Map of hourly wind speed over Saudi Arabia in June 2010 from the WRF simulated data. From just a few monitoring locations, the team was able to efficiently compute a full forecast distribution to construct maps of wind speed for all of Saudi Arabia at high spatial resolution for up to several hours ahead.
Using a novel optical detection system that heats nanoscale gold wires with a single laser, researchers at Rice University showed electricity generated by temperature differences is not affected measurably by grain boundaries, while strain and other defects in the material change the thermoelectric response.