Earth
- Earth
Antarctic glacier thins and speeds up
One of the largest glaciers in Antarctica is growing thinner and retreating inland, spurring concerns that changes occurring along the coastline may be causing the ice stream to drain more material from the interior of the continent and send it out to sea, thus aggravating rising sea levels.
By Sid Perkins - Earth
Seismic shivers tell of tornado touchdown
Researchers say they can now use earthquake-detecting seismometers to detect and possibly track all but the weakest tornadoes.
By Linda Wang - Earth
Electricity-leaking office equipment
Nearly 2 percent of U.S. electricity each year goes to power office equipment that had ostensibly been turned off.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
Contaminants still lace some meats
Tainted ingredients of livestock feed can contribute to worrisome residues of organochlorines, such as PCBs, ending up in meat.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
Plastic debris picks up ocean toxics
Some plastics can accumulate toxic pollutants from water, increasing the risk that they might poison wildlife mistaking these plastics for food.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
Resuscitating the Gulf’s dead zone
State, federal, and Indian agencies have joined forces to develop policies aimed at stemming a huge, seasonal zone in the Gulf of Mexico where oxygen levels are too low to sustain most aquatic life.
By Janet Raloff - Earth
Eye above the Timberline
The Tundra-Cam, operated by the University of Colorado’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, sits at an elevation of 11,600 feet near the U.S. Continental Divide. Visitors to the Web site can operate the remotely controlled webcam, panning across the mountainous landscape and zooming in on particular features of interest. Go to: http://tundracam.colorado.edu
By Science News - Earth
Pinning Down the Sun-Climate Connection
Many scientists propose that changes in the sun's magnetic field and radiation output during its 11-year sunspot cycle also affect the atmosphere, changing Earth's climate by steering weather systems and influencing the amount of cloud cover.
By Sid Perkins - Earth
Amazon basin is wetter now than in past
Sediments from the Atlantic Ocean indicate that the now lush Amazon Basin was much drier during the latest ice age.
By Sid Perkins - Earth
Explorers pinpoint source of the Amazon
A five-nation team of explorers has used Global Positioning System equipment to confirm that the source of the Amazon is a snowmelt-fed stream high in the Peruvian Andes.
By Sid Perkins - Earth
Scientists analyze volcanoes’ killing ways
Death patterns from more than 400 volcanic eruptions through history may reveal ways to reduce the number of fatalities from similar causes in the future.
By Sid Perkins - Earth
Lake sediment tells of Maya droughts
Sediment cores taken last year from the bottom of a lake on Mexico's Yucatán peninsula indicate that a series of extended droughts coincided with major cultural upheavals among the Mayan inhabitants of the area.
By Sid Perkins