Sid Perkins

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

All Stories by Sid Perkins

  1. Earth

    Shuttle yields detailed, 3-D atlas

    NASA scientists and Defense Department mapmakers are assembling billions of radar measurements made from the space shuttle Endeavour to produce what they say will be the world’s best topographic map.

  2. Paleontology

    Dinosaur tracks show walking and running

    A single trail of dinosaur footprints found in a British limestone quarry preserves a record of two different walking styles in the same animal, a tantalizing clue that some types of lumbering, bipedal dinosaurs could also run if the need arose.

  3. Materials Science

    Better Stainless: Analysis could bring pits out of the steel

    The key to developing pit-resistant stainless steel is to correct the dearth of chromium atoms around inclusions in the alloy.

  4. Earth

    Hard rock jellies: Throng of rare fossils found in Midwest quarry

    A Wisconsin sandstone quarry recently served up a rare scientific find nearly a half billion years in the making: fossils of an armada of jellyfish that stud the site’s stone slabs.

  5. Health & Medicine

    An El Niño link with a tropical disease?

    An analysis of recent outbreaks of an often fatal disease in Peru may strengthen a link between the malady and the warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean known as El Niño.

  6. Humans

    Storm warnings take new tone of voice

    The National Weather Service is now testing new computer-generated voices that will be used in the agency's broadcasts of severe storm warnings on NOAA Weather Radio.

  7. Earth

    New way of gauging reservoir evaporation

    Scientists have developed a new way to estimate the evaporation of water from large reservoirs that, if adopted, would replace a labor-intensive procedure based on decades-old technology.

  8. Humans

    Talent Search: Student finalists’ flair for science to be rewarded

    A panel of judges announced the 40 finalists in the 61st annual Intel Science Talent Search.

  9. Earth

    It’s a Rough World

    Scientists are using fractals, mathematical forms that can describe objects with fractional dimensions, to model phenomena such as wildfire propagation and the spread of toxic fluids through rocks and soil.

  10. Humans

    Official chooses Nevada for nuclear waste

    On Jan. 10, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham notified Nevada's Governor Kenny Guinn by telephone that he intends to recommend that southwestern Nevada's Yucca Mountain site serve as the nation's long-term geological depository for high-level nuclear waste.

  11. Earth

    Earth’s inner core could include silicon

    Laboratory experiments investigating the crystal structure of iron-silicon alloys at high temperatures and pressures may yield new insights into the mineral composition of Earth's core.

  12. Earth

    Finding fault for an old earthquake

    Scientists in Southern California believe they've found evidence that finally identifies the source of one of the region's largest quakes, a magnitude 7-plus temblor that struck the area on Dec. 21, 1812.