Astronaut Alex Gerst recently captured this glorious photo from the International Space Station. It shows a series of towering thunderstorms rising up from a Saharan dust storm. The ISS was over Libya at the time as Gerst watched the anvil-like structures protrude above the dusty layer. (Credit: NASA/JSC/Gerst)
If there was a tsunami warning in your area, could you escape on foot? That's the question a new tool released by the USGS takes on. The Pedestrian Evacuation Analyst takes into account not just foot-speed but terrain, and also highlights the areas of high-ground that would likely be the safest points.
Astrobiologists can now add a new term to their lexicon: The Venus Zone. It describes the area around a star in which a planet is likely to exhibit the inhospitable hell-like conditions found on the planet Venus. The concept will help astronomers determine which exoplanets are more analogous to Earth, and thus friendlier to alien life.
Our galactic supercluster is 100 times bigger in volume and mass than previously thought . Using an innovative mapping technique, astronomers have charted an enormous region they're now calling Laniakea. The new study, which better defines the dividing line between superclusters, offers a completely new look at our galaxy's surroundings.
Louisiana's coastline is changing — and changing fast, as you can see in the above map which shows the coastal land lost between 1922 and today. And the losses are only getting faster.
