Heavens | Page 248 | Science Codex

Novel technique increases detection rate in screening mammography

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Digital mammography screening with new photon-counting technique offers high diagnostic performance, according to a study published online in the journal Radiology.

As mammography screening has shifted to digital technology, a range of computed radiography (CR) and direct radiography (DR) systems have emerged. The photon-counting technique is a promising DR approach that uses a unique detector to decrease scattered radiation and noise, enabling dose reduction and making it a promising tool for screening.

Tropical Storm Kajiki fades over South China Sea

NASA's Aqua satellite captured one of the last images of Tropical Storm Kajiki as it began moving over the central Philippines on Jan. 31. The storm, known locally as Basyang, dissipated over the South China Sea today, Feb. 3.

On January 31 at 04:45 UTC/Jan. 30 at 11:45 p.m. EST, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer known as the MODIS instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured a visible image of Tropical Storm Kajiki. At the time Aqua was flying over the storm, it was making landfall in the Visayas region of the Philippines.

NASA's Aqua satellite tracking System 94P or 'Fletcher' near Queensland

A tropical low pressure area known as "System 94P" has tracked across western Queensland and moved into the Gulf of Carpentaria between Karumba and Gilbert River Mouth on February 3 as NASA's Aqua satellite passed overhead.

New guideline recommends delaying dialysis for chronic kidney disease

For asymptomatic adults with chronic kidney disease who will need dialysis, an intent-to-defer approach is recommended over an earlier start, according to a new guideline from the Canadian Society of Nephrology published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

UC researchers at ground control in launching the fastest plane of the future

It's a sci-fi concept that's at the center of a 25-year exploratory project: building a hypersonic aircraft that takes off from the runway and doesn't need a rest, inspection or repair after it lands – unlike the space shuttle – but can zip back around the world within an hour's landing. University of Cincinnati researchers are developing the validation metrics that could help predict the success or failure of such a model before it is even built, as test data becomes available from component, to sub-system, to the completely assembled air vehicle.

Dramatic thinning of Arctic lake ice cuts winter ice season by 24 days

Arctic lakes have been freezing up later in the year and thawing earlier, creating a winter ice season about 24 days shorter than it was in 1950, a University of Waterloo study has found.

The research, sponsored by the European Space Agency (ESA) and published in The Cryosphere, also reveals that climate change has dramatically affected the thickness of lake ice at the coldest point in the season: In 2011, Arctic lake ice was up to 38 centimetres thinner than it was in 1950.

Greenland's fastest glacier reaches record speeds

Jakobshavn Isbræ (Jakobshavn Glacier) is moving ice from the Greenland ice sheet into the ocean at a speed that appears to be the fastest ever recorded. Researchers from the University of Washington and the German Space Agency (DLR) measured the dramatic speeds of the fast-flowing glacier in 2012 and 2013. The results are published today in The Cryosphere, an open access journal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU).

NASA catches Tropical Depression Kajiki over central Philippines

Tropical Storm Kajiki developed from the second tropical depression of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean season and quickly moved over the central Philippines. NASA's Aqua satellite passed overhead and captured infrared data on the storm as it drops more rainfall on an already soggy area.

NASA's Aqua satellite sees System 91S struggling

NASA's Aqua satellite provided infrared data on System 91S in the Mozambique Channel that showed a system battered by wind shear, stretched out, with broken convection.

TRMM satellite sees Tropical Storm Dylan make landfall in Queensland

As Tropical Storm Dylan was making landfall in Queensland on January 30, NASA's TRMM satellite was capturing rainfall data on the storm.

Forensic experts compile guide on how to ID child abuse, starvation

Forensic science experts from North Carolina State University have just published a comprehensive overview of forensic research that can be used to identify child abuse and starvation.

"By pulling all of this information together in one place, we hope that we can save the lives of some children and find justice for others," says Dr. Ann Ross, a professor of anthropology at NC State and lead author of the paper. Ross is also co-editor of the book "The Juvenile Skeleton in Forensic Abuse Investigations."

One planet, 2 stars: New research shows how circumbinary planets form

Luke Skywalker's home planet Tatooine would have formed far from its current location in the Star Wars universe, a new University of Bristol study into its real world counterparts, observed by the Kepler space telescope, suggests.

Forests in Central America paying the price of drug trafficking shift

A group of researchers focused on sustainable practices, geography and earth sciences found something unexpected during their work in Central America: the effects of drug trafficking are leaving deep scars on a sensitive landscape.

They call the phenomenon "narco-deforestation," and the result is every bit as dark as it sounds.

"Not only are societies being ripped apart, but forests are being ripped apart," said Erik Nielsen, assistant professor in the School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability at Northern Arizona University.

What your company can learn from NASA tragedies

BYU business professor Peter Madsen has been researching NASA's safety climate ever since the Columbia shuttle broke apart upon re-entering Earth's atmosphere on Feb. 1, 2003.

Specifically, Madsen has been studying and quantifying how the organization recognizes "near-misses"—events where failures were narrowly averted resulting in successful outcomes.

Drug trafficking leads to deforestation in Central America

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Add yet another threat to the list of problems facing the rapidly disappearing rainforests of Central America: drug trafficking.

In an article in the journal Science, seven researchers who have done work in Central America point to growing evidence that drug trafficking threatens forests in remote areas of Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and nearby countries.