Ecological studies often are subjected to unintentional biases, suggesting that improved research designs for hypothesis testing should be used. Double-blind ecological studies are rare but necessary to minimize sampling biases and omission errors, and improve the reliability of research. We used a double-blind design to evaluate associations between nests of red wood ants (Formica rufa, RWA) a...

Four earthquakes above M5.0 in Yunnan and Tibet, China occurred from 2010 to 2011. By calculating the tidal-force changes induced by celestial bodies in this region, we found that the earthquakes occurred when tidal forces continuously grew from low to peak levels and approached the maximum amplitude phase, which indicated a tidal force that had a trigger or inducing effect of active tectonic e...

In recent years, tectonic plate movements have caused huge natural disasters, such as the Great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake and the resulting Asian tsunami, which led to significant loss of human lives and properties (Ammon et al., 2005; Lay et al., 2005). Scientific evidences proved it was the beginning of a new earthquake supper-cycle in this active area (Sieh et al., 2008). In order for scien...

Enceladus exhibits a strong tectonic contrast between its South Polar Terrain (SPT), which is young and geologically active, and its northern hemisphere, which is relatively ancient and stable. Previous global three-dimensional spherical models of convection exhibit patterns that are symmetrical around the equator and fail to explain the formation of a hemispheric dichotomy. Here we present glo...