Planet Earth, features and articles | Educational Science

Oct 31, 2005

Town Vote Seen as Referendum on 'Intelligent Design'

DOVER, Pa. (AP) -- A battle over a policy requiring that ninth-graders in this rural community learn about intelligent design'' in biology class is being fought on two fronts -- one political, one legal. In a federal courtroom in Harrisburg, 20 miles away, a judge is hearing arguments in the...

Oct 31, 2005

Huge Iceberg Breaks Apart in Antarctica

Capping a 5-year-long saga of destruction, an iceberg about the size of the Hawaiian island of Maui has split into three pieces in the frigid Antarctic, scientists said Friday. The larger iceberg, named B-15A, calved into three smaller icebergs — B-15M, B-15N and B-15P. Two of the larger icebergs (B-15M...

Oct 31, 2005

New England Rivers Melting Sooner in Spring

Winter in New England just isn't what it used to be. And now scientists have a released new numbers that illustrate the change. The total number of days of ice on the region's rivers has declined significantly in recent decades and particularly in the spring. The study examined the number...

Oct 31, 2005

New Earthquake Warnings: Enough Time to Dive Under a Desk

The magnitude of an earthquake can be roughly predicted as the shaking begins, according to new research that promises to provide several seconds of warning before the brunt of a catastrophe strikes. Earthquake prediction has proved tricky. Scientists can't pinpoint the timing of a rupture to within days or even...

Oct 31, 2005

University to Teach 'Intelligent Design' as Myth

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- Creationism and intelligent design are going to be studied at the University of Kansas, but not in the way advocated by opponents of the theory of evolution. A course being offered next semester by the university religious studies department is titled Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent...

Oct 31, 2005

Seas Rising at Twice the Rate of 150 Years Ago

Earth's oceans are rising twice as fast today compared to 150 years ago, according to a new study. The rise is nearly 2 millimeter per year. At that rate, sea level will be 1 inch higher in 13 years compared to today. The increased pace is evidence for human-induced climate...

Sep 30, 2005

New Hurricane Forecast Calls for Busy October

Updated 12:15 p.m. ET A longtime guru of hurricane forecasting said today that October is likely to be another busy month. William Gray, a Colorado State University scientist who has been predicting seasonal hurricane activity for many years with remarkable accuracy, issue a statement today. We project that October will...

Sep 30, 2005

Mystery Ocean Glow Confirmed in Satellite Photos

Mariners have long told of rare nighttime events in which the ocean glows intensely as far as the eye can see in all directions. Fictionally, such a milky sea is encountered by the Nautilus in Jules Verne classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Scientists don't have a good handle what's...

Sep 30, 2005

Nobel Prize Awarded for 'Green Chemistry'

Two Americans and a French scientist won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for developing a chemical dance'' that makes molecules swap atoms, a process now used to produce medicines, plastics and other products with more efficiency and less environmental hazard. What a great day for chemistry,'' declared an advocate...

Sep 30, 2005

Bad Air Days to Increase Out West as Planet Warms

By the year 2050, warmer temperatures in the Western United States could fuel a doubling in the number of bad air days this time of year, according to a new study. Stagnation events, as they are called, form during dry, windless conditions. Air heats up and becomes laden with dust,...

Sep 30, 2005

End of the World? Not Likely, Scientists Say

The recent spate of natural disasters affecting the globe might be signs that the Biblical apocalypse is near, says Christian televangelist Pat Robertson. On an Oct. 9 episode of CNN's Late Edition, the preacher noted that hurricanes such as Katrina and Rita and earthquakes like the ones that struck Pakistan...

Sep 30, 2005

Global Warming Could Overwhelm Storm Drains

Scientists at a modest university in a small town in New Hampshire offered today a big tip to city planners around the world: Prepare your culverts for global warming. Nearly a foot of rain this weekend in Keene, NH, overwhelming the storm drains. Latham Stack Michael Simpson at Antioch New...

Sep 30, 2005

Odds Put on Next Great San Francisco Earthquake

The San Francisco Bay area has a 1 percent chance of a magnitude-7 or greater earthquake every year and a 25 percent chance that one will occur within two decades, according to a new computer forecast. The Virtual California program was developed by John Rundle at the University of California...

Sep 30, 2005

September is Warmest on Record

Last month was the warmest Setpember on record based on global data, officals announced today. The average global temperature for combined land and ocean surfaces for September, based on preliminary data, was 1.13 degrees Fahrenheit (0.63 degrees C) above the 1880-2004 long-term mean, according to NOAA, parent organization of the...

Sep 30, 2005

Scientists: Natural Disasters Becoming More Common

Earth might seem like a more active and dangerous place than ever, given the constant media reports of multiple natural disasters recently. But a broader view reveals that it's not Mother Nature who's changed, but we humans. Drawn by undeveloped land and fertile soil, people are flocking to disaster-prone regions....