Winter cold extremes linked to high-altitude polar vortex weakening

Winter cold extremes linked to high-altitude polar vortex weakening

Over the last decades, the stratospheric polar vortex has shifted towards more frequent weak states which can explain Eurasian cooling trends in boreal winter in the era of Arctic amplification. When the strong winds that circle the Arctic slacken, cold polar air…

Giant tsunami reshaped California coastline

Giant tsunami reshaped California coastline

New evidence suggests a gigantic tsunami hit the California coast 900 years ago, removing three to five times more sand than any El Niño storm in history. Since large tsunamis hit the northwestern US every 300 to 500 years and the last occurred in January…

12 000 years ago, Florida hurricanes heated up despite chilly seas

12 000 years ago, Florida hurricanes heated up despite chilly seas

According to new research by Michael Toomey and his colleagues from The Geological Society of America's Journal Geology, Category 5 hurricanes may have slammed Florida repeatedly during the chilly Younger Dryas, 12 000 years ago, as hurricane-suppressing effects…

Study confirms large earthquakes along Olympic Mountain faults

Study confirms large earthquakes along Olympic Mountain faults

A comprehensive study of faults along the north side of the Olympic Mountains of Washington State emphasizes the substantial seismic hazard to the northern Puget Lowland region. The study examined the Lake Creek-Boundary Creek and Sadie Creek faults along the north…

Astronomers discover unusual spindle-like galaxies

Astronomers discover unusual spindle-like galaxies

Using the CALIFA survey, astronomer Athanasia Tsatsi (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy) and her colleagues studied the spindle-like galaxies and found that these slender galaxies, which rotate along their longest axis, are much more common than previously thought….

Jupiter’s auroras present a powerful mystery

Jupiter’s auroras present a powerful mystery

Scientists on NASA's Juno mission have observed massive amounts of energy swirling over Jupiter's polar regions that contribute to the giant planet's powerful auroras – only not in ways the researchers expected. Examining data collected by the…

Tectonic plates weaker than previously thought

Tectonic plates weaker than previously thought

Experiments carried out at Oxford University have revealed that tectonic plates are weaker than previously thought. The finding explains an ambiguity in lab work that led scientists to believe these rocks were much stronger than they appeared to be in the natural…

Breakthrough device heals organs with a single touch

Breakthrough device heals organs with a single touch

Researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Ohio State's College of Engineering have developed a new technology, Tissue Nanotransfection (TNT), that can generate any cell type of interest for treatment within the patient's own body….

Study explains anomaly in Earth’s atmosphere over the Weddell Sea

Study explains anomaly in Earth’s atmosphere over the Weddell Sea

A new study finds that the ionospheric anomaly over the Weddell Sea, near the tip of South America in the southeast Pacific Ocean, is likely influenced by proximity to auroral energy input, rather than by tilting magnetic fields. The anomaly was discovered in the…