Articles tagged as Natural Disasters

The climbers are still missing, but authorities suspect they were buried by an avalanche

June 2, 2014

A view looking down Pine Street in the wake of the 1906 Earthquake.

What’s Worse Than One, Big Earthquake? A String of Slightly Smaller Ones

Historical earthquake activity shows that California may not just be set for one big earthquake, but a cluster of smaller shakers

May 21, 2014

These side-by-side satellite photos show how Moore, Okla., is rebuilding

May 20, 2014

Hurricane Felix off Grand Cayman Island, September 3, 2007.

New Research

The Tropics are Moving, And They’re Bringing Their Cyclones With Them

Over the past 30 years hurricanes have been hitting their peak intensities nearer to the poles

May 15, 2014

Waves breaking on a coral reef in Hawaii.

New Research

Coral Reefs Absorb 97 Percent of the Energy From Waves Headed Toward Shore

This finding applies to reefs around the world

May 15, 2014

A map of earthquake activity around the U.S. from 2009 to 2012. Black dots are earthquakes above magnitude 3.0, with bigger circles for bigger earthquakes.

New Research

Government Says Oil and Gas Development Have Raised Risk of Earthquakes in Oklahoma

Oklahoma’s recent surge in earthquake activity due in part to wastewater injection

May 7, 2014

Dinosaurs came in all shapes and sizes, but only the small, feathered variety survived.

New Research

Ancient Birds Avoided Mass Extinction By Shrinking

The shrinkage process was well underway before an asteroid brought doom to the dinosaurs 66 million years ago

May 7, 2014

With at least 12 dead, today is worse than the day in 1996 when eight people were killed in a storm

April 18, 2014

Illegal marijuana grow ops use thousands of gallons of water a day

April 16, 2014

Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat, by Simon de Myle

Ten Ancient Stories and the Geological Events That May Have Inspired Them

If you dig deep enough, say scientists, you can find some truth to legends and creation stories

April 4, 2014

Cool Finds

Watch How Tuesday’s Tsunami Waves Moved From Chile All the Way to Australia

A computer model shows how the tsunami crossed the Pacific

April 3, 2014

Snow in the Sierra Nevadas, January 18, 2014.

California’s snowpack is running low, a bad sign for a state plagued by drought

April 2, 2014

The projected tsunami propagation for last night's Chile earthquake.

New Research

It Is Now Technically Possible to Stop an Earthquake

Scientists have devised a way to reflect seismic waves

April 2, 2014

Japanese architect Shigeru Ban has been awarded the Pritzker prize, one of architecture’s top prizes

March 26, 2014

Explore Every Tornado Across the United States Since 1980 Through This Interactive Map

See why they call it Tornado Alley, but don’t be fooled into thinking a tornado can’t happen in your own backyard

March 24, 2014

A Haitian woman collects peanuts in 2012.

A string of disasters has made it hard for Haitians to weather the ongoing drought

March 19, 2014

Aerial view of the damaged site at Dawlish taken from the Network Rail helicopter

Last week, the seawall holding up part of a key railway line went down

February 10, 2014

Sixty people died and thousands were left homeless in one of the most deadly earthquakes in American history

January 17, 2014

Nuclear tests, such as Operation Redwing in 1956, deposited radioactive plutonium and cesium in the atmosphere.

Plutonium From Nuclear Tests Lingers in the Atmosphere

Don’t worry, scientists say that it’s not a threat to human health but instead could be a marker of how air circulates

January 7, 2014

A magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck Costa Rica on September 5, 2012, producing a strong shaking through much of the country.

Scientists Successfully Forecasted the Size and Location of an Earthquake

Well before Costa Rica shook in a magnitude 7.6 quake in September 2012, geoscientists forecasted that the region was due for a magnitude 7.7 to 7.8 quake

December 23, 2013