As the Northwest bakes in a potentially historic heat wave, the region is also choking on thick smoke from wildfires

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

Smoke from wildfires blankets a large portion of the Pacific Northwest, as seen in this image from the GOES-16 weather satellite acquired on Aug. 2, 2017. (Source: RAMMB/CIRA) The Pacific Northwest is sitting under a massive heat dome and a horrible pall of thick smoke from raging wildfires in British Columbia and Washington. Source: RAMMB/CIRA You can see the grayish smoke clearly in the image above from the GOES-16 weather satellite. Make sure to click on it to view it full-sized. Als ...read more

Treating the Brain With Ultrasound and a Ceramic 'Window'

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

The transparent ceramic “window.” (Credit: David Baillot/UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering) One of the biggest problems in neuroscience is very simple — access. The brain is encased in the bony cranium, and many regions are buried beneath layers of brain tissue, making any intrusion potentially dangerous. Physically probing into the brain is also extremely difficult, and because you can’t just cut it open and sew it back up afterward as you might another or ...read more

Images from space reveal the beauty and potentially deadly nature of Typhoon Noru, Earth's strongest storm of 2017

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

U.S. Astronaut Randy Bresnik took this photograph of Typhoon Noru from the International Space Station. (Source: Randy Bresnik/@AstroKomrade via Twitter) After a very long and strange trip, powerful Typhoon Noru has turned toward Japan. As of Wednesday afternoon in the U.S., the storm’s maximum sustained winds were pegged at about 115 miles per hour, putting it in Category 3 territory. It now looks like Noru will come ashore on Saturday in the northern reaches of the Ryukyu Islands, ...read more

In a First, Scientists Edit Human Embryos In a US Lab

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

Researchers used CRISPR to prevent an embryo from inheriting a fatal heart condition. This image sequence shows embryos developing after injected CRISPR along with sperm from a man with a potentially fatal genetic mutation. The embryo developed for several days and was found to be free from the hereditary mutation. (OHSU) Earth is now one step closer to a future with genetically modified humans. On Wednesday, scientists working at a lab in Oregon announced they’ve successfully used the g ...read more