7,733 results
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Volcanic Rush
High-speed videos capture rocks flying at unheard-of rates.
- Earth
Earth & Environment
Toxic consequences of solar power, enduring effects of ancient landslides and more in this week's news.
- Earth
Death of a Continent, Birth of an Ocean
Africa’s Afar region gives glimpses of geology in action.
- Physics
Laser analysis betrays diamonds’ origins
A new spectroscopy technique could be used to identify gemstones mined in war zones.
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Find “extinct” fish alive in South African waters
A “living fossil” gets new family members as more coelacanths turn up.
- Humans
Evolution takes Asian refuge
Multiple humanlike species may have arisen in cold-weather retreats and then interbred with ancient people.
- Humans
Predatory pythons shift Everglades ecology
As invasive snakes expand territory, some mammal populations drop by more than 90 percent within a decade.
- Life
Fossil moth reveals colorful hue
Paleontologists deduce how ridges on the creature’s wings would have reflected light.
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Venus Unveiled
Spacecraft finds Earthy features on sister planet.
- Humans
Insurance payouts point to climate change
Natural disasters in 2011 exerted the costliest toll in history — a whopping $380 billion worth of losses from earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, tsunamis and more. Only a third of those costs were covered by insurance. And the tally ignores completely any expenses associated with sickness or injuries triggered by the disasters. And except for quake-related events, climate change appears to have played a role in the growing cost of disasters, insurers said.
- Paleontology
Oxygen blew up ancient amoebas
Single-celled creatures' size spiked as oxygen levels rose.
- Humans
Columbus’ arrival linked to carbon dioxide drop
The depopulation of the Americas due to introduced European diseases may have spurred Europe's Little Ice Age.
