Ecology and environment
Video
Saving shellfish harvest by predicting ocean chemistry
Scientists from the University of Washington were asked by the Washington state legislature to create predictions about ocean acidification for Pacific Northwest waters. Infant oysters were being killed in record numbers, and the cause appeared…
Video
A Greater Light to Rule the Day: The Sun, the Stars, and Climate Change
Our seemingly steady Sun is a variable and violent place, with its activity rising and falling roughly every 11 years, most notably manifested as the sunspot cycle. However, solar activity is not just about spots:…
Project
Growables
Growables is a speculative design study, by Erin Smith, into the future of bio-integrated wearable devices. The ultimate goal is to provoke conversation around this speculative future in terms of design, use, and possible implications.
Tool
WorldWide Telescope OSS
AAS WorldWide Telescope is a tool for showcasing astronomical data and knowledge. Launch the Web Client! It’s not a physical telescope — it’s a suite of free and open source software and data sets that…
Microsoft Research Blog
Coping with floods—of water and data
Halloween 2013 brought real terror to an Austin, Texas, neighborhood, when a flash flood killed four residents and damaged roughly 1,200 homes. Following torrential rains, Onion Creek swept over its banks and inundated the surrounding…
Microsoft Research Blog
Cloud computing helps make sense of cloud forests
The forests that surround Campos do Jordao are among the foggiest places on Earth. With a canopy shrouded in mist much of time, these are the renowned cloud forests of the Brazilian state of São…
Video
NIPS: Oral Session 5 – John Carlos Baez
Networks in Climate Science The El Niño is a powerful but irregular climate cycle that has huge consequences for agriculture and perhaps global warming. Predicting its arrival more than 6 months ahead of time has…
