December 9, 2014
Down to Earth With: Naomi Levin
Stable isotope geochemist Naomi Levin, a native New Yorker, says she could easily imagine alternate career paths that would have been more in …
The EARTH archive
January 2014
Explore the archive by subject.
20 articles · Page 1 of 1
December 3, 2014
January 26, 1905: The world's largest gem-quality diamond is unearthed
Each day, thousands of visitors to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History view the rare and spectacular Hope Diamond, a …
January 29, 2014
Down to Earth With: Sally Jewell
Most people who find their way into public office start locally, perhaps by running for a seat on the school board or city council. Sally …
January 3, 2014
Warring trolls explanation for mysterious basalt pillars revised
Peculiar basalt pillars found in Iceland — attributed in local lore to a pair of angry trolls hurling projectiles at each other — are having …
January 2, 2014
2013 Front Range Flooding: An Ecological Perspective
The 2013 Colorado floods may have been a record-setting event in human terms, but scientists and resource managers emphasize that what happened …
January 2, 2014
When water, gravity and geology collide: Firsthand observations of the impacts of the 2013 Colorado floods
Around almost every bend in the road on our tour of the Colorado Front Range and points downstream in the weeks after the September floods, the …
January 2, 2014
Disaster strikes along Colorado's Front Range
In early September last year, the weather along Colorado’s Front Range, the urbanized corridor paralleling the eastern slope of the Rocky …
December 12, 2013
Humans are influencing some extreme weather events, but not all
In 2012, the world experienced dozens of extreme weather events, including droughts, heat waves, cold spells, extreme rainfalls, big storms like …
December 12, 2013
Climate, terroir, and wine: What matters most in producing a great wine?
Weather and climate have played decisive roles throughout human existence — where and how cultures developed, where they migrated and even how …
December 12, 2013
Getting there and getting around in Antarctica
Traveling to Antarctica pretty much requires being part of an organized tour, something tens of thousands of people do each year. We went on a …
December 12, 2013
Ship life
Perhaps the most common question I’ve gotten after returning from my trip is, “Did you get sea sick?” The answer is yes, but I wasn’t miserable. …
December 12, 2013
Travels in Geology: Antarctica: Following in the footsteps of giants
In fall 2012, when I told friends and colleagues that I was heading south for a few weeks, they assumed that I, like many other northeasterners, …
December 12, 2013
Energy 360: Moving energy - No easy feat, but a vital conversation
Trucks, trains, planes and boats move food, clothing, cars, wood, steel, medical products, smartphones, bicycles, organic milk, free-range …
December 10, 2013
Hazards abroad: Sent home
On May 19, 2012, seismologist Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado at Boulder landed at the airport in Delhi, India, on his way to Bhutan. …
December 10, 2013
Be prepared: Navigating the risks of hazards research
Just over a year ago, in a cavernous room of the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, Calif., hundreds of geophysicists, seismologists, …
October 17, 2013
Hominin skull discovery fuels debate about early human evolution
Hailed as a find for the ages, a rare skull of a 1.8-million-year-old human relative could provide answers to longstanding questions about the …
September 11, 2013
Environmental changes contributed to Mediterranean cultural crisis
About 3,200 years ago, urban cultures thrived in the Eastern Mediterranean until invasions in coastal and inland areas, compounded by …
September 9, 2013
Ancient volcanic island arc blocked Antarctic current formation
There has long been a debate in the geological community over what caused the formation of the Antarctic ice sheet during the Eocene-Oligocene …
September 9, 2013
Arsenic in wells in Vietnam suggests dig-deeper approach has issues
For years, scientists and public health officials have known that arsenic threatens the water supplies of millions of people in the heavily …
September 9, 2013
Arsenic levels in China may be predicted by modeling
In China, arsenic poisoning from groundwater has been a known chronic health issue since at least the 1970s. From 2001 to 2005, the Chinese …