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1236 articles · Page 11 of 52

May 23, 2018

Down to Earth With: Sharon Mosher

Sharon Mosher was born with a rock in her hand, as her mom used to say. As a child in Illinois, she was fascinated by geology, conducting mineral …

May 22, 2018

Down to Earth With: Todd Hoefen

On any given day, you might find Todd Hoefen studying the material properties of other planets, building remote sensing applications, sampling …

May 22, 2018

Down to Earth With: Katerina Dontsova

Soil scientist Katerina Dontsova didn’t imagine she would be working at one of the nation’s most famous laboratories when she arrived at Purdue …

May 22, 2018

Down to Earth With: Nick Brooks

More than 6,000 years ago, the world’s most famous desert was no desert at all. A wet, grassy landscape, the Sahara supported populations of …

May 22, 2018

Down to Earth With: Jeffrey Post

The gems and minerals exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., has more than 3,000 …

May 22, 2018

Down to Earth With: Dr. Jonathan Patz

From stitching up cuts in Missoula, Mont., to authoring parts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, Dr. Jonathan Patz has …

May 22, 2018

Down to Earth With: Matthew Parker

Matthew Parker In 1985, the television show NOVA dedicated an entire hour to the pioneers of tornado research, the men and women who first spent …

May 22, 2018

Down to Earth With: Hope Jahren

Hope Jahren is often described as a biogeologist, but that seems too narrow a description. Currently a professor at the University of Hawaii in …

May 16, 2018

When more humidity means less water

Scientists have long assumed that temperature is the main control on melting of winter snowpacks across the mountainous western United States. In …

May 11, 2018

El Nino "flavors" affect California rainfall

Twenty years ago, the 1997–98 El Niño surpassed the 1982–83 event to become the strongest El Niño ever recorded, contributing to famine and …

May 1, 2018

Skate eggs found on hydrothermal vents

In July 2016, a team of scientists came upon a surprise 1,660 meters beneath the ocean’s surface near the Galápagos Islands: a clutch of yellow …

May 1, 2018

Are diatoms triggering submarine landslides?

Far beneath the ocean’s surface, puzzling deposits from huge submarine landslides can be found amid expanses of nearly flat ocean floor. Without …

May 1, 2018

Which warm waters boosted Hurricane Harvey?

Last August, Hurricane Harvey walloped Texas, dropping more than 100 centimeters of rain on Houston and nearby areas, and causing more than $125 …

May 1, 2018

Lava shaped Lake Tahoe

With its preternaturally clear blue waters, Lake Tahoe is tranquil today, but the deep lake straddling the border of California and Nevada was …

May 1, 2018

Swelling clay slows landslides

Rainfall can trigger landslides, and it can also cause slow-moving slides to speed up. But researchers have observed that rain also appears to …

May 1, 2018

Mineral Resource of the Month: Chromium

PRODUCTION GEOLOGIC OCCURENCE Although chromium is a metal, it does not occur naturally in metallic form. Chromium can be found in many minerals, …

May 1, 2018

"Greening" stormwater in Philadelphia

When environmental geologist David Wilcots joined Sci-Tek Consultants in 2014, he became involved with the Philadelphia Water Department’s Green …

May 1, 2018

Geologic Column: Rebranding Alexander

by Ward Chesworth “With great power comes great responsibility.” — Various (including “Amazing Fantasy #15,” the comic in which Spider-Man was …

May 1, 2018

Getting there and getting around Idaho

If you’re interested in a trip down the Main Salmon, you have two options: put a trip together yourself, or hire a professional outfitter to take …