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Long-term global warming not driven naturally

DURHAM, N.C. -- By examining how Earth cools itself back down after a period of natural warming, a study by scientists at Duke University and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory confirms that global temperature does not rise or fall chaotically in the long run. Unless pushed by outside forces, temperature should remain stable.

The new evidence may finally help put the chill on skeptics' belief that long-term global warming occurs in an unpredictable manner, independently of external drivers such as human impacts.

JPL researchers report on new tool to provide even better Landsat images

BELLINGHAM, Washington, USA, and CARDIFF, UK -- For more than 40 years, Landsat satellites have provided a wealth of data that has informed our understanding of Earth features, phenomena, and environments as diverse as coral reefs, urbanization, tropical deforestation, and glaciers. Now, scientists at the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) at the California Institute of Technology have developed a way to substantially improve images derived from Landsat systems.

Moon's tidal forces affect amount of rainfall on Earth

When the moon is high in the sky, it creates bulges in the planet's atmosphere that creates imperceptible changes in the amount of rain that falls below.

New University of Washington research to be published in Geophysical Research Letters shows that the lunar forces affect the amount of rain - though very slightly.

"As far as I know, this is the first study to convincingly connect the tidal force of the moon with rainfall," said corresponding author Tsubasa Kohyama, a UW doctoral student in atmospheric sciences.

Most vaccine-related posts on Pinterest are anti-vaccine, reveals research

Amsterdam, February 1, 2016 - 75% of the vaccine-related posts on Pinterest are negative towards vaccination, according to research published in Vaccine. The authors of the study, from Virginia Commonwealth University in the US, are calling for better communication about vaccination.

Researchers develop concept for new sunscreen that allows body to produce vitamin D

(Boston)--For the first time researchers have developed a process for altering the ingredients in a sunscreen that does not impact its sun protection factor (SPF), but does allow the body to produce vitamin D.The findings, published in the peer reviewed journal PLOS ONE, has led to the production of a new sunscreen called Solar D.

NASA sees the end of Tropical Cyclone Stan over Western Australia

NASA's Terra satellite captured an image of Tropical Cyclone Stan on Jan 31 as it moved south through Western Australia and weakened to a remnant low pressure area.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said that Tropical Cyclone Stan made landfall on Jan. 30, 2016 at noon Eastern Standard Time/U.S. (1700 UTC) on the Pilbara coast of Australia just to the east of Pardoo as a category 2 cyclone.

Electrons and liquid helium advance understanding of zero-resistance

The end of Moore's Law -- the prediction that transistor density would double every two years -- was one of the hottest topics in electronics-related discussions in 2015. Silicon-based technologies have nearly reached the physical limits of the number and size of transistors that can be crammed into one chip, but alternative technologies are still far from mass implementation. The amount of heat generated during operation and the sizes of atoms and molecules in materials used in transistor manufacturing are some of problems that need to be solved for Moore's Law to make a comeback.

NASA: Understanding the magnetic sun

The surface of the sun writhes and dances. Far from the still, whitish-yellow disk it appears to be from the ground, the sun sports twisting, towering loops and swirling cyclones that reach into the solar upper atmosphere, the million-degree corona - but these cannot be seen in visible light. Then, in the 1950s, we got our first glimpse of this balletic solar material, which emits light only in wavelengths invisible to our eyes.

NASA engineers tapped to build first integrated-photonics modem

A NASA team has been tapped to build a new type of communications modem that will employ an emerging, potentially revolutionary technology that could transform everything from telecommunications, medical imaging, advanced manufacturing to national defense.

Phase of the moon affects amount of rainfall

When the moon is high in the sky, it creates bulges in the planet's atmosphere that creates imperceptible changes in the amount of rain that falls below.

New University of Washington research to be published in Geophysical Research Letters shows that the lunar forces affect the amount of rain - though very slightly.

"As far as I know, this is the first study to convincingly connect the tidal force of the moon with rainfall," said corresponding author Tsubasa Kohyama, a UW doctoral student in atmospheric sciences.

NASA sees developing depression threatening northwestern Australia

NASA's GPM satellite gathered rainfall rate and cloud height data on the newly developed tropical low pressure area designated System 92S in the Indian Ocean off Australia's northwestern coast. The low pressure area is expected to become a depression in the next day or two, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

The Global Precipitation Measurement Mission or GPM core observatory satellite flew over the area of disturbed weather on Jan. 27, 2016 at 0946 UTC (4:46 a.m. EST). GPM is managed by both NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Health care's familiarity with military culture critical to improving care for veterans

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Health care systems and providers need to understand the unique realities of military culture in order to work effectively with veterans and military families, according to the findings of a study by a University at Buffalo research team.

NASA sees Tropical Cyclone Stan threaten Australia's Pilbara Coast

NASA satellites provided data as the tropical low pressure area known as System 92S has consolidated and intensified into Tropical Cyclone Stan, north of the Pilbara area of Western Australia. NASA provided forecasters cloud extent, winds and rainfall data.

On Jan. 28 at 6 p.m. EST, the International Space Station's RapidScat instrument measured the surface winds around developing Tropical Cyclone Stan in the Southern Indian Ocean. Rapidscat showed that Stan's strongest winds were occurring west of the center at 30 meters per second (67.1 mph/108 kph).

Icy ebb and flow influenced by hydrothermal activity

The last million years of Earth's history was dominated by the cyclic advance and retreat of ice sheets over large swaths of North America. During cold glacial intervals, ice sheets reached as far south as Long Island and Indiana, while during warm interglacial periods the ice rapidly retreated to Greenland. It has long been known that ice ages occur every 40,000 years or so, but the cause of rapid transition between glacial and interglacial periods has remained a mystery.

Hubble sees monstrous cloud boomerang back to our galaxy

Hubble Space Telescope astronomers are finding that the old adage "what goes up must come down" even applies to an immense cloud of hydrogen gas outside our Milky Way galaxy. The invisible cloud is plummeting toward our galaxy at nearly 700,000 miles per hour.