All Stories by Thomas Sumner
- Climate
Onshore hurricanes in a slump
No major hurricanes have made landfall in the United States for over nine years. That’s a rare occurrence, new research shows.
- Astronomy
X-rays offer early warning for solar flares
X-rays shot out by the sun foretell the intensity of an upcoming solar flare, new research suggests.
- Earth
Meeting of the Americas came early, study suggests
Volcanic crystals thought to have formed in Panama and found in an ancient Colombian streambed hint that North and South America may have met up roughly 10 million years earlier than once thought.
- Climate
Canadian glaciers face drastic demise
Western Canadian glaciers will shrink 70 percent by 2100, a detailed melting simulation suggests.
- Earth
Spot the northern lights with Aurorasaurus
Crowdsourced Aurorasaurus project uses Twitter to track the northern lights.
- Climate
Fewer cold snaps in the forecast
Rapid Arctic warming will reduce the frequency of cold snaps throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere, new research suggests.
- Earth
Plate loss gave chain of Pacific islands and seamounts a bend
The sinking Izanagi tectonic plate may have rerouted the mantle flow beneath the Pacific, halting the Hawaiian hot spot.
- Climate
Antarctic ice shelves rapidly melting
Melting around Antarctica is accelerating, with several ice shelves projected to vanish entirely within 100 years.
- Climate
Rain slows whipping hurricane winds
Taking raindrop drag into account — which may slow hurricane winds by as much as 30 percent — could help improve hurricane forecasts.
- Climate
Winter storms 24 times as deadly as estimated
By ignoring car and plane crashes related to bad weather, U.S. tallies of winter storm deadliness severely underestimate hazard.
- Astronomy
Fast-spinning young Earth pulled the moon into a yo-yo orbit
The early moon’s orbit created a cycle between lunar phases unlike the one seen nowadays.
- Climate
Arctic warming bolsters summer heat waves
Sagging storms brought on by rapid Arctic warming worsen summertime heat waves across the Northern Hemisphere.
