NASA Sees Tropical Cyclone Donna Shearing Apart

NASA's Terra satellite captured an infrared image of Tropical Cyclone Donna as it was being sheared apart by winds southeast of New Caledonia.

An infrared image taken May 10 at 11:55 UTC (7:55 a.m. EDT), from the MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite showed cloud top temperatures of the dying storm. Strongest thunderstorms with cloud tops so high in the troposphere they were as cold as minus 70 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 56.6 degrees Celsius) were pushed to the southeast of the center from northwesterly wind shear.

Uncovering the answer to an age-old question: how do snowflakes form?

More than 400 years ago, renowned mathematician and scientist Johannes Kepler speculated about the creation of one of nature’s most angelic and unique shapes: the six-sided snowflake. Although atoms would not be discovered until two centuries later,  Kepler openly pondered about the microscopic building blocks that lead to the ice crystal’s hexagonal formation, including the myriad of factors behind this recurring phenomenon.  

Climate change could increase ER visits for allergy-related asthma

More children could wind up in hospital emergency rooms suffering from allergy-induced asthma if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise and cause longer oak pollen seasons, according to a new study.

Rising Temperatures Threaten Stability of Tibetan Alpine Grasslands

A warming climate could affect the stability of alpine grasslands in Asia’s Tibetan Plateau, threatening the ability of farmers and herders to maintain the animals that are key to their existence, and potentially upsetting the ecology of an area in which important regional river systems originate, says a new study by researchers in China and the United States. 

EPA Asked to Reject Expanded Use of Medically Important Antibiotic on Citrus Crops

The Center for Biological Diversity and Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future today asked the Environmental Protection Agency to reject a pesticide company’s request to permanently approve the use of a medically important antibiotic called oxytetracycline as a herbicide on citrus crops.

MIT researchers develop new way to clear pollutants from water

When it comes to removing very dilute concentrations of pollutants from water, existing separation methods tend to be energy- and chemical-intensive. Now, a new method developed at MIT could provide a selective alternative for removing even extremely low levels of unwanted compounds.

Power plants could cut a third of their emissions by using solar energy

Led by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the COMBO-CFB project has developed a new innovative concept to increase solar energy production in the energy system. According to this research, the concept can reduce fuel consumption and emissions stressing the climate by more than 33 per cent. The concept is based on the combination of concentrated solar power (CSP) technology and a traditional power plant process into a hybrid plant which produces electricity on the basis of consumption.

Quality text messaging by nurses and doctors linked to patient survival

In medical emergencies, time is of the essence. So is the quality of communication. A team of researchers from York University, University Health Network (UHN) and Trillium Health Partners studied text messages sent between nurses and physicians in deteriorating internal medicine patients requiring escalation to intensive care unit (ICU) to identify issues in failures to rescue. Looking at records from 2012 to 2014 at the Toronto General Hospital, the team found that message quality was positively linked to survival.

Neonic Pesticides Threaten Wild Bees' Breeding: Study

Neonicotinoid pesticides hinder wild queen bumblebees’ reproductive success, according to a new University of Guelph study.

The study is the first to link exposure to thiamethoxam — one of the most commonly used neonicotinoid pesticides — to fewer fully developed eggs in queens from four wild bumblebee species that forage in farmland.

Experiments show that a few self-driving cars can dramatically improve traffic flow

The presence of just a few autonomous vehicles can eliminate the stop-and-go driving of the human drivers in traffic, along with the accident risk and fuel inefficiency it causes, according to new research. The finding indicates that self-driving cars and related technology may be even closer to revolutionizing traffic control than previously thought.