Hurricane Irene
Andy Newman/Associated Press
Scientists say that it is much easier to accurately predict what path a hurricane will take.
Challenges in Predicting the Intensity of Storms
By HENRY FOUNTAIN
Forecasting is far better at estimating where a storm will go than its intensity, since it can be very difficult to get information from the heart of a hurricane.
Seeing Irene as Harbinger of a Change in Climate
By JUSTIN GILLIS
Scientists don’t know if hurricanes are currently getting worse because of climate change, but many say they will get more intense as the climate warms.
Hurricane Irene Puts East Coast in Line for Fury
By KIM SEVERSON and CAMPBELL ROBERTSON
Overnight, the hurricane weakened to a Category One storm, with maximum sustained winds of 90 miles m.p.h., but it remained a dangerous storm.
Interactive Hurricane Tracker
Japanese Island’s Activists Resist Nuclear Industry’s Allure
By HIROKO TABUCHI
For nearly 30 years, residents of the Japanese island of Iwaishima have opposed plans to build a nuclear plant near them, heartening anti-nuclear activists.
U.S. Offers Key Support to Canadian Pipeline
By JOHN M. BRODER and CLIFFORD KRAUSS
A State Department report found sufficient environmental safeguards to proceed with a project to carry oil to Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast.
Looking for Leonardo, With Camera in Hand
By RACHEL DONADIO
A new effort may reveal if a lost Leonardo mural is behind a fresco in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.
Slide Show
Los Angeles River Tries On New Role, as Waterway
By JENNIFER MEDINA
The river, known more for movie appearances like chase scene backdrop in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” than its sometimes scarce water, is open to a limited number of boaters weekends this summer.
13 Plants Felt Earthquake, but Reactors Were Spared
By MATTHEW L. WALD
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that only one plant, 10 miles from the epicenter in Virginia, experienced a reactor shutdown.
Russian Rocket Set for Space Falls in Woods
By ANDREW E. KRAMER and KENNETH CHANG
Pieces of an unmanned ship bound for the International Space Station fell in Siberia amid an explosion.
OBSERVATORY
Asteroid Dust Confirms Meteorite Origins
By SINDYA N. BHANOO
Last year, a Japanese spacecraft brought asteroid dust back to Earth for the first time, and now researchers who studied it have confirmed that most meteorites on Earth originate from asteroids like the one sampled.
Vaccine Cleared Again as Autism Culprit
By GARDINER HARRIS
A report by the Institute of Medicine found that the chickenpox vaccine can cause illness many years later, but that there is no evidence that the vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella causes autism.
Geologists Sharply Cut Estimate of Shale Gas
By IAN URBINA
A shale formation has about 84 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas, according to the report from the United States Geological Survey.
A Rare Bustle in the Lab as Seismometers Quiver
By MATT FLEGENHEIMER
For those engaged in the seemingly paradoxical work of East Coast seismology, Tuesday’s episode was their moment.
Science Times: Aug. 23, 2011
Luis Robayo/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
ODD BIRD Flamingos can be difficult to study in the wild, but the tedium is offset by the glory of the sight. "They are the coolest-looking bird in the world," said Felicity Arengo, a flamingo expert.
They’re graceful but also raucous and rowdy, and only lately have scientists ventured answers to questions like why they perch on one leg.
Fishing Gear Is Altered to Ease Collateral Costs to Marine Life
By CORNELIA DEAN
Modifications to fishing gear are helping to limit accidental catches of marine creatures in fishing operations.
A CONVERSATION WITH DANIEL LIEBERMAN
Born, and Evolved, to Run
By CLAUDIA DREIFUS
Daniel Lieberman, an evolutionary biology professor at Harvard, spends his time studying how the human head and foot have evolved over the millenniums.
Lobsters Find Utopia Where Biologists See Trouble
By CORNELIA DEAN
Baited traps that help give lobsters a steady food supply and intense fishing of species that prey on them have helped create single-species crowding off Maine’s coast.
To Get to Cats, Common Parasite Hijacks Rats’ Arousal Circuitry
By WALLACE RAVVEN
Researchers say Toxoplasma gondii twists rats’ instincts, making them lose their fear of cats — the parasite’s ideal host — by stimulating neurons normally engaged in sexual attraction.
Health News
WELL BLOG
Surgeon General Calls for Health Over Hair
By ANAHAD O'CONNOR
Dr. Regina Benjamin, the U.S. Surgeon General, has called attention to hair concerns that may limit women's exercise.
Mosquitoes and West Nile Virus Reports? They Don’t Keep New Yorkers From Summer
By MATT FLEGENHEIMER
Last week, days after one of the largest rainfalls in New York City history, testing identified West Nile virus in mosquitoes across 33 city ZIP codes, in every borough except Manhattan.
More Multimedia
INTERACTIVE FEATURE: Panoramas: Expanding the Shortcut Between the Seas
In the first expansion in the 100-year history of the Panama Canal, crews are starting to build a new set of locks that will handle much larger ships.
VIDEO: Life Out There: Eden in a Test Tube
To better recognize extraterrestrial life should they come upon it, scientists are working to create simple life forms in a lab. But, as Dennis Overbye reports, they first have to agree what life is.
VIDEO: Nora Volkow
An interview with the neuroscientist in charge of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, who also happens to be the great-granddaughter of Leon Trotsky.
SCIENTIST AT WORK BLOG
Discovery and Conservation of Plants
By PAOLA PEDRAZA
Natural vegetation can be rapidly exhausted in Las Orquideas National Park in Colombia, even by the smallest of human settlements.
Hurricanes and Climate Change
August 27, 2011
Wading Into New York City's Future
August 26, 2011
Climate Change and the Texas Drought
August 26, 2011
Science Columns
OBSERVATORY
Ancestors of Humans and Kangaroos Split Even Earlier, Fossil Indicates
By SINDYA N. BHANOO
A 160-million-year-old fossil found in China is more closely related to modern placental mammals than to modern marsupials.
OBSERVATORY
Tracking the Movement of Ice Across Antarctica
By SINDYA N. BHANOO
A new digital map illustrates how an intricate pattern of organized ice flow connects the interior regions of the continent with its coast.
OBSERVATORY
Helping Out the Family, Especially in Good Times
By SINDYA N. BHANOO
Researchers were surprised to find that helper woodpeckers are actually more beneficial in the spring following a good crop, rather than in one following a poor year.
OBSERVATORY
A Protein That Bosses Plant Cells Around
By SINDYA N. BHANOO
A protein called Clasp plays an integral role in helping to grow and shape plant cells, researchers report.
Peanut Problems
By C. CLAIBORNE RAY
The processing of the fuel minimizes or eliminates such a risk, one allergy expert says.
Podcast: Science Times
This week: The dance of the flamingos, new questions about a newborn ritual and malaria in the microwave.
Health Columns
PERSONAL HEALTH
Doctors Hone Message on Kidney Disease
By JANE E. BRODY
Twenty-six million Americans have chronic kidney disease, and avoiding complications depends heavily on how well patients care for themselves.
REALLY?
The Claim: Drinking Green Tea Can Help Lower Cholesterol
By ANAHAD O'CONNOR
Researchers found that subjects who drank more green tea had a slight drop in levels of LDL cholesterol.
Opinion
DOT EARTH BLOG
Irene Still Seen as Potent on N.Y. Arrival; New City Surge Estimate Serious, But Not Worst Case
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Irene will still be a potent hurricane as it reaches New York, but surge forecasts appear to be moderate.
WORDPLAY BLOG
Numberplay: Don't Make a Triangle, Part 2
By GARY ANTONICK
Mistakes and surprises with Katherine Cook.
REALLY?
The Claim: Drinking Green Tea Can Help Lower Cholesterol
By ANAHAD O'CONNOR
Researchers found that subjects who drank more green tea had a slight drop in levels of LDL cholesterol.
