August 15, 2017
Ice (Re)Cap: September 2017
From Antarctica to the Arctic; from polar caps, permafrost and glaciers to ocean-rafted sea ice; and from burly bears to cold-loving microbes, …
The EARTH archive
September 2017
Explore the archive by subject.
40 articles · Page 2 of 2
August 15, 2017
End of ice age may have been too wet for megafauna
Between 15,000 and 11,000 years ago, dozens of ice-age megafauna species went extinct. Various causes, from climate-driven habitat changes to …
August 15, 2017
Dehydrated sediment layer made Sumatra quake stronger
Subduction zones are notorious for unleashing great earthquakes and tsunamis, such as the 2004 magnitude-9.1 Sumatra quake that caused shaking …
August 15, 2017
Reconstructing ancient oxidant levels and their climatic effects
Oxidants in the troposphere, such as ozone and hydroxyl radicals, influence the life spans of other atmospheric components, including pollutants …
August 15, 2017
Asymmetrical fossil feathers fill in timeline of flight
To get off the ground and evolve into flying birds, dinosaurs got a lift from asymmetrical feathers, which are more aerodynamic than symmetrical …
August 15, 2017
T. rex's bone-crushing bite
In a landscape rife with fearsome predators, Tyrannosaurus rex carved out a bone-crushing niche. New research analyzing the force generated by T. …
August 11, 2017
When schools shake: Keeping students and teachers safe during earthquakes
When the magnitude-7.8 Gorkha earthquake rocked Nepal on April 25, 2015, it destroyed 19,000 classrooms and damaged more than 30,000 others. The …
August 11, 2017
Coatings may prevent pipeline clogs
When ice forms in household water pipes, blockages and expansion can cause the pipes to burst. Similar problems can arise in the transportation …
August 10, 2017
A mammoth king: Was the legend of King Hygelac in "Beowulf" inspired by a fossil find?
As far-fetched as it may seem, the death of a woolly mammoth thousands of years ago on an island in the Rhine-Meuse River Delta, near present-day …
August 10, 2017
Baby Louie dinosaur fossil gets a formal name
A baby dinosaur found fossilized with a clutch of eggs in China in the 1990s has finally been identified as an embryo from a new species of giant …
August 10, 2017
Earthquakes make volcanoes more — and less — gassy
Triggering of volcanic emissions by earthquakes has been observed since antiquity. The Roman naturalist and philosopher Pliny the Elder proposed …
August 10, 2017
Transylvanian ice cave reveals European winter climate record
Over the last 10,000 years, water dripping into a cave in Transylvania has frozen into one of the largest and oldest cave glaciers in the world. …
August 10, 2017
Dust influences pollution levels in eastern China
Air pollution often enshrouds cities in eastern China in a thick haze that impairs visibility and causes respiratory health problems. Emissions …
August 10, 2017
Young Costa Rican lavas might reflect pockets of primordial mantle
During the Archean, between 4 billion and 2.5 billion years ago, Earth’s super-heated young mantle produced a unique type of lava known as …
August 9, 2017
Why meteors snap, crackle and pop
Keen-eared observers sometimes report hearing popping, whistling or buzzing at the same time they see meteors pass far overhead, a perplexing …
June 16, 2017
Northeast and Midwest U.S. projected to warm faster than national average
The U.S. Northeast and Midwest will warm quickly in the coming decades compared to national and global averages, reaching established temperature …