Planet Earth, features and articles | Educational Science

Jul 31, 2012

How Strange Twinned Rainbows Form

Double rainbows had their fifteen minutes of fame on the Internet. Now get ready for their even more mysterious cousins: twinned rainbows. New research has suggested an explanation for these exotic shows of color. Rainbows are known to form when sunlight interacts with tiny water drops in the atmosphere. As...

Jul 31, 2012

Best Earth Images of the Week - Aug. 17, 2012

Aerial eruption (Image credit: NASA)On Aug. 15, NASA's Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite caught a crystal-clear image of a small ash plume emanating from a tiny volcanic Indonesian island. The volcano, called Batu Tara, is located on the island of Pulau Komba, and has been experiencing frequent, mild eruptions since mid-2006,...

Jul 31, 2012

Quakes Beneath Antarctic Glacier Linked to Ocean Tides

Thousands of earthquakes occurring in rapid succession in less than a year under an Antarctic glacier may have been linked to ocean tides, new research suggests. Scientists investigated seismic activity under David Glacier, a large glacier in East Antarctica about 270 square miles (700 square kilometers) in size. The glacier...

Jul 31, 2012

Beyond Wind & Rain: Isaac Could Stir Up Oil

As Tropical Storm Isaac roars over Louisiana and elsewhere on the Gulf Coast, it threatens to disrupt a fragile environment that's still recovering from BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the summer of 2010. By disturbing the sediments in which the spilled oil is buried, near the beach and deeper...

Jun 30, 2012

Best Earth Images of the Month June 2012

Nap time (Image credit: Tammy Spratt, San Diego Zoo Safari Park)The San Diego Zoo Safari Park's two Sumatran tiger cubs took a catnap after a morning spent exploring their exhibit. Conrad claimed the top spot, while brother Thomas chose to be near, rather than on their mother, Delta. The 3-month-old...

Jun 30, 2012

What's Behind The Record Heat?

Heat is beating records around the country: the first five months of 2012 have been the hottest on record in the contiguous United States. And that's not including June, when 164 all-time high temperature records were tied or broken around the country, according to government records. That's unusual, since the...

Jun 30, 2012

9% of Today's Warming Caused By Preindustrial People

Humans started causing climate change long before the Industrial Revolution and the beginning of the fossil fuel era. A new study shows that the echoes of the earliest human-caused carbon emissions are still present in our atmosphere. In fact, preindustrial carbon emissions, caused by deforestation as the world's population grew,...

Jun 30, 2012

Drought Reaches Record 56% of Continental US

The United States is parched, with more than half of the land area in the lower 48 states experiencing moderate to extreme drought, according to a report released today (July 5). Just under 56 percent of the contiguous United States is in drought conditions, the most extensive area in the...

Jun 30, 2012

Global Warming Shrinking Plant Leaves

Warming temperatures are turning a native Australian shrub into a mini version of itself, revealing the effect climate change is already having on the globe. Researchers from the University of Adelaide examined specimens of narrow-leaf hopbush (Dodonaea viscosa, subspecies angustissima), a woody shrub with papery red seed capsules that were...

Jun 30, 2012

US Heat Wave: First Half of Year Hottest on Record

June weather records are in, and the nation's unprecedented warm spell continues, making this the warmest first half of the year and the warmest 12-month period since record-keeping began for the continental U.S. in 1895. Last month, like many before it, had heat that was above average, and high temperatures...

Jun 30, 2012

2012 London Olympic Torch Route: Final Week

Final week (Image credit: LOCOG)The 2012 London Olympics games are just a few days away! Over the past nine weeks, OurAmazingPlanet has taken a virtual sight-seeing journey along the torch route. The torch has wound its way throughout the United Kingdom, first entering the country in Cornwall, then winding through...

Jun 30, 2012

Rare Colorado Tornado Is Second-Highest in US History

Most of the time, Chris Kirby chases storms, but sometimes they come to him. During a drive through the mountains this Saturday afternoon (July 28) near his home in Aurora, Colo., to photograph mountain goats and test radio equipment, he got quite a surprise: a rare, high-elevation tornado. Kirby, who's...

Jun 30, 2012

Why India Just Suffered the World's Biggest Blackout

India endured the world's largest power failure today (July 31), with a blackout that affected 700 million people, including the nation's capital of New Delhi. Trains and subway systems stopped, while private businesses and hospitals geared up their generators, the New York Times reported. Today's blackout followed another large outage...

May 31, 2012

Spectacular Texas Thundercloud Caught on Video

An ominous cloud formation that developed in the Texas panhandle last week looks like a CGI effect straight out of a summer blockbuster. This tornadic thunderstorm, which formed near the town of Adrian during the evening of May 21 and gave rise to at least one twister, offered passersby with...

May 31, 2012

Tundra Shrubs Turn into Trees as Arctic Warms

Tundra is by definition a cold, treeless landscape. But scientists have found that in a part of the Eurasian Arctic, willow and alder shrubs, once stunted by harsh weather, have been growing upward to the height of trees in recent decades. The reason for the change: the warming Arctic climate,...