2017 was officially the most miserable year in more than a decade

[Ravindra B]

“The Northern Hemisphere is facing an onslaught of hurricanes and typhoons, seemingly overnight. With three storms spinning in the North Atlantic - Hurricane Florence one of them - the tropics have exploded to life at the peak of the annual season.

“At the same time, in the tropical Pacific, Super Typhoon Mangkhut is the most intense tropical cyclone in the world, packing 170 miles per hour (273 kilometres per hour) winds.”

https://www.sciencealert.com/super-typhoon-mangkhut-north-atlantic-hurricane-florence-helene-isaac-s...

[Mary W]

Statistically, September 9 is the peak of hurricane season.  This is the time of year that they start spinning off of Africa (as well as developing more locally).  Another month and it will be better.  Interestingly, one of storms is headed straight for the British Isles and thankfully, nothing is headed my way.

[Pat M]

Mary, glad to hear nothing is headed your way.  IMO from stories you've shared with us you've been through more than enough challenging weather events!

[Ravindra B]

“Denver Zoo in the US has just welcomed a new resident: a teeny tiny member of one of the most elusive lemur families in the world, the aye-aye. The new arrival, born on 8 August to mum Bellatrix and dad Smeagol, has been named Tonks, a name just as adorable as she is.”

https://www.sciencealert.com/baby-aye-aye-tonks-endangered-lemur-born-denver-zoo-daubentonia-madagas...

[Ravindra B]

“Last year the world took a turn for the worst. A global survey of human emotions has ranked 2017 as the gloomiest and most miserable year in more than a decade.”

https://www.sciencealert.com/2017-was-the-gloomiest-year-in-more-than-a-decade-global-survey-finds

[Ravindra B]

“When plants are under attack - say, for instance, by an insect making a tasty leaf meal - their defence systems are raised in other parts. How do they know to do that?”

https://www.sciencealert.com/plant-damage-response-defence-calcium-ions-glutamate-fluorescent

[Ravindra B]

“Something is amiss in the state of New Mexico, and the chain of mysterious events has all the hallmarks of a sci-fi plot.”

https://www.sciencealert.com/a-solar-observatory-in-new-mexico-was-mysteriously-shut-down-and-nobody...

[Ravindra B]

“Although scientific evidence shows storms are stronger and wetter because of climate change, no one has ever really been able to pin down how much human-caused warming contributes to these damaging forecasts ahead of a storm's arrival.

“But for the first time, a group of academic research scientists has calculated roughly how much of Hurricane Florence's predicted rainfall is our fault.

“The team estimates that forecasted rain totals are more than 50 percent higher than they might have been if humans hadn't warmed up the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels.”

https://www.sciencealert.com/50-percent-more-precipitation-for-hurricane-florence-forecast-due-to-cl...

[Ravindra B]

“Jupiter's magnetic field is profoundly different from that of all other known planets — it essentially has two magnetic south poles instead of just one, a new Nature study finds.”

https://www.popsci.com/jupiter-magnetic-field-wacky

[Ravindra B]

“When it comes to the growth of the private aerospace sector (aka. NewSpace), one of the more ambitious and exciting elements is the prospect of space tourism. Between SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, proposals include flying customers to suborbital altitudes, flying them to the Moon, or even as far as Mars. And beyond the three NewSpace giants, several smaller companies are looking for a piece of the pie.”

https://www.universetoday.com/139947/japanese-startup-is-working-on-a-reusable-rocketplane-to-carry-...