RIVERSIDE, Calif. - The international University of California, Riverside-led SpARCS collaboration has discovered four of the most distant clusters of galaxies ever found, as they appeared when the universe was only 4 billion years old. Clusters are rare regions of the universe consisting of hundreds of galaxies containing trillions of stars, as well as hot gas and mysterious dark matter. Spectroscopic observations from the ground using the W. M.
Heavens
Astrophysicists from the Johns Hopkins University have proposed a clever new way of shedding light on the mystery of dark matter, believed to make up most of the universe.
The irony is they want to try to pin down the nature of this unexplained phenomenon by using another, an obscure cosmic emanation known as "fast radio bursts."
New research suggests that Pennsylvania residents with the highest exposure to active natural gas wells operated by the hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") industry are nearly twice as likely to suffer from a combination of migraine headaches, chronic nasal and sinus symptoms and severe fatigue.
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, reporting online August 25 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, say their findings add to a growing body of evidence linking the fracking industry to health problems.
Scientists have discovered the cause of the recent run of miserable wet summers as they begin to unravel the mysteries of the Atlantic jet stream.
Researchers from the University of Sheffield and The Met Office have identified a number of possible factors that may influence the Atlantic jet stream and therefore help to predict summer climate from one year to the next.
PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 24, 2016 -- Indoor air pollution is an important environmental threat to human health, leading to symptoms of "sick building syndrome." But researchers report that surrounding oneself with certain house plants could combat the potentially harmful effects of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), a main category of these pollutants. Interestingly, they found that certain plants are better at removing particular harmful compounds from the air, suggesting that, with the right plant, indoor air could become cleaner and safer.
World-first research has found technical problems rather than operator errors are behind the majority of drone accidents, leading to a call for further safeguards for the industry.
Researchers Dr Graham Wild and Dr Glenn Baxter from RMIT University's School of Engineering, along with John Murray from Edith Cowan University, completed the first examination of more than 150 reported civil incidents around the world involving drones, or Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS).
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 23, 2016 -- Chaos, somewhat ironically, has one clear attribute: random-like, apparently unpredictable, behavior. However recent work shows that that unpredictable behavior could provide the key to effective and efficient wireless communications.
Something really drastic must have happened to the Ancient Maya at the end of the Classic Period in the 9th century. Within a short period of time, this advanced civilisation in Central America went from flourishing to collapsing -- the population dwindling rapidly and monumental stone structures, like the ones built at Yucatán, were no longer being constructed. The reason for this demise remains the subject of debate even today.
Why are we now?
We know that the universe is roughly 14 billion years old, and that someday it is likely to end -- perhaps because of a Big Freeze, Big Rip or Big Crunch.
But what can we learn by considering our own place in the history of the universe? Why does life on Earth exist now, rather than at some point in the distant past or future?
NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible image of Tropical Storm Lionrock that revealed the storm is consolidating and strengthening. Lionrock is moving through the Northwestern Pacific Ocean and away from Honshu, the big island of Japan.
When NASA's Aqua satellite passed over the eastern Atlantic Ocean it looked at the weakening Tropical Depression Fiona and a developing tropical low pressure area named System 99L. Fiona became a post-tropical depression today, Aug. 23.
The energy-storage goal of a polymer dielectric material with high energy density, high power density and excellent charge-discharge efficiency for electric and hybrid vehicle use has been achieved by a team of Penn State materials scientists. The key is a unique three-dimensional sandwich-like structure that protects the dense electric field in the polymer/ceramic composite from dielectric breakdown. Their results are published today (Aug. 22) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Extensive systems of fossilised riverbeds have been discovered on an ancient region of the Martian surface, supporting the idea that the now cold and dry Red Planet had a warm and wet climate about 4 billion years ago, according to UCL-led research.
The study, published in Geology and funded by the Science & Technology Facilities Council and the UK Space Agency, identified over 17,000km of former river channels on a northern plain called Arabia Terra, providing further evidence of water once flowing on Mars.
NASA's Aqua satellite saw continually weakening Tropical Depression devoid of thunderstorms when it passed overhead early today, Aug. 23.
At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC), the center of Tropical Depression Kay was located near 22.7 degrees north latitude and 120.1 degrees west longitude. That's about 650 miles (1,045 km) west of the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico.
The Northwestern Pacific Ocean has seen quite a number of tropical cyclones in the last two weeks and another has just formed north of Guam triggering warnings on several islands. NASA's Terra satellite provided a visible image of Tropical Depression 14W today, Aug. 23.