All Stories by Sid Perkins
- Earth
Bogged Down: Ancient peat may be missing methane source
Massive peat bogs in Russia may have been a major source of atmospheric methane just after the end of the last ice age.
- Planetary Science
A Tale of Two Landers: NASA’s Spirit phones home, but Europe’s Beagle 2 remains mum on Mars
NASA's Spirit rover sent its first signals home soon after it touched down on Mars Jan. 3, but European Space Agency scientists haven't yet heard from their Beagle 2 lander, which dropped to the surface of Mars on Dec. 24.
- Earth
Blasts from the Past: Orbiting radar spots old nuclear-test sites
A technique that analyzes satellite images to detect subtle ground motions often can perceive subsidence over underground nuclear-test sites, sometimes even if those tests occurred decades ago.
- Earth
New technique dates glaze on desert rocks
Scientists have developed a quick, easy, portable, and nondestructive way to determine the age of desert varnish, the mysterious dark coating that slowly develops on rocks in many arid regions of the world.
- Earth
Newfound fault may explain quakes
Tsunami simulations suggest that a newly discovered fault zone beneath the Atlantic Ocean could have released most of the seismic energy from three earthquakes that destroyed Lisbon, Portugal, on the morning of Nov. 1, 1755.
- Earth
Alaska shook, mountains spoke
Small pulses in atmospheric pressure detected in Fairbanks soon after the magnitude 7.9 Denali quake on Nov. 3, 2002, suggest that the temblor literally moved mountains.
- Earth
Earth sometimes shivers beneath thick blankets of ice
New analyses of old seismic data have distinguished the ground motions spawned by a previously unrecognized type of earthquake—quakes created by brief surges of massive glaciers.
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- Earth
Ash Clouds: Severe storms can lift smoke into stratosphere
New field observations, satellite images, and computer models suggest that a severe thunderstorm, enhanced by heat from forest fires, can boost soot, smoke, and other particles as far as the lower stratosphere, an unexpected phenomenon.
- Earth
Ash Clouds: Severe storms can lift smoke into stratosphere
New field observations, satellite images, and computer models suggest that a severe thunderstorm, enhanced by heat from forest fires, can boost soot, smoke, and other particles as far as the lower stratosphere, an unexpected phenomenon.
- Paleontology
Proud paleontologists proclaim: It’s a boy!
Marine sediments deposited about 425 million years ago have yielded what scientists contend is the world’s oldest undoubtedly male fossil.
- Planetary Science
Martian sand ripples are taller than Earth’s
New data gathered by a Mars-orbiting probe suggest that large ripples found in sandy areas of the Red Planet are more than twice as tall as their terrestrial counterparts.
