Earth

Earth

Tough meteorite made a big impact

The stony meteorite that landed in a remote portion of Peru in September 2007 was traveling abnormally fast when it struck and blasted a crater that was unusually large for the its size, new analyses indicate.

Earth

New contender for Earth’s oldest rocks

Observing rare isotopes in rocks along the Hudson Bay in Northern Quebec suggest the rocks have remained intact for 4.28 billion years, making them Earth's oldest.

Earth

Continental clash cooled the climate

The collision between India and Asia set off events that caused long-term cooling in Earth’s climate, new research suggests.

Climate

(Political) party animals

Featured blog: When it comes to attitudes about climate change, the chasm between Democrats and Republicans is wide. Political-polling analysts speculate that a McCain win in November might do more than an Obama victory to win over the minds of climate-change skeptics.

Climate

Energy: Apollo-like Program Needed

Big action and big bucks are needed to deal with the United States' energy problems, research leaders argued today.

Climate

Heat waves stunt grassland growth

An abnormally hot year can significantly suppress growth in grasslands, a stifling effect that lingers well into the next year even if temperatures return to normal. It can also hinder how well the grasslands absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Astronomy

McCain Is Bullish on R&D

Featured blog: John McCain weighs in on science and technology issues with long-awaited written responses to the Science Debate 2008.

Paleontology

Dino domination was in the cards, maybe

A new study finds that early dinosaurs coexisted with and were outnumbered by a competing species. Dinosaurs eventually reigned supreme anyway, but perhaps not because they were better.

Tech

Cops Might Get Pollution Sniffers

One day soon, precise up-to-minute air pollution data might be available at a street-by-street level.

Agriculture

Network Antennas — Yum!

Sensor designers might have to consider engineering in bovine deterrence.

Earth

Don’t blame the cities

Urban sprawl is sometimes blamed for skewing weather data and creating a false signal of global warming, but a new study suggests this idea is just a lot of hot air.

Earth

Mammoth migrations

Ancient DNA shows North American woolly mammoths migrated back to Asia and displaced Siberian mammoths.