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Should We Blame Scientists for Not Predicting Earthquakes?
A group of Italian scientists may go to trial for allegedly playing down the risk of the quake that struck the Abruzzo region of Italy in April 2009
June 16, 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
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
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
The 1906 San Francisco Quake in Color
Recently discovered photographs depict the aftermath of the devastating California earthquake in a new light
May 2011 |
By Arcynta Ali Childs
The Great Japan Earthquake of 1923
The powerful quake and ensuing tsunami that struck Yokohama and Tokyo traumatized a nation and unleashed historic consequences
May 2011 |
By Joshua Hammer
15 Facts About Tornadoes
Decades of research have made these storms more predictable, giving people more time to find shelter, but we're sadly still vulnerable
April 28, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
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
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
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
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
La Nina Brings Flooding to Australia
If you think everything is bigger in Texas, then you've never been to Australia, where an area as large as that U.S. state is now under water. And flooding across this section of the state of Queensland, north of Brisbane, could last for weeks. The culprit? La Niña.La Niña is the cold water counter...
January 05, 2011 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Year in Science: A List of Lists
It's the end of the year, so you know what that means—it's time for the parade of "year in review" articles. Start with Smithsonian.com's Top 10 Stories of 2010, which features lots of science, and then move on to these others:* Discover magazine picked the top 100 stories of 2010 (and my brother w...
December 29, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Ten Science Stories You Should Have Read
Is your office rather empty this week? Looking for something to read to fill the time? How about some great science and nature stories from Smithsonian? Here are my ten favorites from the past year:The Truth About Lions (January): Staff writer Abigail Tucker visits Craig Packer, who has been runnin...
December 28, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Why Climate Change Brings Both More and Less Water
Among the more perplexing bits of climate change research are the predictions for both more droughts and more floods. How could that be? Well, when I was reporting the recently published story on the Colorado River, geoscientist Bradley Udall, director of the University of Colorado's Western Water ...
October 05, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Hurricanes' Dangerous Rip Currents
The U.S. East Coast is likely to miss out on most of the destructive forces of Hurricanes Danielle and Earl this week, with both just skimming by off the coast. But a miss on land doesn't mean that the storms have no effect. In fact, they've both brought powerful waves and, more worrisome, rip curr...
September 02, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
The Tornado That Saved Washington
On the night of August 24, 1814, British troops led by Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn marched on Washington, D.C. and set fire to most of the city. Dolley Madison famously saved the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington and a copy of the Declaration of Independence before she fled to nearb...
August 25, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Hurricanes and the Color of the Oceans
Little kids draw the ocean as blue, but the seas are more complex in color than that. They can be a rich turquoise, like the shallow waters of the Bahamas, or a dark greeny blue, nearly black, out in the middle of the deep oceans. Depth and life, specifically phytoplankton, both influence the ocean...
August 16, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Italian Scientists May Face Trial for Not Predicting 2009 Earthquake
Earthquakes are scary for many reasons. They can be devastating, leveling whole cities and killing millions. They can cause massive tsunamis. And though scientists can make predictions of where earthquakes are likely to occur, we never know when the Big One will happen.That last bit, however, hasn'...
July 06, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
A Letter From Earth
Dear members of the species Homo sapiens,Hi. I'm Earth. While I'm pleased and flattered that you have chosen to honor me on every April 22 for the last 40 years, I am seriously concerned and, frankly, very angry that most of you seem to forget me for the rest of the year. I periodically try to remi...
April 21, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
