Heavens

Many biomedical researchers are striving to make sense of the flood of data that has followed recent advances in genomic sequencing technologies. In particular, researchers are often limited by the challenge of getting multiple bioinformatics tools to "talk" to one another.

Regions around the Arctic may have passed a 2°C temperature rise as far back as 2000 and, if emissions rates don't change, areas around the Mediterranean, central Brazil and the contiguous United States could see 2°C of warming by 2030.

This is despite the fact that under a business as usual scenario the world is not expected to see global average temperatures rise by 2°C compared to preindustrial times until the 2040s.

On any given bus ride, a good share of passengers are reading, texting or rocking out to music on their phones or tablets. In the future, though, those mobile devices may add more value to our transit commutes than simply filling time.

University of Washington researchers have developed an inexpensive system that uses Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals from passengers' mobile phones and devices to collect better data about where bus riders get on and off, how many people use a given stop and even how long they wait to transfer to another bus.

WASHINGTON - If you've ever experienced a bad sunburn, you know the damage that ultraviolet (UV) light can cause to living cells (like your skin). Out in space, where the level of radiation from the sun can be even higher, it can damage sensitive electronics aboard in-flight spacecraft.

Caltech researchers have found evidence of a giant planet tracing a bizarre, highly elongated orbit in the outer solar system. The object, which the researchers have nicknamed Planet Nine, has a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbits about 20 times farther from the sun on average than does Neptune (which orbits the sun at an average distance of 2.8 billion miles). In fact, it would take this new planet between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make just one full orbit around the sun.

TEMPE, Ariz., (Jan, 20, 2016) - Deserts are often thought of as barren places that are left exposed to the extremes of heat and cold and where not much is afoot. But that view is being altered as new research keeps revealing the intricate ecological dynamics of deserts as they change responding to the elements.

On Jan. 18, 2016, the GRIPS balloon team sent their instrument soaring towards the stratosphere above Antarctica, suspended underneath a helium-filled, football-field sized scientific balloon. GRIPS, short for Gamma-Ray Imager/Polarimeter for Solar flares, is studying extremely high-energy radiation released by solar flares.

About 600 miles from Earth's surface is the first of two donut-shaped electron swarms, known as the Van Allen Belts, or the radiation belts. Understanding the shape and size of the belts, which can shrink and swell in response to incoming radiation from the sun, is crucial for protecting our technology in space. The harsh radiation isn't good for satellites' health, so scientists wish to know just which orbits could be jeopardized in different situations.

One of the most triumphant moments in the book and recent movie The Martian comes when lead character, Mark Watney, successfully grows a potato crop on Mars. It's more than food for survival; he's also nourishing his spirit. In space, there is no scent of baking bread, no wind on your face, no sound of raindrops hitting the roof, no favorite kitten to curl up in your lap. Over time, being deprived of these common earthbound sense stimulations takes a toll. Having limited access to stimuli to the senses is identified as a significant risk by NASA's Behavioral Health and Performance team.

Berkeley, CA -- The price of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems installed on homes and small businesses spans a wide range, and researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have published a new study that reveals the key market and system drivers for low-priced PV systems.

NASA satellites and instruments have been monitoring Tropical Cyclone Victor, a hurricane in the South Pacific Ocean with a large eye. NASA's Aqua satellite, NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite and the RapidScat instrument aboard the International Space Station have all gathered data on the storm.

The RapidScat instrument that flies aboard the International Space Station measured Tropical Cyclone Victor's wind speed at the surface. Surface wind speed is always lower than speeds at higher altitude.

A new paradigm for the development of photo-bioelectrochemical cells has been reported in the journal Nature Energy by researchers from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in Israel, and the University of Bochum, in Germany.

The design of photo-bioelectrochemical cells based on native photosynthetic reaction is attracting substantial recent interest as a means for the conversion of solar light energy into electrical power.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Parents may intend to set strong limits on their teen drivers but their kids may not always be getting the message, a new nationally-representative poll suggests.

In families where parents reported limitations on their teen drivers -- such as restricting cell phone use, number of teen passengers and driving times and locations -- teens themselves sometimes said they did not have those limitations, according to the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.

Tropical Storm Alex quickly acquired extra-tropical characteristics late on Jan. 15, 2016 as it sped northward toward Greenland in the North Atlantic Ocean. A GOES-East satellite image on Jan. 16 showed the elongated system south of Greenland.

Tropical Storm Alex became extra-tropical by Jan. 15, 2016 at 2100 UTC (4 p.m. EST). At that time the National Hurricane Center issued their final warning on the system and said "Satellite images and surface observations indicate that Alex has lost its tropical characteristics."

Daejeon, Republic of Korea, January 18, 2016--The 1974 American disaster film Towering Inferno depicted well the earnest struggles of firefighters engaged in ending a fire at a 138-story skyscraper. To this day, fires at high-rise buildings are considered one of the most dangerous disasters.