NASA’s Curiosity on Mars
In detective stories, as the plot thickens, an unexpected clue often delivers more questions than answers. In this case, the scene is a mountain on Mars. The clue: the chemical compound silica. Lots of silica. The sleuths: a savvy band of Earthbound researchers whose agent on Mars is NASA’s laser-flashing, one-armed mobile laboratory, Curiosity.
Donald Trump, currently the leading Republican Presidential candidate, appeared on Saturday Night Live in a comedy sketch including a focus on the problem of illegal immigration. Trump’s stand on illegal immigration has been criticized by those of both parties and the press, but the problem of criminal or illegal border crossers is no joking matter.
Donald Trump is right about this: illegal immigration is one of the most serious threats to national security, American sovereignty, and economic stability, but even Trump has not yet addressed the even more serious medical dangers of illegal immigration for Americans.
AccuWeather meteorologists suggest as fall of 2015 unfolds that an already brutal wildfire season will continue across much of California and the Northwest. In contrast, the rain will continue at times in the Southwest even after the monsoon fades in early September.
An expected strong El Niño will lead to beneficial rain for Southern California, but it may be delayed until late fall and winter; meanwhile, flooding and mudslides will threaten the Four Corners region, in addition to some mid-fall snow.
Wet weather is forecast to unfold across the south-central United States after a drier second half of summer, even spreading into the Southeast and mid-Atlantic at times. Farther northeast, a dry autumn is in store for leaf-peepers while the neighboring Midwest will face some chilly conditions.
Cuts in ground-level, ozone-forming pollutants are cleansing the West Coast’s cloud-and-smog mix, but ozone higher in the troposphere has not been dropping in response. Photo: NASA/JPL
A new study finds that the western United States reduced its production of ozone-forming pollutants by a whopping 21 percent between 2005 and 2010, but ozone in the atmosphere above the region did not drop as expected in response. The reason: a combination of naturally occurring atmospheric processes and pollutants crossing the Pacific Ocean from China.
Scientists from the Netherlands and from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, looked at ozone in the mid-troposphere, about 10,000 to 30,000 feet (3 to 9 kilometers) above ground level. Ozone is formed throughout the atmosphere by chemical reactions, and it travels through the atmosphere upward, downward and sideways — from ground level to many miles up into the stratosphere. In the mid-troposphere, ozone has a measurable greenhouse effect.
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK)
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, today sent a letter to Jo-Ellen Darcy, assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works, requesting confirmation of factual statements made in internal Army Corps of Engineer documents provided to the committee.
“Thank you for your prompt response to my July 16, 2015 letter to you requesting certain documents, the existence of which only recently came to my attention, relating to the development of the revised definition of the term ‘waters of the United States’ (WOTUS),” wrote Inhofe. “[W]hile interspersed with staff recommendations and legal conclusions that I understand you wish to keep confidential and hidden from the American public, the facts in these documents support my conclusion, and the conclusion of the 30 states that have already filed lawsuits challenging the final WOTUS rule, that the rule is lacking factual, technical and legal support.