August 29, 2016
Exploring the newest gift to America: Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument
“Are you sure this is right? It feels like we are headed to Neverland,” my boyfriend asked me while hiking last weekend. We were in the country’s …
The EARTH archive
August 2016
Explore the archive by subject.
46 articles · Page 1 of 2
August 17, 2016
The new kid on the block
In 2013, cave explorers discovered a trove of human-like fossils in the Rising Star Cave in South Africa. Since then, more than 1,500 fossils …
August 17, 2016
Hominid vs. hominin
Before genetics came along and revealed just how closely modern humans and chimpanzees are related, humans were classified in their own family, …
August 17, 2016
Observers at the edge of the ice: Smaller, cheaper machines can safely go where humans can't
Any tourist bound for Greenland or Alaska on a cruise ship would be happy to capture video of a huge chunk of ice as it calves from the face of a …
August 16, 2016
Redefining Homo: Does our family tree need more branches?
As the sole surviving species of the genus Homo, we Homo sapiens are one of the most taxonomically lonely species living on Earth today. But dig …
August 16, 2016
Peeling North American Plate causing East Coast earthquakes
On Aug. 23, 2011, a magnitude-5.8 earthquake struck near Mineral, Va., shaking the Piedmont region and damaging several historic buildings in …
August 16, 2016
Modeling Io's weird mountains
Jupiter’s innermost moon, Io, is home to some of the strangest mountains in our solar system: towering isolated peaks, some more than 8,000 …
August 16, 2016
Earthworms build big mounds to escape floodwaters
When researchers looking for archaeological remains in satellite imagery came across unidentified mounds — some as tall as humans — in the …
August 16, 2016
Scaling up: Mega-dino babies were mini adults
Even the largest dinosaurs to walk the planet had to start out small, hatching out of eggs, but whether these were miniature versions of adults …
August 16, 2016
Ancient dinosaur migrations analyzed
Many studies have sought to track the movements of dinosaurs as they migrated across the supercontinent Pangea before and during its breakup. …
August 16, 2016
Bubble accumulation could explain massive volcanic sulfur releases
The spectacular 1815 eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Tambora spewed large amounts of sulfur gases into the atmosphere, which formed fine …
August 16, 2016
Firefighting gets a leg up from earthquake sensor networks
Seismic networks monitor ground motion in earthquake-prone regions like California and Nevada. Now, they may also help combat other natural …
August 16, 2016
Mantle convection makes Earth's crust bob
From the earthquake-prone Himalayas and Andes to the volcanically active “Ring of Fire” around the Pacific, the boundaries of Earth’s tectonic …
August 15, 2016
Helium escape may help predict volcanic activity
Europe’s tallest active volcano, Mount Etna, rises 3,300 meters above the island of Sicily, which lies just off the coast of Italy’s “toe.” …
August 15, 2016
New dating of 'hobbit' sheds light on when it lived
Since 2004, when scientists first announced the discovery of fossil remains of a new species of hominin from Indonesia — dubbed Homo floresiensis …
August 15, 2016
Long-gone supernova sprinkles rare isotope
At the end of a star’s lifecycle it collapses and explodes into a supernova, spewing rare elements and isotopes outward into space. In the last …
July 29, 2016
Where on Earth? - August 2016
Clues for August 2016: This lake lies in a well-known mountainous Canadian national park that takes its name from a town in Scotland and contains …
July 26, 2016
Ice (Re)Cap: August 2016
From Antarctica to the Arctic; from polar caps, permafrost and glaciers to ocean-rafted sea ice; and from burly bears to cold-loving microbes, …
July 26, 2016
Mauna Loa's mysterious Ninole Hills were once a rift
Hawaii’s Nīnole Hills, jutting out from Mauna Loa’s southeast flank, are one of the most striking features on the Big Island, though their …
July 26, 2016
Benchmarks: August 25, 1916: The National Park Service is established
The U.S. national parks are sanctuaries where one can find refuge in nature and marvel at its grandeur — from the glacially sculpted granitic …
July 26, 2016
Geologic Column: Editia elegantis: A story of science, discovery and the elegance of a wife's contribution
The account of how the crustacean Editia elegantis was discovered has been the source of dinner party amusement for my family and friends since I …
July 26, 2016
Geomedia: Books: 'FORE' helps you project the future, with a laugh
What if we could project the future of nearly everything with a single type of mathematical equation? In “FORE and the Future of Practically …
July 25, 2016
Down to Earth With: National Park Service Geologic Resources Division chief David Steensen
" in 1986, he did not think he’d be working for the National Park Service for more than a few years. He had been hired into a four-year …
July 25, 2016
Teaching geology to biologists: An essay on an interdisciplinary field trip in Africa
We stop next to a wide, dry, creek bed on the floor of a steep canyon near Tarangire National Park in northern Tanzania. Elephants spray water on …