What scientists thought caused certain classes of northern lights is not what causes certain classes of northern lights.

In a landmark study that has toppled what scientists know about the night sky, UAlberta physicists Robert Rankin and Dmytro Sydorenko found that the ionospheric feedback instability (IFI)—the mechanism thought to be the cause of certain types of northern lights—not only doesn’t cause northern lights, it may not even exist at all.

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NASA and NOAA satellites have provided data on Maria as it strengthened into a major Hurricane headed toward the Leeward Islands. NASA's Aqua satellite provided an infrared look at Maria that showed cooling cloud top temperatures and NOAA's GOES satellite provided an animation of imagery that showed the storm developing and strengthening. The GPM satellite found "Hot" towering clouds that indicated strengthening was occurring before Maria became a major hurricane.

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Excess emissions from diesel cars cause about 5,000 premature deaths annually across Europe, a new study shows.

Since the late 1990s the share of diesel cars in the EU has risen to around 50% in the fleet, with important variations between countries. There are now more than 100 million diesel cars running in Europe, twice as many as in the rest of the world together. Their NOxemissions are however 4 to 7 times higher on the road than in official certification tests. Modern engine controls have been optimized by manufacturers for the specific laboratory testing but underperform in real-driving. In this new study, researchers at IIASA and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute have calculated the premature deaths from these excess NOx emissions for the population in all European countries.

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