All Stories by Sid Perkins
- Earth
Is Nessie merely a bad case of the shakes?
An Italian scientist makes the controversial suggestion that the original source of the legend of the Loch Ness Monster, as well as blame for many of the modern encounters with the supposed beast, may be seismic activity beneath the lake.
- Paleontology
Sahara yields second-largest dinosaur
Excavations near an Egyptian oasis have unearthed the fossils of an animal that probably ranks as the second-most-massive dinosaur known.
- Paleontology
Fossil footprints could be monumental
Trace fossils found in a vacant lot in a small town in Utah, including the footprints of meat-eating dinosaurs, could soon be protected as part of a new U.S. national monument.
- Earth
Alaska’s coastal permafrost is eroding
Aerial photographs taken over the past 50 years show that Alaska's coastlines of permafrost aren't that permanent after all.
- Earth
More acid rain in East Asia’s future
Large increases in Asian industrial emissions of nitrogen oxides in the next 30 years could lead to a tripling of the acid rain there due to those pollutants.
- Earth
Midlatitude bogs store carbon best
Sediments in lakes and bogs along the eastern coast of the United States show that midlatitude bodies of water have sequestered higher amounts of carbon than others since the last ice age.
- Earth
Seismic simulations help track tanks
New computer models developed to analyze how seismic vibrations travel through uneven terrain can also be used to identify and track heavy vehicles such as tanks and trains.
- Earth
Large earthquake would ravage Oregon
A magnitude 8.5 earthquake off the coast of Oregon would devastate portions of the state, kill thousands of residents, and wrack the economy there for more than a decade.
- Earth
Geologists take magnetic view through ice
A new map of the magnetic anomalies in Antarctica and the seafloor surrounding the continent is giving researchers a fresh tool to use in analyzing geologic features that lie hidden beneath thousands of feet of ice or storm-tossed seas.
- Paleontology
Beyond Bones
The forensic analysis of trace fossils such as footprints, nests, burrows, and even coprolites—fossilized feces—reveal subtle clues about ancient species, their behavior, and their environment.
- Paleontology
Early Mammal’s Jaw Lost Its Groove
A tiny fossil skull found in 195-million-year-old Chinese sediments provides evidence that crucial features of mammal anatomy evolved more than 45 million years earlier than previously thought.
- Earth
They’re not briquettes, but they’ll do
Chunks of fossil charcoal found in ancient sediments in north central Pennsylvania suggest that cycles of wildfire plagued Earth more than 360 million years ago.
