All Stories by Sid Perkins
- Earth
No-drive experiment curbs air pollution in Beijing
Traffic-control measures can significantly reduce urban air pollution, a field study in Beijing this past summer indicates.
- Humans
An earlier thaw can trim winter logging
In New Hampshire, the trend toward earlier spring thaws has significantly lowered logging revenues.
- Paleontology
Struck from above
Evidence of an extraterrestrial object striking Earth at the height of the last ice age comes from micrometeorites embedded in the tusks of creatures that were grazing the Alaskan tundra when the object burst in the air above.
- Earth
Portrait of a Meltdown: Many factors led to 2007’s record low in Arctic sea ice
A variety of climatological factors converged in a perfect storm that melted the Arctic Ocean's ice cover to a record low in 2007. It could be a harbinger of ice-poor summers for decades to come.
- Earth
North by Northwest
The Earth's magnetic poles wander around quite a bit, a phenomenon that occasionally confounded ancient explorers but is proving useful for today's archaeologists.
- Earth
The Salt Flat That Isn’t Flat: World’s largest playa sports ridges, valleys
An innovative field survey of the world's largest salt flat, a New Jersey–size playa high in the Andes, reveals that the barren expanse actually has minuscule, centimeter-scale variations in topography.
- Humans
Divorce is not ecofriendly
Divorce often takes a devastating toll on families, but it has significant impacts on the environment as well.
- Earth
Falling Behind: North American terrain absorbs carbon dioxide too slowly
North America's vegetation soaks up millions of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year, an impressive rate of sequestration that still can't keep up with the prodigious emissions of the planet-warming gas generated by human activity on the continent.
- Paleontology
Huge, yet not quite life-size
The Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh will unveil the world's largest dinosaur mural on Nov. 21, when its dinosaur halls reopen after a 30-month, $36 million renovation.
- Earth
New climate sensor: Swiss grapes
Records of grape harvests reveal the summer climate in parts of Switzerland as far back as the 1400s.
- Paleontology
Back from the Dead?
The long-term disappearance of creatures from the fossil record and their later reemergence can provide insights into ancient environmental conditions and the trustworthiness of the fossil record itself.
- Earth
Yellowstone Rising: Magma floods into chamber beneath park
Some parts of the terrain in Yellowstone National Park have been rising as much as 7 centimeters per year as molten rock wells up beneath the park.
