Video: Solar Eruption Caught on Camera

When a solar flare erupted yesterday, scattering a billion atomic bombs’ worth of energy into space, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory was staring at the sun. They recorded this video, which NASA released Friday morning.

The footage shows the flare in three different wavelengths of light. Teal and gold correspond to ultraviolet light, while the blue channel shows only that wavelength.

The flare itself affected Earth directly for about an hour, causing problems on some radio frequencies, but the larger impacts will come from a subsequent wave of charged solar particles called a coronal mass ejection, or CME. Researchers think the CME will pummel Earth’s natural magnetic field Saturday through Sunday, exposing power grids and satellites to possible disruptions.

The bright side, however, will be bright: Solar storms trigger dazzling northern lights. For this weekend’s CME, heliophysicist Alex Young of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center hopes the auroras will reach as far south as Washington, D.C., though it’s impossible to know for certain until moments before the CME reaches Earth.

Continue Reading “Video: Solar Eruption Caught on Camera” »

Tags: , , , , ,
Back to top

NASA Tests Robotic Gas Station Attendant for Outer Space

Satellites use solar energy to power their electronics, but they rely on gas to maintain orbit or change position. Once tapped out, dead satellites become space junk, which threatens new orbital ventures. To prevent this, NASA is testing the feasibility of using robots to fuel and repair satellites on the fly or tow them to a new job site.

Continue Reading “NASA Tests Robotic Gas Station Attendant for Outer Space” »

Tags: , ,
Back to top

Hurricane Hunters Fly Into the Eye of the Storm for Science — And TV

To gather information on violent storms, the National Hurricane Center relies on tools like sensors and satellites. And some badass Air Force Reserve pilots. The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron flies directly into the world’s worst storms to collect meteorological data. And like any dangerous job involving weather and vehicles, they now have a reality show: Hurricane Hunters recently premiered on the Weather Channel.

“What I do is sort of crazy to the rest of the aviation world. Pilots are trained to avoid weather—we’re actually flying into the most extreme storms,” says Sean Cross, a pilot featured on the show who has flown for more than 11 years with the 53rd.

Each crew includes two pilots, a navigator, a flight meteorologist, and a loadmaster. Inside the hurricane, they release cardboard tubes from the belly of the plane. These tubes, called dropsondes, are 3 inches in diameter, 16 inches long, and fall at 2,500 feet per minute while taking snapshots of temperature, wind, humidity, and pressure. That info is relayed to the NHC, which then disseminates up-to-the-minute storm data. “You can fly along for hours and never feel a bump, then all of sudden you hit severe turbulence and you think to yourself the plane might actually come apart,” Cross says. On the upside, ocean bailouts make for great television.

Also in this issue

Continue Reading “Hurricane Hunters Fly Into the Eye of the Storm for Science — And TV” »

Tags: , , ,
Back to top

Chicken Vaccines Combine to Produce Deadly Virus

Farmed chickens are dying from a recombined vaccine. Image: NRCS/USDA

By Kai Kupferschmidt, ScienceNOW

Vaccines aren’t supposed to cause disease. But that appears to be what’s happening on Australian farms. Scientists have found that two virus strains used to vaccinate chickens there may have recombined to form a virus that is sickening and killing the animals. “This shows that recombination of such strains can happen and people need to think about it,” says Glenn Browning, a veterinary microbiologist at the University of Melbourne, Parkville, in Australia and one of the co-authors on the paper.

Chickens worldwide are susceptible to a group of herpesviruses called ILTV, which target their upper respiratory tract. The resulting disease, known as infectious laryngotracheitis (ILTV), reduces egg production and can kill up to one-fifth of those infected. “The birds effectively choke to death on blood and mucus,” says Browning. The disease is not known to infect any other animals other than chicken and chicken-like birds.

Continue Reading “Chicken Vaccines Combine to Produce Deadly Virus” »

Tags: , , , , , ,
Back to top

Illegal-Ivory Bust Shows Growing U.S. Appetite for Elephant Tusks

By Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai

The next time you browse cute little ivory objects in a jewelry shop, remember that they could be made from the tusks of elephants illegally killed by poachers and smuggled into the United States. Their death could have far-reaching consequences, perhaps even affecting the climate.

At a July 12 press conference in New York City, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance announced the seizure of more than $2 million worth of illicit ivory items, one of the largest such seizures in state history. The ivory was mostly used to make small jewelry, animal statues and carved tusks, which were being sold at two shops in Manhattan.

On a table at the press conference, a few objects were on display. Though they represented only a small fraction of almost one ton of ivory obtained in the case, 25 elephants were killed to produce them, estimated John Robinson, executive Vice President of the Wildlife Conservation Society, who was present at the event

According to Samuel Wasser, director for the Center of Conservation Biology at the University of Washington, ivory poaching is a problem that keeps getting worse. It’s estimated that 2011 was the worst year in elephant poaching since 1989, and Wasser warned that the death of elephants can have large and unpredictable consequences.

Continue Reading “Illegal-Ivory Bust Shows Growing U.S. Appetite for Elephant Tusks” »

Tags: , ,
Back to top
« OLDER POSTS