All Stories by Sid Perkins
- Paleontology
Did ancient superbees squash diversity?
The recent discovery of several dozen extinct bee species in ancient amber deposits has led one paleontologist to propose that the very success of some bees' social lifestyle led to today's dearth of hive-dwelling species.
- Earth
Antarctic glacier thins and speeds up
One of the largest glaciers in Antarctica is growing thinner and retreating inland, spurring concerns that changes occurring along the coastline may be causing the ice stream to drain more material from the interior of the continent and send it out to sea, thus aggravating rising sea levels.
- Humans
Explosions, not a collision, sank the Kursk
Analyses of the shock waves recorded at seismic stations across northern Europe indicate that the Russian submarine Kursk sank due to onboard explosions, not a run-in with another vessel.
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Rock guitarist inspires rock hounds
A team of paleontologists who dug up a new dinosaur recently chose to name their find after singer-songwriter Mark Knopfler, guitarist and cofounder of the rock group Dire Straits.
- Earth
Pinning Down the Sun-Climate Connection
Many scientists propose that changes in the sun's magnetic field and radiation output during its 11-year sunspot cycle also affect the atmosphere, changing Earth's climate by steering weather systems and influencing the amount of cloud cover.
- Tech
Simple system may curb auto emissions
Researchers have developed a four-component system that acts like an on-vehicle oil refinery and may help significantly reduce the hydrocarbon emissions from internal combustion engines.
- Earth
Amazon basin is wetter now than in past
Sediments from the Atlantic Ocean indicate that the now lush Amazon Basin was much drier during the latest ice age.
- Earth
Explorers pinpoint source of the Amazon
A five-nation team of explorers has used Global Positioning System equipment to confirm that the source of the Amazon is a snowmelt-fed stream high in the Peruvian Andes.
- Earth
Scientists analyze volcanoes’ killing ways
Death patterns from more than 400 volcanic eruptions through history may reveal ways to reduce the number of fatalities from similar causes in the future.
- Earth
Lake sediment tells of Maya droughts
Sediment cores taken last year from the bottom of a lake on Mexico's Yucatán peninsula indicate that a series of extended droughts coincided with major cultural upheavals among the Mayan inhabitants of the area.
- Earth
Sediments show bipolar melting cycle
Both the North and South Poles have experienced regular and simultaneous periods of significant melting during the past 3 million years, according to sediments from the ocean floor at high latitudes.
- Earth
Snowpack chemistry can deplete ozone
Pollutants trapped in Arctic snow can be reactivated by sunlight when the sun returns to high latitudes in the spring, leading to ozone depletion in the snowpack and at low altitudes.
