Earth Science
The Source of the Sun’s Dark Spots
A new study provides insight into how convection creates sunspots
June 03, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
A New View Into California’s Kelp Forests
Satellite imagery is providing new insight into an important ecosystem just off the California coast
May 27, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
What Scientists Are Learning About the 2011 Japanese Earthquake
What scientists are learning from "the best recorded earthquake ever" could help prepare for future ones
May 23, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Ocean Acidification and the Battle Between Coral and Seaweed
Ocean acidification creates plenty of potential problems for life in the oceans, but corals might have it the worst
May 17, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
A View From Above of Memphis Flooding
The Mississippi River doesn't like to stay where it is, but then most rivers prefer to meander, expanding beyond their banks on occasion, at other times forging new paths across the landscape. This isn't a problem unless you've built cities and towns and farms up and down its banks, as we've done. ...
May 13, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Hydrothermal Vents Fertilize Oceans With Fool's Gold
Deep in the oceans, hydrothermal vents spew superheated water full of dissolved minerals. The vents spawn diverse communities of unique creatures that not only withstand the extreme temperatures and acidity but even depend on the chemicals in the water to live. New research in Nature Geoscience sho...
May 11, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
A Satellite View of Tornado Scars
Last week's devastating tornadoes have left indelible marks on not only the lives of people throughout the South, but also the Earth itself. This image was acquired by NASA's Aqua satellite on April 27 and shows the tracks of three tornadoes near Tuscaloosa, Alabama.The tracks are pale brown trails...
May 06, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Make Room for 10 Billion People
The United Nations announced this week that the world population is expected to reach 10 billion by the end of the century—and then just keep on growing (more details in the pdf). That's a big increase from the previous estimate of a peak of 9 billion that would then stabilize or shrink.Science mag...
May 05, 2011 |
By Laura Helmuth
Gigantic Plume Beneath Yellowstone Now Even More Gigantic
The geysers of Yellowstone are a reminder of the potential danger that lies below---a supervolcano that last erupted some 70,000 years ago. The Yellowstone region sits on a volcanic hotspot, similar to the one that creates the Hawaiian islands. That hotspot first pushed through the Earth's surface ...
April 15, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Humpback Whale Songs Spread From West to East
During humpback whale breeding season (July to October in the south), males all sing the same song. That song can evolve rapidly, and before long all the whales are singing the new tune. When scientists analyzed the songs sung by whales in the southern Pacific Ocean, they made a curious discovery—t...
April 14, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Meet Earth’s New Companion Asteroid
Name? 2010 SO16Discovered? In images from the WISE infrared survey satellite, launched in 2009.Orbit? Very Earth-like, say it's discoverers, Apostolos Christou and David Asher, of Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland, who report their finding in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Socie...
April 07, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
An Arctic Ozone Hole?
When you hear the term "ozone hole" you think about the ozone depletion over Antarctica, and how people in the far south of the Southern Hemisphere have to protect themselves from the Sun. It's why my friends have to buy hats for their little girl and slather her with sunblock every time she goes o...
April 06, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Help Scientists Track Light Pollution By Looking At the Stars
In my neighborhood, some of the street lamps aim their light directly down on the sidewalk and road. Others spew their illumination in a sphere of light, wasting it as it streams into the sky. All those poorly aimed lights add up to 17 billion kilowatt-hours of lost energy each year, costing us aro...
March 21, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
What Is A Nuclear Meltdown?
Until this weekend, you were more likely to see the term "meltdown" in a story about Charlie Sheen than just about anywhere else. But with the earthquake and tsunami striking Japan late last week and setting off crisis situations at several nuclear reactors, the term is now spread across the headli...
March 15, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Science Behind the Japanese Earthquake
Here are some links that help explain the science behind this morning's magnitude 8.9 earthquake off the coast of Japan and resulting tsunami:A summary from the USGS Earthquake Hazards ProgramMountain Beltway explains the geology of the quakeThe USGS has a collection of links about earthquakes in J...
March 11, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Fourteen Fun Facts About Squid, Octopuses and Other Cephalopods
Most people are familiar with cephalopods, even if they don't realize it. Those tasty fried calamari, for example, are squid, as are the octopuses you sometimes see on a restaurant menu. But the cephalopod world is huger and more fascinating than the limited taste of the restaurant world, as Wendy ...
March 10, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Seven Factors That Contribute to the Destructiveness of an Earthquake
A magnitude-6.3 earthquake shook Christchurch, New Zealand yesterday, collapsing buildings, triggering landslides and flooding, and killing dozens of people. A more powerful magnitude-7.1 quake rattled the city last September but didn't cause nearly as much damage, with no fatalities. Why do some e...
February 23, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
It's Getting Hot in Here
The year 2010 may have had a La Niña and little solar activity—two factors that help to cool the planet—but it was record breaker for heat, tying 2005 as the hottest year on record. Record-setting or near-record-setting years are now common; after 2010 and 2005 comes 2009, virtually tied with 1998,...
February 18, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Marine Archaeologists Find Shipwreck Linked to Moby Dick
George Pollard Jr. was not a very lucky sea captain. In 1819, he became captain of the whaling ship Essex, out of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and headed for the Pacific Ocean. Just four days out, though, a storm struck and damaged the ship. Still, Pollard pressed on, rounding Cape Horn in January 182...
February 15, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Climate Change and Winter Storms
If only global warming were as simple as that term implies. Temperatures would increase at a steady rate around the globe, winters would become milder, snow less common. The only victims would be ski slopes and polar bears.But climate change—the preferred term for our global phenomenon—is messier. ...
February 03, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
