July 17, 2015
Hurricane wrath may be reduced by rainfall
Meteorologists have gotten better and better at forecasting the paths of hurricanes and tropical storms, but predicting how intense a storm will …
The EARTH archive
August 2015
Explore the archive by subject.
47 articles · Page 2 of 2
July 17, 2015
Early Earth enriched by iron rain
Iron is one of the most common elements in the Earth’s mantle and core, most of it having come from massive collisions with asteroids and other …
July 17, 2015
A terribly low voice for a new terror bird
A recently discovered fossil skeleton is giving paleontologists a nearly complete look at a new species in the family of big-beaked giants known …
July 17, 2015
Southbound icebergs off the hook for ice-age cooling
During the Late Pleistocene, changes in North Atlantic Ocean circulation triggered abrupt changes in global climate: In some locations in the …
July 16, 2015
From fearsome predator to filter feeder
Early in the Paleozoic, giant arthropods known as anomalocaridids were the largest predators in the sea. A collection of finely preserved …
July 16, 2015
Stalled slabs sometimes stopped by mineral strengthening
Subduction of tectonic plates into the mantle functions as an eons-long recycling system for Earth’s crust and lithosphere. But in some …
July 16, 2015
Bark beetles not to blame for big fires?
Since the mid-1990s, outbreaks of voracious bark beetles have devastated more than 71,000 square kilometers of forests in the Rocky Mountain …
July 16, 2015
Nonnative plants not a problem in Britain
In many places in the world, nonnative plants are epidemic, outcompeting local flora for space and resources and sometimes leading to extinctions …
July 16, 2015
Makeovers for two popular dinosaurs
Two of the most recognizable dinosaurs are getting image makeovers. According to recent research, tyrannosaurs weren’t only fearsome predators …
July 16, 2015
Meteorite reveals rare irregular crystals
Scientists have found naturally occurring quasicrystals for the second time in a meteorite recovered from eastern Russia, according to a new …
July 13, 2015
As an aerosolizer, dust devils demoted
Dust is an inescapable byproduct of a rocky planet reworked by tectonic forces, extraterrestrial impacts and human activities. And though it may …
July 13, 2015
Widening the window of human dispersal into Arabia
The vast sea of sand that is much of the Arabian Peninsula presents a formidable barrier to travel, even with today’s modern conveniences. How …
July 13, 2015
Geologic Column: Field Sketches
I’m not into camping, climbing or caving, but I like fieldwork. My mom, a science teacher, introduced me to collecting minerals and fossils. …
July 10, 2015
Comment: Who should be worried about space weather
If you live in hurricane-prone regions, you’re probably familiar with the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale; if you’re in Tornado Alley, you …
July 7, 2015
Benchmarks: August 3, 1958: USS Nautilus crosses the North Pole
As the USS Nautilus glided through the black depths of the Arctic Ocean, Cmdr. William Anderson asked the crew for quiet. A tense silence hung …
July 7, 2015
Down to Earth With: Industrial Archaeologist Fred Quivik
Fred Quivik is no ordinary historian. Though he likes dusty books and archives to be sure, Quivik looks at history through objects, specifically …
July 7, 2015
Geomedia: Books: Iceland's eruption of biblical proportions explored in 'Island on Fire'
For a few months in 2014–2015, a volcanic eruption in Iceland captivated many people around the world. The Holuhraun lava field produced the …
July 6, 2015
Travels in Geology: Touring Texas' Trans-Pecos
When Robert T. Hill first arrived in Texas in 1874 at the age of 16, little was known about the geology of the arid, far-western corner of the …
July 6, 2015
A pair of moons with underground oceans
Jupiter and Saturn are both gas giants boasting multiple moons. Now, two separate studies have identified another similarity: Each appears to …
July 6, 2015
The Arctic is open for research
“Science knows no boundaries, and the issues that the Arctic region faces require high-quality, trans-disciplinary and problem-based research, …
June 30, 2015
Endangered Icebreakers: The future of Arctic research, exploration and rescue at risk
I had never seen so many birds in my life. The sunset turns the world a deep pink as auklets and murres spiral up to their nests on the Diomede …
June 26, 2015
Racing to the future of automotive efficiency and performance
“High-performance” and “environmentally friendly” are two phrases not commonly used together to describe race cars. But at the World Endurance …
May 22, 2015
Megafloods mostly shaped Icelandic canyon landscape
In the 1920s, geologist J Harlen Bretz proposed that cataclysmic glacial megafloods had dramatically transformed the landscape of the …