NASA Sees Eastern Pacific Stir Up Tropical Storm Norma

Tropical Storm Norma is the newest addition to the tropical cyclones in the Eastern Pacific and NASA's Terra satellite caught it after it developed.

New climate risk classification created to account for potential 'existential' threats

A new study evaluating models of future climate scenarios has led to the creation of the new risk categories “catastrophic” and “unknown” to characterize the range of threats posed by rapid global warming. Researchers propose that unknown risks imply existential threats to the survival of humanity.

These categories describe two low-probability but statistically significant scenarios that could play out by century’s end, in a new study by Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a distinguished professor of climate and atmospheric sciences at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, and his former Scripps graduate student Yangyang Xu, now an assistant professor at Texas A&M University.

NASA Sees Typhoon Doksuri in the South China Sea

Typhoon Doksuri appeared well-rounded and organized on satellite imagery as it moved through the north central South China Sea toward Vietnam.

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite captured a visible light image of Typhoon Doksuri on Sept. 14, 2017 at 1:48 a.m. EDT (0548 UTC).Although Doksuri's eye was obscured by high clouds, the center was evident by the powerful thunderstorms that surrounded it. Doksuri's western quadrant had already spread over the east coast of Vietnam as it moved toward that country.

Biologist reaches into electric eel tank, comes out with equation to measure shocks

The shock from a young electric eel feels like accidentally touching a horse fence. A big one is more like getting tasered — by nine of those devices at once.

NASA-NOAA Satellite Spots 2 Tails of Hurricane Max

NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite captured an image of the latest tropical cyclone in the Eastern Pacific on Sept. 13 along the southwestern coast of Mexico. After Max formed as a tropical storm, it appeared to have two "tails." Max strengthened into a hurricane on Sept. 14.

Max formed as a depression on Sept. 13 around 11 a.m. EDT. It was the sixteenth tropical depression of the Eastern Pacific Ocean hurricane season. By 5 p.m. EDT it had strengthened into a tropical storm.   

Investigating a big dam concrete problem

When the Mactaquac Dam opened in New Brunswick, Canada, in 1968, it was expected to have a service life of 100 years, but a chemical reaction occurring within the concrete used to build the dam has drastically shortened that timeline.

SLAC-Led Project Will Use Artificial Intelligence to Prevent or Minimize Electric Grid Failures

A project led by the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory will combine artificial intelligence with massive amounts of data and industry experience from a dozen U.S. partners to identify places where the electric grid is vulnerable to disruption, reinforce those spots in advance and recover faster when failures do occur.

Corrosion in Real Time

What affects almost everything made of metal, from cars to boats to underground pipes and even the fillings in your teeth? Corrosion — a slow process of decay. At a global cost of trillions of dollars annually, it carries a steep price tag, not to mention, the potential safety, environmental and health hazards it poses.

Biomimicry = Return on Inspiration

It seems so obvious now: innovators are turning to nature for inspiration in building, chemistry, agriculture, energy, health, transportation, computing–even the design of organizations and cities. Biomimicry is taught from kindergarten to university and practiced in all scales of enterprise.

At least one-third of Asian glaciers will disappear

Even if the planet only warms up by 1.5 degrees Celsius – which is what the signatories to the Paris climate agreement are aiming for – one-third of all Asian glaciers will have melted by 2100, according to a study carried out by Utrecht University researchers, which will be published in Nature on 14 September.