Planet Earth, features and articles | Educational Science

Apr 30, 2011

Social Beasts: 35 Ancient Marsupials Found in Grave

A large trove of bones found in Bolivia is giving researchers a new look at the social lives of ancient marsupials. These ratlike animals lived in large packs, a very uncommon scenario in modern marsupials. We found a large number of complete skeletons from marsupial mammals. It's very exceptional, said...

Apr 30, 2011

Salt Lake of Tibetan Plateau

Numerous lakes dot the otherwise arid landscape of the Tibetan Plateau. One of those lakes is Ayakum, near the northern boundary of the Plateau, to the southeast of the Kunlun Mountains. While many of the small glacier- and snowmelt-fed streams on the Plateau give rise to major Southeast Asian rivers...

Apr 30, 2011

How Big Is the Mississippi River Flood?

The deadly tornadoes and rainstorms that tore across the Midwest last month combined with melting snow have left the Mississippi River bursting at the seams. Amidst the evacuations and extensive flooding along the river, experts know records are being broken, but they say they won't know the full extent of...

Apr 30, 2011

Maine's Tiny Earthquakes Explained

A combination of tiny faults and an ice age hangover caused Maine's swarm of tiny earthquakes earlier this month. The state was hit by as many as 30 minor tremors from the last day of April through the first week of May. These tiny quakes , all of which were...

Apr 30, 2011

La Niña Weakening, Effects Could Linger

The 2011 Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook could be an above-normal year for activity, according to the forecast from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This hurricane season may see 12 to 18 named storms and six to 10 hurricanes, according to the forecast . Several climate factors will play...

Apr 30, 2011

Out of the Tornado Frying Pan and Into the Hurricane Fire?

Tornadoes and hurricanes are very different types of storms. Tornadoes can form a vicious mile-wide funnel in minutes, level a town, and fade away minutes later, making them difficult to forecast. Hurricanes can be spotted weeks out, and the 100-mile-wide storms typically spend days crossing the Atlantic before they hit...

Mar 31, 2011

Desert Colors

This image of Tassili n’Ajjer National Park, part of the Sahara Desert, is made from multiple observations by the Landsat 7 satellite in the year 2000. It uses a combination of infrared, near-infrared, and visible light to better distinguish between the park’s various rock types: Sand appears in shades of...

Mar 31, 2011

Warming Antarctica Linked to Rising Pacific Temperatures

Rising temperatures in the Pacific may be directly contributing to ongoing warming in Antarctica, a new study finds. Heat rising from warm Pacific waters near the equator causes waves of warmth in the atmosphere — a phenomenon called the Rossby wave train, researchers report today (April 10) in the journal...

Mar 31, 2011

Attacks Mount on Teaching of Evolution

The anti-evolution crowd has come out swinging this year. So far the theory has not taken one on the chin, but that could change soon in Tennessee. The pounding is coming not from scientists, but from politicians who would chip away at the solid theory's foundations in an effort to...

Mar 31, 2011

Arctic's Icy Coastlines Retreat as Planet Warms

In the high latitudes, climate change projections must take a new factor into account: Ice. In the Arctic, the loss of sea ice is likely to have dramatic repercussions, including greater erosion, which can present problems for the people and economic activity in this region, according to two new reports....

Mar 31, 2011

Our Daily Planet: Midwest Tornado Video and the BP Oil Spill Anniversary

Each weekday morning, OurAmazingPlanet takes the pulse of the Earth, reporting on natural phenomena and exploration news from around the globe. Tornadoes Strike: Severe storms hit the Midwest yesterday, uprooting trees and tossing cars, yet no injuries were reported. Some brave storm chasers captured a vicious tornado in Bowling Green,...

Mar 31, 2011

The 10 Most Pristine Places on Earth

Even though the trappings of civilization are all around us, there are still some parts of the globe where our influence is small. From the ice sheet of Antarctica to the jungles of Papua New Guinea, here are some of the most pristine places on the planet. Namib Rand Nature...

Mar 31, 2011

Rising Price of Gold Fuels Destruction of the Amazon

(ISNS) — Ellen Silbergeld keeps the price of gold posted on the door to her office at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. The price is now at a record high (better than $1,500 an ounce) and Silbergeld, professor at Hopkins and editor-in-chief of the journal...

Mar 31, 2011

Surprise: Wind Above Affects Seafloor a Mile Below

The waters in the deepest depths of the oceans have long been considered to be a place apart from the surface waters of the sea. But new research suggests these two levels of the ocean are more connected than previously thought. Swirling currents generated by winds at the sea's surface...

Mar 31, 2011

Exotic Microbes Played Role in Early Earth's Atmosphere, Study Suggests

Extreme microbes that survive on gases burped out by hot springs in Siberia may have played a role in Earth's early atmosphere, new research is showing. The carbon monoxide-munching microbes, called anaerobic carboxydotrophs, were found in the Uzon Caldera of eastern Siberia's Kamchatka Peninsula. The microbes also produce carbon monoxide,...