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JULY 1961 Forecasting Revolution “The behavior of the atmosphere is so complex that it was not to be expected that a few months of satellite observation would suddenly clarify weather processes or lead to an immediate improvement in forecasts. Nevertheless, meteorologists who have been following the data received from Tiros I and Tiros II are convinced that weather satellites will have a revolutionary impact on their science. Because of this conviction, an enlarged series of weather satellites is being planned by the U....

In theory, cloud storage is great. Instead of some $150 hard drive connected to your PC, your data rests on industrial-strength corporate servers, backed up, powered by redundant systems and attached to uninterruptible power supplies. What setup could possibly be safer? How quickly we forget… MobileMe Becomes a MobileMess: Apple’s own MobileMe service (now called iCloud) offered automatic syncing of e-mail, calendar, address books and other data across various Apple gadgets and Macs....

The most secure computers in the world can’t “Google” a thing—they are disconnected from the Internet and all other networks. The U.S. military and the National Security Agency rely on this attack-prevention measure, known as air-gapping, as does The Intercept, the media outlet co-founded by Glenn Greenwald, who was instrumental in disclosing the nsa’s extensive domestic surveillance program. But where there’s a will, there’s a way: a team of doctoral students at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel announced it can obtain information from an air-gapped computer by reading messages encoded in the heat given off, like smoke signals, by its processors....

Roughly 39 light-years away toward the constellation Aquarius is a planet that hosts a global ocean so deep it drowns the land. Set sail anywhere on that water world and you will never spot mountains, hills or even beaches on the horizon, just deep blue tides. And this planet is not alone. A new analysis of the exoplanets circling TRAPPIST-1—which a 2017 study estimated were all roughly the size, mass and composition of Earth—suggests that four of the seven worlds are actually soaked in water....

Decked out in a mask, cape and black spandex, a fit young man leaps onto the stage, one hand raised high, and bellows, “I am Japaneeeese Bat-Maaaaaan!” in a thick accent. The performer is neither actor nor acrobat. He is a mathematician named Jun Ono, hailing from Meiji University in Japan. Ono’s single bound, front and center, at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts in Naples, Fla. (now called Artis-Naples), was the opening act of the ninth Best Illusion of the Year Contest, held May 13, 2013....

From Quanta Magazine (find original story here). For cellphone whisperers, families that live near highways, airports or trains, music-loving commuters, and even individual cells, noise is an inescapable fact of life. In everyday human experience, the nuisance is often manageable. Soundproof barriers and noise-canceling headphones help scrub the cacophony from the sweet sounds of music or silence. But for the cells that make up all living things, noise — meaning random variability in the outside environment, including fluctuating food sources, pathogens and deadly toxins, or random processes within the cells themselves — can be a matter of life and death....

For its State of the World 2006 report, the Worldwatch Institute focuses on China and India. The U.S. still consumes the most resources per capita, but if China and India were to catch up, then the resources from a second planet Earth would be needed to sustain the two economies. Gross domestic product per person in: China: $4,600 India: $2,500 Europe: $26,900 Japan: $29,400 U.S.: $40,100 Barrels of oil used per person every year in:...

After a nuclear disaster like the one in Fukushima, Japan, in 2011, first responders need to quickly measure radiation exposure en masse and decide who requires urgent treatment. Existing tests are fast and accurate—but they rely on sophisticated laboratories, expensive machinery and meticulous work, says Dipanjan Chowdhury, a radiation oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. “We don’t have copious amounts of radiation drugs available” in such a situation, he adds. “So how do we decide who gets them?...

LONDON — Mercury, the smallest planet in our solar system, may hold clues to understanding how the Earth’s moon was born, a scientist studying the planet says. Just like the moon, Mercury is a desolate, rocky and airless body, albeit a bit bigger than Earth’s satellite, said Sean Solomon, the principal investigator for NASA’s Messenger mission to Mercury. He presented the idea of using Mercury to glean insights into Earth’s moon at the recent Origin of the Moon conference held here at the Royal Society....

By Emma MarrisCould you prevent nine local extinctions by hastening one extinction? It sounds completely counterintuitive, but a pair of ecosystem modelers are proposing that conservationists could sometimes prop up a troubled ecosystem by removing one or more of its species–and using models to determine the timing and order of those removals.The species that make up an ecosystem are connected in complex “food webs” of eater and eaten. When one species disappears, its predators can no longer eat it and its prey are no longer eaten by it....

Tempted to buy a box or two of your favorites when the Girl Scouts come knocking during their annual cookie drive, but worried about loading up on artery-clogging trans fats? Good news: Now you can have your cake—er, cookies—and eat them, too. In a sign of the times, Girl Scouts of the USA announced that all 12 varieties of their cookies—including top sellers Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, Do-si-dos and Trefoils—are now free (or close to it) of trans fatty acids, an ingredient in many lards and solid cooking oils implicated in heart disease....

No matter how hard you try, your mind can’t bend a spoon or channel the powers of a Jedi knight. Thanks to a new headset under development by neuroengineering company Emotiv Systems, however, you may soon be able to do this and more via the magic of video games. By the end of this year, San Francisco–based Emotiv’s sensor-laden EPOC headset will enable gamers to use their own brain activity to interact with the virtual worlds where they play....

A Guide to Mastering Your World When we think about the things we do every day—driving, working, parenting—we realize that even with tasks we are generally good at, there is always room for improvement. Luckily, scientists are on the case. Visit this column in every issue to find tips for acing life. —The Editors #1 Take up meditation. Driving is the ultimate multitasking activity. Your brain constantly switches among actions—looking for brake lights ahead, checking the mirrors, watching for pedestrians, listening for horns and sirens, glancing at the speedometer (and watching for cops in the rearview mirror if you’re speeding)....

It’s well known who the fugitives are, but exactly where they come from and how many there are has long been murky. The oil field fugitives aren’t people, of course, but gases — methane, benzene, toluene, xylene and other volatile organic compounds. Some of them cause cancer. Methane, like carbon dioxide, is a greenhouse gas that meddles with the climate, forcing a lot of warming in the atmosphere. These gases are fugitives because they’ve been found leaking from oil and gas fields, which is one the biggest criticisms of the hydraulic fracturing and shale oil and gas boom sweeping Pennsylvania, Texas, and large swathes of the West today....

Suicidal zombie insects, a wild-eyed scientist from Eastern Europe, bloodsucking and mind control. These are normally the stuff of vampire fiction, but they also loom large in neuroparasitology, the study of how parasites manipulate the behavior of their hosts. In This Is Your Brain on Parasites, science writer McAuliffe vividly delves into this burgeoning field, weaving in stories that are fascinating—and full of the kind of factoids you can’t wait to share: Did you know that there’s a tiny parasite that tricks crickets into drowning themselves so it can get into the water and lay eggs?...

Aerial drones have garnered a lot of attention (and controversy) for their ability to launch missile strikes for the U.S. military against enemies in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other hotspots. However, the Department of Defense is now cultivating another type of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for use in combat planning, designed to soar high above the battlefield for so-called ISR (intelligence gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance) missions. The STS-111 aircraft, which is still in prototype, is in essence a worm-like weather balloon that undulates through the Earth’s lower atmosphere, guided by satellite or ground communications or programmed to operate autonomously....

The oldest-known representations of a pharaoh are carved on rocks near the Nile River in southern Egypt, researchers report. The carvings were first observed and recorded in the 1890s, but only rediscovered in 2008. In them, a white-crowned figure travels in ceremonial processions and on sickle-shaped boats, perhaps representing an early tax-collecting tour of Egypt. The scenes place the age of the carvings between 3200 B.C. and 3100 B.C., researchers report in the December issue of the journal Antiquity....

Roses and other cut flowers are always in season—if more popular perhaps on Valentine’s Day—thanks to greenhouses. These hothouses provide a warm, safe environment in which all kinds of plants can thrive year-round. But what’s good for the plants may not be good for the planet. It turns out that greenhouses aren’t so green on the energy conservation front. Most of those Valentine’s roses in the U.S., along with cut chrysanthemums and carnations—the three most popular cut flowers worldwide—are grown in Colombia....

A little more than 100 years ago most people—and most scientists—thought of matter as continuous. Although since ancient times some philosophers and scientists had speculated that if matter were broken up into small enough bits, it might turn out to be made up of very tiny atoms, few thought the existence of atoms could ever be proved. Today we have imaged individual atoms and have studied the particles that compose them....

The Supreme Court recently upheld a Texas law that would be prevent patients from accessing abortion care after six weeks of pregnancy. There are many reasons this law is concerning—chiefly that it will do considerable harm to many people—but it is also based on bad biology. Pregnancy math is confusing, and it’s unclear whether legislators involved are simply ignorant on reproductive biology or recognize that it’s an indirect way to ban all abortions....