Tag: earth

Patricia, Strongest Hurricane Ever Seen In Eastern Pacific, Strikes In Mexico

CNN reports that Hurricane Patricia has made landfall in Mexico; Patricia is notable for having the third-lowest barometer reading ever recorded, and as “the strongest hurricane ever observed in the eastern Pacific or Atlantic oceans.” Slate points out that at one point, “satellite estimates of Patricia’s intensity broke the Dvorak scale, peaking at 8.3 on the 8.0 scale. … In fact, Patricia is now very close to the theoretical maximum strength for a tropical cyclone on planet Earth.” The Weather Channel is tracking the storm’s path, and predicts “catastrophic damage … along a narrow path as the eye slices into the interior of southwest Mexico Friday night.” Here’s a map from the National Weather Service showing Patricia’s track as well as projected path. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Patricia, Strongest Hurricane Ever Seen In Eastern Pacific, Strikes In Mexico

Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Chemistry Lab Found Hidden Behind Wall

Conservationists working at the University of Virginia’s Rotunda have inadvertently uncovered a chemical hearth designed by Thomas Jefferson. The discovery is offering fresh insights into how chemistry was taught over 200 years ago. Read more…

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Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Chemistry Lab Found Hidden Behind Wall

"E-mailable" House Snaps Together Without Nails

MikeChino writes: Your next house could snap together like a jigsaw puzzle without the use of any power tools. Clemson University students designed and built Indigo Pine, a carbon-neutral house that exists largely as a set of digital files that can be e-mailed to a wood shop anywhere in the world, CNC cut, and then assembled on-site in a matter of days. “Indigo Pine has global application, ” says the Clemson team. “Because the house exists largely as a set of digital files, the plans can be sent anywhere in the world, constructed using local materials, adapted to the site, and influenced by local culture.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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"E-mailable" House Snaps Together Without Nails

This Startup Wants To Plant One Billion Trees a Year Using Drones

Deforestation downs 10 billion trees around the globe annually. Replanting trees by hand is slow, expensive, and barely puts a dent in reversing the damage. But one startup wants to use drones that can reforest our increasingly tree-strapped Earth, on a big enough scale to replace slow and expensive hired humans. Read more…

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This Startup Wants To Plant One Billion Trees a Year Using Drones

Volkswagen Could Face $18 Billion Fine Over Emission-Cheating Software

After getting caught cheating on emissions testing by means of software, Volkswagen could face up to $18 billion in fines, reports USA Today. That number is based on the company being assessed the maximum penalty of $37, 500 per affected vehicle. That’s not the only bad news for Volkswagen, which has halted sales of its 4-cylinder diesel cars; the linked article reports that the violations “could also invite charges of false marketing by regulators, a vehicle recall and payment to car owners, either voluntarily or through lawsuits. Volkswagen advertised the cars under the ‘Clean Diesel’ moniker. The state of California is also investigating the emissions violations.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Volkswagen Could Face $18 Billion Fine Over Emission-Cheating Software

Volkswagen Ordered To Recall 500K Vehicles Over Its Own Malicious Programming

Etherwalk writes: The Obama Administration today ordered Volkswagen to recall 500, 000 4-cylinder Volkswagen and Audi vehicles from model years 2009-15. The vehicles were programmed to turn on more thorough emissions control and generate cleaner readings when tested for emissions than they did when in ordinary operation. In effect, the software made everything operate normally when you looked at it, just like any good malware. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Volkswagen Ordered To Recall 500K Vehicles Over Its Own Malicious Programming

Cedar Point’s Giant New Coaster Will Shatter Ten World Records Next Year

There are lots of coaster parks in the world, but few have dedicated themselves to pushing the limits of thrill rides like Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, has. And when it opens next summer, its new Valravn Birdseye coaster will officially break ten world records in one fell swoop. Read more…

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Cedar Point’s Giant New Coaster Will Shatter Ten World Records Next Year

First 3D map of Earth’s interior shows where volcanoes come from

It’s no secret that Earth’s volcanoes are the result of magma rising through the planet’s mantle, but have you wondered just where those ‘roots’ run? UC Berkeley can provide an answer. It just created the first-ever detailed 3D map of the Earth’s interior by studying the path of seismic waves. The model shows mantle plumes (where the hot rock flows) starting at the bottom of the core-to-mantle boundary and climbing to the top, where they connect to volcanic hotspots in the Earth’s crust. As it turns out, the plumes don’t take a straight path — they often spread out as they merge with the colder upper mantle. It’s also clear that most of the world’s volcanoes (such as those in the Pacific’s island chains) ultimately come from two large “blobs” of hot rock at the core boundary. The model isn’t perfect. It didn’t link plumes to some volcanoes, such as the one at Yellowstone National Park . However, it’s good enough to represent the first hard evidence of magma plumes, and there are promises of higher-resolution maps in the future thanks to gravity-sensing satellites. While it’s doubtful that scientists will ever know as much about Earth’s insides as they do about the top layer, this below- longer as mysterious as it once was. [Image credit: Shutterstock] Filed under: Science Comments Source: UC Berkeley , Nature Tags: ctscan, LawrenceBerkeleyNationalLaboratory, science, UcBerkeley, video, volcano

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First 3D map of Earth’s interior shows where volcanoes come from

This is Exactly What New Horizons saw Zipping by Pluto

When the New Horizons spacecraft raced past Pluto this summer, it constantly snapped photographs both coming and going. This is exactly what it saw while zooming past the frozen dwarf planet. Whoa. Read more…

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This is Exactly What New Horizons saw Zipping by Pluto