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A tornado is a rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm to the ground.  Tornadoes are capable of 250 MPH wind speeds, cutting a swath of destruction in excess of one mile width and dozens of miles in length.If you see a dark, greenish sky or a wall cloud and hail, you might be getting a tornado.  If you have something that sounds like a freight train, you definitely are.

The Sun is the biggest external source of energy which affects Earth’s climate. Long-term variations of the Earth’s orbit lead to long-term (~20-400,000 year) variations in the total energy received from the Sun (Milankovich cycles) and respectively in the terrestrial temperature. For shorter time-scales, decades to centuries, the reason for solar-induced changes in the Earth’s climate are changes in the Sun itself.

We're not joking; a sense of humor helps to keep people healthy and increases their chances of at least reaching retirement age, though after the age of 70 the health benefits of humor decrease, say researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).The study has just been published in the International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine and was composed of an examination of records from 53,500 individuals after after seven years. The study was based on a comprehensive database from the second Nor-Trøndelag Health Study, called HUNT 2, which is comprised of health histories and blood samples collected in 1995-1997 from more than 70,000 residents of a county in mid-Norway.A positive effect

An international research team has gathered a database of the oldest people in the world - those who lived beyond their 110th birthday, and while searching for these 'supercentenarians' and trying to find accurate documentation of their age, they also documented the personal histories and wisdom of those who long-lived folks.The result; a book called "Supercentenarians" and  coordinated by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock/Germany.

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), only about 160 000 light-years from our own Milky Way, so very close on a cosmic scale, is one of the closest galaxies to our own Milky Way and in this spectacular new image from the Wide Field Imager (WFI) at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, a celestial menagerie of different objects and phenomena in part of the LMC is on display, ranging from vast globular clusters to the remains left by brilliant supernovae explosions. This fascinating observation provides data for a wide variety of research projects unraveling the life and death of stars and the evolution of galaxies.

For solar cells to be viable (not relying on government mandates and subsidies) costs have to come down and efficiency must go up.   Buried channel solar cells (BCSC) are one possible group of high efficiency devices.Characteristic for buried channel solar cells are that the front contacts (lighted surface) are placed in deep trenches, formed in silicon crystal. The idea, is to be minimized the width of the contact bars, by the increasing the contact thickness in deep. In this way the formed element has lower shadowing effect and additionally the contact resistance is decreased. The collected efficiency of the created by the light excess carriers is increased too.

Scientists from Tübingen say they have revealed an evolutionary dilemma - plants that are more resistant to disease grow more slowly and are less competitive than susceptible relatives when enemies are rare.Individuals of one and the same plant species often differ greatly in their ability to resist pathogens. While one rose succumbs to bacterial infection, its neighbor thrives. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Developmental Biology in Germany say they have tracked down an explanation for this common phenomenon. Their conclusion: disease resistance can incur high costs. Especially resistant plants of mouse ear cress (Arabidopsis thaliana) produce fewer and small leaves, and have a competitive disadvantage in the absence of enemies.

The Yangtze River in China is 40 million years older than was previously thought, according to new research.A study of minerals reveals that the Yangtze River began to cut the Three Gorges area around 45 million years ago, making it much older than previously believed. The Yangtze River, the third-longest river in the world, has played a central role in the development of Chinese culture, and the Three Gorges, which separate the Sichuan Basin in the west from the lowlands of central and eastern China to the east, have particular historical, cultural, and geomorphological significance.

Researchers in China have created an electromagnetic absorbing device for microwave frequencies. The device, called an “omnidirectional electromagnetic absorber”, is made of a thin cylinder comprising 60 concentric rings of metamaterials and is capable of absorbing microwave radiation, so they compared it to an astrophysical black hole which soaks up matter and light.

The pheromone that attracts female mice to the odor of a particular male has been identified and named ‘darcin’ by researchers writing in BMC Biology (they say they named it after Darcy from Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” - for those who have not read it, i.e., all men, he is the attractive guy who doesn't know it).  This unusual protein in a male’s urine attracts females and is responsible for learned preference for specific males.

Given that the brain is something of a mystery, almost anything that works is worth doing, even if it ends up being the same as a placebo.Meditation is often linked to beneficial effects, though no one is sure why, but a new study says people who meditate regularly find pain less unpleasant because their brains anticipate the pain less.  So meditation did not reduce pain but it did reduce the emotional impact of pain.

Bbiomarkers of growth hormone doping are not subject to the same natural fluctuations as growth hormone itself, says a new study which could help sporting authorities worldwide catch athletes that use it to boost their performance.   Published in the journal Clinical Endocrinology,  the study's findings show that growth hormone testing might be viable for inclusion in the "athlete biological passport", which logs an athlete's blood test results over the athletic season.