Planet Earth, features and articles | Educational Science

Nov 30, 2004

Rumbles in 2004: Mount St. Helens Wakes Up

The Calm Before The Storm (Image credit: USGS/John S. Pallister)This Image Gallery highlights some of the notable activity, which has occurred at Mount St. Helens this year, since it has “roared back to life”. This picture was taken in the summer, on June 23, 2004, before there was any significant...

Nov 30, 2004

Forecast for 2005: Another Busy Hurricane Season

On the heels of one of the most deadly hurricane seasons in memory, a top forecaster is calling for another busy year in the Atlantic basin for 2005. We foresee a slightly above-average hurricane season for the Atlantic basin in 2005, Colorado State University forecaster William Gray said Friday. Also,...

Nov 30, 2004

Tsunamis in History

Some of the biggest, most destructive and deadliest tsunamis on record: 8,000 years ago: A volcano caused an avalanche in Sicily 8,000 years ago that crashed into the sea at 200 mph, triggering a devastating tsunami that spread across the entire Mediterranean Sea. There are no historical records of the...

Nov 30, 2004

End of Oil Could Fuel 'End of Civilization as We Know It'

SAN FRANCISCO -- Opponents in a long-running debate over when the world will run out of oil squared off Tuesday in a crowded room of scientists, reaching only one conclusion: The supply of fossil fuels is fixed and the world economy will eventually have to wean itself from oil. The...

Nov 30, 2004

Dwarf Mistletoe: Parasitic Plant Wreaks Havoc

The dwarf mistletoe, a kissin' cousin to the variety hung from doorways at Christmas-time, is unique in its family both for its sexual habits and the level of destruction it causes within the forests where it resides. This variety is the only truly parasitic member of the legendary plant family...

Nov 30, 2004

The Top 10 Intelligent Designs (or Creation Myths)

The Top 10 Intelligent Designs (or Creation Myths) Creationism and intelligent design are not science, whereas evolution is a solid scientific theory. (Image credit: LiveScience)Several parents won a lawsuit against a Pennsylvania school district in 2005 that had added the controversial theory of intelligent design to its curriculum. Unlike the...

Nov 30, 2004

Personal Power: Bendable Organic Solar Cells

Researchers think new, flexible, lightweight organic solar cells may soon power everything from laptops to iPods. The abundance of solar energy is a tantalizing alternative to the dwindling reserves of fossil fuels. Until recently, the preferred material to harness that power has been solar panels made of silicon crystals. Some...

Nov 30, 2004

Catastrophe's Uncertain Death Toll Over 100,000

At least 121,519 people are reported dead around southern Asia and as far away as Somalia on Africa's eastern coast, most killed by massive tsunamis that smashed coastlines after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off Indonesia's coast on Sunday. But officials say the estimates of those killed are very uncertain. It...

Oct 31, 2004

Fool's Gold Preserves Skin and Hair Fossils

Dentists use gold inlays to save rotting teeth. Nature uses the fool's variety to save rotting flesh. Commonly known as fool's gold, pyrite deposits have preserved the soft tissues, such as hair and skin, of animals that died 500 million years ago in the Chengjiang sediments of China. Unlike most...

Oct 31, 2004

El Nino Now Blamed for Practically Everything

El Nino, that warm-water weather spawner off the coast of South America, has long been been blamed for severe weather in many parts of the Americas. Today scientists said it affects rain patterns throughout the world. Mapping yearly changes in rainfall around the globe, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM)...

Oct 31, 2004

New Stamps Highlight Cool Clouds

See all the stamps below The United States Postal Service (USPS) recently issued 15 new stamps with clouds as the theme, all in the interest of science education. The stamps were created to promote National Stamp Collecting month in October, but beyond philatelic interests, officials figured they would be a...

Oct 31, 2004

'Green' Car Sets Speed Record

The idea that an environmentally friendly automobile has to be small and timid may change as a space-age prototype reaches 196 mph (315 km/h), setting a new record for this type of vehicle. The sleek LeMans prototype-style car ran on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and was lubricated with sunflower oil....

Oct 31, 2004

Explorer Calls Route to South Pole 'Terrible' Idea

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) _ New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb Mount Everest and the first to drive a vehicle to the South Pole, described a U.S. highway to the pole as terrible.'' Work on the 1,020-mile ice highway'' from the Antarctic coast south of New...

Sep 30, 2004

Gulf's 'Dead Zone' Less of a Mystery

HOUSTON (AP) -- The oxygen-depleted dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, long a subject of scrutiny by scientists, is only now becoming less of a mystery. Known by fishermen south of the Mississippi River for more than a century, the area gained scientific recognition in the 1970s but became...

Sep 30, 2004

Group Warns on Consumption of Earth's Resources

GENEVA (AP) -- Humanity's reliance on fossil fuels, the spread of cities, the destruction of natural habitats for farmland and over-exploitation of the oceans are destroying Earth's ability to sustain life, the environmental group WWF warned in a new report Thursday. The biggest consumers of nonrenewable natural resources are the...