All Stories by Sid Perkins
- Earth
Charting the Past: Surveys map two lost harbors of Phoenicia
By analyzing long tubes of sediment drilled from locations in and around the Mediterranean ports of Tyre and Sidon, scientists have rediscovered the harbors from which legions of ancient Phoenician mariners set sail.
- Paleontology
First Steps
Using materials as diverse as lobster eggs, dead birds, and the headless carcass of a rhinoceros, scientists are conducting experiments that scrutinize the first steps of the fossilization process.
- Earth
Greenhouse Plants? Vegetation may produce methane
Lab tests suggest that a wide variety of plants may routinely do something that scientists previously thought impossible; produce methane in significant quantities in an oxygenated environment.
- Earth
Mass movement
Two satellites designed to note small changes in Earth's gravitational field detected effects of the magnitude 9.3 earthquake that occurred west of Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004.
- Earth
Estimating a temblor’s strength on the fly
New analyses of ground motions caused by large earthquakes suggest that it may be possible to estimate the full magnitude of such quakes immediately after they start rumbling.
- Earth
Beyond the ABC’s: North Atlantic posts record hurricane season
The 2005 hurricane season in the North Atlantic shattered a number of records, including several that were decades old.
- Paleontology
Mammoth Findings: Asian elephant is closest living kin
DNA studies suggest that the woolly mammoth is more closely related to the Asian elephant than to the African elephant.
- Earth
Satellite makes finest map yet of Antarctica
Using data gathered by a satellite launched almost 3 years ago, scientists have assembled the most comprehensive high-resolution map of Antarctica that's ever been made.
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Counting on technology to count elephants
Researchers now spend large amounts of time in remote areas to count and monitor the movements of large animals such as elephants, but in the future they may use seismic instruments to do the job.
- Earth
Where steel-belted radials go to die
A new technique for analyzing satellite images may enable researchers to easily identify sites where large numbers of used tires have been dumped.
- Earth
Ozone hole might not recover until the year 2065
The ozone-free zone that develops high in the atmosphere over Antarctica each summer as the result of the presence of chlorine- and bromine-containing chemicals may not heal until 15 years later than previously projected.
- Earth
Lab tests hint at where xenon hides out
Results of recent experiments in which scientists squeezed a mixture of xenon and powdered quartz at high temperatures and pressures may explain why the gas is found at relatively low concentrations in the atmosphere.
