Month: July 2022
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California’s Rampaging Oak Fire as Seen From Space
California’s Oak Fire, as seen by the Landsat satellite on Sunday, on July 24, 2022. The image is rendered in a simulated 3D view. (Credit: Modified Landsat data processed by Tom Yulsman using Sentinel Hub EO Browser) So far, California’s Oak Fire blazing near Yosemite National Park has burned through through 14,281 acres — an…
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A Virtual 3D Satellite Fly-Over of Utah’s Once Great Salt Lake Reveals Shocking Shrinkage
The Great Salt Lake is not nearly as great as it once was. On July 3, 2022, the U.S. Geological Survey reported that it had reached its lowest level in 175 years of record keeping. Lake levels will likely continue to drop until fall or early winter, when water flowing into the lake should at…
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Researcher warns that economic growth is not possible in the long-term — ScienceDaily
The 1972 book The Limits to Growth shared a somber message for humanity: the Earth’s resources are finite and probably cannot support current rates of economic and population growth to the end of the 21st century, even with advanced technology. Although disparaged by economists at the time, it turns out that, 50 years later, the…
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Industrial drone study poses question of whether emerging technologies are a solution looking for a problem to solve — ScienceDaily
Managers face a confusing storm of new technology hype but the key to navigating through the endless promises made for technologies such as drones, blockchain or artificial intelligence is to focus on real uses for the innovations, new research from the UK’s University of Bath and Swiss university ETH Zurich shows. A five-year study of…
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A new technology uses human teardrops to spot disease
Human tears could carry a flood of useful information. With just a few drops, a new technique can spot eye disease and even glimpse signs of diabetes, scientists report July 20 in ACS Nano. “We wanted to demonstrate the potential of using tears to detect disease,” says Fei Liu, a biomedical engineer at Wenzhou…
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Connections between climate change and civil unrest among the ancient Maya | HeritageDaily
An extended period of turmoil in the Maya city of Mayapan in Mexico was marked by population declines, political rivalries and civil conflict. Between AD 1441 and 1461 the strife reached an unfortunate crescendo — the complete institutional collapse and abandonment of the city. This all occurred during a protracted drought. According to a new…
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New model predicts how temperature affects life from quantum to classical scales — ScienceDaily
Every biological process depends critically on temperature. It’s true of the very small, the very large, and every scale in-between, from molecules to ecosystems and across every environment. A general theory describing how life depends on temperature has been lacking — until now. In a paper pubished in the Proceedings of the National Academy of…
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New findings about moving electricity could improve fusion devices — ScienceDaily
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have found that updating a mathematical model to include a physical property known as resistivity could lead to the improved design of doughnut-shaped fusion facilities known as tokamaks. “Resistivity is the property of any substance that inhibits the flow of electricity,” said…
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Why do we love pimple popping?
The typical pimple is caused by clogged oil glands or bacteria in our skin, and while most pimples aren’t harmful, they can become infected (and painful), especially when they’re opened up to the outside environment. Still, so many of us cannot resist pinching them away. To get to the root of the pimple popping divide,…
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The Heat Just Goes On and On and…
Some 35 million people in the United States have been under heat alerts today, and what’s been described as a “heat apocalypse” is unfolding in Europe. With that in mind, the latest monthly climate analyses may not seem very significant, but they are a reminder of something important: When the heat waves fade, the wildfires…