• Liquid Metal Discovery to Make Toxic Water Safe and Drinkable

    An innovation in liquid metal chemistry could help one tenth of the planet’s population get access to clean drinking water at very low cost following breakthrough research.

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  • Weathering Rates for Mined Lands Exponentially Higher Than Unmined Sites

    Mountaintop removal, a coal-mining technique used in much of Central Appalachia, is an extreme form of surface mining, that excavates ridges as deep as 600 feet — twice the length of a football field — and buries adjacent valleys and streams in bedrock and coal residue. This mining activity has long been known to have negative impacts on water quality downstream.

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  • NASA Study Untangles Smoke, Pollution Effects on Clouds

    A new NASA-led study helps answer decades-old questions about the role of smoke and human-caused air pollution on clouds and rainfall. Looking specifically at deep convective clouds -- tall clouds like thunderclouds, formed by warm air rising -- the study shows that smoky air makes it harder for these clouds to grow. Pollution, on the other hand, energizes their growth, but only if the pollution isn't heavy. Extreme pollution is likely to shut down cloud growth.

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  • Researchers Reveal Link Between Hunger and Mood, New Study

    It seems “hangry” isn’t just a made-up term.

    University of Guelph researchers have revealed that the sudden drop in glucose we experience when we are hungry can impact our mood.

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  • Retracing Antarctica’s Glacial Past

    More than 26,000 years ago, sea level was much lower than it is today partly because the ice sheets that jut out from the continent of Antarctica were enormous and covered by grounded ice — ice that was fully attached to the seafloor. The ice sheets were as large as they could get and at the time, sea level was much lower because a lot of ice was sequestered on the continent. As the planet warmed, the ice sheets melted and contracted, and sea level began to rise. LSU Department of Geology & Geophysics Associate Professor Phil Bart and his students have discovered new information that illuminates how and when this global phenomenon occurred. Their research recently published in Nature’s Scientific Reports may change today’s sea level rise predictions as Earth and its icy continent continues to warm.

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  • Researchers Seek Vaccine for ‘Traveler’s Diarrhea’

    Every year, millions of people have vacations and business trips ruined when they succumb to “traveler’s diarrhea” during their journeys. A major cause of traveler’s diarrhea is bacteria called Enterotoxigenic E. coli, or ETEC. A joint effort between the University of Georgia and the University of Texas at Austin has discovered how ETEC works to cause disease. They are using this information in an effort to develop a preventive vaccine for travelers.

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  • NASA Sees Eastern Pacific’s Newest Tropical Storm Organizing

    NASA provided an infrared look at newly developed Tropical Storm Rosa in the Eastern Pacific and found the storm was getting better organized.

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  • Super Typhoon Trami’s Rainfall Examined By NASA/JAXA’s GPM Satellite

    The Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core observatory satellite probed super typhoon Trami when it traveled above the northwestern Pacific Ocean and provided an analysis of heavy rainfall and cloud top heights.

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  • Infectious Bacteria Hibernate to Evade Antibiotics

    University of Copenhagen researchers have discovered a surprising tactic of pathogenic bacteria when being attacked by antibiotics: hibernation.

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  • How Leaves Talk to Roots

    New findings show that a micro RNA from the shoot keeps legume roots susceptible to symbiotic infection by downregulating a gene that would otherwise hinder root responses to symbiotic bacteria. These findings help us understand what it takes to make nitrogen-fixing symbiosis efficient, and what we need to do to exploit it agronomically.

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