Sid Perkins

Sid Perkins is a freelance science writer based in Crossville, Tenn.

All Stories by Sid Perkins

  1. Paleontology

    Skimming the Surface: Flying reptile may have scooped its meals

    Fossils unearthed in Brazil strengthen the idea that some species of ancient flying reptiles snatched their meals on the fly, snapping up fish as they swooped low over the water's surface.

  2. Earth

    Crisis on Tap?

    Because people are becoming ever more dependent on underground aquifers as sources of water, scientists are striving to understand better how groundwater systems interact with the water that flows across Earth's surface.

  3. Tech

    Voltage from the Bottom of the Sea: Ooze-dwelling microbes can power electronics

    Some types of bacteria living in seafloor mud can generate enough electricity to power small electronic devices.

  4. Paleontology

    Fossil leaves yield extinction clues

    Analyses of fossil leaves provide more evidence that the mass extinctions that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago were sudden and probably brought about by an extraterrestrial impact.

  5. Paleontology

    Into the Gap: Fossil find stands on its own four legs

    A fossil originally misidentified as an ancient fish turns out to be the nearly intact remains of a four-limbed creature that lived during an extended period noted for its lack of fossils of land animals.

  6. Paleontology

    Rain Forest Primeval? Colorado fossils show unexpected diversity

    The size, shape, and riotous variety of fossil leaves unearthed at a site in central Colorado suggest that the region may have been covered with one of the world's first tropical rain forests just 1.4 million years after the demise of the dinosaurs.

  7. Tech

    Building a Supermodel

    Researchers are combining ergonomics and biological research with computer power to build a virtual human that can simulate human biology from anatomy down to the genetic code.

  8. Humans

    Dangerous Wake: Wing vortices yield a deadly secret

    A new mathematical analysis of an aeronautical hazard known as wake turbulence could someday lead to improved air safety and increase the number of flights at major airports.

  9. Physics

    Voyager spacecraft still buffeted by sun

    Even though the two Voyager probes launched in 1977 passed the outermost planets in our solar system more than a decade ago, their sensors show that they can't yet outrun the influence of solar flares.

  10. Earth

    Famed undersea vent may be lost

    When scientists last month tried to revisit an undersea hydrothermal vent first discovered nearly a quarter of a century ago, they found the site desolate, possibly paved by a fresh volcanic eruption.

  11. Earth

    Mangled microfossils may mark impact sites

    Scientists studying sediment cores drilled in eastern Virginia say they’ve possibly identified a new clue to the locations of ancient, hidden impact craters: Just look for broken or twisted microbial fossils.

  12. Earth

    Presto, Change-o!

    Compared with the snail's-pace processes that normally shape Earth's surface, the impacts of extraterrestrial objects change our planet's geology in a flash.