Planet Earth, features and articles | Educational Science

Jul 31, 2009

NASA Drops Probes Into Volatile Volcano

High-tech sensor pods were recently air lifted into the mouth of a volcano to monitor hot spots and provide early warning if the peak starts to blow. The sensors are part of a NASA project to study volcanoes from the inside. On July 14 scientists lowered the pods into the...

Jul 31, 2009

Pollution Reduces Rain Vital to Crops

Air pollution in China has cut the amount of light rainfall by 23 percent over the past 50 years, a new study finds. The cause: Particles in air pollution cause smaller drops of water to form, and smaller drops have a harder time making rain clouds. The result: Bad air...

Jul 31, 2009

Gigantic Lightning Jets Shoot from Clouds to Space

Strokes of lightning flashing down towards the ground are a familiar sight during summer thunderstorms, but scientists have capture an image of a rare lightning bolt shooting out upwards from a cloud, almost to the edge of the Earth's atmosphere. These bolts of upwards lightning, one type among a variety...

Jul 31, 2009

Majority of Americans Believe Health Care Reform 'Myths'

More than 50 percent of Americans believe a public insurance option will increase health care costs, according to a new survey on assertions the White House has called myths. The national survey, conducted from Aug. 14 – 18, involved a random sample of 600 Americans aged 18 and older living...

Jul 31, 2009

Heat Waves Getting Worse

Heat waves out West are getting worse as the climate changes, a new study finds. One example: From mid July to early August 2006, a heat wave swept through the southwestern United States. Temperature records were broken at many locations and unusually high humidity levels were recorded. The event included...

Jul 31, 2009

How to Swat a Mosquito

WASHINGTON (ISNS) -- Spring this year was unusually wet in the eastern half of the United States, with heavy rains falling from everywhere from Kansas and Missouri to New York City and Washington, D.C., the National Weather Service reported -- and with those rains has come a bumper crop of...

Jul 31, 2009

Louisiana Native Takes on Storm Season

Editor's Note: ScienceLives is an occasional series that puts scientists under the microscope to find out what makes them tick. The series is a cooperation between the National Science Foundation and LiveScience. Name: Ian Giammanco Age: 29 Institution: Texas Tech University Field of Study: Ph.D. in Wind Science and Engineering...

Jun 30, 2009

Tropical Rainfall Moving North

Updated 8:53 a.m. ET 7/2. Earth's most prominent rain band, near the equator, has been moving north at an average rate of almost a mile (1.4 km) a year for three centuries, likely because of a warming world, scientists say. The band supplies fresh water to almost a billion people...

Jun 30, 2009

Bugs: The Forgotten Victims of Climate Change

This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. If it were up to Jessica Hellmann, insects such as butterflies and beetles would wield just as much conservation clout as traditional conservation icons, such as polar bears, tigers and dolphins. Why? “Animals such...

Jun 30, 2009

Seeds Are Nature's Most Efficient Ratchet

The seeds of many grasses are remarkable little mechanical devices. Each seed's hull has one or more bristle-like projections called awns, covered with tiny barbs pointing away from the seed. When a seed is partly buried in the ground with its awn pointing up, the barbs form a simple ratchet....

Jun 30, 2009

Amazon River Dated to 11 Million Years Old

The Amazon River and its current lengthy and transcontinental bed is about 11 million years old, according to a new study. Previously, the river's exact age was unknown, researchers say. The Amazon, which starts in the Andes and flows easterly into the Atlantic Ocean, originated as a transcontinental river back...

Jun 30, 2009

Huge Fossilized Dung Reveals a Hidden Ancient Ecosystem

The world might be knee-deep in cow patties and other animal waste today were it not for dung beetles. Dung beetles roll the waste of large animals into tiny balls that they bury underground to snack on later. Burying the dung fertilizes the soil and reduces disease, but the benefits...

May 31, 2009

Powerful Ideas: Electronics Grown by Germs

Editor's Note: This occasional series looks at powerful ideas — some existing, some futuristic — for fueling and electrifying modern life. Ancient germs that hunt bacteria are now getting recruited to assemble the electronics of the future. Scientists are using viruses to build solar cells and other gadgets that are...

May 31, 2009

Reindeer & Caribou Populations Plunge

Reindeer and caribou numbers worldwide have plunged nearly 60 percent in the last three decades due to climate change and habitat disturbance caused by humans, a new study finds. Global warming and industrial development are driving the dramatic decline, said Liv Vors, a Ph.D. student at the University of Alberta...

May 31, 2009

Dads Are Key to Making Us Human

Some 95 percent of male mammals have little to no interaction with their children. Homo sapiens are one of the most notable exceptions, leading some scientists to think fatherhood is an important part of what makes us human. Most theories for the family involvement of fathers invoke the familiar Man...