New study: Earthquake prediction techniques lend quick insight into strength, reliability of materials
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Materials scientists can now use insight from a very common mineral and well-established earthquake and avalanche statistics to quantify how hostile environmental interactions may impact the degradation and failure of materials used for advanced solar panels, geological carbon sequestration and infrastructure such as buildings, roads and bridges. The new study, led by […]
The numbers behind a weather forecast
A meteorologist from the National Weather Service’s local office recently told a newspaper reporter that heavy, wet snow would materialize in a few days. He said it would resemble “cement falling from the sky.” Three days later, I grunted to lift a shovel blade full of heavy slush. How did that weatherman call this from […]
Alaska’s Small Glaciers on the Way Out
Glaciers worldwide are withering. Half of them will disappear by the end of this century, and much of the lost ice will vanish from mountains in Alaska, scientists say. Authors of a recent cover story in the journal Science used high-performance computers to predict the fate of 215,547 glaciers on Earth. They excluded the great […]