Heavens

'Poisoning' corrosion brings stainless magnesium closer

In a discovery that could have major implications for the aerospace, automotive and electronics industries, scientists have found a way to dramatically reduce the corrosion rate of lightweight wonder metal magnesium: adding arsenic.

Weighing in at two thirds less than aluminium, magnesium is the lightest structural metal. It has many potential industrial applications, but uptake is severely restricted by its poor resistance to corrosion. Identification of methods to restrict magnesium corrosion is the first step in engineering such technology into functional alloys.

NASA sees Tropical Storm Pewa develop in central Pacific

NASA's Aqua satellite passed over two developing low pressure areas in the Central Pacific Ocean, just before one of them strengthened into Tropical Storm Pewa.

Agricultural fires in Mozambique and Malawi

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite detected dozens of fires burning in southeastern Africa in mostly Mozambique and Malawi. The fires are outlined in red.

Fires in eastern Russia -- Urals and Siberia

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite detected dozens of fires burning in eastern Russia in this satellite image captured on August 15, 2013. The fires are outlined in red. Smoke appears as grayish, wispy air currents.

Antarctic ice core sheds new light on how the last ice age ended

Analysis of an ice core taken by the National Science Foundation- (NSF) funded West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide drilling project reveals that warming in Antarctica began about 22,000 years ago, a few thousand years earlier than suggested by previous records.

This timing shows that West Antarctica did not "wait for a cue" from the Northern Hemisphere to start warming, as scientists had previously supposed.

Trio of fires in Northern California

A trio of fires continues to plague Northern California. In this MODIS image from the Terra satellite, all three fires can be detected.

The Corral Complex fire was started by lightning on August 10, 2013. It is located in the Trinity Alps Wilderness and is burning within the 1999 Megram Fire area. The fire is now approximately 2,500 acres. Growth potential for this fire is high and the terrain the fire is located in is extreme.

University of Montana scientists use new approach to reveal function of Greenland's ice sheet

MISSOULA – Findings from a large-scale ice drilling study on the Greenland ice sheet by a team of University of Montana and University of Wyoming researchers may revise the models used to predict how ice sheets move.

The work was published in Science on Aug. 15 in a paper titled "Basal Drainage System Response to Increasing Surface Melt on the Greenland Ice Sheet."

NASA data showed Tropical Storm Erin forming

Infrared data from NASA's Aqua satellite showed strong thunderstorms had developed in the eastern Atlantic low pressure system that grew into Tropical Storm Erin. NASA's TRMM satellite noticed a "hot tower" in the storm's center, and research has shown tropical cyclones that have them will intensify as this storm did.

Ex-Tropical Storm Utor still raining on southern China

NASA satellite data revealed that the day after Typhoon Utor made landfall in southern China, its circulation still appeared intact despite weakening over land.

Typhoon Utor's eye made landfall around 0730 UTC/3:30 a.m. EDT on Aug. 14. On Aug. 15, Utor was still dropping rain over southern China.

A new approach assembles big structures from small interlocking pieces

CAMBRIDGE, Mass-- MIT researchers have developed a lightweight structure whose tiny blocks can be snapped together much like the bricks of a child's construction toy. The new material, the researchers say, could revolutionize the assembly of airplanes, spacecraft, and even larger structures, such as dikes and levees.

The new approach to construction is described in a paper appearing this week in the journal Science, co-authored by postdoc Kenneth Cheung and Neil Gershenfeld, director of MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms.

Voyager 1 has left the solar system, says new study

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Voyager 1 appears to have at long last left our solar system and entered interstellar space, says a University of Maryland-led team of researchers.

University of East Anglia research could contain infectious disease outbreaks

Researchers at the University of East Anglia have identified a rapid response which could help halt infectious diseases such as bird flu, swine flu and SARS before they take hold.

Focusing on the avian flu virus strain H5N1, research published today in the journal PLOS ONE identifies key stages in the poultry trade chain which lead to its transmission to other birds, animals and humans.

Human eye movements for vision are remarkably adaptable

When something gets in the way of our ability to see, we quickly pick up a new way to look, in much the same way that we would learn to ride a bike, according to a new study published in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on August 15.

Cosmic turbulences result in star and black hole formation

Just how stars and black holes in the Universe are able to form from rotating matter is one of the big questions of astrophysics. What we do know is that magnetic fields figure prominently into the picture. However, our current understanding is that they only work if matter is electrically well conductive -- but in rotating discs this isn't always the case.

Quantum teleportation: Transfer of flying quantum bits at the touch of a button

By means of the quantum-mechanical entanglement of spatially separated light fields, researchers in Tokyo and Mainz have managed to teleport photonic qubits with extreme reliability. This means that a decisive breakthrough has been achieved some 15 years after the first experiments in the field of optical teleportation. The success of the experiment conducted in Tokyo is attributable to the use of a hybrid technique in which two conceptually different and previously incompatible approaches were combined.