Remote northern Alberta community has UCalgary grad to thank for its solar energy project

How many solar panels does it take to cover the arena roof in Peavine Métis Settlement?

It’s not exactly the kind of question Juan Pfeiffer was accustomed to answering over the course of earning two engineering degrees in his native Colombia, but it is precisely the question at the core of his capstone project for the Master of Science in Sustainable Energy Development (SEDV) program at the University of Calgary from which he has just graduated.

NASA Finds Tropical Depression Dahlia's Center Devoid of Rainfall

Tropical Depression Dahlia was weakening into a remnant low pressure area when the Global Precipitation Measurement mission core satellite or GPM analyzed the storm's precipitation. GPM found the center devoid of rainfall and light rainfall to the east of center.  

NEST360º's Low-Cost Jaundice Detector Passes First Test in Africa

The first clinical study of a low-cost, hand-held jaundice detector invented by Rice University students couldn’t have come at a better time for NEST360°, an international team of scientists, doctors and global health experts preparing for a Dec. 11 competition for $100 million from the MacArthur Foundation. The money would allow the team to carry out its visionary plan to halve the number of newborn deaths in African hospitals within 10 years.

Replicating Peregrine Falcon Attack Strategies Could Help Down Rogue Drones

Researchers at Oxford University have discovered that peregrine falcons steer their attacks using the same control strategies as guided missiles.

NASA Sees a Mix of Tropical Cyclone Ockhi and Dust Storms

NASA's Terra satellite passed over the Arabian Sea on Dec. 4 and found Tropical Cyclone Ockhi moving north as desert dust pushed into the region north of the storm.

Understanding the impact of natural atmospheric particles

An international team of scientists, led by the University of Leeds, has quantified the relationship between natural sources of particles in the atmosphere and climate change.

Their study, published today in Nature Geoscience, shows that the cooling effect of natural atmospheric particles is greater during warmer years and could therefore slightly reduce the amount that temperatures rise as a result of climate change.  

Flying Laboratory Reveals Crucial Tropical Forest Conservation Targets in Borneo

About 40 percent of northern Malaysian Borneo’s carbon stocks exist in forests that are not designated for maximum protections, according to new remote sensing and satellite mapping from Carnegie’s Greg Asner and his colleagues.

Top Credit Agency to Cities and States: Prepare for Climate Change or Face Lower Credit Rating

Moody’s Investors Service, one of the top credit rating agencies in the world, warned cities and states in the U.S. that unless they prepare for climate change, the agency could lower their credit ratings, making it harder for them to obtain low-interest bonds.

From Alaska to Amazonia: first global maps of traits that drive vegetation growth

Detailed global maps of key traits in higher plants have been made available for the first time, thanks to work led by researchers from the University of Minnesota’s (UMN) College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS).

Study of Darwin's finches reveals that new species can develop in as little as two generations

The arrival 36 years ago of a strange bird to a remote island in the Galápagos archipelago has provided direct genetic evidence of a novel way in which new species arise.

On Nov. 23 in the journal Science, researchers from Princeton University and Uppsala University in Sweden report that the newcomer belonging to one species mated with a member of another species resident on the island, giving rise to a new species that today consists of roughly 30 individuals.