June 20, 2018
Energy Notes: January 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
May 2010
Explore the archive by subject.
16 articles · Page 1 of 1
June 14, 2018
Mineral Resource of the Month: Germanium
David E. Guberman, a mineral commodity specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey, compiled the following information on germanium, a metal used …
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 …
August 22, 2017
Getting there and getting around Patagonia
There are many ways to get to Patagonia. I would have preferred to get there by following Charles Darwin’s route, aboard a replica of H.M.S. …
August 22, 2017
Venturing into Argentina
We chose to spend most of our time on the Chilean side of Patagonia, although you could just as easily decide to spend your entire trip on the …
August 22, 2017
Travels in Geology: Patagonia: The ends of the earth
Certain place names conjure up a sense of remoteness that verges on the mythical: Timbuktu, Outer Mongolia, the Yukon. For me, prime among these …
October 27, 2015
Nuclear Fallout
Willard Libby, who won a Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1960, was a prominent advocate of nuclear weapons testing, and worked on the Manhattan …
October 26, 2015
Benchmarks: May 18, 1952: Stonehenge's age solved with Carbon-14
Like sentinels standing guard over a millennia-old secret, the 8-meter-tall stones of Stonehenge rise above the rolling green hills of England’s …
January 20, 2012
Voices: Should science dictate whether to rebuild after a natural disaster?
Move Port-au-Prince? Maybe. San Francisco and New Orleans? Never. It is common for scientists to call for the relocation of a city to a safer …
January 20, 2012
Voices: Must we capture and store carbon from coal to meet emission-reduction targets?
Last Wednesday, Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman unveiled a comprehensive energy bill (PDF) called the American Power Act. The central purpose …
January 5, 2012
Science and soccer: They're both child's play
It’s late in the afternoon, and by now, 9-year-old Claire Dworsky has already answered questions like mine many times over. But, when I approach …
January 5, 2012
Paleo Patrol: Was mankind's first leap in a forest or savanna?
Last October, scientists formally introduced the world to Ardi the Ardipithecus, the well-preserved skeleton of a 4.4-million-year-old hominin …
January 5, 2012
Paleo Patrol: Neanderthal genome offers clues on what makes us human
Did “Clan of the Cave Bear” get it right after all? Probably not, but at least one aspect of the ice age saga is true: Modern humans interbred …
January 5, 2012
Natural gas production linked to earthquakes in Texas
A saltwater disposal well, a part of the natural gas production process, may have been responsible for triggering a series of minor earthquakes …
January 5, 2012
Dinosaurs' true colors revealed
Modern birds range across the color spectrum from brilliant blue to Big Bird yellow to vibrant vermillion, so it stands to reason that feathered …
January 5, 2012
Closing Istanbul's seismic gap
Since 1939, a progression of deadly earthquakes has been marching westward across Turkey’s North Anatolian Fault, stalking the mega-city …