Earth

NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over Tropical Storm Conson on Aug. 11 and visible imagery showed that wind shear was again affecting the storm as it did days earlier.

Individuals in Chicago who learned funding was available when they called a homelessness prevention center were 76% less likely to enter a shelter than those who called when funding was not, a new study reports. The study suggests that temporary financial assistance programs for those facing homelessness have a notable impact. In the United States alone, over 2 million people experience homelessness each year.

At least several southeastern U.S. ecosystems are highly vulnerable to the impacts of present and future climate change, according to two new USGS reports on research conducted by scientists with Interior Department's Southeast Climate Science Center.

At-risk ecosystems occur in states ranging from Texas to Florida, Virginia to Georgia as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Batches of sand from a beach on the Delaware Bay are yielding insights into the powerful impact of temperature rise and evaporation along the shore that are in turn challenging long-held assumptions about what causes beach salinity to fluctuate in coastal zones that support a rich network of sea creatures and plants.

The findings have implications for the migration and survival of invertebrates such as mussels and crabs as global warming drives temperatures higher.

University of Delaware researchers report in a new study that offshore wind may be more powerful, yet more turbulent than expected in the North Eastern United States.

The findings, published in a paper in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, could have important implications for the future development of offshore wind farms in the U.S., including the assessment of how much wind power can be produced, what type of turbines should be used, how many turbines should be installed and the spacing between each.

Alexandria, VA - In 2010, trans-Atlantic airspace was shutdown, and international travel halted, when Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull erupted, spewing ash into the air. This was an expensive decision, triggered by the threat ash posed to aircraft, crews and passengers. When ash enters an aircraft turbine, which typically can reach temperatures of up to 2,000 degrees Celsius, the ash can melt, damaging the engines in midflight.

Detecting turbulence remains the Achilles' heel of modern-day aviation. The reports submitted by pilots, subjective and often very inaccurate, are the least expensive and the most frequently used method for trying to predict where it will occur. Scientists from the Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw, have demonstrated that turbulence can be detected in a much faster and more precise way, using data already routinely broadcast by the aircraft operated by commercial airlines.

Atomic force microscopes make the nanostructure of surfaces visible. Their probes scan the investigation material with finest measurement needles. KIT has now succeeded in adapting these needles to the application. For any measurement task, e.g. for various biological samples, a suitable measurement needle can be produced. For production, 3D laser lithography, i.e. a 3D printer of structures in the nanometer size, is applied. This success has made it to the title page of the Applied Physics Letters journal. DOI: 10.1063/1.4960386

Magnetic materials displaying what is referred to as itinerant ferromagnetism are in an elusive physical state that is not yet fully understood. They behave like a magnets under very specific conditions, such as at ultracold temperatures near absolute zero. Physicists normally have no other choice than to study this very unique state of matter in a controlled fashion, using ultracold atomic gases.

Methods of collective intelligence can result in considerably more accurate medical diagnoses, but only under certain conditions. A study headed by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development has shed new light on how medical diagnostics can be boosted by obtaining several independent judgements. The researchers also found that the group composition is decisive for the quality of the diagnosis.

Tropical Depression Javier weakened to a remnant low-pressure area on Aug. 9 at 5 p.m. EDT (2100 UTC). NOAA's GOES-West satellite showed the remnants over Baja California, Mexico, and the Gulf of California.

NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over Tropical Storm Conson early on Aug. 10 and visible imagery showed the wind shear that was affecting the storm earlier has waned as the system appeared more rounded.

"Best before", "usable at least until" and "expiry date" - those are the Danish shelf life labels used in connection with food. In 2012 a study examined whether the Danes knew the difference between these labels, and in 2015 scientists from Aarhus University examined if our knowledge of the labels has improved and if we are able to distinguish between them.

Nitrogen-rich agricultural runoff into the Chesapeake Bay presents an ongoing environmental and economic concern for the bay's massive watershed. Pollution from fertilizer application feeds algal blooms that poison humans and marine life, and devastate fisheries.

While efforts to restore the bay have been successful during the past several years, a study led by Princeton University researchers shows that weather patterns tied to climate change may nonetheless increase the severity of algal blooms by changing how soil nutrients leach into the watershed.

Computer simulations of physical systems are common in science, engineering, and entertainment, but they use several different types of tools.

If, say, you want to explore how a crack forms in an airplane wing, you need a very precise physical model of the crack's immediate vicinity. But if you want to simulate the flexion of an airplane wing under different flight conditions, it's more practical to use a simpler, higher-level description of the wing.