MIT researchers have taken a step toward solving a longstanding challenge with wireless communication: direct data transmission between underwater and airborne devices.

Take a look at the clouds, if there are any in your sky right now. If not, here are a few examples. Watch the billows, the white lofty tufts set against the blue sky.

University of Texas at San Antonio researchers develop tools to predict the dispersal of chemical plumes, pollutants.

NASA provided estimates monsoon rainfall that affected India from Aug. 13 to 20.

The above average monsoon rains resulted in severe flooding in parts of India.  Hardest hit was the state of Kerala located in the southwest corner near the bottom of the peninsula where at least 350 fatalities have been reported and many as 800,000 people displaced as a result of the extreme flooding and ensuing mudslides.

The response was mixed: Some support, some pushback. The topic also became fodder for late-night TV shows.

A new genetic analysis of invasive pythons captured across South Florida finds the big constrictors are closely related to one another.

In recent decades, scientists have noted a surge in Arctic plant growth as a symptom of climate change. But without observations showing exactly when and where vegetation has bloomed as the world’s coldest areas warm, it’s difficult to predict how vegetation will respond to future warming. Now, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and UC Berkeley have developed a new approach that may paint a more accurate picture of Arctic vegetation and our climate’s recent past – and future.

NASA's Aqua satellite provided forecasters with a look at Typhoon Soulik's cloud top temperatures and 50 nautical-mile wide eye as it passed overhead on Aug. 21.

For thousands of years, people in the Middle East and South America have extracted water from the air to help sustain their populations. Drawing inspiration from those examples, researchers are now developing a lightweight, battery-powered freshwater harvester that could someday take as much as 10 gallons per hour from the air, even in arid locations. They say their nanofiber-based method could help address modern water shortages due to climate change, industrial pollution, droughts and groundwater depletion.

Researchers report a new type of battery –- made of paper and fueled by bacteria --- that could overcome challenges of getting power sources to remote areas.