Top Stories

Bound by Nature - Cul­tural Evol­u­tion Has Not Freed Hunter-Gather­ers from En­vir­on­men­tal For­cing

Cultural evolution has made humans enormously potent ecosystem engineers and has enabled us to survive and flourish under a variety environmental conditions.

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Researchers Use 'Global Thermometer' to Track Temperature Extremes, Droughts and Melting Ice

Large areas of the Earth’s surface are experiencing rising maximum temperatures, which affect virtually every ecosystem on the planet, including ice sheets and tropical forests that play major roles in regulating the biosphere, scientists have reported.

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NASA's Aqua Satellite Sees Tropical Depression Bolaven Battling Wind Shear

NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over the South China Sea and obtained a visible light image of the first depression of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean basin’s 2018 tropical cyclone season. Vertical wind shear can be deadly to tropical cyclones and satellite data showed Tropical Depression Bolaven, formerly known as 01W, was being adversely affected by it.

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NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP Satellite Sees Tropical Storm Ava Near Madagascar

NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP passed over newly formed Tropical Storm Ava and analyzed the storm in infrared light. Ava, the third tropical cyclone of the Southern Indian Ocean season formed off the coast of northeastern Madagascar on Jan. 3. 

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Agricultural Parasite Takes Control of Host Plant's Genes

Dodder, a parasitic plant that causes major damage to crops in the U.S. and worldwide every year, can silence the expression of genes in the host plants from which it obtains water and nutrients. This cross-species gene regulation, which includes genes that contribute to the host plant’s defense against parasites, has never before been seen from a parasitic plant. Understanding this system could provide researchers with a method to engineer plants to be resistant to the parasite. A paper describing the research by a team that includes scientists at Penn State and Virginia Tech appears January 4, 2018 in the journal Nature.

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New Report Calls for Comprehensive Research Campaign to Better Understand, Predict Gulf of Mexico's Loop Current System

new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine calls for an international, multi-institutional comprehensive campaign of research, observation, and analysis activities that would help improve understanding and prediction of the Gulf of Mexico’s Loop Current System (LCS).  The position, strength, and structure of the LCS -- the dominant ocean circulation feature in the Gulf -- has major implications for oil and gas operations, hurricane intensity, coastal ecosystems, oil spill response, the fishing industry, tourism, and the region’s economy. 

 

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NASA-led Study Solves a Methane Puzzle

A new NASA-led study has solved a puzzle involving the recent rise in atmospheric methane, a potent greenhouse gas, with a new calculation of emissions from global fires. The new study resolves what looked like irreconcilable differences in explanations for the increase.

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Tweaking quantum dots powers-up double-pane solar windows

Using two types of “designer” quantum dots, researchers are creating double-pane solar windows that generate electricity with greater efficiency and create shading and insulation for good measure. It’s all made possible by a new window architecture which utilizes two different layers of low-cost quantum dots tuned to absorb different parts of the solar spectrum.

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Lethal fungus that causes white-nose syndrome may have an Achilles` heel, new study reveals

The fungus behind white-nose syndrome, a disease that has ravaged bat populations in North America, may have an Achilles' heel: UV light. White-nose syndrome has spread steadily for the past decade and is caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans, known as P. destructans or Pd.

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Arctic Clouds Highly Sensitive to Air Pollution

In 1870, explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, trekking across the barren and remote ice cap of Greenland, saw something most people wouldn’t expect in such an empty, inhospitable landscape: haze.

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