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ST. PETERSBURG, Florida — The “cone of uncertainty” produced by the National Hurricane Center to forecast the location and ferocity of a tropical storm is getting an update this year to include predictions for inland areas, where wind and flooding are sometimes more treacherous than damage to the coasts. The Miami-based hurricane center said Thursday on the X social media platform that the new, experimental forecast tool will be ready around August 15, just before the traditional peak of the hurricane season that begins June 1. “This experimental graphic will help better convey wind hazard risk inland in addition to coastal wind hazards,” the center said in the post. The traditional cone in use for years generally shows the forecast track of a hurricane or tropical storm but is focused on wind and storm surge along the coasts — and forecasters always warn not to focus on the center line alone. …
Countries waging wars are more focused on winning battles than mitigating their environmental impact. But researchers — who say the environmental impact of active conflicts is substantial — are trying to measure wars’ effects. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports. Carla Babb contributed. …
A great space success story comes to an end. And SpaceX is at it again with a busy week of launches. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space. …
Geneva — New cancer cases are projected to rise by 77% to more than 35 million in 2050 from an estimated 20 million new cases and 9.7 million deaths in 2022, according to new data released Thursday by the World Health Organization’s cancer agency, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The report, which is being issued ahead of World Cancer Day February 4, projects the greatest relative increases in cancer cases will occur in lower human development index (HDI) settings. That is a reference to a tool developed by the United Nations to measure a country’s level of social and economic development. “We expect the global population of the world to rise from eight billion currently in 2022 to almost 10 billion, 9.7 billion, by 2050 and this will have a large impact on the number of new cancer cases,” said Freddie Bray, head of the cancer surveillance branch …
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From counting machines to neural networks, the development of artificial intelligence has paralleled emerging brain science. Writer, Matt Dibble; graphic designer, Kateryna Stepchenko; motion designer, Valeryia Rusak; narrator, Hayde Fitzpatrick. …
TOKYO — After a brief awakening, Japan’s Moon lander is out of action again but will resume its mission if it survives the two-week lunar night, the space agency said Thursday. The unmanned Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) touched down last month at a wonky angle that left its solar panels facing the wrong way. As the sun’s angle shifted, it came back to life for two days this week and carried out scientific observations of a crater with its high-spec camera. “After completing operation from 1/30 (to) 1/31, #SLIM entered a two-week dormancy period during the long lunar night,” space agency JAXA said on X, formerly Twitter. “Although SLIM was not designed for the harsh lunar nights, we plan to try to operate again from mid-February, when the Sun will shine again on SLIM’s solar cells.” JAXA said SLIM was able to “successfully complete observations… as originally planned” with …
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