All Stories by Sid Perkins
- Earth
Naked planet
Scientists officially launch OneGeology, a project that will produce a single digital map of the planet’s geological formations.
- Life
Time to chill
Well-preserved fossils deposited in an Antarctic lake about 14 million years ago pin down when a large part of the now-icy continent most recently dipped below freezing.
- Paleontology
Soft tissue in fossils still mysterious
New research suggests modern biofilms could contaminate ancient fossils.
- Earth
Seafloor chronicles
Survey of ocean floor reveals long history, from a geological fault to the wreckage of the Lusitania.
- Oceans
Death by magma
Widespread extinctions in the world’s oceans millions of years ago may have been triggered by massive underwater volcanic eruptions that created much of the Caribbean seafloor.
- Climate
Another climate ailment
Global warming may turn out to be more than just a pain in the neck: Rising average temperatures could trigger an increased prevalence of kidney stones.
- Earth
Howdy, neighbor!
About 800 million years ago, East Antarctica, now one of the coldest regions on Earth, abutted what is now Death Valley, Calif., one of the hottest.
- Earth
Precious little gems
Ancient microdiamonds embedded inside ancient zircons found in western Australia suggest that life may have existed on Earth up to 4.25 billion years ago.
- Physics
Layers in a Stradivarius
Slight differences in the wood from which violins are made might be what distinguishes a mellow-toned Stradivarius from an ordinary instrument.
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- Life
Fossil helps document shift from sea to land
New fossils of an ancient, four-limbed creature help fill in the blanks of the evolutionary transition between fish and the first land-adapted vertebrates.
- Earth
Unintended consequences
A full recovery of the ozone hole over Antarctica in the coming years could significantly boost warming of the atmosphere over and around the icy continent.
