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A new three-dimensional model of the fluid stored deep within the Earth’s crust along the Cascadia Subduction Zone provides new insights into how the accumulation and release of such fluid can affect seismic activity in the region. The liquid collects near but does not penetrate the thickened section of crust known as Siletzia lying beneath much of western Oregon and Washington. The pressure associated with this fluid could be a factor in the seismic phenomenon known as episodic tremor and slip, or ETS, said Gary Egbert, an electromagnetic geophysicist at Oregon State’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences and lead author of the new paper. detail the findings. Episodic tremors and slips are fault behaviors that include localized non-volcanic vibrations and slow slip events that may occur over hours or days. It occurs throughout the Cascadia Subduction Zone, from northern California to British Columbia, but is less frequent and intense under the Siletzia central core, wh

Geckos are famous for having gripping feet which allow them to scale vertical surfaces with ease. They get this superpower from millions of microscopic structures like the hairs on their toes. Now, scientists have zoomed in to take a closer look at the structures, called setae, and found that they are coated in an ultra-thin film of water-repelling lipid molecules just a nanometer, or one millionth of a meter thick. Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) analyzed the surface of the setae using high-energy X-rays emitted by a type of particle accelerator called a synchrotron. Synchrotron microscopy shows that the lipid molecules coat the surface of the setae in a dense and regular arrangement. Lipids can play a role in this process because they are hydrophobic, meaning they repel water. “The lipids may serve to push the water under the spatula, allowing them to make closer contact with the surface,” said physicist and co-author Tobias Weidner of Aa