All Stories by Sid Perkins
- Earth
Earliest birds didn’t make a flap
The feathers of Archaeopteryx and Confuciusornis probably were not strong enough to support sustained flight.
- Earth
Archaeopteryx fossil seen in new light
X-ray technique reveals original tissue in the feathers of a primitive bird fossil.
- Earth
Gravity lows mark burial sites of ancient tectonic plates
Dips in Earth's gravitational field are tied to 'slab graveyards'
- Paleontology
Dinos molted for a new look
In one species, adolescents appear to have sprouted a new type of feathers as they matured.
- Ecosystems
Forests on the wane
Early last decade, the world’s tree coverage dropped by more than 3 percent.
- Earth
A fresh look at Mount St. Helens
Nearly 30 years after the peak’s major eruption, recovery has just begun.
- Humans
Water, water everywhere
Sid Perkins uncovers the amazing amount of “hidden water” in many consumer products.
- Climate
Alaskan peatlands expanded rapidly as ice age waned
The rapid growth of Alaskan wetlands before 8,600 years ago was due to hotter summers and colder winters, which could spell trouble in a warmer world, a new study suggests.
- Planetary Science
Warmth in the dark age
Lower reflectivity kept Earth from freezing under a fainter young sun.
- Planetary Science
Signs of giant comet impacts found in cores
An uptick in ammonium may be evidence of a 50-billion-ton strike at the end of the ice age.
- Paleontology
Tyrannosaurs lived in the Southern Hemisphere, too
Australian fossils suggest the kin of T. rex dispersed globally 110 million years ago.
- Earth
Bacteria show new route to making oxygen
New discovery adds to the few known biological pathways for making and metabolically using the gas.
