Sid Perkins
Sid Perkins is a freelance science writer based in Crossville, Tenn.
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All Stories by Sid Perkins
- Earth
Groundwater use adds CO2 to the air
Pumping out groundwater for crop irrigation or industrial purposes releases planet-warming carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
- Planetary Science
Chilled Out? Ice could lurk beneath Martian equator
An immense volume of ice-rich material may underlie a formation that extends about one-quarter of the way around Mars' equator.
- Paleontology
Meet the old wolves, same as the new wolves
The dire wolf, an extinct species preserved in abundance at the La Brea tar pits, seems to have had a social structure similar to that of its modern-day relatives.
- Paleontology
Dinosaurs matured sexually while still growing
Distinctive bone tissue in fossils of several dinosaur species suggests that the ancient reptiles became sexually mature long before they gained adult size.
- Paleontology
Deinonychus’ claws were hookers, not rippers
The meat-eating dinosaur Deinonychus probably used the large, sicklelike claw on its foot to grip and climb large prey, not disembowel it.
- Paleontology
The first matrushka
A newly found fossil preserves one creature inside another that lies nestled inside yet another, a Paleozoic version of the Russian nesting dolls known as matrushkas.
- Paleontology
Digging the Scene: Dinos burrowed, built dens
Dinosaurs remains fossilized within an ancient burrow are the first indisputable evidence that some dinosaurs maintained an underground lifestyle.
- Paleontology
Fossil mystery solved?
Experiments in a Florida swamp show how aquatic creatures can get trapped and preserved in amber, a form of hardened tree sap.
- Earth
Invasive, Indeed
Some people may live lightly on the land, but the demands of the world's population as a whole consume nearly a quarter of Earth's total biological productivity.
- Archaeology
Lake-Bottom Bounty: Some Arctic sediments didn’t erode during recent ice ages
Sediments in a few lakes in northeastern Canada were not scoured away during recent ice ages, a surprising find that could prove a boon to climate researchers.
- Paleontology
Unexpected Archive: Mammoth hair yields ancient DNA
Hair from ancient mammoths contains enough genetic material to permit reconstruction of parts of the animal's genome.
- Astronomy
Out-of-focus find
Blurry images yield estimates of the true width of glowing meteor vapor trails in Earth's upper atmosphere.