Measurements from satellites this year showed the hole in Earth’s ozone layer that forms over Antarctica each September was the smallest observed since 1988, scientists from NASA and NOAA announced today.

NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite flew over the South China Sea and captured a visible image of newly formed Tropical Storm Damrey as it moved on a westerly track toward Vietnam. 

A new Tel Aviv University study solves a critical piece of the puzzle of human deafness by identifying the first group of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the auditory system.

When overweight adults exchange refined grain products – such as white bread and pasta – with whole grain varieties, they eat less, they lose weight and the amount of inflammation in their bodies decreases. These are some of the findings of a large Danish study headed by the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark. The study supports the scientific basis for the Danish dietary recommendation to choose whole grains.

Captain David Matschke is well aware of the dangers he faces on the job. A firefighter for 32 years, he is trained to race to the scene of house fires, car crashes and even industrial accidents, breaking through windows and doors to evacuate occupants and routinely putting himself in harm’s way. But beyond fire itself, a study published today in the journal Environmental Science & Technology sheds new light on another, more insidious threat that may be putting firefighters’ health at risk: toxic chemicals in smoke.

The planet is home to a vast number of microscopic living organisms - plants, animals, and bacteria- found from deep sea volcanoes to the highest mountain peaks. These organisms too small to be seen by the naked eye affect both human health and the health of the world’s ecosystems. Despite their centrality to life on Earth, scientists have a limited understanding of their fundamental structure.

Much of Professor Emeritus Richard Wurtman’s career in MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences revolved around developing new treatments for diseases and conditions by modifying chemicals produced in the brain.

New maps of Greenland’s coastal seafloor and bedrock beneath its massive ice sheet show that two to four times as many coastal glaciers are at risk of accelerated melting as had previously been thought.

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, NASA and 30 other institutions have published the most comprehensive, accurate and high-resolution relief maps ever made of Greenland’s bedrock and coastal seafloor. Among the many data sources incorporated into the new maps is data from NASA’s Ocean Melting Greenland campaign.

New research has identified genes that control vitamin E content in maize grain, a finding that could lead to improving the nutritional profile of this staple crop.

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) reported significant advances in the thermoelectric performance of organic semiconductors based on carbon nanotube thin films that could be integrated into fabrics to convert waste heat into electricity or serve as a small power source.