All Stories by Sid Perkins
- Earth
The Mountain
Tall, steep slopes, a crest of glacial ice that's larger than that on any other mountain in the lower 48 United States, and a burgeoning population in its surrounding valleys combine to make Washington state's Mt. Rainier the most dangerous volcano in America.
- Earth
Tube worms like it hot, but larvae not
The larvae of some tube worms that attach themselves to the seafloor around hydrothermal vents can't stand the heat there, but they go into a state of suspended animation when they drift into the chilly water nearby.
- Earth
Desert glass: Is it baked Australia?
A profusion of fused, glassy material found on the desert plain of southern Australia might be the result of the intense heat from an extraterrestrial impact.
- Earth
Sediments Sink River’s Flow into Sea
Deep-sea observations of occasional sediment-rich plumes of fresh water dumped into the ocean by rivers suggest that such underflows may be a prime conveyor of pesticides, organic carbon, and various nutrients to the seafloor.
- Earth
Farmers could help heal Gulf of Mexico
Farm-derived nutrients in the Mississippi River that create a huge dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico could probably be substantially reduced if farmers simply used a little less fertilizer.
- Earth
Uranium recorded in high-altitude ice
An international team of scientists has analyzed a lengthy core of ice and snow drilled from atop Europe's tallest mountain to produce the first century-long record of uranium concentrations in a high-altitude environment.
- Earth
Grape-harvest dates hold climate clues
The vintner's habit of picking no grapes before their time may give scientists a tool that could help verify reconstructions of European climate for the past 500 years.
- Paleontology
Fossils Indicate. . .Wow, What a Croc!
Newly discovered fossils of an ancient cousin of modern crocodiles suggest that adults of the species may have been dinosaur-munching behemoths that grew to the length of a school bus and weighed as much as 8 metric tons.
- Paleontology
Even flossing wouldn’t have helped
Small particles trapped in minuscule cracks or pits in the teeth of plant-eating dinosaurs could give scientists a way to identify the types of greenery the ancient herbivores were munching.
- Paleontology
CT scan unscrambles rare, ancient egg
A tangled heap of bones and bone fragments in the bottom of an unhatched elephant bird egg may soon be reassembled into a model of the long-dead embryo, thanks to high technology—and scientists won't even have to crack open the egg to do it.
- Paleontology
How did Triceratops grow its horns?
Newly discovered fossil skulls of juvenile Triceratops may help reveal how the dinosaurs grew their three trademark horns.
- Paleontology
Fossils found under tons of Kitty Litter
Excavations at North America's largest Kitter Litter mine have yielded fossils of ancient aquatic reptiles, as well as evidence of a tsunami generated by the extraterrestrial impact that killed off the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago.
