NASA's Aqua satellite passed over strengthening Tropical Storm Jasmine and noticed bands of thunderstorms wrapping into its center as it heads toward Vanuatu and New Caledonia.

Hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico doesn't begin until June 1, 2012, but a low pressure area in the Gulf called System 90L, is being watched on Feb. 5 and 6 for possible development into sub-tropical depression although the chances are now slim to none. Data from the GOES-13 satellite was created into an image at NASA, and it showed System 90L raining on south Florida today.

Tropical Storm 11P has formed in the South Pacific Ocean, and NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of its cloud temperatures, revealing power in the cyclone.

In a study of the harsh but beautiful White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, University of Pennsylvania researchers have uncovered a unifying mechanism to explain dune patterns. The new work represents a contribution to basic science, but the findings may also hold implications for identifying when dune landscapes like those in Nebraska's Sand Hills may reach a "tipping point" under climate change, going from valuable grazing land to barren desert.

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have, for the first time, described the genetic basis of endometriosis, a condition affecting millions of women that is marked by chronic pelvic pain and infertility. The researchers' discovery of a new gene mutation provides hope for new screening methods.

Using high-quality data about the incidence of influenza infections in Alberta during the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, the researchers show that when schools closed for the summer, the transmission of infection from person to person was sharply reduced.

In a new clinical practice guideline for drug treatment of type 2 diabetes, the American College of Physicians recommends metformin to treat type 2 diabetes based on a comparative effectiveness analysis of oral medications.

Below is information about articles being published in the Feb. 7 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The information is not intended to substitute for the full articles as sources of information. Annals of Internal Medicine attribution is required for all coverage.

Frequent house moves during childhood seem to increase the risk of poor health in later life, suggests research published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Teen school drop-outs are almost three times as likely to be on benefits in later life as their peers who complete their schooling, indicates research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Infants allowed to feed themselves with finger foods from the start of weaning are likely to eat more healthily and be an appropriate weight as they get older than infants spoon-fed purees, indicates a small study published in BMJ Open.

In the UK, the exercise electrocardiogram (ECG) is the most common initial test for the evaluation of stable chest pain and has been used widely for almost half a century. However, recent NICE guidelines recommend that it should not be used to diagnose or exclude stable angina in patient assessments. New research published in BMJ Open finds that the test has other uses that transcend its technical contribution to diagnosis.

A ladybird's color indicates how well-fed and how toxic it is, according to an international team of scientists. This research directly shows that differences between animals' warning signals reveal how poisonous individuals are to predators.The study shows that redder ladybirds are more poisonous than their paler peers and reveals that this variation is directly linked to diet in early life, with better-fed ladybirds being more visible and more deadly.

A new study provides compelling evidence that the arrival of the invasive non-native harlequin ladybird to mainland Europe and subsequent spread has led to a rapid decline in historically-widespread species of ladybird in Britain, Belgium and Switzerland.The analysis, published today in the scientific journal Diversity and Distributions, is further evidence that harlequin ladybirds are displacing some native ladybirds, most probably through predation and competition.

The famed "corpse flower" plant -- known for its giant size, rotten-meat odor and phallic shape -- has a new, smaller relative: a University of Utah botanist discovered a new species of Amorphophallus that is one-fourth as tall but just as stinky.