CAMBRIDGE, Mass-- A new approach to harvesting solar energy, developed by MIT researchers, could improve efficiency by using sunlight to heat a high-temperature material whose infrared radiation would then be collected by a conventional photovoltaic cell. This technique could also make it easier to store the energy for later use, the researchers say.
Heavens
Astronomers have discovered a distant quasar illuminating a vast nebula of diffuse gas, revealing for the first time part of the network of filaments thought to connect galaxies in a cosmic web. Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, led the study, published January 19 in Nature.
Using the 10-meter Keck I Telescope at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, the researchers detected a very large, luminous nebula of gas extending about 2 million light-years across intergalactic space.
People in the southern Philippines are used to heavy rainfall this time of the year but rainfall totals have recently been exceptionally high. A tropical low known as System 91W, located northeast of Mindanao has been an almost permanent feature on weather maps for the past week. NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's TRMM satellite has provided data on rainfall and flooding that was used to create a map of the event.
NASA's Terra satellite saw the System 94S, a tropical low, still holding together as it continued moving inland from the Northern Territory into Western Australia today, January 17.
The tropical low pressure system known as System 94S took a more southern route than previously expected and moved into Western Australia today, January 17. System 94S is now expected to continue moving in a southerly direction according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology or ABM.
The tenth tropical cyclone of the Southern Pacific Ocean cyclone season was born today, January 17 as NASA's Aqua satellite captured infrared data on the storm as it became Tropical Storm June.
A wildfire started and spread quickly in the foothills northeast of Los Angeles on January 16, 2014. The plume of ash and smoke blanketed much of the metropolitan area and prompted air quality warnings.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites captured these images of the Colby fire just before (top) and just after noon on January 16. The morning image is clearer because the scene was centered under the satellite, while the afternoon image is fuzzy because the satellite was observing from an angle.
The tropical depression southwest of Madagascar on January 16 developed into a tropical cyclone early on January 17 as NASA's Aqua satellite passed overhead and captured its birth.
When Aqua passed over newborn Tropical Cyclone Deliwe on January 17 at 10:55 UTC/5:55 a.m. EST the MODIS instrument or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer took a picture of it. Deliwe was previously known as Tropical Depression 09S. In the MODIS image bands of thunderstorms stretched west into the Mozambique Channel and south into the Southern Indian Ocean.
The discovery of what is essentially a 3D version of graphene – the 2D sheets of carbon through which electrons race at many times the speed at which they move through silicon - promises exciting new things to come for the high-tech industry, including much faster transistors and far more compact hard drives. A collaboration of researchers at the U.S Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has discovered that sodium bismuthate can exist as a form of quantum matter called a three-dimensional topological Dirac semi-metal (3DTDS).
PROVIDENCE, R.I. –As Medicaid eligibility expands under the Affordable Care Act, prison systems are increasingly supporting prisoners' enrollment in Medicaid as a way to help lower prison system costs and improve prisoners' access to health care upon release. These are the findings of a nationwide survey of state prison administrators that was led by Josiah D. Rich, M.D., M.P.H., director of the Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights, based at The Miriam Hospital. The study is published online in advance of print in the American Journal of Public Health.
The discovery of what is essentially a 3D version of graphene – the 2D sheets of carbon through which electrons race at many times the speed at which they move through silicon - promises exciting new things to come for the high-tech industry, including much faster transistors and far more compact hard drives. A collaboration of researchers at the U.S Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has discovered that sodium bismuthate can exist as a form of quantum matter called a three-dimensional topological Dirac semi-metal (3DTDS).
The tropical low pressure area known as System 94S still has some punch in it as the low-level center of circulation continues to track over Western Australia and the Northern Territory. NASA's Aqua satellite showed that thunderstorms in the low had the potential for heavy rain as it continues to track over land, and heavy rainfall warnings are in effect in the Northern Territory.
The tropical low pressure area known as System 91W that has been plaguing the central and southern Philippines for the last couple of days continues to bring floods and heavy rainfall today, January 16. NASA's Aqua satellite passed over System 91W and identified powerful thunderstorms with the potential for heavy rainfall, moving back toward the Visayas and Mindanao regions.
The ninth tropical cyclone of the Southern Indian Ocean season was born hours after NASA's Aqua satellite passed overhead and gathered important infrared data on the developing storm.
NASA's Aqua satellite passed over System 95S on January 15 at 21:59 UTC/4:59 p.m. EST and saw two large areas of powerful thunderstorms within the developing low pressure area. Thunderstorms with cloud top temperatures exceeding -63F/-52C indicated powerful uplift in the low pressure area.
According to ABC News Channel 24 in Australia: "The Country Fire Service is battling several bushfires across South Australia, one of which threatened a house." All of the fires are bushfires which are being fueled by grass and detritus. As the record temperatures in South Australia soar, it is not uncommon for these fires to break out.
This is a key finding from an international multi-model analysis by the Stanford Energy Modeling Forum (EMF28) and comes at a crucial time, as the European Commission is set to announce next week its plans whether to scale up its efforts on emissions reduction in the next decade. However, beyond 2040, according to the scientists the costs risk to rise substantially. Technological innovation would be needed to counter this.