When tropical meteorologists examine satellite imagery, they often notice telltale cloud formations that are a sign of something much worse. The first signs of a potential hurricane can be detected days before the storm gains momentum. Thin cirrus clouds spreading outward, the appearance of slanting banded low-level clouds, and a drop in atmospheric pressure are… Read More »
LEAD, SD — Every morning, two dozen miners and engineers board a cage-like elevator for an 11-minute descent deep into the Black Hills of South Dakota. At the bottom, a mile below the surface, the cage door lifts and workers work their way down a rocky, twisting corridor. At the end is the result of… Read More »
Barb Berlin was standing in the garage of her farmhouse in Inman, Nebraska, when she suddenly heard a knocking, cracking sound. “I thought it was a gun,” he said. Then a white line came. He realized the sound was not a gunshot but a hail of hail. One fist-sized hailstone had hit the tin roof… Read More »
In the 1990s, NASA designed an experimental space plane as a cost-effective alternative to expensive rockets. Dubbed the X-33, the vehicle was based on a concept called SSTO (single stage to orbit). SSTO eliminates the rocket stages of traditional spaceflight, which use rockets that contain engines and fuel and are dropped during ascent to save… Read More »
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — When it comes to a niche business like elephant relocation, Dr. Amir Khalil and his team may be the best. The Egyptian veterinarian’s resume includes arguably the most famous elephant transplant on the planet. In 2020, Khalil’s team rescued Kaavan, an Asian elephant, from years of loneliness in a… Read More »
Many state legislatures are seriously considering human embryos in the earliest stages of development for legal personhood. Total abortion bans, which assume that humans have full rights from the moment of conception, have created a confusing legal landscape affecting areas as diverse as assisted reproductive technology, birth control, basic medical care, and parental rights. But… Read More »
LAS VEGAS — On a sun-scorched stretch of West Charleston Boulevard, Norm Schilling pulled his truck over to the side of the road to visit his favorite tree. Schilling, a local gardener who runs a landscaping company and owns a garden shop called Mojave Bloom Nursery, saved this African sumac decades after its branches froze… Read More »
When you buy through links in our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn commission. On August 18, 2024, Rocket Lab delivered two spacecraft for NASA’s ESCAPADE mission to the Astrotech Space Operations Facility in Titusville, Florida, in preparation for launch this fall. | Credit: NASA/Norman Phelps The two Mars satellites that will be… Read More »
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Climate change is wreaking havoc on the rainforests where the delicate cocoa beans grow, but cocoa lovers need not despair, say companies exploring other ways to grow cocoa or develop cocoa substitutes. Scientists and entrepreneurs are working on ways to produce more cocoa, with distribution extending well beyond the tropics… Read More »
For decades, farmers across America have been encouraged by the federal government to spread municipal sewage as fertilizer on millions of acres of farmland. It’s rich in nutrients and helps keep sludge out of landfills. But a growing body of research suggests that this black sludge, formed from sewage runoff from homes and factories, may… Read More »