Every full moon, Landsat 8 turns its back on Earth. As the satellite's orbit takes it to the nighttime side of the planet, Landsat 8 pivots to point at the moon. It scans the distant lunar surface multiple times, then flips back around to continue its task of collecting land-cover information of the sunny side of Earth below. These monthly lunar scans are key to ensuring the land-imaging instrument aboard Landsat 8 is detecting light consistently. For this, engineers need a consistent source of light to measure. And while there are some spots on Earth – like the Sahara ...

Sea ice in summer looks dramatically different than sea ice in winter, even in the polar Arctic. Summer snowmelt, pools of water on thinning ice and exposed ocean replace vast winter expanses of white snow-covered ice – and this weekend NASA's high-flying laser altimeter begins a campaign to investigate these features. Icy areas look different from a satellite's perspective as well. When NASA launches the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, in 2017, it will measure Earth's elevation by sending out pulses of green laser light and timing how long it ...

Astronomers analyzing a long-lasting blast of high-energy light observed in 2013 report finding features strikingly similar to those expected from an explosion from the universe's earliest stars. If this interpretation is correct, the outburst validates ideas about a recently identified class of gamma-ray burst and serves as a stand-in for what future observatories may see as the last acts of the first stars. "One of the great challenges of modern astrophysics has been the quest to identify the first generation of stars to form in the universe, which we refer to as Population ...

VERNON – It's no secret groundwater levels have declined across the state over the past eight decades, and that the primary reason was the onset of irrigation in agriculture and population growth. But a recent Texas A&M AgriLife Research study has identified other factors having an impact. The groundwater declines have been most severe in the past four decades, but the news isn't all bad, according to Dr. Srinivasulu Ale, AgriLife Research geospatial hydrology assistant professor in Vernon. "Long-term (1930�) trends in groundwater levels in Texas: Influences ...

USC Stem Cell scientists have set a "mouse TRAP" to capture the early signs of kidney failure, as described by a recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Their new transgenic mouse line uses a technique called TRAP to extract cellular and genetic information from a variety of solid organs. Invented by scientists at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in 2008, TRAP involves attaching a fluorescent tag to the protein-making machinery, or ribosomes, of the cell type of interest. Scientists can then collect the tagged ribosomes and determine ...

PULLMAN, Wash.—The largest study of its kind has found that organic foods and crops have a suite of advantages over their conventional counterparts, including more antioxidants and fewer, less frequent pesticide residues. The study looked at an unprecedented 343 peer-reviewed publications comparing the nutritional quality and safety of organic and conventional plant-based foods, including fruits, vegetables, and grains. The study team applied sophisticated meta-analysis techniques to quantify differences between organic and non-organic foods. "Science marches on," said ...

VIDEO: Chemists want to understand chemical reactions that happen in solutions under high pressure in the Earth's crust. A new device invented at UC Davis allows chemists to make nuclear magnetic... Click here for more information. A new pressure cell invented by UC Davis researchers makes it possible to simulate chemical reactions deep in the Earth's crust. The cell allows researchers to perform nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements on as little as 10 microliters ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Researchers from The Miriam Hospital have found that people with mobility impairments under age 65 have significantly higher rates of smoking than those without mobility impairments. Additionally, smokers with mobility impairments were less likely to attempt quitting than those without mobility impairments, and evidence-based, quit-smoking treatments may not be sufficient for this population. The study and its findings are published online in advance of print in the American Journal of Public Health. Lead researcher Belinda Borrelli, Ph.D., of The ...

HOUSTON – (July 10, 2014) – Obese and overweight firefighters are not receiving weight management advice from their health care providers, according to new research from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). National guidelines state that health care professionals (HCPs) should advise patients on the importance of maintaining a healthy weight. Firefighters have high rates of obesity, and cardiovascular events are the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths in firefighters. This study assessed the association of age and body mass index (BMI) ...

There were many fires burning in eastern New South Wales, Australia when NASA's Aqua satellite passed overhead on July 11. At 03:35 UTC on July 11 (12:35 p.m. local time/11:35 p.m. EDT on July 10), when Aqua passed over eastern New South Wales (NSW), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard captured a natural-color visible image of the region and spotted smoke (light brown) from various fires. Actively burning areas, detected by MODIS's thermal bands, are outlined in red. The New South Wales, Australia Government website "NSW Rural Fire Service" ...

The Mills Canyon fire started near the City of Entiat on Tuesday, July 8, 2014. Despite the efforts of local resources, the fire quickly grew to over 1,000 acres by evening. Three outbuildings were damaged. The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Washington Department of Natural Resources. The fire team is working with existing local resources in developing fire control strategies and tactics. Other cooperators include the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Washington State Department of Natural Resources, (WA DNR), Bureau of Land Management, Chelan County Emergency ...

This news release is available in German. X-ray phase-contrast imaging is a method that uses the refraction of X-rays through a specimen instead of attenuation resulting from absorption. The images produced with this method are often of much higher quality than those based on absorption. The scientists in the team of Prof. Franz Pfeiffer are particularly interested in developing new approaches for biomedical X-ray imaging and therapy – including X-ray phase-contrast imaging. One main goal is to make this method available for clinical applications such as diagnosis of ...

Southern Japan received a soaking from Tropical Storm Neoguri on July 9 and 10 and data from the TRMM satellite was used to create a map that shows how much rain fell in Kyushu. Kyushu is the southwestern most and third largest island of Japan. The island is mountainous and is home to Mount Aso. Heavy rainfall from Neoguri fell on land that was already soaked in the past week from a slow moving frontal system. Typhoon Neoguri made landfall on Kyushu early Thursday, July 10, local time after affecting the Okinawa island chain. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission ...

SEATTLE, WASH. — July 11, 2014 — Researchers have pioneered a revolutionary new way to digitally navigate three-dimensional images. The new technology, called Virtual Finger, allows scientists to move through digital images of small structures like neurons and synapses using the flat surface of their computer screens. Virtual Finger's unique technology makes 3D imaging studies orders of magnitude more efficient, saving time, money and resources at an unprecedented level across many areas of experimental biology. The software and its applications are profiled in this week's ...

July 11, 2014 – The increased risk of kidney injury related to the use of hydroxyethyl starch (HES) in resuscitation fluids reflects the mass of HES molecules, according to a report in Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS). The "total mass of HES molecules" explains the harmful effect of HES on cultured human renal proximal tubule cells (PTCs), concludes the laboratory study by Dr Christian Wunder and colleagues of University Hospital Würzburg, Austria. Other factors—such as differences in the origin or molecular ...

Using electronic health records to understand the best available treatment for patients, from a range of possible options, is more efficient and less costly for taxpayers than the existing clinical trial process, a new study shows. Research led by Professor van Staa, carried out while he was a member of the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) and who is now based at The University of Manchester's Health eResearch Centre, published in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) today (Friday 11 July) looked at the use of statins in 300 people with high risk of cardiovascular ...

Lighting is crucial to the art of photography. But lights are cumbersome and time-consuming to set up, and outside the studio, it can be prohibitively difficult to position them where, ideally, they ought to go. Researchers at MIT and Cornell University hope to change that by providing photographers with squadrons of small, light-equipped autonomous robots that automatically assume the positions necessary to produce lighting effects specified through a simple, intuitive, camera-mounted interface. At the International Symposium on Computational Aesthetics in Graphics, ...

WASHINGTON —Young adults who screened positive for a history of hazardous or binge drinking reduced their binge drinking by more than 50 percent after receiving mobile phone text messages following a visit to the emergency department, according to a study published online yesterday in Annals of Emergency Medicine ("A Text Message Alcohol Intervention for Young Adult Emergency Department Patients: A Randomized Clinical Trial"). "Each day in the U.S., more than 50,000 adults ages 18 to 24 visit ERs and up to half have hazardous alcohol use patterns," said Brian Suffoletto, ...

Guam and surrounding areas were under a Tropical Storm Warning and Watch on July 11 as NASA's Aqua satellite passed overhead. During the early morning hours on July 11, Tropical Depression 09W strengthened into a tropical storm. On July 11 at 03:45 UTC (1:45 p.m. EDT Guam local time/), the Moderate Resolution Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured a visible image of Tropical Storm 09W (09W) over Guam. The MODIS image showed a concentration of strong thunderstorms around the center of circulation, and in a large band circling ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass-- Last year, MIT researchers discovered that when water droplets spontaneously jump away from superhydrophobic surfaces during condensation, they can gain electric charge in the process. Now, the same team has demonstrated that this process can generate small amounts of electricity that might be used to power electronic devices. The new findings, by postdoc Nenad Miljkovic, associate professor of mechanical engineering Evelyn Wang, and two others, are published in the journal Applied Physics Letters. This approach could lead to devices to charge cellphones ...

Virtual reality interface devices permit the user to interact with the virtual world in real time through a variety of multisensory channels including hearing, sight, touch and smell. The virtual reality interface devices enable the reorganization of neural networks in the brain of patients with chronic stroke and cerebral palsy, thereby improving hand function and other skills, contributing to their quality of life. Virtual reality interface devices can also activate visual, vestibular and proprioceptive systems, which help control body posture and improve balance function. ...

There is evidence that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants can promote neuronal cell proliferation and enhance neuroplasticity both in vitro and in vivo. Dr. Javad Verdi and his team, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran proposed that citalopram, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, can increase the efficacy of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) differentiating into neuronal-like cells. Experimental results confirmed that citalopram can improve the neuronal-like cell differentiation of BMSCs by increasing cell proliferation and survival ...

Recent evidence has demonstrated that transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells can stimulate neurogenesis in the brain of adult rat or mouse models of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and improve tissue and function injury under the condition of cerebral ischemia. Few studies are reported on the therapeutic effect of adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) transplantation in mice with AD and on the effect on oxidative injury and neurogenesis in the brain of AD mice. Dr. Yufang Yan and her team, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, China transplanted ADSCs into the hippocampus ...

In addition to the hippocampus, the marginal division of the striatum is also involved in learning and memory. What is the impact degree of substance P in the striatal marginal division on learning and memory function? Yan Yu and his team, College of Biophotonics, South China Normal University, China found, using immunofluorescence staining, that substance P receptor, neurokinin 1 was highly expressed in the hippocampus and striatal marginal division of normal rats. Unilateral or bilateral injection of an antisense oligonucleotide against neurokinin 1 receptor mRNA in the ...

There is evidence that under the normal circumstances, astrocytes participate in normal physiological activities and development, maintain neuronal environment, and exhibit therapeutic and repairing effects on brain injury and neurodegenerative disease. Previous studies have found that nerve cells differentiated from adipose-derived stromal cells after chemical induction have reduced viability, which produces influences on subsequent studies and application. Prof. Xiaodong Yuan, Kailuan General Hospital, Hebei United University, China demonstrated that after chemical induction, ...