Earth

The search for the best observatory site in the world has lead to the discovery of what is thought to be the coldest, driest, calmest place on Earth. No human is thought to have ever been there but it is expected to yield images of the heavens three times sharper than any ever taken from the ground.

The joint US-Australian research team combined data from satellites, ground stations and climate models in a study to assess the many factors that affect astronomy – cloud cover, temperature, sky-brightness, water vapour, wind speeds and atmospheric turbulence.

Researchers have completed the first thorough, system-level assessment of the diversity of an environmentally important genus of microbes known as Shewanella. Microbes belonging to that genus frequently participate in bioremediation by confining and cleaning up contaminated areas in the environment.

Source:

Hurricane Warnings are up for the southern Baja California, as powerful Category Four Hurricane Jimena threatens. Jimena developed over the weekend, and the infrared instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite captured that explosive development.

A hurricane warning is in effect for the southern portion of the Baja California peninsula from Bahia Magdalena southward on the west coast, and from San Evaristo southward on the east coast, including Cabo San Lucas. Hurricane conditions are expected in the Warning area within 24 hours.

Research by U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) scientists and partners suggests that the expansion of rosebay rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum) in Southern Appalachian mountain hollows may increase the likelihood of landslides during and after intense rain events.

The U.S. Geological Survey has released the results of a long-term study of key glaciers in western North America, reporting this month that glacial shrinkage is rapid and accelerating and a result of climate change.

University Park, Pa. -- Manipulating tiny objects like single cells or nanosized beads often requires relatively large, unwieldy equipment, but now a system that uses sound as a tiny tweezers can be small enough to place on a chip, according to Penn State engineers.

Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and their colleagues at Creighton University have deciphered the highly unusual molecular structure of a naturally produced, ocean-based compound that is giving new understanding of the function of mammalian nerve cells.

Some slow-moving faults may help protect some regions of Italy and other parts of the world against destructive earthquakes, suggests new research from The University of Arizona in Tucson.

Until now, geologists thought when the crack between two pieces of the Earth's crust was at a very gentle slope, there was no movement along that particular fault line.

"This study is the first to show that low-angle normal faults are definitely active," said Sigrún Hreinsdóttir, UA geosciences research associate.

The parasitic flowering plant Striga, or "witchweed," attacks the roots of host plants, draining needed water and nutrients and leaving them unable to grow and produce any grains. Witchweed is endemic throughout sub-Saharan Africa, causing crop losses that surpass hundreds of millions of dollars annually and exacerbating food shortages in the region.

Among the crops heavily parasitized by witchweed is black-eyed pea, known in Africa as "cowpea" or "niebe" in Francophone countries.

Ice, when heated, is supposed to melt.

That's why a collection of glaciers in the Southeast Himalayas stymies those who know what they did 9,000 years ago. While most other Central Asian glaciers retreated under hotter summer temperatures, this group of glaciers advanced from one to six kilometers.

A new study by BYU geologist Summer Rupper pieces together the chain of events surrounding the unexpected glacial growth.

Tropical Storm Ignacio may not be alone in the Eastern Pacific Ocean for long. Two areas of showers and thunderstorms that forecasters and the GOES-11 satellite are watching for development, have sprung up.

NASA's infrared satellite imagery indicates that Tropical Storm Ignacio still had some punch left in him, but that won't be the case for long.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued three new certified reference materials for soil. Intended for use as controls in testing laboratories, the new Standard Reference Materials (SRMs)—gathered from the San Joaquin Valley in California and from sites near Butte and Helena in Montana—will aid in determining soil quality, detecting soil contamination, and monitoring cleanup efforts from accidental spills or atmospheric deposition.

An international research effort on the Greenland ice sheet with the University of Colorado at Boulder as the lead U.S. institution set a record for single-season deep ice-core drilling this summer, recovering more than a mile of ice core that is expected to help scientists better assess the risks of abrupt climate change in the future.

An area of low pressure east of the Bahamas has now powered up into Tropical Storm Danny, his strengthening thunderstorms are captured in infrared imagery. Danny came together this morning, August 26, and was classified as a tropical storm at 11 a.m. EDT.

The National Hurricane Center said this morning that "interests in the Bahamas and the southeastern United States should monitor the progress of Danny."