June 20, 2018
Energy Notes: August 2008-2009
U.S. Oil & Petroleum Imports (millions of barrels per day) Oil and petroleum imports data are preliminary numbers taken from the American …
The EARTH archive
December 2009
Explore the archive by subject.
23 articles · Page 1 of 1
June 14, 2018
Mineral Resource of the Month: Diamond
Donald W. Olson, mineral commodity specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey, has compiled the following information on diamond, the world’s most …
May 23, 2018
Down to Earth With: Buzz Aldrin
On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong made history when they landed and walked on the moon. The voyage left a …
September 1, 2015
Benchmarks: December 1, 1959: Antarctic Treaty Signed
A victory for peace and science Science trumps all in Antarctica. For the past 50 years, Antarctica has remained a military-free, globally shared …
January 20, 2012
Crystal Ball EARTH: Natural Hazards: Reducing society's risks
The global financial disaster of 2009 has many parallels with catastrophic natural hazards. It struck pretty much without warning, its impact was …
January 20, 2012
Crystal Ball EARTH: Energy: Oil and gas around the world
Energy is a combined product of natural resources, human ingenuity and economy; it is also an engine for economic and social development. This is …
January 20, 2012
Crystal Ball EARTH: Energy: A fool's look into the future
In the 1985 classic “Back to the Future,” Doc Brown, the mad scientist played by Christopher Lloyd, queries his time-traveling visitor, Marty …
January 5, 2012
Xeriscaping: Not just rocks and cactus
“The word ‘xeriscape’ brings to mind a lot of pebbles with cacti,” says Janet Ward, public relations manager for the City of Atlanta’s Department …
January 5, 2012
Thirsty Cities: Water management in a changing environment
On a clear day in November 2007, the governor of Georgia held an unusual public vigil. Before the doors of his state capitol, Gov. Sonny Perdue …
January 5, 2012
The vital statistics
Ardipithecus ramidus was a hominid that lived in Ethiopia’s Afar region 4.4 million years ago. After spending more than a decade studying the …
January 5, 2012
Sunlight mobilizes mercury in wetlands
Elemental mercury — whether produced naturally by volcanoes or forest fires, or released from industrial sources such as power plants — is easily …
January 5, 2012
Scientists find watery super-Earth
The search for Earth-like planets has never looked better. Scientists say they have discovered a water-rich planet that is only 2.7 times larger …
January 5, 2012
Not the oldest hominid
At 4.4 million years old, Ardipithecus ramidus is not the oldest known hominid. In 2002, scientists announced they had discovered a hominid skull …
January 5, 2012
Moon much wetter than thought
The moon isn’t quite the bone-dry place scientists once thought; instead, its surface is covered in water, according to a landmark finding …
January 5, 2012
Mini-T. rex fossil found in China
The Tyrannosaurus rex — arguably the most famous dinosaur of all time — was also one of the most efficient predators to ever walk on Earth. With …
January 5, 2012
Mars' ice is pure, not dirty
Blogging on EARTH Finding signs of water on Mars feels nearly old hat by now. We know Mars had a lot more water in its past, has polar ice …
January 5, 2012
Geomedia: Twitter gives heads-up to users and officials about earthquakes
Twitter stirs up a wide range of reactions — it’s hailed as a vital social networking service by some, despised as the ultimate waste of time by …
January 5, 2012
Crystal Ball EARTH: Space: NASA keeps watch on a changing planet
In 2009, we saw a number of changes on Earth. The average global ocean surface temperature last summer was the warmest on record. Thin seasonal …
January 5, 2012
Crystal Ball EARTH: Minerals management: The changing commodities scene
Many people would like to forget 2008. The subprime mortgage crisis came to a head and sent the world’s financial markets into a free fall. The …
January 5, 2012
Cash for Clunkers' footprint
In August, the Wall Street Journal reported that a little-known chemical was playing a big role in the Cash for Clunkers program. The federal …
January 5, 2012
Blogging on EARTH: A proposed twist on carbon trades at AGU
SAN FRANCISCO: In the ongoing climate negotiations, one issue that keeps coming up is that developing countries should be held to the same …
January 5, 2012
Blogging on EARTH: "Climategate" scientist tells his side
SAN FRANCISCO: In November, hackers broke into the e-mail server of the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit and stole thousands of …
January 5, 2012
Before Lucy: Older hominid Ardi challenges thinking about human evolution
Lucy, the 3.2-million-year-old Australopithecus afarensis fossil, has long been the poster child for early human evolution. But now she’ll have …