Earth

Earth

Bogged Down: Ancient peat may be missing methane source

Massive peat bogs in Russia may have been a major source of atmospheric methane just after the end of the last ice age.

Earth

This pollutant fights lupus

A hormone-mimicking pollutant that leaches out of some plastics appears to fight lupus.

Earth

When testosterone gets down and dirty

Testosterone excreted by livestock can pass through soils, which may explain new findings of fish-altering hormonal activity in water downstream of cattle feedlots.

Earth

Infrasonic Symphony

Scientists are eavesdropping on volcanoes, avalanches, earthquakes, and meteorites to discern these phenomena's infrasound signatures and see what new information infrasound might reveal.

Earth

Blasts from the Past: Orbiting radar spots old nuclear-test sites

A technique that analyzes satellite images to detect subtle ground motions often can perceive subsidence over underground nuclear-test sites, sometimes even if those tests occurred decades ago.

Earth

My Own Private Bad-Air Day: Outdoor data underrate pollutant exposure

Most people breathe in substantially more organic contaminants than airborne concentrations of such substances in their homes and communities would suggest.

Earth

New technique dates glaze on desert rocks

Scientists have developed a quick, easy, portable, and nondestructive way to determine the age of desert varnish, the mysterious dark coating that slowly develops on rocks in many arid regions of the world.

Earth

Newfound fault may explain quakes

Tsunami simulations suggest that a newly discovered fault zone beneath the Atlantic Ocean could have released most of the seismic energy from three earthquakes that destroyed Lisbon, Portugal, on the morning of Nov. 1, 1755.

Earth

Alaska shook, mountains spoke

Small pulses in atmospheric pressure detected in Fairbanks soon after the magnitude 7.9 Denali quake on Nov. 3, 2002, suggest that the temblor literally moved mountains.

Earth

Earth sometimes shivers beneath thick blankets of ice

New analyses of old seismic data have distinguished the ground motions spawned by a previously unrecognized type of earthquake—quakes created by brief surges of massive glaciers.

Earth

Thin Skin

Desert pavement, a delicate veneer of stones that covers the surface of up to 50 percent of the world's arid lands, is susceptible to being damaged by everything from multi-ton tanks to careless footsteps, and the resulting scars can take thousands of years to mend on their own.

Earth

Seasonal Weather

The Aboriginal people of Australia had their own way of defining the seasons, based on local weather patterns. Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology has created a Web site that illustrates several of these seasonal weather calendars, established thousands of years ago. Unlike the European and American spring, summer, autumn, and winter, the indigenous versions often include […]