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US global share of research spending declines

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The United States' global share of biomedical research spending fell from 51 percent in 2007 to 45 percent in 2012, while Japan and China saw dramatic increases in research spending.

The research and development spending in the United States dropped from $131 billion to $119 billion, when adjusted for inflation, from 2007-2012, while Japan increased spending by $9 billion and China increased by $6.4 billion. Overall, Asia's share of spending grew from 18 percent to 24 percent. Europe held steady at 29 percent.

New studies give strong boost to binary-star formation theory

Using the new capabilities of the upgraded Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), scientists have discovered previously-unseen binary companions to a pair of very young protostars. The discovery gives strong support for one of the competing explanations for how double-star systems form.

Astronomers know that about half of all Sun-like stars are members of double or multiple-star systems, but have debated over how such systems are formed.

Researchers use Hubble Telescope to reveal cloudy weather on alien world

Weather forecasters on exoplanet GJ 1214b would have an easy job. Today's forecast: cloudy. Tomorrow: overcast. Extended outlook: more clouds.

A team of scientists led by researchers in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago report they have definitively characterized the atmosphere of a super-Earth class planet orbiting another star for the first time.

Field trial with lignin modified poplars shows potential for bio-based economy

The results of a field trial with genetically modified poplar trees in Zwijnaarde, Belgium, shows that the wood of lignin modified poplar trees can be converted into sugars in a more efficient way. These sugars can serve as the starting material for producing bio-based products like bio-plastics and bio-ethanol.

NASA's TRMM satellite sees new Tropical Depression forming near Australia's Kimberly coast

Low pressure System 98S appears ripe to form into Tropical Cyclone 05S as NASA satellite imagery is showing some hot towering clouds in the storm and heaviest rains south of the center. System 98S is expected to become a tropical depression on Saturday, December 28, and alerts are already in effect.

NASA and the Japan Aerospace and Exploration Agency's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite passed over developing System 98S on December 26 at 1140 UTC/6:40 a.m. EST and noticed a "hot tower" thunderstorm reaching heights of about 17 km/10.5 miles.

NASA sees the last of Cyclone Bruce in Southern Indian Ocean

Tropical Cyclone Bruce is winding down in the Southern Indian Ocean as wind shear and cooler waters affect the storm. NASA's Aqua satellite flew over Bruce on December 24 and showed that wind shear is having a strong effect on the system.

On December 24, Tropical Cyclone Bruce's maximum sustained winds were near 40 knots/46 mph/ 4.0 kph and weakening. Bruce was centered near 31.9 south and 84.9 east, about 1,594 nautical miles south-southeast of Diego Garcia. Bruce has sped up in its movement in a southeasterly direction and was moving at 26 knots/29.9 mph 8.1 kph.

Enormous aquifer discovered under Greenland ice sheet

Buried underneath compacted snow and ice in Greenland lies a large liquid water reservoir that has now been mapped by researchers using data from NASA's Operation IceBridge airborne campaign.

NASA sees Tropical Cyclone Bruce lose its eye

Tropical Cyclone Bruce's eye caught the eye of NASA's Aqua satellite when it passed overhead on December 21, but two days later, Bruce's eye appeared cloud-filled on satellite imagery.

NASA sees Tropical Cyclone Amara spinning down

Tropical Cyclone Amara ran into wind shear, and dropped from Category four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale to a minimal tropical storm on December 23.

NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Tropical Cyclone Amara in the Southern Indian Ocean on Dec. 21 at 0940 UTC/4:50 a.m. EST when it was still at cyclone force and had an eye.

Solitons in a crystal

Soliton water waves can travel several kilometers without any significant change in their shape or amplitude, as opposed to normal waves, which widen as they travel, and eventually disappear. Discovered over 150 years ago in water canals, solitons represent a surprising phenomenon of wave propagation and have been observed in natural phenomena including moving sand dunes and space plasmas. A unique aspect of solitons is that they can retain their shape because of non-linear and dispersive effects that stabilize the wave.

Innovative screening strategy swiftly uncovers new drug candidates, new biology

LA JOLLA, CA—December 22, 2013—Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have demonstrated a drug-discovery strategy with a double payoff—it enables the rapid selection of chemical compounds that have a desired effect on cells and also highlights how the compounds work.

Solar activity not a key cause of climate change, study shows

Climate change has not been strongly influenced by variations in heat from the sun, a new scientific study shows.

The findings overturn a widely held scientific view that lengthy periods of warm and cold weather in the past might have been caused by periodic fluctuations in solar activity.

Virginia Tech research overturns assumption about mercury in the Arctic

For years, scientists have assumed that if mercury is high and increasing in fish in the North American and European Arctic, the same is true of fish elsewhere in the Arctic.

But a team of scientists from the U.S., Russia, and Canada has discovered that assumption is wrong in much of the continental Arctic.

Van Allen Probes shed light on decades-old mystery

New research using data from NASA's Van Allen Probes mission helps resolve decades of scientific uncertainty over the origin of ultra-relativistic electrons in Earth's near space environment, and is likely to influence our understanding of planetary magnetospheres throughout the universe.

NASA satellites see Tropical Cyclone Amara affecting Rodrigues Island

When NASA's Terra satellite passed over Tropical Cyclone Amara on December 20, its western quadrant was already moving over Rodrigues Island, Mauritius. Warnings are already in effect for the island, where residents are expecting hurricane-force winds.

A Class 3 tropical cyclone warning was in effect for the island on Dec. 20 and 21 as Amara brings heavy rains, hurricane-force winds, and strong storm surge to the island. Rodrigues Island is part of the Republic of Mauritius, and is located in the Southern Indian Ocean.