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Nov 30, 2013

What We Learned About Human Origins in 2013

The existence of a mysterious ancient human lineage and the possibility that the earliest humans were actually all one species were among the human-evolution-related discoveries of 2013. Other breakthroughs include the sequencing of the oldest human DNA yet. Here's a look at what scientists learned about humanity and human origins...

Nov 30, 2013

California to End Year as Driest on Record

This article was provided by AccuWeather.com. With 2013 quickly coming to a close, it's shaping up to be one of the driest calendar years on record for many places in California. Almost all of the Golden State is under either a severe or extreme drought with no end in sight...

Nov 30, 2013

One-Third of Americans Don't Believe in Human Evolution

Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe in evolution, while a third say that humans and other life forms have existed in their current states since the beginning of time, according to a new poll. The new findings come from to the Pew Research Religion & Public Life Project, which surveyed a...

Oct 31, 2013

To Cut Carbon, a Decade is Too Long to Wait (Op-Ed)

Jeffrey Rissman, policy analyst at Energy Innovation: Policy and Technology, contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. While there is a global consensus to cut greenhouse gasses, many approaches look to solve the crisis over decades — but, there are critical reasons that even ten years is...

Oct 31, 2013

Grit Your Teeth: Toothbrush Holder Yields New Germ (Op-Ed)

Robert Donofrio is director of NSF International's Applied Research Center. He contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Recently, my colleagues and I at NSF International's Applied Research Center (ARC) discovered a new bacterium, Klebsiella michiganensis, lurking on a toothbrush holder. This unique coliform bacterium is a...

Oct 31, 2013

Wild 'Roll Cloud' Tumbles Across Texas Sky

An other-worldly roll cloud stretching from horizon to horizon appears to tumble across the Texas sky in a new video. The cloud video, taken by a couple in Timbercreek Canyon, south of Amarillo, Texas, shows a low, tubular cloud spinning horizontally like an upended tornado. As bizarre as this sight...

Oct 31, 2013

Something Is Rotten at the New York Times (Op-Ed)

Michael Mann is Distinguished Professor of Meteorology at Penn State University and was recognized in 2007, with other IPCC authors, for contributing to the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work as a lead author on the Observed Climate Variability and Change chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel...

Oct 31, 2013

Underwater Hotel in Africa Lets Guests Sleep With the Fishes

If it's the life aquatic you seek, then perhaps a vacation to Africa is in order. An island resort off the coast of Tanzania recently unveiled a new underwater room that lets visitors sleep amongst the fishes. The Manta Resort, on Pemba Island in Zanzibar, is now taking reservations for...

Oct 31, 2013

Twice as Much Methane Escaping Arctic Seafloor

The Arctic methane time bomb is bigger than scientists once thought and primed to blow, according to a study published today (Nov. 24) in the journal Nature Geoscience. About 17 teragrams of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, escapes each year from a broad, shallow underwater platform called the East Siberian...

Sep 30, 2013

Tiny, Strange Primate Fossil Unearthed in Coal Mine

The fossilized jaw of a pint-size primate that lived about 35 million years ago in Asia has been unearthed in Thai coal mines. The new species, dubbed Krabia minuta, after the Krabi coal mines where it was found, was an ancient, extinct member of a group of primates called anthropoids,...

Sep 30, 2013

Marine Debris Pollution: Five Lessons Learned This Year (Op-Ed)

Dylan Gasperik is a program assistant for communications at the Natural Resources Defense Council.This Op-Ed was adapted from a post to the NRDC blog Switchboard. Gasperikcontributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Give me a piece of what you've got I'll make it new with much less...

Sep 30, 2013

Antarctica's Scars Hold Clues to Hidden Water

Deep furrows on Antarctica's floating ice shelves mark arch-shaped channels melted out under the ice. Thinner ice floats lower, and researchers can read the corrugated surface topography like a map that mirrors what lies beneath. Now, a new study published today (Oct. 6) in the journal Nature Geoscience suggests that...

Sep 30, 2013

Hunt for Amelia Earhart's Plane Back On

A new search for the wreckage of Amelia Earhart's plane will launch in 2014, according to an organization that has already launched several expeditions to the Pacific island of Nikumaroro. Earhart, a famed aviator, vanished in 1937 along with her navigator Fred Noonan. The two were attempting a flight around...

Sep 30, 2013

Why So Many Powerful Storms in the Pacific?

The West Pacific took a double-whammy this weekend, and another storm is on the way. First Super-cyclone Phailin flooded India, then Typhoon Nari hit Vietnam. Now, 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) to the northwest, Typhoon Wipha is pummeling Japan. The line of storms hit near the peak of the storm season...

Sep 30, 2013

Ax Falls for Antarctic Research Projects After Shutdown

The casualty list from the government shutdown earlier this month continues to grow for U.S. Antarctic science. On the kill list so far: the $10-million WISSARD drilling project, the first to discover microscopic life in a buried Antarctic lake; an expedition to look at how melting ice sheets change marine...