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The National Hurricane Center’s tropical weather outlook on September 16, 2020. NOAA/NHC The practice of naming tropical cyclones is typically a pretty mundane activity—that is, until you run out of names. This year’s Atlantic hurricane season has been so active that we’re about to exhaust the official list of names used to designate tropical storms

Hurricane Sally made landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama as a Category 2 storm with sustained winds of 105 mph. Many of us warned several days in advance that a slow-moving Category 1 or 2 storm would likely create a flood disaster along the Gulf Coast. Here is the problem. A lot of the messaging for

Why are there more than 200 million European starlings in North America? And what can mitochondrial genetic diversity tell us about this avian invasion? Adult common starling (Sturnus vulgaris) in fresh plumage. Credit: Tim Felce (Airwolfhound) / CC … [+] BY-SA 2.0) Tim Felce (Airwolfhound) via a Creative Commons license “Variation is the engine of

Jensen Huang, head of chip manufacturer Nvidia, shows a prototype of the new chip called ‘Drive … [+] Xavier’ for autonomous driving during the technological fair CES 2018 in Las Vegas, USA, 8 January 2018. Photo: Andrej Sokolow/dpa (Photo by Andrej Sokolow/picture alliance via Getty Images) picture alliance via Getty Images The much-rumoured $40B purchase of

Phosphine detected in the atmosphere of Venus. ESO / M. Kornmesser / L. Calçada & NASA / JPL / Caltech Astronomers have detected the presence of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus. This could indicate the presence of life since some living organisms are known to produce phosphine. There is a reason to be cautious

Venus, in many ways, is the planet most similar to Earth in the Solar System. With a comparable mass … [+] and radius, it may have been watery, wet, and as similarly life-friendly as Earth is for hundreds of millions or even billions of years. Today, its thick atmosphere rich in sulfuric acid makes its

Since 1979, the Ars Electronica Festival in Austria brings together artists, scientists, engineers and a curious public. This year seemed no different. The exhibits, performances, workshops, talks, and discussions attracted thousands of visitors and hundreds of artists to the main festival sites in the city of Linz. Still, this year was different. Due to the

NurPhoto via Getty Images Recent research published in American Psychologist identified five coping strategies that showed promise in staving off the stress of the pandemic. They are: The ability to make conscious decisions to change my life for the better. The ability to turn a negative into a positive. The ability/desire to seek out social

Middle school, high school, and college students … [+] Paul Smith-Goodson Quantum and artificial intelligence are strategic technologies for the United States. According to Senator John Thune, chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, “America is now in a race with China and Europe to develop the next technological breakthroughs based on

Hurricane Paulette approaching Bermuda on September 13, 2020. NOAA Hurricane Paulette could make landfall in Bermuda on Sunday night. The storm will bring intense winds, a dangerous storm surge, and heavy rain to the island in the western Atlantic Ocean. Bermuda will experience a period of hazardous weather on Sunday night and Monday morning even

Ask any stargazer what their favourite month to be outside looking up and there’s a very high chance … [+] they’ll say September. getty This week is the best week of the best month of the best year to go stargazing. Ask any stargazer what their favourite month to be outside looking up and there’s

Updated 11:11 am on September 20th to reflect 11 am advisory information and the increasing threat of a hurricane. This weekend marks the “peak” of the Atlantic hurricane season, and if you look at the latest National Hurricane Center tropical weather outlook, nature is right on schedule. At the time of writing Saturday morning, I

Getty Images People across the West Coast have been warned to stay indoors because smoke from wildfires has polluted the air. For readers with questions about how the bad air might impact pets, we have answers.  Are animals at risk from air pollution? Yes. “If we are affected, they are affected,” said  Wailani Sung, a

Each month for the last 20 years, scientist and artist David Goodsell has published the Protein of … [+] the Month, showcasing his beautiful renditions of scientifically important and curious proteins. I featured some of his artwork at SynBioBeta’s global synthetic biology summit. SynBioBeta Each month for the last 20 years, scientist and artist David

Drinks giant Coca-Cola is transitioning from virgin resin-based plastic to using plastic bottles made from 100 percent recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) for their locally-produced brands in the Netherlands and Norway. The Western European division of the beverage behemoth says the two countries join Sweden, which completed the switch in December 2019, in being able to

Researchers found that young children will wait nearly twice as long for a reward if they are told … [+] their teacher will find out how long they wait. getty In a twist on the classic “marshmallow test” researchers found that children were willing to wait longer for a reward if they were told their

News that AstraZeneca and Oxford University were pausing clinical trials of their Covid-19 vaccine following adverse effects on a participant made huge headlines in the U.K. this week.  In the context of the country’s rising infection rates and a tightening of social distancing restrictions this is hardly a surprise. But the fact that the trial

The star forming region Sh 2-106 showcases an interesting set of phenomena, including illuminated … [+] gas, a bright central star that provides that illumination, and blue reflections off of gas that has yet to be blown away. The various stars in this region likely come from a combination of stars of many different pasts

Nicolas Lefaudeux’s ‘Andromeda Galaxy at Arm’s Length?’ Nicolas Lefaudeux One of the most prestigious astrophotography awards of all has gone to French photographer Nicolas Lefaudeux for his “illusory” image of our neighbouring Andromeda Galaxy.  Well known in astrophotography circles for his stunning HDR techniques and particularly for his incredible image of the 2019 total solar

Space junk poses a significant problem for satellites in orbit. getty A group of experts has compiled a list of what they say are most dangerous objects in Earth orbit today, noting that efforts should be undertaken to remove them as soon as possible before a disaster occurs. In a paper to be presented at