May 13, 2014
The history, science and poetry of New England's stone walls
In 2007, I returned to eastern Connecticut, where I grew up. Driving north on Interstate 395 past towns like Norwich and Griswold, I was struck …
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Geology
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1236 articles · Page 49 of 52
May 12, 2014
Geologic Column: Riding the rails to Omaha with Rudolf Clausius
If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell’s equations — then so much the worse for …
May 12, 2014
Benchmarks: May 6, 1852: Edward Sabine links the geomagnetic and sunspot cycles
At the beginning of the 19th century, little was understood about Earth’s magnetic field, but interest in its workings had begun to grow, …
April 25, 2014
Beyond rocks for jocks: Elevating geoscience education
When I was an undergraduate student, all liberal arts students were required to take a science course as a general education requirement. If I …
April 24, 2014
Getting there and getting around in New Zealand
Auckland, on the North Island, has the country’s largest airport and is the primary international arrival point. The South Island’s largest …
April 24, 2014
Travels in Geology: From beaches to bush: Tramping in New Zealand
With its stunningly beautiful landscapes, adrenaline-boosting attractions, renowned wines and craft beers, and easy logistics, New Zealand is one …
April 23, 2014
Geomedia: California's climatic catastrophes detailed in "The West Without Water"
On a drought map of California for this past winter, the colors graded from yellow to deep red, indicating drought ranging from abnormally dry to …
April 23, 2014
Naturally occurring methane found in groundwater in New York
In 2008, when dangerously high levels of methane were found in drinking water wells in Dimock, Pa., fingers were pointed at nearby hydraulic …
April 23, 2014
Observing a plate boundary
More than 280 continuous GPS (cGPS) stations in Cascadia are part of the U.S. Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO), a component of EarthScope, which …
April 23, 2014
A truly global system
Like the GPS navigation system in your car or smartphone, a high-precision GPS receiver uses signals from satellites to determine the distance …
April 23, 2014
A new tool for atmospheric studies
Scientists are putting GPS to work in some unexpected new ways. For example, John Braun, a project scientist at the University Corporation for …
April 17, 2014
Mapping how malaria risk changes as new dams go up
Malaria is considered a leading public health problem in Ethiopia, with almost 70 percent of the country’s total population of more than 90 …
April 15, 2014
Scientists look wider and deeper to predict the next El Nino
Whether it be the two monsoons that wiped out Kublai Kahn’s conquest of Japan, or the fog in Long Island that allowed George Washington and his …
April 14, 2014
Precise to a fault: How GPS revolutionized seismic research
In the late 1980s, Ken Hudnut, a Columbia University graduate student studying plate tectonics in Southern California, began experimenting with a …
April 8, 2014
Fieldwork revises ice-free corridor hypothesis of human migration
The existence of an ice-free corridor through Canada during the climax of last glaciation, which allowed the first Americans to cross the Bering …
April 7, 2014
Resolving a misplaced source of volcanism in the Galapagos
Geological models have long suggested the mantle plume that built the Galápagos islands lies below Fernandina Island. Using a novel combination …
April 2, 2014
Social sciences improve tornado warnings
In 2013, 55 people in seven states were killed by tornadoes. Now, scientists behind a new report analyzing the effectiveness of tornado-warning …
March 19, 2014
The Chesapeake Bay gets some good news
By Mary Caperton Morton The Chesapeake Bay watershed is the largest on the Atlantic seaboard, encompassing most of Maryland and Virginia, along …
March 19, 2014
Volcanic lightning generated in a bottle
In A.D. 79, during the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Pliny the Younger wrote of a “blaze of lightning” illuminating the ash plume, …
March 14, 2014
Geologic Column: Data security: freezers, floppies and flash drives
In the pre-electronics-dominated world, many of us protected our field notes, lab records and draft manuscripts by making multiple photocopies, …
March 14, 2014
Scientists go to extremes to monitor Arctic permafrost loss
In late summer 2008, the phone rang in my office at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research in Boulder, Colo. On the other end of the line …
March 10, 2014
IPCC: A failure in communicating the impact of new findings
In October, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its Summary for Policymakers (SPM) to accompany the report of Working …
March 3, 2014
Sudden gas eruption shakes the ground near Rome's airport
On Aug. 24, 2013, visitors arriving at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci International Airport, located in the Fiumicino municipality, flew over a …
February 20, 2014
From boom to bust in Neolithic Europe
As agricultural practices spread from the Fertile Crescent across Europe, gradually expanding west and north starting about 8,500 years ago, they …