Planet Earth, features and articles | Educational Science

Mar 31, 2015

Bigger Earthquake Coming on Nepal's Terrifying Faults

Nepal faces larger and more deadly earthquakes, even after the magnitude-7.8 temblor that killed more than 4,000 people on Saturday (April 25). Earthquake experts say Saturday's Nepal earthquake did not release all of the pent-up seismic pressure in the region near Kathmandu. According to GPS monitoring and geologic studies, some...

Jan 31, 2015

Sky River to Bust Northern California Drought This Week

California forecasters are prepping the state's northern cities for a switch from extreme drought to drenching rain and damaging winds starting tomorrow (Feb. 5). An incoming atmospheric river could deliver at least 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain in coastal and inland mountains, and 5 inches (13 cm) in valley...

Jan 31, 2015

New Land Off Louisiana Seen from Space

New land is blossoming at the mouths of the Atchafalaya River and the Wax Lake Outlet in Louisiana, bucking the trend of lost ground in this Gulf state. Recent satellite imagery shows two new deltas protruding into the Gulf of Mexico, one fed by the Atchafalaya and one from the...

Jan 31, 2015

Can Civilization Continue? An Earth System Scientist Explains

This article was originally published on The Conversation. The publication contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. The Conversation organised a public question-and-answer session on Reddit in which James Dyke, a lecturer in Complex System Simulation, discussed planetary boundaries and whether global industrialised civilisation is headed...

Dec 31, 2014

Lake Erie Dead Zone: Don't Blame the Slime!

Lake Erie's ecological calamities occur under different conditions, a new study finds. The lake's central dead zones are most strongly linked to drought years, when rivers that bring water into the lake run lower, researchers reported today (Jan. 6) in the journal Environmental Science & Toxicology. Conversely, the toxic algae...

Dec 31, 2014

Understanding Earth by Eavesdropping on Urban Noise

Researchers are tuning in to urban seismic noise, the man-made signals from human activity, to view geologic structures and track the rhythms of cities. Until now, scientists often tossed away data containing the pesky vibrations created as humans scurry from one place to another. Urban seismic noise often plagues scientists...

Dec 31, 2014

Aww! Primordial Reptile Fossils Show Mother Caring for Babies

The fossilized remains of a small aquatic reptile surrounded by six babies suggest that the extinct animal was caring for the little ones when they died, a new study finds. The reptile is an extinct species called the philydrosaurus, and likely lived during the Early Cretaceous, a time period that...

Dec 31, 2014

New Lakes Discovered Under Greenland's Ice Hint at Warming

The discovery of two large lakes hidden beneath Greenland's ice suggests that climate change now cuts all the way to the bottom of the ice sheet, according to two new studies. The lakes, on opposite coasts, were only spotted because meltwater from Greenland's surface triggered gushing floods in the fall...

Dec 31, 2014

Americans Will Vote for Climate-Loving Politicians, New Poll Suggests

Most Americans support government action to combat the effects of global warming and will likely vote for candidates who put forth a promising stance on environmental issues, a new poll has found. The telephone poll — conducted by The New York Times, Stanford University and the nonpartisan environmental research group...

Dec 31, 2014

Seattle vs. Boston: Who Wins the 'Energy Bowl'?

This article was updated at 11:05 a.m. ET on Feb. 2. The Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots will face each other on the gridiron for Super Bowl supremacy Sunday (Feb. 1). But sorry, Seattle — you've already been declared losers in the realm of energy efficiency. It was...

Nov 30, 2016

Unfrozen: Greenland Was Once Ice-Free for 280,000 Years

More than a million years ago, frosty Greenland was ice-free, its bare bedrock exposed for 280,000 years, researchers have found. During this exposed stint, the island's overall ice cover could have dropped by more than 90 percent, the scientists reported today (Dec. 7) in the journal Nature. Previous studies have...

Nov 30, 2016

Cold War-Era Satellites Spy on Himalayan Glaciers

SAN FRANCISCO — The Cold War may have ended decades ago, but spy satellites' data from that era are now being used for a new mission: tracking environmental change in the Himalayas. Using declassified spy satellite data, researchers have created 3D images of glaciers across the Himalayas, scientists said. These...

Nov 30, 2016

Biggest Natural Disasters of 2016: Year of the Earthquake

The Year's Biggest Natural Disasters The Copernicus Sentinel-3A satellite captured this image of Hurricane Matthew at 11:13 p.m. ET on Oct. 6 (03:15 GMT on Oct. 7) as it approached Florida. The thermal infrared image shows the temperature at the top of the hurricane. (Image credit: ESA)This year was one...

Sep 30, 2016

Spooky Satellite Photo Shows Hurricane Matthew's 'Skull'

See more An overhead satellite image of Hurricane Matthew battering Haiti is disturbing people across the internet for an unusual reason: The image bears an uncanny resemblance to a skull or spooky goblin face. The sinister satellite image, which was posted on Twitter Tuesday (Oct. 4) by Stu Ostro, a...

Sep 30, 2016

Photos: Take a Tour of California's Kings Canyon National Park

Unspoiled Earth (Image credit: Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher)High in the crest of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of central California, the Rio Los Santos Reyes cuts deeply through the ancient granite of this spectacular mountain range. Named in 1805 by Spanish army officer Gabriel Moraga, the flowing waters of...