Planet Earth, features and articles | Educational Science

Dec 31, 2004

Mudslide Map Aids Californians During Recent Rainstorms

Nature's cruel rejoinder to summer wildfires common in California is sometimes heavy rains that trigger floods and sudden, devastating mudslides and debris flows on charred slopes denuded of brush and roots that bind the soil. With heavier than usual rainfall this winter in Southern California on the heels of extensive...

Dec 31, 2004

Dinosaur Fossil Found in Mammal's Stomach

In China, scientists have identified the fossilized remains of a tiny dinosaur in the stomach of a mammal. Scientists say the animal's last meal probably is the first proof that mammals hunted small dinosaurs some 130 million years ago. It contradicts conventional evolutionary theory that early mammals couldn't possibly attack...

Dec 31, 2004

Caribbean to Get Tsunami Warning System as Scientists Fret

Last month's tsunami-causing earthquake in Indonesia has scientists exploring seafloors and fault lines in an effort to predict where and when a similar disaster could occur. While it is unlikely that such a catastrophe will strike the Atlantic Coast of the United States, there is growing concern that a series...

Dec 31, 2004

High-Altitude Mystery Flash Recorded by Space Shuttle

If it wasn't enough that the upper atmosphere is full of sprites and elves, now there may be tigers as well. Researchers reviewing data from the fateful Space Shuttle Columbia mission have identified a strange flash over the Indian Ocean that they have called a Transient Ionospheric Glow Emission in...

Dec 31, 2004

A Natural Compass: Rock Cracks Point North

Night has fallen, and you are lost in the middle of an unfamiliar desert. There are ways to find your bearings by looking up at the stars. But how about looking down at the rocks? According to Leslie McFadden of the University of New Mexico, there may be a kind...

Dec 31, 2004

Internet Project Concludes Planet Could Warm by Nearly 20 Degrees

A broad look at possibilities for climate change suggests the planet could heat up much more significantly than other leading studies have predicted. The global temperature could rise between 3.6 and 19.8 degrees Fahrenheit (2-11 Celsius), scientist report in the Jan. 27 issue of the journal Nature. The report is...

Dec 31, 2004

Billion Dollar Weather Disasters

One way to track climate trends is to look at disasters above a given threshold. The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) released last week its list of U.S. weather and climate disasters that have cost more than a billion dollars. During the period between 1980 and 2004, there were 62...

Nov 30, 2006

Scientist Fights Church Effort to Hide Museum's Pre-Human Fossils

Famed paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey is giving no quarter to powerful evangelical church leaders who are pressing Kenya's national museum to relegate to a back room its world-famous collection of hominid fossils showing the evolution of humans' early ancestors. Leakey called the churches' plans the most outrageous comments I have ever...

Nov 30, 2006

Diarrhea Hits the Road

The construction of highways in northern Ecuador did more than open up access to once-isolated villages. It also created a new network for diarrheal pathogens to travel on, highlighting how human-influenced habitat changes could impact public health, a new study concludes. In 1996, the government of Ecuador started building roads...

Nov 30, 2006

Clue Found in Mystery of How Raindrops Form

How clouds Now with a Knowing how Until Floating As water To balloon Past One way to Let it For With no They found But that ...

Nov 30, 2006

Al Gore Urges Scientists to Speak Out on Climate Change

SAN FRANCISCO—Former Vice President Al Gore said here today that he would become a member of the American Geophysical Union, a sign of his dedication not only to protecting the environment but also his belief that science is vital when it comes to decisions impacting the fate of the planet....

Nov 30, 2006

Study: Less Acid Rain Not Always So Great

Acid rainfall in the Appalachian Mountains has decreased in recent years and organisms in its streams are thriving. But the environmental comeback could be creating new problems of its own, scientists say. A drop in nitric and sulfuric acid levels in the streams is changing biological activity in the ecosystem...

Nov 30, 2006

How to Super-Size a Volcanic Eruption

SAN FRANCISCO--Super eruptions that blast loads of ash sky high can change the climate. Now scientists are finding that the relationship could go both ways with the climate having an impact on huge volcanic eruptions. A bone-dry climate, which occurs in periods between ice ages, could make conditions just right...

Oct 31, 2006

Global Warming Could Trigger Insect Population Boom

A rise in the Earth's temperature could lead to an increase in the number of insects worldwide, with potentially dire consequences for humans, a new study suggests. New research shows that insect species living in warmer areas are more likely to undergo rapid population growth because they have higher metabolic...

Oct 31, 2006

Life's Origin's a Gas

Life on Earth emerged out of thin air, scientists now say. By mimicking in a lab the gases that could have been present on early Earth, researchers have concluded that a layer of haze blanketing our planet produced organic material that helped living organisms develop. The haze, they found, resembles...