University of Alberta physicists upend what is known about northern lights

What scientists thought caused certain classes of northern lights is not what causes certain classes of northern lights.

In a landmark study that has toppled what scientists know about the night sky, UAlberta physicists Robert Rankin and Dmytro Sydorenko found that the ionospheric feedback instability (IFI)—the mechanism thought to be the cause of certain types of northern lights—not only doesn’t cause northern lights, it may not even exist at all.

NASA Sees Maria Intensify into a Major Hurricane

NASA and NOAA satellites have provided data on Maria as it strengthened into a major Hurricane headed toward the Leeward Islands. NASA's Aqua satellite provided an infrared look at Maria that showed cooling cloud top temperatures and NOAA's GOES satellite provided an animation of imagery that showed the storm developing and strengthening. The GPM satellite found "Hot" towering clouds that indicated strengthening was occurring before Maria became a major hurricane.

NASA Identifies Wind Shear Affecting Tropical Depression Lee

Visible imagery from NASA's Aqua satellite showed Tropical Depression Lee as a weak swirl of clouds around its center with most of its clouds and thunderstorms pushed east of its center.

5,000 deaths annually from dieselgate in Europe

Excess emissions from diesel cars cause about 5,000 premature deaths annually across Europe, a new study shows.

Since the late 1990s the share of diesel cars in the EU has risen to around 50% in the fleet, with important variations between countries. There are now more than 100 million diesel cars running in Europe, twice as many as in the rest of the world together. Their NOxemissions are however 4 to 7 times higher on the road than in official certification tests. Modern engine controls have been optimized by manufacturers for the specific laboratory testing but underperform in real-driving. In this new study, researchers at IIASA and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute have calculated the premature deaths from these excess NOx emissions for the population in all European countries.

Copper Catalyst Yields High Efficiency CO2-to-Fuels Conversion

Berkeley Lab scientists discover critical role of nanoparticle transformation

Solar-to-Fuel System Recycles CO2 to Make Ethanol and Ethylene

Berkeley Lab advance is first demonstration of efficient, light-powered production of fuel via artificial photosynthesis.

An effective way to eliminate atrazine and its by-products in surface water

Atrazine, widely used as a weedkiller, is known to have harmful effects on aquatic wildlife and presents a risk to human health by altering the action of certain hormones.

Cereals that defy the drought

Genome decoding provides information about dry and heat-resistant cereals

Altitude Training for Cancer-Fighting Cells

Mountain climbers and endurance athletes are not the only ones to benefit from altitude training – that is, learning to perform well under low-oxygen conditions. It turns out that cancer-fighting cells of the immune system can also improve their performance through a cellular version of such a regimen. In a study published in Cell Reports, Weizmann Institute of Science researchers have shown that immune system’s killer T cells destroy cancerous tumors much more effectively after being starved for oxygen.

Sheep Gene Study May Help Breed Healthier Animals

Fresh insights into the genetic code of sheep could aid breeding programmes to improve their health and productivity.