Interesting Stuff in Science News Today

Here are some things I found interesting in the news today. Maybe you will, too.
  I've always been fascinated with dinosaurs and fossils, and I didn't know that spiders dated that far back. In fact, because I'm not a fan of them - I guess I never thought about it. Interesting article, though. Rob
 LARGEST FOSSIL SPIDER FOUND IN CHINA- 
The largest fossil spider uncovered to date once ensnared prey back in the age of dinosaurs, scientists find.

The spider, named Nephila jurassica, was discovered buried in ancient volcanic ash in Inner Mongolia, China. Tufts of hairlike fibers seen on its legs showed this 165-million-year-old arachnid to be the oldest known species of the largest web-weaving spiders alive today — the golden orb-weavers, or Nephila, which are big enough to catch birds and bats, and use silk that shines like gold in the sunlight.
The fossil was about as large as its modern relatives, with a body one inch (2.5 centimeters) wide and legs that reach up to 2.5 inches (6.3 cm) long. Golden orb-weavers nowadays are mainly tropical creatures, so the ancient environment of Nephila jurassica probably was similarly lush.



LOW PRESSURE AREA IN ATLANTIC OCEAN -HAS A POTENTIAL TO BECOME A TROPICAL STORM.... Now a very small potential!

NASA's TRMM satellite flew over the western side of the North Atlantic Low pressure area on April 21 at 1326 UTC (9:26 a.m. EDT) and noticed light to moderate rainfall occurring in the storm. The blue areas indicate rainfall between 10 and 15 mm (.4 and .6 inches) per hour.
Credit: NASA/SSAI, Hal Pierce

(I wrote this yesterday)  Rainfall data from NASA's TRMM satellite is hinting that the low pressure area sitting 450 miles north-northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico appears less likely to develop into a tropical or subtropical storm in the next couple of days.
  NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite flew over the western side of the North Atlantic Low pressure area on April 21 at 1326 UTC (9:26 a.m. EDT) and noticed light to moderate rainfall occurring in the storm. Most of the rainfall was falling at a rate of 10 and 15 mm (.4 and .6 inches) per hour. Those showers also appeared very poorly organized in satellite imagery today. 
  At 1:45 p.m. EDT on April 21, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued a special tropical weather outlook on the low pressure area noting that the chance for development has decreased from 20 percent yesterday to 10 percent today.