Heavens | Page 203 | Science Codex

Sophisticated radiation detector designed for broad public use

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Nuclear engineers at Oregon State University have developed a small, portable and inexpensive radiation detection device that should help people all over the world better understand the radiation around them, its type and intensity, and whether or not it poses a health risk.

The device was developed in part due to public demand following the nuclear incident in Fukushima, Japan, in 2011, when many regional residents were unsure what level of radiation they were being exposed to and whether their homes, food, environment and drinking water were safe.

Sun-like stars reveal their ages

Defining what makes a star "Sun-like" is as difficult as defining what makes a planet "Earth-like." A solar twin should have a temperature, mass, and spectral type similar to our Sun. We also would expect it to be about 4.5 billion years old. However, it is notoriously difficult to measure a star's age so astronomers usually ignore age when deciding if a star counts as "Sun-like."

In the gut, immunity is a 2-way street

In recent years, it has become increasingly clear that many diseases are triggered or maintained by changes in bacterial communities in the gut. However, the general view up into now has been rather simple: bacteria stimulate the immune system, leading to inflammation or autoimmune disorders in a single direction.

NOAA's GOES-West satellite sees smoke from Canadian fires over US

NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite or GOES-West satellite spotted smoke over the U.S. Mid-West from dozens of fires raging in Canada's Northwestern Territories.

At 1200 UTC (8 a.m. EDT) on July 9, 2014, GOES-West captured this image of the brownish-colored haze created by forest fires in Canada's Northwest Territories that drifted all the way into South Dakota. This image was created by the NASA GOES Project at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

NASA sees Tropical Storm Neoguri losing punch along southern Japan's coast

Once a powerful super typhoon, now an weakening tropical storm, NASA's Terra satellite saw a much weaker Tropical Storm Neoguri moving along the southern coast of Japan.

On July 10 at 0:35 UTC, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradometer (MODIS) instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured an image of a more disorganized Tropical Storm Neoguri over east central Japan. At the time of the image, a more elongated Tropical Storm Neoguri's center was east of Kyushu, Japan.

Merging galaxies and droplets of starbirth

The Universe is filled with objects springing to life, evolving and dying explosive deaths. This new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captures a snapshot of some of this cosmic movement. Embedded within the egg-shaped blue ring at the centre of the frame are two galaxies. These galaxies have been found to be merging into one and a "chain" of young stellar superclusters are seen winding around the galaxies' nuclei.

Diving for pearls with the Hubble Space Telescope

Stars forming like a string of blue pearls along two elliptical galaxies could be the result of a galactic merger, according to an international team of astronomers. The structure could reveal rare insights about elliptical galaxies.

Wildfires dot central Russia's landscape

This natural-color satellite image was collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite on July 10, 2014. Each hot spot, which appears as a red mark, is an area where the thermal detectors on the MODIS instrument recognized temperatures higher than background. When accompanied by plumes of smoke, as in this image, such hot spots are diagnostic for fire.

Radio-burst discovery deepens astrophysics mystery

The discovery of a split-second burst of radio waves by scientists using the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico provides important new evidence of mysterious pulses that appear to come from deep in outer space.

Mobile phone bling may be a personal, but also cultural thing

Choosing mobile phone cases and customizing phones with charms and decorations may reveal a lot about a person's culture, as well as increase attachment to the devices, according to researchers.

In a study on culture and mobile phone customization, researchers found that people from Eastern cultures tend to be more motivated to change the look and sound of their mobile phones than people in Western countries, said S. Shyam Sundar, Distinguished Professor of Communications and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory, Penn State.

Mouse study: Natural birth may strengthen the immune system

A number of studies suggest that children delivered by Caesarean section have a different intestinal flora than children delivered by natural birth. But it is still unknown why this is the case and what it means for the immune system. Researchers from the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences therefore decided to scrutinise the impact of birth on the development of the immune system in a study of newborn mouse pups.

NASA finds friction from tides could help distant earths survive, and thrive

As anybody who has started a campfire by rubbing sticks knows, friction generates heat. Now, computer modeling by NASA scientists shows that friction could be the key to survival for some distant Earth-sized planets traveling in dangerous orbits.

The findings are consistent with observations that Earth-sized planets appear to be very common in other star systems. Although heat can be a destructive force for some planets, the right amount of friction, and therefore heat, can be helpful and perhaps create conditions for habitability.

NASA MESSENGER and STEREO measurements open new window into high-energy processes on the sun

Understanding the sun from afar isn't easy. How do you figure out what powers solar flares – the intense bursts of radiation coming from the release of magnetic energy associated with sunspots – when you must rely on observing only the light and particles that make their way to near-Earth's orbit?

NASA, NOAA satellites help confirm Tropical Storm Fausto as a remnant low

NOAA's GOES-West and NASA-JAXA's Global Precipitation Measurement or GPM mission satellite helped forecasters at the National Hurricane Center determine that what was once Tropical Storm Fausto is now a remnant area of low pressure in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

Forecaster Beven at the National Hurricane Center (NHC) noted that "satellite imagery, overnight scatterometer data, and a recent GPM satellite microwave overpass indicate that Fausto has degenerated to a trough of low pressure."

Cosmic grains of dust formed in supernova explosion

There are billions of stars and planets in the universe. A star is glowing sphere of gas, while planets like Earth are made up of solids. The planets are formed in dust clouds that swirled around a newly formed star. Dust grains are composed of elements like carbon, silicon, oxygen, iron, and magnesium. But where does the cosmic dust come from? New research from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen and Aarhus University shows that not only can grains of dust form in gigantic supernova explosions, they can also survive the subsequent shockwaves they are exposed to.