All Stories by Sid Perkins
- Paleontology
Rodents tell a geologic tale
The sudden appearance of many new species of rodents in Chile about 18 million years ago may have marked the rise of the southern Andes.
- Earth
Flow West, Young River: Ancient Amazon ran opposite today’s route
The forerunner of the mighty Amazon ran from east to west, a new analysis of rocks laid down by that ancient river suggests.
- Paleontology
Mastodons in Musth: Tusks may chronicle battles between males
Damage in the fossil tusks of male mastodons suggests that the creatures engaged in fierce combat with rival males at a certain time of year each year of their adult lives.
- Planetary Science
Satanic Winds
Dust devils send prodigious amounts of dust into Earth's atmosphere, and on Mars the electric fields generated by the dusty vortices may actually stimulate changes in atmospheric chemistry that sterilize the soil.
- Earth
Nearly Naked: Large swath of Pacific lacks seafloor sediment
Little or no sediment has accumulated on a broad patch of ocean bottom in the remote South Pacific, the result of a combination of factors that probably can't be found anywhere else on Earth.
- Earth
Ancient hot spell is linked to copious carbon dioxide
A mineral that formed in some lakes during a lengthy and particularly warm period in Earth's past suggests that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide were at that time at least triple those found in today's air.
- Earth
Reading the tale of an ancient river
Ocean-floor sediment near England holds material deposited during the last ice age by what was then Europe's largest river system.
- Earth
Mystery of the Missing Heat: Upper ocean has cooled slightly in recent years, despite warming climate
Between 2003 and 2005, the top layers of the world's oceans cooled slightly, but scientists aren't sure where the heat went.
- Physics
Solid Surprise: High-pressure oxygen takes unpredicted form
X-ray analysis of oxygen crystals under high pressure indicated that the substance's two-atom molecules aggregate into groups of four, a crystalline structure that has never been seen before and isn't predicted by current quantum theory.
- Earth
Link between El Niños and droughts in India
Scientists have discovered a correlation between droughts in India and a particular type of El Niño, the climate phenomenon marked by increased sea-surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific.
- Earth
Magma heats up as it crystallizes
Molten rock moving through a volcano's plumbing prior to an eruption can sometimes heat up substantially as it approaches Earth's surface.
- Ecosystems
On the Rise: Siberian lakes—Major sources of methane
Field studies suggest that Siberian lakes are a much larger source of atmospheric methane than had been previously recognized.
