Heavens

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 2, 2013 – The American English speech variant known as uptalk, or "Valley Girl speak" – marked by a rise in pitch at the ends of sentences – is typically associated with young southern Californian females. New research shows uptalk is expanding to other demographic groups, including males.

The new study is also the first to identify distinct melodic vocal patterns distinguishing an uptalk question from a statement – a fuzzy area for non-uptalkers that leads to stereotypic parody of uptalkers as insecure, shallow or non-intellectual.

AMHERST, Mass. – Despite the fact that recent studies have focused on climate change impacts on the intensity and frequency of tropical cyclones themselves, a research team led by Jon Woodruff of the University of Massachusetts Amherst found on review of the relevant science that sea level rise and shoreline retreat are the two more certain factors expected to drive an increase in future flood risk from such storms.

Left to themselves, coastal wetlands can resist rapid levels of sea-level rise. But humans could be sabotaging some of their best defenses, according to a Nature review paper published Thursday from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 27, 2013 – What's the best place to conduct a conversation about a confidential or even classified matter? Surprisingly, probably not a conference room designed in accordance with acoustical criteria approved by the Department of Defense (DOD).

DURHAM, N.H. -- Just over a year since launch, NASA's Van Allen Probes mission continues to unravel longstanding mysteries of Earth's high-energy radiation belts that encircle our planet and pose hazards to orbiting satellites and astronauts.

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 27, 2013 – Vibration absorbers are devices used to damp vibration in everything from engines to buildings. When attached to the wheels or the tracks of rail transit systems, they may reduce the noise from trains, bringing more peace and quiet to passengers and those who work or live near the tracks. In tests of two major metropolitan public rail systems, researchers say that vibration absorbers have a modest effect if any on wheel or rail rolling noise, but they may be effective in reducing wheel squeal.

Optical fibers carry data in the form of pulses of light over distances of thousands of miles at amazing speeds. They are one of the glories of modern telecommunications technology. However, their capacity is limited, because the pulses of light need to be lined up one after the other in the fiber with a minimum distance between them so the signals don't interfere with each other. This leaves unused empty space for data in the fiber.

A star is formed when a large cloud of gas and dust condenses and eventually becomes so dense that it collapses into a ball of gas, where the pressure heats the matter, creating a glowing gas ball – a star is born. New research from the Niels Bohr Institute, among others, shows that a young, newly formed star in the Milky Way had such an explosive growth, that it was initially about 100 times brighter than it is now. The results are published in the scientific journal, Astrophysical Journal Letters.

RICHLAND, Wash. – Highly insulating triple-pane windows keep a house snug and cozy, but it takes two decades or more for the windows to pay off financially based on utility-bill savings, according to a report by energy efficiency experts at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

The findings are being presented Dec. 4, 2013 by PNNL research engineer Sarah Widder at the Buildings XII Conference in Clearwater Beach, Fla. The meeting is sponsored by ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers).

WASHINGTON (Dec. 3, 2013) – The acute care system, which includes urgent care and retail clinics, emergency departments, hospitals, and doctors' offices, reflects the best and worst in American medicine. While acting as a safety net for the under- and uninsured, the system is also fragmented, disconnected, and costly.

Quantum entanglement, a perplexing phenomenon of quantum mechanics that Albert Einstein once referred to as "spooky action at a distance," could be even spookier than Einstein perceived.

Physicists at the University of Washington and Stony Brook University in New York believe the phenomenon might be intrinsically linked with wormholes, hypothetical features of space-time that in popular science fiction can provide a much-faster-than-light shortcut from one part of the universe to another.

The fires (outlined in red) in this image of Ecuador taken by the Aqua satellite are most likely agricultural in nature. The location, widespread nature, and number of fires suggest that these fires were deliberately set to manage land. Farmers often use fire to return nutrients to the soil and to clear the ground of unwanted plants. While fire helps enhance crops and grasses for pasture, the fires also produce smoke that degrades air quality.

AUSTIN, Texas — In a finding of relevance to the search for life in our solar system, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin's Institute for Geophysics, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research have shown that the subsurface ocean on Jupiter's moon Europa may have deep currents and circulation patterns with heat and energy transfers capable of sustaining biological life.

The water signals were all less pronounced than expected, and the scientists suspect this is because a layer of haze or dust blankets each of the five planets. This haze can reduce the intensity of all signals from the atmosphere in the same way fog can make colors in a photograph appear muted. At the same time, haze alters the profiles of water signals and other important molecules in a distinctive way.

The Northwestern Pacific Ocean tropical cyclone season continues with the formation of the thirty-third tropical depression today, December 3, 2013.Two NASA satellites provided a look at the newly formed depression's cloud cover and rainfall rates.