March 19, 2019
Folding drone flies into tight spaces
Drones can go many places humans can’t, and a new foldable drone is squeezing into even tighter, more dangerous places than ever before. Inspired …
The EARTH archive
Technology
Explore the archive by subject.
41 articles · Page 1 of 2
December 18, 2018
Eyes in the sea: Swarms of floating robots observe the oceans
In 1999, Peter Franks, a biological oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, published a hypothesis that, to his …
November 8, 2018
Science by floats
The Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling project (SOCCOM) set out four years ago to study the Southern Ocean and its role …
October 12, 2018
Underwater WiFi? Rising sea levels threaten physical internet
It seems like you can find wireless internet almost anywhere now, but the backbone of the internet is wired: Infrastructure such as fiber optic …
May 23, 2018
Down to Earth With: Maria Zuber
In 2011, a pair of orbiters will launch for the moon, making some of the most exact measurements yet of our satellite. Luckily for the orbiters, …
May 1, 2018
Down to Earth With: Geologist and paleontologist David Wilcots
When David Wilcots was 4 years old, his parents took him to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City where he encountered his …
May 1, 2018
Fieldwork among the pixels: Virtual and augmented reality diversify geoscience education
by Sarah Derouin Weeks after taking his students on a field trip to the Sierra Nevada, Ryan Hollister, a high school earth science teacher in …
April 10, 2018
Battery recycling underlies elevated lead in African soils
Of all the recycling industries in the world, lead-acid battery recycling is one of the most profitable — and one of the most toxic. In the U.S., …
March 20, 2018
Benchmarks: April 4, 2011: Air France Flight 447 wreckage found using modern oceanography tools
In the early morning hours of March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight 370 (MH370), en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, lost communication with …
March 19, 2018
Measuring earthquakes using fiber-optic cables
Fiber-optic cables crisscross the world, ferrying digital data and enabling internet access and telecommunication. In a new study, published in …
January 12, 2018
Geomedia: Books: Putting 'Seeds on Ice' to protect crop diversity
“Tucked away, deep underground, in a frozen corner of the Scandinavian north is the safety net for our food supply. The Global Seed Vault, on the …
December 14, 2017
Stable isotopes offer novel methods of disease detection
Astronauts lead dangerous lives. Besides the inherent risks of blastoff, re-entry and space flight, astronauts experience myriad physical changes …
December 14, 2017
From space to village: NASA's SERVIR program brings a big picture to local communities
Life is tightly linked to weather in the Lower Mekong countries of Southeast Asia, and the weather is rarely still. In 2016, the Mekong River was …
December 14, 2017
In the lab, machine learning improves quake forecasts
The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that about 500,000 detectable earthquakes occur worldwide every year. But accurate forecasts of when quakes …
December 11, 2017
Comment: Making the first (and last) geoscience class count
Imagine that no one had ever taught a general education geoscience course for college students, and that you were given the job of designing such …
November 15, 2017
Caldera clays may hold key to lithium independence
Most of the world’s lithium is mined in South America and Australia. New research suggests that the United States may have its own untapped …
November 8, 2017
Desktop seismology: How a maker-inspired device is changing seismic monitoring
Earth groans and shimmies constantly, producing everything from occasional building-collapsing earthquakes to subtle shaking humans don’t even …
October 27, 2017
Geologic Column: Giving Konrad Zuse his due
German engineer Konrad Zuse is considered the first inventor of the programmable electronic computer in his home country, but sadly, few students …
September 19, 2017
Solar-powered paint could produce hydrogen for fuel
Split a water molecule, and you get hydrogen and oxygen. Burn that hydrogen as fuel and you get water. This straightforward, pollution-free cycle …
September 1, 2017
Down to Earth With: Evan Thomas
At age 16, Evan Thomas made a list of 100 life goals — his bucket list. At only 27 years old, he’s done pretty well so far: Graduate college with …
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 …
July 14, 2017
In a position to lead: How military technology and innovation can ease the world's water challenges
The U.S. military is spread across more than 500 installations worldwide, from small Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) in Afghanistan and Iraq that …
March 24, 2017
Ash vs. airplanes
Between 1953 and 2009,* there were 129 reported incidents of airplane-ash encounters, with 79 of those causing some degree of airframe or engine …
January 18, 2017
Temblor: An app that brings home your seismic hazard
When a beautiful old house overlooking the Pacific Ocean — in Pacifica, just south of San Francisco — went on the market, Mike H., the seller’s …