7,844 results
7,844 results for: Geology
- Paleontology
First Steps
Using materials as diverse as lobster eggs, dead birds, and the headless carcass of a rhinoceros, scientists are conducting experiments that scrutinize the first steps of the fossilization process.
- Ecosystems
Saving Sturgeon
Sturgeon species around the world are in trouble, which is why humans will increasingly be stepping in to give them a big assist.
- Earth
Seismic noise can yield maps of Earth’s crust
The small, random, and nearly constant seismic waves that travel in all directions through Earth's crust can be used to make ultrasoundlike images of geologic features within the crust.
- Earth
Ancient Heights: Leaf fossils track elevation changes
A new technique using altitude-dependent differences in fossil leaves may make it possible to chronicle the rise and fall of mountain ranges over millions of years.
- Earth
Baking dirt to predict erosion after a fire
Lab tests suggest that a wide variety of soils exposed to the heat of intense wildfires end up with a similar resistance to erosion, a finding that may help scientists model that process more accurately.
- Humans
Archival Science
Photos from the Science Service archive at the Smithsonian offer fresh views of the Scopes evolution trial.
- Tech
Is Anybody out There?
To speed the search for extraterrestrial life, researchers are using extreme conditions on Earth to develop a flotilla of detection devices to tease out signs of life in unlikely places.
- Earth
Last Gasp: Toxic gas could explain great extinction
Sudden venting of hydrogen sulfide from the deep sea could have caused the largest extinction in Earth's history by poisoning land animals and destroying atmospheric ozone that protects Earth from ultraviolet light.
- Ecosystems
Squirt Alert
A sea animal of unknown origins and lacking any known predator has begun commandeering ecosystems in cool coastal waters throughout the world.
- Chemistry
Energy on Ice
Recent efforts to unlock a frozen source of natural gas deep under the permafrost and ocean floor have energized prospects for a methane-hydrate industry.
- Earth
Dead zones may record river floods
Microorganisms that live in seafloor sediments deposited beneath periodically anoxic waters near the mouths of rivers could chronicle the years when those rivers flooded for extended periods.
- Earth
PCBs damage fish immune systems
A common Arctic fish can suffer subtle immunological impairments from exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls at concentrations recorded in some remote polar waters.
