Planet Earth, features and articles | Educational Science

May 31, 2013

Image of the Day: May 2013

Rainbow Soars Over Black Canyon (Image credit: U.S. Department of the Interior)Black Canyon, of the Gunnison National Park, has some of the steepest cliffs, oldest rocks and craggiest spires in North America. It also has some of the most spectacular rainbows, as the above image shows. Over two million years,...

May 31, 2013

Precision Farming Gains Global Foothold (Op-Ed)

Lloyd Treinish leads the environmental science team in the Industry Solutions Department at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center. A co-developer of IBM's Deep Thunder precision agriculture system, he contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Our world is getting larger … and hungrier … with...

May 31, 2013

Another 1930s Dust Bowl Drought Possible This Century (Op-Ed)

Marlene Cimons of Climate Nexus contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Drought has beset the Earth since before farming began. In developing nations, it brings suffering and death. In wealthier countries like the United States, it brings economic devastation when crops wither and die, and forests...

May 31, 2013

Voices: Experts & Analysts Weigh in on Obama's Climate Change Plan

President Barack Obama announced a sweeping plan to tackle climate change today (June 25), outlining measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote the development of clean energy technologies. The new strategy, which was revealed before an audience at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., identifies three key objectives: cut the...

May 31, 2013

Hot Enough to Fry an Egg on the Sidewalk This Weekend?

PHOENIX, AZ — It’s so hot today … Actually, it’s only 112 degrees Fahrenheit here today, nothing compared to Death Valley, Ca., which the National Weather Service says will see high temperatures near 130 through Monday. The hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth was 134 degrees Fahrenheit (56.7 degrees Celsius)...

May 31, 2013

Massive Earthquakes Make Volcanoes Sink

The biggest earthquakes also move mountains. The massive earthquakes that struck Japan and Chile in 2011 and 2010, respectively, sank several big volcanoes by up to 6 inches (15 centimeters), two new studies report. This is the first time scientists have seen a string of volcanoes drop after an earthquake....

Apr 30, 2013

Best Earth Images of the Week May 3, 2013

A mission close to home (Image credit: Gabriel Trisca, Boise State University) NASA's newest rover won't be exploring another planet, but will take a look at part of our own. Named Grover (short for Goddard Remotely Operated Vehicle for Exploration and Research), the rover will explore Greenland's ice sheets to...

Apr 30, 2013

Macho Men May Not Have Survival Advantage in War

Despite a known link between a masculine-looking face and aggression in men, macho-faced soldiers didn't survive Finland's World War II Winter War in greater numbers than recruits with less masculine faces. The macho-looking men did, however, have more children in their lifetimes than thinner-faced guys, suggesting that face shape is...

Apr 30, 2013

Homeowners Warm to Solar Power: Op-Ed

Marlene Cimons of Climate Nexus contributed this article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. When Linda and Jay Mathews moved back to their native California nearly two years ago — after 20 years in New York and Washington — they found their dream home in Pasadena. It had everything...

Apr 30, 2013

Photo Glossary: Hawaii's Amazing Volcanic Rocks

Hawaii's Rocks From'A'a to (almost) Z (Image credit: Robert Simmon, NASA's Earth Observatory, using data from USGS and NASA) An amazing variety of rocks appear in Hawaii from a single type of molten rock called basalt. Here's a guide to some of the weird and wonderful stones that result from...

Apr 30, 2013

Was Girl Murdered for Her Organs?

The family of a young British girl traveling in their home country of India is accusing a medical clinic of killing their daughter for her organs. Gurkiren Kaur Loyal's family said she was being treated for dehydration in Punjab when she died. According to a news story in The Telegraph,...

Apr 30, 2013

Study: Stress Isn't Hot

Stress makes its mark on the female face, according to a new study that finds men judge women with high levels of a stress hormone less attractive. The finding is a gender turnaround on previous research that has found that women go for low-stress guys, too. Stress can suppress fertility,...

Apr 30, 2013

Costa Rica's Turrialba Volcano Erupts

Costa Rica's restless Turrailba volcano rumbled to life early Tuesday morning (May 21), spitting ash and steam from its summit and prompting a small-scale evacuation. The small blast started at two fissures in the volcano's West Crater, the same site of earlier eruptions in 2010 and 2012, according to the...

Apr 30, 2013

Smithsonian Digs Into Extraordinary Fossil Collection

This Research in Action article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. This well-preserved fossilized tree hopper, flanked by two fossil crane flies, is one specimen from of an extraordinary fossil collection donated to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History by an amateur paleontologist between...

Mar 31, 2013

Historic Marine Mammal Protection Act Worked, Scientists Say

In the fall of 1972, then-President Richard Nixon signed the Marine Mammal Protection Act, providing sweeping protections for whales, dolphins, seals and other species swimming in U.S. waters whose populations had dwindled due to commercial fishing and accidental killing. The law invigorated conservation efforts and prohibited hunting, killing, capturing and...