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Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a laboratory instrument that can measure how much of the carbon in many carbon-containing materials was derived from fossil fuels. This will open the way for new methods in the biofuels and bioplastics industries, in scientific research, and environmental monitoring. Among other things, it will allow scientists to measure how much of the carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere came from burning fossil fuels, and to estimate fossil fuel emissions in an area as small as a city or as large as a continent.

NOAA’s GOES East satellite captured a visible image of the latest tropical cyclone to form in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean. Tropical Depression 14E formed, despite battling northerly wind shear.

Although Tropical Storm Jose was located off the coast of southeastern U.S. it is stirring up the waters along the U.S. East coast, causing dangerous conditions. NOAA’s GOES East satellite saw Jose centered about 360 miles northeast of the southwestern Bahamas on Sept. 15.

As patients at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford undergo routine medical procedures, they are being whisked away to swim under the sea, zap flying cheeseburgers in outer space, catch basketballs using their heads and fly on paper airplanes through the sky, thanks to virtual-reality technology, which is being implemented throughout the hospital to help ease patients’ feelings of pain and anxiety.

Packard Children’s is one of the first hospitals in the country to begin implementing distraction-based VR therapy within every patient unit.

Satellite imagery showed that Tropical Depression 15E continued to struggle to organize while still being affected by vertical wind shear.