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Oct 31, 2008

Should Wildfires Be Fought So Aggressively?

Anyone watching from afar as fires rage in Southern California may wonder why people live in fire-prone areas. Another question that's starting to spread like wildfire: Should such fires be fought so aggressively, often at great financial expense and at the risk of firefighters lives? Now there are even questions...

Sep 30, 2008

Oldest 'Footprints' on Earth Found

The oldest-known tracks of a creature apparently using legs have been discovered in rock dated to 570 million years ago in what was once a shallow sea in Nevada. Scientists think land beasts evolved from ancient creatures that left the sea and evolved lungs and legs. If the new finding...

Sep 30, 2008

Arctic Grows Stormier

The Arctic has become more stormy in the past 50 years due to the warming climate, which in turn has quickened the pace of drifting sea ice, a new NASA study finds. Based on model results, climate scientists had long predicted that a warming climate would increase the frequency and...

Sep 30, 2008

Typhoons Bury Carbon in Oceans

The torrential rains of a single typhoon can bury tons of carbon in the ocean, two new studies suggest. It's Nature's way of healing itself. The findings help determine how much carbon that big storms have historically taken from the atmosphere and buried for thousands of years beneath the sea....

Sep 30, 2008

Scientists Determine Which Species to Save

Earth may be in the midst of a sixth mass extinction event due to our impact on the planet, scientists have said, and the upshot could mean nearly 50 percent of all plant and animal species will disappear in the coming decades. Rather than try to save them all, biologists...

Sep 30, 2008

Dinosaur Graveyard Yields Fossil Bounty

A dinosaur graveyard full of fossils has been discovered in a former river bed in Utah, presenting an opportunity for a decade's worth of Jurassic research by paleontologists, it was announced this week. Scientists and technicians with the Utah Thornbury Dinosaur Expedition unearthed an abundance of sauropod (an herbivorous long-necked...

Sep 30, 2008

Hawaiian Cave Reveals Ancient Secrets

From the moment we saw it, we knew the place held many great secrets. We had been looking for new fossil sites on the south side of the Hawaiian island of Kauai in 1992 with our colleagues, Helen F. James and Storrs L. Olson of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington,...

Aug 31, 2008

Strongest Hurricanes Getting Stronger

This story was updated Sept. 7, 2008. Strong hurricanes are getting stronger, likely thanks to global warming, a new study finds. Scientists have previously predicted that as global warming further heats up the ocean, hurricanes could become more frequent, more intense or both. The new work is in line with...

Aug 31, 2008

Why Dewdrops Stay on the Rose

Ah, roses. Their heady fragrance and delicate petals glistening with dew could soften the hardest heart. But take a sharper look at the dewdrops. They bead, rather than spread—and that's because the material composing the petal surface doesn't bond well with water. Yet the droplets don't roll off. What binds...

Aug 31, 2008

Neanderthal Brains Grew Like Ours

Score one more for Neanderthals. A new study has found that Neanderthal brains grew at much the same rate as modern human brains do, knocking down the idea that they grew faster in a style considered more primitive. The recent discoveries of two very young Neanderthal skeletons, as well analysis...

Aug 31, 2008

How an Eggbeater Could Power the Future

Editor's Note: Each Wednesday LiveScience examines the viability of emerging energy technologies — the power of the future. From Holland, the country famous for its windmills, comes a new design for home wind power. Looking like an eggbeater, it spins quieter and at lower wind speeds than a lot of...

Aug 31, 2008

Ike Underscores Foolishness of Building on Barrier Islands

Update: The Latest News of Ike's ImpactImage Gallery: Ike's FuryAs Hurricane Ike pummels the Texas coast, the only thing standing in the way is a thin stretch of land called Galveston. Galveston is a barrier island, a narrow landmass made mostly of sand that extends along a coastline parallel to...

Aug 31, 2008

Biggest Melt Comes From Smallest Glaciers

The big glaciers of Greenland get most of the attention in terms of global warming's impact on melting and rising sea levels, but it's actually the little glaciers that count the most, a new study finds. Satellite observations of the Greenland Ice Sheet indicate that nearly 75 percent of the...

Jul 31, 2008

Extreme Living: Scientists at the End of the Earth

Research Station (Image credit: Patrick Hovey / National Science Foundation)An elevated dorm at NSF's Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is shown with a new elevated station in the background. The photo was taken on Sept. 9, 2005. The Pole is currently experiencing a period known as civil twilight; the sun will...

Jul 31, 2008

Oceans Running Low on Oxygen

Parts of the world's oceans are running low on oxygen, a new study finds. Fertilizers and other chemical pollutants in river runoff fuel blooms of algae that cause oxygen levels to dip precipitously when they die. A review of research into these so-called dead zones, detailed in the Aug. 15...