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NASA's TRMM satellite measures flooding rains from Australia monsoon

A monsoon trough continues to drench northeastern Australia and NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite measured and calculated the rainfall in the region.

Low pressure centers associated with a summer monsoon trough have repeatedly drenched Australia from central Queensland to northern New South Wales. The clockwise rotation of these low pressure centers have continued to pump warm moist air from the Coral Sea over these areas resulting in severe flooding. Thousands of Australians have been displaced by this flooding.

Computer order entry systems reduce preventable adverse drug events

Boston, MA – Despite a national mandate to implement electronic health records and computer order entry systems (CPOE) by 2014, only approximately 30 percent of hospitals nationwide have done so and around 40 percent of hospitals in the state of Massachusetts have made this transition. New research from Brigham and Women's Hospital examined the impact of a vendor-developed CPOE in five community hospitals in Massachusetts and found that these CPOE systems are effective at reducing drug-related injury and harm.

First industrial-scale foam forming research environment for forest sector

Foam forming technology gives exciting opportunities to develop new recyclable and light weight wood fiber products. It also gives a possibility to decrease raw material and production costs remarkably compared to recent technology. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, together with industry has started setting up a new pilot scale technology platform for foam forming applications.

NASA's Aqua satellite sees small new tropical storm near Tonga

Tropical Storm 11P has formed in the South Pacific Ocean, and NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of its cloud temperatures, revealing power in the cyclone.

NASA watches a Gulf Weather system for unusual subtropical development

Hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico doesn't begin until June 1, 2012, but a low pressure area in the Gulf called System 90L, is being watched on February 5 and 6 for possible development into sub-tropical depression although the chances are now slim to none. Data from the GOES-13 satellite was created into an image at NASA, and it showed System 90L raining on south Florida today.

NASA satellite sees cyclone Jasmine heading for Vanuatu, New Caledonia

NASA's Aqua satellite passed over strengthening Tropical Storm Jasmine and noticed bands of thunderstorms wrapping into its center as it heads toward Vanuatu and New Caledonia.

Vanuatu and New Caledonia are island nations in the South Pacific Ocean. Vanuatu is about 1,090 miles (1,750 km) east of northern Australia, and 310 miles (500 km) northeast of New Caledonia. New Caledonia is an archipelago and has a land area of 7,172 sq miles (18,576 square km). The current forecast track for Tropical Cyclone Jasmine takes it between the two island nations.

Tree rings may underestimate climate response to volcanic eruptions

Some climate cooling caused by past volcanic eruptions may not be evident in tree-ring reconstructions of temperature change because large enough temperature drops lead to greatly shortened or even absent growing seasons, according to climate researchers, who compared tree-ring temperature reconstructions with model simulations of past temperature changes.

Scientists chart high-precision map of Milky Way's magnetic fields

Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) are part of an international team that has pooled their radio observations into a database, producing the highest precision map to date of the magnetic field within our own Milky Way galaxy.

Lower levels of sunlight link to allergy and eczema

Sunshine may help to prevent allergies and eczema

Increased exposure to sunlight may reduce the risk of both food allergies and eczema in children, according to a new scientific study published this week.

Researchers from the European Centre for Environment & Human Health, along with several Australian institutions, have found that children living in areas with lower levels of sunlight are at greater risk of developing food allergies and the skin condition eczema, compared to those in areas with higher UV.

Judder-free videos on the smartphone

The journey for the family holiday can be a long one. To avoid the incessant "Are we there yet?", stressed parents gladly hand their smartphones to the back seat – so the kids can watch videos or movies on the internet. While modern technology provides for entertainment, it occasionally reaches its limits and then the whining returns: The movies sometimes judder, or are completely interrupted.

Classic portrait of a barred spiral galaxy

Most spiral galaxies in the Universe have a bar structure in their centre, and Hubble's image of NGC 1073 offers a particularly clear view of one of these. Galaxies' star-filled bars are thought to emerge as gravitational density waves funnel gas toward the galactic centre, supplying the material to create new stars. The transport of gas can also feed the supermassive black holes that lurk in the centres of almost every galaxy.

Predicting system crashes in nature and society

The world can deliver sudden and nasty shocks. Economies can crash, fisheries can collapse, and climates can pass tipping points. Providing early warning of such changes currently requires the collection of enormous and often prohibitive amounts of data. A new method developed by Steven Lade from the Max-Planck-Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Germany and Thilo Gross from the University of Bristol in the UK could change this.

Hubble zooms in on a magnified galaxy

Thanks to the presence of a natural "zoom lens" in space, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope got a uniquely close-up look at the brightest "magnified" galaxy yet discovered.

This observation provides a unique opportunity to study the physical properties of a galaxy vigorously forming stars when the universe was only one-third its present age.

'First light' taken by NASA's newest CERES instrument

The doors are open on NASA's Suomi NPP satellite and the newest version of the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument is scanning Earth for the first time, helping to assure continued availability of measurements of the energy leaving the Earth-atmosphere system.

The CERES results help scientists to determine the Earth's energy balance, providing a long-term record of this crucial environmental parameter that will be consistent with those of its predecessors.

NASA satellites see wind shear battering Tropical Depression Iggy

NASA satellites have watched as wind shear has torn Cyclone Iggy apart over the last day. NASA infrared satellite imagery showed that Iggy's strongest thunderstorms have been pushed away from the storm's center and visible imagery shows the storm is being stretched out. Iggy is weakening and heading for a landfall between Geraldton and Perth.