Heavens

Catalytic converters work poorly if they have not yet warmed up. Tiny metal particles in a catalytic converter require a minimum temperature to function efficiently. At the Vienna University of Technology, thanks to a new measuring method, it has now become possible to examine many different types of these particles at the same time. Reliable information regarding what it is exactly that the efficiency of catalytic converters depends on has thus been obtained for the first time.

Low ignition temperature desired

CHICAGO – A study of children in the New Bedford, Mass., area suggests that low-level prenatal mercury exposure may be associated with a greater risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-related behaviors and that fish consumption during pregnancy may be associated with a lower risk of these behaviors, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.

Boston, MA – Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects approximately ten percent of children worldwide, yet its causes are not well understood. Now, a study led by Susan Korrick, MD, MPH, of Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), and Sharon Sagiv, PhD, MPH, of Boston University School of Public Health, and published in the online version of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine on October 8, 2012, links low-level prenatal mercury exposure with a greater risk of ADHD-related behaviors.

Environmental problems, such as depleting natural resources, highlight the need to establish a renewable chemical industry. Metabolic engineering enhances the production of chemicals made by microbes in so-called "cell factories". Next Monday, world class scientist Professor Sang Yup Lee of KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) will explain how metabolic engineering could lead to the development of solutions to these environmental problems.

NASA's Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel or HS3 scientists had a fascinating tropical cyclone to study in long-lived Hurricane Nadine. NASA's Global Hawk aircraft has investigated Nadine five times during the storm's lifetime.

NASA's Global Hawk also circled around the eastern side of Hurricane Leslie when it initially flew from NASA's Dryden Research Flight Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. to the HS3 base at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va. on Sept. 6-7, 2012.

From Sept. 6 to Sept. 29, 2012, NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) moved into its semi-annual eclipse season, a time when Earth blocks the telescope's view of the sun for a period of time each day. Scientists choose orbits for solar telescopes to minimize eclipses as much as possible, but they are a fact of life -– one that comes with a period of fuzzy imagery directly after the eclipse.

It is easy to see the effect of the strong northeasterly wind shear battering Tropical Storm Gaemi in satellite imagery from NASA. Visible imagery on Oct. 5 shows a large oval-shaped area of showers and thunderstorms associated with the storm, southwest of the exposed center of circulation.

Satellite data is showing that northwesterly wind shear is taking a toll on Tropical Storm Oscar in the central Atlantic and it is expected to dissipate the storm late on Oct. 5, 2012.

NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Tropical Storm Oscar on Oct. 4 at 1335 UTC (9:35 a.m. EDT) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument captured a true-color image of the storm. The imagery showed bulk of Oscar's clouds and showers were southeast of the center of circulation as a result of wind shear.

Twenty-three days after Nadine was born, the tropical cyclone's life came to an end in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. NASA's TRMM satellite caught a look at the fading Nadine one final time on Oct. 3 before it dissipated.

NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite passed above long-lasting Nadine for the last time before the tropical storm's dissipation on October 4, 2012 at 0249 UTC (10:49 p.m. EDT October 3, 2012).

WASHINGTON -- NASA's Swift satellite recently detected a rising tide of high-energy X-rays from a source toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The outburst, produced by a rare X-ray nova, announced the presence of a previously unknown stellar-mass black hole.

"Bright X-ray novae are so rare that they're essentially once-a-mission events and this is the first one Swift has seen," said Neil Gehrels, the mission's principal investigator, at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "This is really something we've been waiting for."

At 11:24 p.m. EDT on Oct. 4, 2012, the sun unleashed a coronal mass ejection (CME). Not to be confused with a solar flare, which is a burst of light and radiation, CMEs are a phenomenon that can send solar particles into space and can reach Earth one to three days later. Experimental NASA research models show the CME to be traveling at about 400 miles per second.

When Earth-directed, CMEs can affect electronic systems in satellites and on Earth. CMEs of this speed, however, have not generally caused major effects in the past. Further updates will be provided if needed.

DURHAM, N.C. -- High-pressure systems over oceans, which largely determine the tracks of tropical cyclones and hydrological extremes in much of the northern hemisphere, are likely to intensify this century, according to a Duke University-led study.

California, Nevada, and Florida have already made driverless cars street-legal, and continuing advances in the technology have led many to predict that the commercialization of automated vehicles is a real possibility in the not-so-distant future. As driverless vehicles become more commonplace, it is important to understand how humans interact with this new technology. The Human Factors special issue on automation, featuring the latest articles on designing automated vehicles with the driver in mind, is now available online.

Twenty-three days after Nadine was born, the tropical cyclone's life came to an end in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. NASA's TRMM satellite caught a look at the fading Nadine one final time on Oct. 3 before it dissipated.

NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite passed above long-lasting Nadine for the last time before the tropical storm's dissipation on October 4, 2012 at 0249 UTC (10:49 p.m. EDT October 3, 2012).

Satellite data is showing that northwesterly wind shear is taking a toll on Tropical Storm Oscar in the central Atlantic and it is expected to dissipate the storm late on Oct. 5, 2012.

NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Tropical Storm Oscar on Oct. 4 at 1335 UTC (9:35 a.m. EDT) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument captured a true-color image of the storm. The imagery showed bulk of Oscar's clouds and showers were southeast of the center of circulation as a result of wind shear.