All Stories by Sid Perkins
- Earth
Lake Superior is warming faster than its local climate
In recent decades, the waters of Lake Superior have warmed significantly faster than have air temperatures at nearby sites onshore, a trend caused in part by a long-term decrease in the lake's winter ice cover.
- Earth
Ash Detector: Laser device could protect aircraft in flight
Analysis of a volcanic plume that wafted over central Alaska suggests that polarized laser beams can detect airborne ash, which can be a threat to aircraft.
- Earth
Dry winters heat European summers
When southern Europe receives scant rainfall in the winter, the whole continent tends to bake the following summer.
- Earth
Flotsam Science
Researchers have harnessed the power of flotsam—floating items as diverse as tennis shoes, tub toys, and hockey gloves—to chart the path and speed of the Pacific Subarctic Gyre, a group of currents in the North Pacific Ocean.
- Paleontology
Forest Primeval: The oldest known trees finally gain a crown
Recently unearthed fossils provide new insights about the appearance of the world's oldest known trees, plants that previously were known only from preserved stumps.
- Paleontology
Ancient Extract: T. rex fossil yields recognizable protein
New analyses of a Tyrannosaurus rex leg bone reveal substantial remnants of proteins that strengthen the link between modern birds and dinosaurs.
- Planetary Science
No Escape: There’s global warming on Mars too
The overall darkening of Mars' surface in recent decades has significantly raised the Red Planet's temperature, a possible cause for the substantial, recent shrinkage of the planet's southern ice cap.
- Earth
Freeze-thaw cycles: How not to mix soil
The repeated cycles of ground freezing and thawing that occur in many places don't do a surprising poor job of churning the soil.
- Earth
Wave’s-eye view of a hurricane
Strong hurricanes aren't as effective at transmitting their energy to the ocean's surface as weak ones are, a counterintuitive finding that may help researchers estimate the size of storm surges.
- Paleontology
Birds’ ancestors had small genomes too
Among mammals, reptiles, and related animals, today's birds have the smallest genomes, and the dinosaurs that gave rise to birds had small genomes as well.
- Earth
Fits and Starts
New data identify some factors that influence the highly variable flow rates of ice streams, the megaglaciers that carry most of Antarctica's ice to the sea.
- Earth
World’s climate map gets an update
A century-old system of categorizing the world's climates has been updated to include modern weather data, thereby providing researchers with a tool to better verify results of their computer simulations.
