Earth Science
The Animals, Vegetables and Minerals of the States
Wisconsin legislators last week voted on a new state symbol; the official state microbe is now Lactococcus lactis, the bacterium used to make cheddar, Colby and Monterey Jack cheeses. As far as I can tell, Wisconsin will be the first state to declare an official state microbe. Plenty of states have...
April 19, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Acid Rain and Our Ecosystem
More than 150 years after acid rain was first identified, scientists now see success in recovery from its damaging effects
April 19, 2010 |
By Cassandra Willyard
Little Ice Age Art
One of the most iconic images people conjure up when they think of the Netherlands of the past has to be ice skaters on canals. This painting, Ice Skating near a Village, appears in an exhibition (which closes July 5) at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C of work by Dutch artist Hendric...
April 16, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Smithsonian's Amazing Natural History Collections
Last week I got to look behind the scenes of the entomology collection at the National Museum of Natural History. I learned how the collection of insects and spiders, one of the world's largest, is used by Smithsonian and Department of Agriculture scientists to help port inspectors identify potenti...
April 12, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Is Washington the Greenest City?
The Energy Star label can be found on products ranging from washing machines to televisions to ceiling fans. It can also be found on buildings, at least virtually. The Environmental Protection Agency rates commercial buildings and manufacturing plants based on energy performance. Those that rank in...
April 07, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
New Guidelines for Mountaintop Coal Mining
The images of the results of mountaintop coal mining—in which whole chunks of mountains are removed to get to the rich coal seams beneath the surface—are striking, and so are the details about the environmental damage caused by this practice. John McQuaid wrote about mountaintop mining last year in...
April 05, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Changing Climate May Have Led to Angkor's Downfall
From the 9th to the 13th centuries, Angkor was the center of the Khmer Empire and the largest city in the world. Roads and canals connected the sprawling complex, which included hundreds of temples. But it didn't last.Today, two million people each year visit the site in Cambodia, though much of it...
March 30, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Turn Off the Lights!
One of the most wonderful memories I have from a sailing trip is being miles and miles from shore on a moonless night and seeing the thousands of stars twinkling in the sky. It's something that most people in the developed world never see; most of the stars are drowned out by light pollution. As yo...
March 26, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Have You Seen a Jellyfish Lately?
Marine biologists need your help. The next time you go to the beach, keep a lookout for the creatures that have washed up onto the sand. And if you find a jellyfish, squid or other kind of unusual marine life, including a red tide bloom, please, please report your sighting to Jellywatch.Jellywatch ...
March 25, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Photo Contest Finalist—A Chorus of Mackerel
Can fish sing? Yes, they can, though I'm not sure about mackerel like the ones above. And they probably don't sound like anything you'd put on your iPod. But that wasn't what Alex Tattersall of Charminster, England, was searching for when we went on a dive last September in the Red Sea off Egypt. H...
March 19, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Chilean Earthquake Moved City Ten Feet
The February 27 magnitude-8.8 earthquake in Chile moved the city of Concepción, located 65 miles south of the epicenter, at least 10 feet to the west, according to a new analysis.Just think about it: There was enough power in that earthquake to move an entire city—people, buildings and all the land...
March 09, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Titanic vs. Lusitania: Who Survived and Why?
The tragic voyages provided several economists with an an opportunity to compare how people behave under extreme conditions
March 02, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Snow and Hurricanes, the El Niño Connection
Living in a city where "snow" is the latest four-letter-word to be added to the list of obscenities, I was rather frightened to read the phrase "permanent El Niño" in today's issue of the journal Nature. That's because it's El Niño—not some kind of crazy global cooling—that's been responsible for o...
February 25, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Riled up About Geoengineering
One of the most contentious sessions at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting this past weekend in San Diego was on geoengineering, the study of ways to engineer the planet to manipulate climate. Intentional ways to do so, I should say—as many of the speakers pointed out, ...
February 23, 2010 |
By Laura Helmuth
Snowmageddon as Seen from Space
Is it spring yet?Those of us in the Washington, D.C., area are thoroughly sick of snow, having gone through two blizzards in less than a week. (And snow days are no fun when you're an adult and end up having to work from home because it's too treacherous to walk more than a few blocks.) But this im...
February 12, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
What Would You Pay for a Plastic Bag?
Would you pay for a plastic or paper bag to haul your groceries home? On January 1, residents of Washington, D.C., began paying five cents for every one of these bags when shopping at stores that sell food, including grocery stores and carry-out restaurants. The alternative: bring your own.Washingt...
February 03, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
An Eclipse in Your Pocket
When you think about it, American money is kind of boring. It's fairly drab in color, and rarely have people other than U.S. presidents been found on our dollars or coins. Other countries put more interesting people, like scientists, on their money, often using a rainbow of colors. Even more daring...
January 29, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Another Downside to Your Classic Green Lawn
We should all know by now that lawns of green grass aren't so "green" for the environment. Keeping turf from turning brown wastes water; people use too much pesticide and herbicide, toxic chemicals that can contaminate the fish we eat and water we drink. And keeping lawns at a reasonable height bu...
January 21, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Pollution and India’s Reptiles
Romulus Whitaker is a herpetologist and conservationist in India. In this video, from November's TEDIndia in Mysore, he talks about using two of India's iconic reptiles—the king cobra and the gharial—to convince people to save the country's polluted rivers. His research includes tracking individual...
January 13, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
NASA's New Lunar Rover
The Smithsonian Institution pitches in to help NASA prepare for its next lunar mission with a new "home on wheels"
January 2010 |
By Megan Gambino
