NASA Northern quadrant strength in Tropical Cyclone Lili

NASA's Aqua satellite used infrared light to analyze the strength of storms in Tropical Cyclone Lili as it moved through the Southern Indian Ocean. Infrared data provides temperature information, and the strongest thunderstorms that reach high into the atmosphere have the coldest cloud top temperatures.

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180 nations agree UN deal to regulate export of plastic waste

Around 180 governments on Friday agreed on a new UN accord to regulate the export of plastic waste, some eight million tonnes of which ends up in the oceans each year, organisers said.

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Manipulating superconductivity using a 'mechanic' and an 'electrician'

In strongly correlated materials such as cuprate high-temperature superconductors, superconductivity can be controlled either by changing the number of electrons or by changing the kinetic energy, or transfer energy, of electrons in the system. Although a large number of strongly correlated materials have been examined with different parameters to understand the mechanism of superconductivity, the range of parameter control is always limited. A versatile experimental method to achieve simultaneous control of the number and the transfer energy of the electrons has been long desired.

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Smart software tool could pave the way for changing how things get designed, made, and supplied

If you don't like wandering through big-box stores trying to find the furniture you need, and then struggle to assemble it, researchers have proposed a solution: Smart software that helps you design your own furniture, 3-D print the joints and assemble the whole structure at home.

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Anal cancer is on the rise, especially in women. Should they be screened?

Now that actress Marcia Cross has been in remission from anal cancer for about a year, she has a mission.

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Effects of surgery on a warming planet: Can anesthesia go green?

It was early morning in an operating theater at Providence Hospital in Portland, Ore. A middle-aged woman lay on the operating table, wrapped in blankets. Surgeons were about to cut out a cancerous growth in her stomach.

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Researchers make transformational AI seem 'unremarkable'

Physicians making life-and-death decisions about organ transplants, cancer treatments or heart surgeries typically don't give much thought to how artificial intelligence might help them. And that's how researchers at Carnegie Mellon University say clinical AI tools should be designed—so doctors don't need to think about them.

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Focus on nuclear waste chemistry could help federal cleanup site challenges

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Washington State University teamed up to investigate the complex dynamics of low-water liquids that challenge nuclear waste processing at federal cleanup sites.

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HIV prevention drug can curb the epidemic for high-risk groups in India

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a combination drug used to prevent HIV infection, has already gained significant traction in the U.S. and Europe. The once-a-day pill, when taken consistently, can reduce the risk of HIV acquisition by over 85 percent. A new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases by an international research team suggests that making PrEP available to men who have sex with men (MSM) and people who inject drugs (PWID) in India may be a cost-effective way of curbing the epidemic there.

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Video games are a 'great equalizer' for people with disabilities

Gaming has been a huge part of Erin Hawley's life since she started playing Atari as a little girl.

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The regulatory role of ethical labelling

A Victoria University of Wellington study has found ethical certification has become a 'tick in the box' exercise in some industries, and fails to address underlying sustainability and equality injustices.

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Statins' potential to treat multiple sclerosis unrelated to lowering cholesterol

The widely prescribed statin, simvastatin, can medically help patients with secondary progressive Multiple Sclerosis (SPMS)—for reasons that might be unrelated to the drug's intended cholesterol lowering affects, a UCL study has found.

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Setting a precedent in the use of artificial intelligence

Criminal sentencing could be fairer with the help of machine learning, according to Professor Dan Hunter. The Foundation Dean of Swinburne Law School, Hunter observed that sentencing generates a vast store of data, and the process is expensive for individuals and the system, making it the perfect candidate for a technological upgrade.

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Wireless movement-tracking system could collect health and behavioral data

We live in a world of wireless signals flowing around us and bouncing off our bodies. MIT researchers are now leveraging those signal reflections to provide scientists and caregivers with valuable insights into people's behavior and health.

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New water cycle on Mars discovered

Approximately every two Earth years, when it is summer on the southern hemisphere of Mars, a window opens: Only in this season can water vapor efficiently rise from the lower into the upper Martian atmosphere. There, winds carry the rare gas to the north pole. While part of the water vapor decays and escapes into space, the rest sinks back down near the poles. Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany describe this unusual Martian water cycle in a current issue of the Geophysical Research Letters. Their computer simulations show how water vapor overcomes the barrier of cold air in the middle atmosphere of Mars and reaches higher atmospheric layers. This could explain why Mars, unlike Earth, has lost most of its water.

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NASA-NOAA satellite catches formation of Tropical Cyclone Lili

NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over the Southern Indian Ocean and captured a visible image of newly formed Tropical Cyclone Lili, located north of the coast of Australia's Northern Territory.

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Cities can follow Stanford's energy makeover to cut emissions of carbon dioxide affordably, new study finds

Over the past several years, Stanford transformed its energy infrastructure by electrifying its heating system, replacing its gas-fired power plant with grid power, creating a unique system to recover heat, building massive tanks to store hot and cold water, and building a solar power plant. The Stanford Energy System Innovations project cut the campus's total greenhouse gas emissions 68 percent and is lowering the system's operating costs by $425 million over 35 years.

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Japanese man jailed for smuggling insects from Ecuador

A Japanese man was sentenced to two years in prison in Ecuador for attempting to smuggle a massive haul of creepy crawlies out of the country, officials said Thursday.

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