NORCAL.NEWS

Amid fears of Zika virus, Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro is getting ready to host Olympic Games in August this year. But the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has jolted the host by suggesting US athletes not to visit the country affected with the mosquito-borne flavivirus.

A new study published Thursday has warned that the American Southwest should be prepared for more frequent droughts as a series of storm patterns linked to precipitation has been found becoming increasingly rare.

For the government-funded study, researchers from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, analyzed data collected over 35 years, from 1979 to 2014. Broad storm patterns associated with wet weather were also indentified by the researchers.

On January 28, 1986, the Challenger space shuttle exploded only 73 seconds into flight. It was among the greatest losses ever experienced by NASA, wherein all seven crewmembers aboard lost their lives.

The assistant director for International Space Station flight operations at NASA, Ginger Kerrik, said that she still remembers that day quite physically. She said that it was a Friday and he had stayed home from school.

NASA scientists recently made adjustments to the course of Juno spacecraft to put it on the right track for its planned arrival at Jupiter on 4th of July this year.

The American space agency performed first of the two “engine burns” by firing Juno’s thrusters, putting it on track to allow it to arrive at the solar system’s largest planet in next five months. The engine burn consumed 1.3 pounds (0.6 kilograms) of the spacecraft’s fuel, and changed its speed by 0.7 mph (1.1 km/h).

The only known wild jaguar existing in the United States, called El Jefe, was recently sighted roaming in Arizona. A video captured by remote sensor cameras showed the elusive wild beast making his way through the brush before going up a creek.

The video was made public by two nonprofits dedicated to conserve big cats, viz. Conservation CATalyst and the Center for Biological Diversity. Both nonprofits are monitoring the endangered species in the mountain ranges of Arizona.

Planting more trees may not always be helpful in combating climate change and global warming, a new study published recently in the journal Science revealed.

It a commonly-held belief that planting more trees is the best strategy to fight back climate change, but a team of French researchers have found that more than 250 years of forest management in Europe has boosted climate change rather than containing it.