NASA Finds Tropical Depression Carlotta's Strong Storms over Mexico, Eastern Pacific

Tropical Depression Carlotta continues to hug the coast of southwestern Mexico and drop heavy rainfall. NASA's Aqua satellite provided a look at cloud top temperatures through infrared imagery to find out where the most powerful parts of Tropical Depression Carlotta were located.

NASA's Aqua satellite found very cold cloud top temperatures and strong storms in fragmented thunderstorms over mainland Mexico and the Eastern Pacific Ocean.   

Checking China’s pollution by satellite

Air pollution has smothered China’s cities in recent decades. In response, the Chinese government has implemented measures to clean up its skies. But are those policies effective? Now an innovative study co-authored by an MIT scholar shows that one of China’s key antipollution laws is indeed working — but unevenly, with one particular set of polluters most readily adapting to it.

Large Outdoor Study Shows Biodiversity Improves Stability of Algal Biofuel Systems

A diverse mix of species improves the stability and fuel-oil yield of algal biofuel systems, as well as their resistance to invasion by outsiders, according to the findings of a federally funded outdoor study by University of Michigan researchers.

Study Finds a Pesticide-Free Way to Combat Mosquitos and West Nile

Researchers at the University of Waterloo may have discovered a new, pesticide-free way to limit mosquito populations in some area and reduce the spread of the West Nile virus.

Explosive Volcanoes Spawned Mysterious Martian Rock Formation

Explosive volcanic eruptions that shot jets of hot ash, rock and gas skyward are the likely source of a mysterious Martian rock formation, a new study finds. The new finding could add to scientists’ understanding of Mars’s interior and its past potential for habitability, according to the study’s authors.

June 2018 El Niño/Southern Oscillation Update: El Niño Watch!

Well, well, well… what have we here? Favorable conditions for El Niño to develop?

National Weather Service director cautions: Don't chase single model runs this hurricane season

The sultry summer months along the Gulf Coast and East Coast are a time of volatile weather as warm ocean water fuels storms, some just bringing rain and some growing into fierce tropical storms and hurricanes.

Better Be Safe Than Sorry: Economic Optimization Risks Tipping of Important Earth System Elements

Optimizing economic welfare without constraints might put human well-being at risk, a new climate study argues. While being successful in bringing down costs of greenhouse gas reductions for instance, the concept of profit maximization alone does not suffice to avoid the tipping of critical elements in the Earth system which could lead to dramatic changes of our livelihood. The scientists use mathematical experiments to compare economic optimization to the governance concepts of sustainability and the more recent approach of a safe operating space for humanity. All of these turn out to have their benefits and deficits, yet the profit-maximizing approach shows the greatest likelihood of producing outcomes that harm people or the environment.

Critical Plant Gene Takes Unexpected Detour That Could Boost Biofuel Yields

For decades, biologists have believed a key enzyme in plants had one function—produce amino acids, which are vital to plant survival and also essential to human diets.

When the River Runs High

A massive world-wide study of dry riverbeds has found they’re contributing more carbon emissions than previously thought, and this could help scientists better understand how to fight climate change.