All Stories by Thomas Sumner
- Earth
New fascination with Earth’s ‘Boring Billion’
The Mesoproterozoic era, known as the boring billion, had very low oxygen, but it set the stage for the evolution of animals.
- Climate
Wi-Fi threatens weather forecasts
Interference from wireless technology threatens the usefulness of weather radar, meteorologists warn.
- Climate
Hurricane Patricia’s howling winds smash records
Hurricane Patricia’s winds are now the fastest ever recorded in a tropical cyclone, making it the strongest hurricane on record in the Western Hemisphere.
- Earth
4.1-billion-year-old crystal may hold earliest signs of life
A carbon impurity embedded inside an ancient zircon crystal suggests that life on Earth appeared before 4.1 billion years ago.
- Earth
4.1-billion-year-old crystal may hold earliest signs of life
New evidence suggests that life on Earth arose before 4.1 billion years ago, 300 million years earlier than previous estimates.
- Climate
High-flying birds recruited for meteorology
Monitoring the midflight movements of high-flying birds can provide valuable meteorological data, new research shows.
- Oceans
Oxygen in Black Sea has declined by more than a third since 1955
The Black Sea’s oxygen-rich surface layer shrank by more than a third from 1955 through 2013, compressing marine habitats and bringing toxic hydrogen sulfide closer to the surface.
- Planetary Science
Ancient Mars had long-lasting lakes of liquid water
New evidence gathered by NASA’s Curiosity rover suggests Gale Crater once contained a stable lake of liquid water.
- Particle Physics
Neutrinos’ identity shift snares physics Nobel
Arthur McDonald and Takaaki Kajita shared the 2015 Nobel Prize in physics for the discovery that neutrinos oscillate between different types, which demonstrates that the particles have mass.
- Quantum Physics
Shinsei Ryu: Error-free quantum calculations
Physicist Shinsei Ryu navigates the confusing border between the quantum and everyday realms.
- Climate
Hurricane reports ignore indirect deaths
Nearly half of all hurricane and tropical storm fatalities are indirect, yet they typically aren’t included in official storm reports.
- Earth
Shortcut math predicts tsunami height quickly
The September 16 earthquake that rattled Chile proved an unexpected test for new numerical calculations that could provide quicker forecasts of incoming tsunamis.
