Planet Earth, features and articles | Educational Science

Sep 30, 2012

Why Is It Illegal To Ride a Manatee?

Anyone looking for cheap thrills and a quick brush with nature should reconsider thoughts of riding a manatee. As a Florida woman is learning, multiple federal and state laws can be swiftly wielded in defense of the vulnerable sea cow. Ana Gloria Garcia Gutierrez, 52, accused of riding a manatee...

Sep 30, 2012

Film Festival Highlights Plight of the Oceans

MONTEREY, Calif. — James Cameron, Richard Branson and the His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco were just a few of the stars who came here in support of the world's oceans at last week's biennial Blue Ocean Film Festival, which showed more than 100 films over the course...

Sep 30, 2012

Economic Decline Not Enough to Reduce Planet-Warming Emissions

Nations hoping to curb global warming face a quandary: Economic growth means more planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions. On the flip side, economic decline means a drop in greenhouse gas emissions as consumers tighten their belts, factories slow down and less money is spent. A new analysis of data from 1960...

Sep 30, 2012

Deep-Sea Vehicle Alvin Gets Splashy Makeover

Humans have explored only a tiny fraction of the deep-sea floor, but the deep-diving submersible vehicle Alvin gets credit for a considerable share of what humanity has seen in the water's dark, alien depths. Alvin, which can ferry three people into the deep sea, has made 4,664 dives since its...

Sep 30, 2012

Rogue Dumping of Iron into Ocean Stirs Controversy

A controversial experiment in which more than 200,000 pounds of iron sulfate were dumped into the Pacific Ocean west of Canada has scientists calling for more transparency in geoengineering. Geoengineering is any deliberate and large-scale manipulation of environmental processes in order to impact Earth's climate. Some geoengineering projects, like the...

Sep 30, 2012

Why Is Counterfeit Ketchup Exploding in New Jersey?

An alleged counterfeit condiment operation blew its cover, literally, when exploding bottles of repackaged Heinz ketchup became hard to ignore for the other tenants of a New Jersey warehouse. Preliminary investigations from Heinz officials show that the Dover, N.J., operation had a simple ploy in mind: Purchase bulk quantities of...

Sep 30, 2012

4 Things You Need to Know About Hurricane Sandy

Dubbed Frankenstorm, Hurricane Sandy is an unusual storm by any measure. It's enormous, could become a hybrid tempest of sorts, and is creeping north all in time for Halloween. Now, forecasters and emergency mangers have urged those in harm's way to prepare for the Category 1 hurricane, and for widespread...

Sep 30, 2012

Can You Stop a Hurricane by Nuking It?

One idea that rears its head almost every hurricane season recently is the notion of bombing a hurricane into submission. The theory goes that the energy released by a nuclear bomb detonated just above and ahead of the eye of a storm would heat the cooler air there, disrupting the...

Sep 30, 2012

Pollution & Debris Stirred by Sandy Threaten Coastal Waters

Oil, pesticides, PCBs: Drip by drip, year after year, pollutants are absorbed into New York City's streets, and now Hurricane Sandy's floodwaters are soaking them out. Hurricane Katrina's urban floodwaters had high levels of bacteria, lead and harmful levels of chemicals including phosphorous and arsenic, studies found. Local officials in...

Aug 31, 2012

Leslie Becomes Sixth Hurricane of 2012 Season

Tropical Storm Leslie intensified into a hurricane today (Sept. 5), beating out Michael to become the sixth hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic season. Leslie first became a tropical storm on Aug. 30 far out over the Atlantic Ocean. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued a statement at 1:45 p.m. AST...

Aug 31, 2012

Extreme Weather on Display in Glossy Color in Nat Geo

If it seems like the weather has been all kinds of crazy in your corner of the world in recent years, you probably aren't just imagining things. So says the September 2012 edition of National Geographic Magazine. The storied publication takes a hard look at the extreme weather events that...

Aug 31, 2012

Studies Show Wind Power's Massive Potential

(ISNS) -- There is enough energy for people to reap from the wind to meet all of the world's power demands without radically altering the planet's climate, according to two independent teams of scientists. Wind power is often touted as environmentally friendly, generating no pollutants. It is an increasingly popular...

Aug 31, 2012

FAA: Mysterious Roof Holes Not Caused by Falling Frozen Waste

Two Long Island families with mysterious holes in their roofs think plummeting frozen waste from overhead airplanes might be the cause of their troubles. Lois Farella awoke to a thunderous crash at 3:30 a.m. on Sunday morning (Sept. 9) and found that her roof had a hole the size of...

Aug 31, 2012

'Carl Sagan with Gills:' A Q&A with Bob Ballard, Discoverer of The Titanic

By his own admission, Bob Ballard is a heretic. If I were in Tunisia, I'd be toast, he said. He likes to disprove conventional wisdom, and throw out textbooks (metaphorically speaking). In graduate school in the 1960s he was part of a wave of young researchers who established the existence...

Aug 31, 2012

When Will Arctic Ice Completely Disappear?

The Arctic sea ice just hit its lowest extent since measurements began in the 1970s, raising the question of when Arctic summer sea ice will disappear for good. The answer is not yet clear, thanks to the complex variability of the sea ice from year to year. But scientists say...