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Jan 31, 2012

January Brought Warmth and Extremes to the Globe

This past month ranked as the 19th warmest January since global record keeping began in 1880, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The combined land and ocean surface temperature for the month hit 54 degrees Fahrenheit (12 degrees Celsius), exceeding the average for the 20th century,...

Jan 31, 2012

Snow Artist Photographs Flakes Up Close

Skiers in the Rocky Mountains may be rejoicing over the record-breaking snows this week — on Monday (Feb. 20), a resort in Steamboat Springs, Colo. received 27 inches (70 centimeters) of snow in 24 hours — yet for much of the United States, snow has been nowhere in sight. Winter...

Jan 31, 2012

Man 'Born to Explore' Takes TV Viewers to Untouched Morocco

Adventurers short on time and travel money can still make a trip this weekend to one of the most inaccessible and exotic spots in Morocco. With the click of a remote, viewers can visit Taffraout Isserce, a tiny mountain village of only 200 people, thanks to a new episode of...

Jan 31, 2012

Why Colliding Continents Slow Down

As Earth's tectonic plates move across the planet's surface, the continents that sit atop them are carried along, sometimes smashing together for many millions of years at a time. As the continents mash against each other, their collision gradually slows. New research suggests that this slowing may be the work...

Dec 31, 2011

Drought Led to Demise of Ancient City of Angkor

The ancient city of Angkor — the most famous monument of which is the breathtaking ruined temple of Angkor Wat — might have collapsed due to valiant but ultimately failed efforts to battle drought, scientists find. The great city of Angkor in Cambodia, first established in the ninth century, was...

Dec 31, 2011

Fossils Reveal Secrets of Insects' Weird Ears

Various species of insects boast ears in the strangest places, including on their necks and under their wings. Now, a new examination of 50-million-year-old cricket and katydid fossils finds that these odd ears evolved before even the appearance of the predators that these ears can hear. Crickets, moths and other...

Dec 31, 2011

NASA Airborne Radar 'Sees' Inside Hawaii Volcano

Anyone can walk alongside the creeping lava on Hawaii's Mount Kilauea. But NASA is taking a different look at the volcano — from way overhead. From 41,000 feet (12,500 meters) above Kilauea's smoldering craters, an airborne radar developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will help measure the magma inside of...

Dec 31, 2011

Underwater City A Life Saver or Titanic Failure?

When the idea emerged in 2008, environmentalists balked. So did reasonable people everywhere. Dutch architect Moshé Zwarts suggested draining Amsterdam's canals, building an enormous parking and entertainment complex under the city, and then refilling the canals. Presto! More space! Granted, Amsterdam did -- and does -- have little space to...

Dec 31, 2011

Belief in Evolution Boils Down to a Gut Feeling

Gut feelings may trump good old-fashioned facts, and even religious beliefs, when it comes to accepting the theory of evolution, new research suggests. The whole idea behind acceptance of evolutionhas been the assumption that if people understood it, if they really knew it, they would see the logic and accept...

Dec 31, 2011

GPS Uncovers Possible Southwest Quake Risk

The U.S. Southwest isn't particularly known for its seismic activity, but the Rio Grande Rift, a series of faults and basins that runs from central Colorado south through New Mexico, is alive and stretching, new research shows. Scientists had suspected the rift might be dead, but measurements of its movement...

Dec 31, 2011

January Seeing Above-Average Tornado Action

If the numbers hold up, this month could be the third-busiest January since tornado record-keeping began in 1950. So far this month, weather watchers have filed 70 tornado reports to the nation's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla. When it comes to counting tornadoes, there are a number of caveats,...

Nov 30, 2013

New Wizard Tool Maps the Climate Future (Op-Ed)

Evan Girvetz is a senior climate scientist for the Nature Conservancy. This Op-Ed was adapted from a post to the Nature Conservancy blog Planet Change. He contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. People often hear broad statements about how climate change will affect society and nature...

Nov 30, 2013

World's E-Waste to Grow 33% by 2017, Says Global Report

By 2017, the global volume of discarded refrigerators, TVs, cellphones, computers, monitors and other electronic waste will weigh almost as much as 200 Empire State Buildings, a new report predicts. The forecast, based on data gathered by United Nations organizations, governments, and nongovernment and science organizations in a partnership known...

Nov 30, 2013

Greenland's Snow Hides 100 Billion Tons of Water

Big surprises still hide beneath the frozen surface of snowy Greenland. Despite decades of poking and prodding by scientists, only now has the massive ice island revealed a hidden aquifer. In southeast Greenland, more than 100 billion tons of liquid water soaks a slushy snow layer buried anywhere from 15...

Nov 30, 2013

Holiday Snapshots: Seasonal Cells

Nestled snug while visions of ... cells danced in their heads? (Image credit: Erkin Kuru, Indiana University.)What's red and green all over? While this time of the year may have you guessing a poinsettia, holiday garland or even a sunburned elf, another answer is: snapshots of cells. Scientists use imaging...