Category: Science

Climate Change Cyclones Extreme Weather Mozambique Science

Giant inland sea created by the disastrous Mozambique cyclone

sudshr47 March 21, 2019

TwitterFacebook

Cyclone Idai left death, destruction, and a sprawling inland sea in its wake. 

The powerful tropical cyclone — which struck Mozambique last Thursday as the equivalent of a Category 2 or 3 hurricane with winds of around 100 mph — has left at least 150 dead and 600,000 in need of help in the flooded nation said the EU, though the Associated Press reports over 300 fatalities as of March 21 when accounting for deaths in neighboring Zimbabwe.

The cyclone’s widespread flooding — in part overshadowed by simultaneous and historic flooding in the Midwest — has left behind an inundated area some 200 square miles in size (518 square kilometers), with the inland sea reaching up to 15 miles wide, according to satellite images from the European Space Agency (ESA).  Read more…

More about Science, Extreme Weather, Climate Change, Mozambique, and Cyclones

View More Giant inland sea created by the disastrous Mozambique cyclone
Climate Change Colorado River Drought Global Warming Science

The West accepts its drought-ridden future, slashes water use

sudshr47 March 21, 2019

TwitterFacebook

Out West, the future is dry.

Amid an unprecedented 19-year drought in the expansive Colorado River Basin — which supplies water to 40 million Americans — seven Western states have acknowledged that the 21st century will only grow drier as temperatures continue to rise. And that means less water in the 1,450-mile Colorado River. On Tuesday, water managers from states including California, Utah, and New Mexico announced a drought plan (formally called a Drought Contingency Plan), which cuts their water use for the next seven years — until an even more austere plan must be adopted.

Already, the drought has left water levels at Lake Mead — the nearly 250-square-mile reservoir that’s held back by the formidable Hoover Dam — at their lowest levels in half a century. The water shortage has left telltale, white mineral “bathtub rings” around the basin, well over 100 feet high.  Read more…

More about Science, Global Warming, Drought, Climate Change, and Colorado River

View More The West accepts its drought-ridden future, slashes water use
Anti Vaxxer Facebook Research Science Vaccines

Why anti-vaxxer mobs go after pro-vaccine doctors online — and what to do about it

sudshr47 March 21, 2019

In 2017, Kids Plus Pediatrics, an independent medical practice in Pittsburgh, posted a 90-second video on its Facebook page encouraging parents to have their children vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted infection tha…

View More Why anti-vaxxer mobs go after pro-vaccine doctors online — and what to do about it
Air Force Climate Change Flooding nebraska Science

NASA photos capture immense flooding of a vital U.S. Air Force base

sudshr47 March 19, 2019

TwitterFacebook

In 1948, Air Force Secretary Stuart Symington stationed the United States’ long-range nuclear bombers at Offutt Air Force Base in eastern Nebraska, a location safe in the middle of the nation and well-insulated from the coast.

But 70 years later, the base — now home to the U.S. Strategic Command which deters “catastrophic actions from adversaries and poses an immediate threat to any actor who questions U.S. resolve by demonstrating our capabilities” — isn’t safe from historic and record-setting floods. 

Intense rains on top of the rapid melting of ample snow has inundated large swathes of Nebraska and a full one-third of the Offutt Air Force Base, including the headquarters building. Read more…

More about Science, Climate Change, Flooding, Nebraska, and Air Force

View More NASA photos capture immense flooding of a vital U.S. Air Force base
cray Gadgets Government Hardware Intel Science Supercomputers

Intel and Cray are building a $500 million ‘exascale’ supercomputer for Argonne National Lab

sudshr47 March 18, 2019

In a way, I have the equivalent of a supercomputer in my pocket. But in another, more important way, that pocket computer is a joke compared with real supercomputers — and Intel and Cray are putting together one of the biggest ever with a half-billion-dollar contract from the Department of Energy. It’s going to do exaflops!

View More Intel and Cray are building a $500 million ‘exascale’ supercomputer for Argonne National Lab
Climate Change Climate Environment Global Warming Science

Here’s a running list of all the ways climate change has altered Earth in 2019

sudshr47 March 16, 2019

TwitterFacebook

Earth is now the warmest it’s been in some 120,000 years. Eighteen of the last 19 years have been the warmest on record. And concentrations of carbon dioxide — a potent greenhouse gas — are likely the highest they’ve been in 15 million years. 

The consequences of such a globally-disrupted climate are many, and it’s understandably difficult to keep track. To help, here’s a list of climate-relevant news that has transpired in 2019, from historically unprecedented disappearances of ice, to flood-ravaged cities. As more news comes out, the list will be updated. Read more…

1Guess what? U.S. carbon emissions popped back up in a big way

More about Science, Global Warming, Climate Change, Science, and Climate Environment

View More Here’s a running list of all the ways climate change has altered Earth in 2019
Artificial Intelligence biomimesis biomimetic Drones Gadgets Hardware robotics Science

Tiny claws let drones perch like birds and bats

sudshr47 March 14, 2019

Drones are useful in countless ways, but that usefulness is often limited by the time they can stay in the air. Shouldn’t drones be able to take a load off too? With these special claws attached, they can perch or hang with ease, conserving battery power and vastly extending their flight time.

View More Tiny claws let drones perch like birds and bats
Alaska Bears Environmental Issues Epa Science

While the Bear Cam bears hibernate, the Trump admin weighs a big plan to mine their world

sudshr47 March 13, 2019

TwitterFacebook

When the peak of summer arrives in Alaska and the radiant midnight sun hangs in the northern sky, tens of millions of salmon make their move. They race up rivers, leap over waterfalls, and clog narrow streams with their hefty, five-pound bodies. It is then that Alaska’s Bristol Bay — home to the largest run of sockeye salmon on the planet — comes to life. Wolverines, foxes, lynx, and bald eagles descend upon this untrammeled realm. And the most dominant creature of the land, the brown bear, saunters down to these rivers. It’s here that the bears grow fat, stripping the skin off of salmon like it’s string cheese and devouring the pink flesh and fatty brains.  Read more…

More about Science, Bears, Alaska, Environmental Issues, and Epa

View More While the Bear Cam bears hibernate, the Trump admin weighs a big plan to mine their world