rock formation in Ireland. It is a Ben (the Irish name for a large, glacier-carved rock). It is in the part of Ireland known as Yeats Country, though it is officially in the Irish county of Sligo.

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British archaeologists unearthed a 2,000-year-old skull in a field near York Friday, inside of which they claim lies the remains of the “oldest human brain” in Britain and one of the earliest worldwide, according to BBC.

The skull, which was buried during the Iron Age, was sent to York Hospital for a CT scan after one of the team members felt something move while cleaning it. The scan confirmed the presence of brain tissue, spotting a mass about a third of the size of a normal brain.

Archaeologists say the skull was most likely buried between 300 BC and one BC, and that the deceased either died by beheading or had his or her head cut off soon after death.

“From the size, it was probably an adult but we can’t say whether it was a man or woman. There is no obvious cause of death because the skull is still intact,” said Dr. Richard Hall, Director of Archaeology at the York Archaeological Trust; one of his teams discovered the skull. ”We are confident that the skull was buried in this small pit and that it has lain undisturbed since the Iron Age.”

The finding however is unlikely to help reveal any new information about the brain since the organ has not changed much over the last 2,000 years, according to Chris Godsen, a professor of archeology at Oxford University.

Since the brain consists of fatty tissue which microbes in the soil usually absorb, a finding like this is very rare.

Archaeologists believe the skull, which was found in its own muddy pit, could be a ritualistic or religious offering.

Earlier this year, at the same site, archeologists found a man whom they believe to be one of Britain’s earliest tuberculosis victims. Radiocarbon dating found that the man died during the fourth century, in the late-Roman period, according to BBC.

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A rat thought extinct for 11 million years and a hot-pink, cyanide-producing dragon millipede are among a thousand new species discovered in the Greater Mekong Region of Southeast Asia in the last decade, according to a new report launched by World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

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More than 2 trillion tons of land ice in Greenland, Antarctica and Alaska have melted since 2003, according to new NASA satellite data that show the latest signs of what scientists say is global warming.

More than half of the loss of landlocked ice in the past five years has occurred in Greenland, based on measurements of ice weight by NASA's GRACE satellite, said NASA geophysicist Scott Luthcke. The water melting from Greenland in the past five years would fill up about 11 Chesapeake Bays, he said, and the Greenland melt seems to be accelerating.

NASA scientists planned to present their findings Thursday at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco. Luthcke said Greenland figures for the summer of 2008 aren't complete yet, but this year's ice loss, while still significant, won't be as severe as 2007.

The news was better for Alaska. After a precipitous drop in 2005, land ice increased slightly in 2008 because of large winter snowfalls, Luthcke said. Since 2003, when the NASA satellite started taking measurements, Alaska has lost 400 billion tons of land ice.

In assessing climate change, scientists generally look at several years to determine the overall trend.

Melting of land ice, unlike sea ice, increases sea levels very slightly. In the 1990s, Greenland didn't add to world sea level rise; now that island is adding about half a millimeter of sea level rise a year, NASA ice scientist Jay Zwally said in a telephone interview from the conference.

Between Greenland, Antarctica and Alaska, melting land ice has raised global sea levels about one-fifth of an inch in the past five years, Luthcke said. Sea levels also rise from water expanding as it warms.

Other research, being presented this week at the geophysical meeting point to more melting concerns from global warming, especially with sea ice.

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The Niagara Tunnel Project is the most recent in a series of additions to the Sir Adam Beck hydroelectric generation complex in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.

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Lower Saranac Lake is one of three connected lakes, part of the Saranac River, near the village of Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks in northern New York. The Saranac Lake Islands Public Campground provides 87 campsites on inlands in Lower and Middle Saranac Lake. In addition to the Saranac River, it is fed by nearby Lake Colby, Fish Creek, and Lilly Pad Pond.

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Erta Ale is an active shield volcano located in the Afar Region of northeastern Ethiopia. It is the most active volcano in Ethiopia. Erta Ale stands 613 metres tall, with a lava lake, one of only four in the world, at the summit. It is located in the Danakil Depression, a desert area spanning the border with Eritrea. Erta Ale's last major eruption was in 2005, when thousands of nearby residents were forced to flee. Additional lava flow activity took place in August 2007, forcing the evacuation of hundreds and leaving two missing.

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