Planet Earth, features and articles | Educational Science

Feb 28, 2006

Back From the Dead: Living Fossil Identified

A few months after researchers on one team thought they had discovered a new family of rodent, another group snatched their glory by identifying the critter as a member of a family thought long extinct. Last year scientists described the body of a squirrel-like rodent found for sale in a...

Feb 28, 2006

Rain in Phoenix Ends Record Dry Spell at 143 Days

PHOENIX—A good old-fashion downpour in the predawn here today ended a record string of 143 days without rain. The previous record was 101 days, set in January 2000. NOAA reported light rain around dawn and a 0.26-inch accumulation at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport, the official recording station. Elsewhere around the...

Feb 28, 2006

New Type of Volcanic Hazard Discovered

Scientists have uncovered a new type of worrisome volcanic eruption after studying images of an odd-shaped ash plume that came unexpectedly crashing down. Typically, the gentlest part of a volcanic eruption is the gradual falling of ash. But the plummeting plume of an eruption in South America four years ago...

Feb 28, 2006

'Perfect Disasters' Nearly Perfect

James Abbot is not having a good day. A massive thunderstorm called a supercell is heading towards Dallas, Texas and Abbot, a member of the city's Emergency Management team, has just made the difficult decision to sound the city's tornado-warning sirens. The supercell spawns several small tornadoes, and then after...

Feb 28, 2006

Polar Meltdown Near: Seas Could Rise 3 Feet Per Century

About 130,000 years ago, an ice age ended and there was a period of few centuries before the next one began. During this lull, Earth's temperature warmed, glaciers retreated and ice sheets melted. Sea levels rose by up to 20 feet. Scientists warn that this could happen again—and soon. But...

Feb 28, 2006

Snow Melting Earlier In Eastern North America

In eastern North America, snow is melting and flowing into rivers earlier than it did in the first half of the 20th century, scientists said today. A new study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is an extension of work reported last year, which found that the total number of...

Jan 31, 2006

Fossils Never Looked So Good

Scientists have produced the first-ever three-dimensional images of 850-million-year-old microscopic fossils using preexisting laser technology. They don't even have to break open the rocks. In the future, the technique could help researchers figure out when exactly life began on Earth and determine whether life has ever existed on Mars. Hard...

Jan 31, 2006

New Videos Help Explain Mysterious Flashes Above Earth

Back in the 1980s, airline pilots were told they must have been seeing things when they reported flashes of light shooting toward space atop thunderstorms. But in recent years, scientists have photographed the mysterious flashes and come up with interesting names for them: elves, blue jets, tigers and sprites. The...

Jan 31, 2006

Making Waves: Power Plant Would Create False Shoreline

Big ocean swells could one day be as exciting to homeowners as they are to surfers, thanks to an innovative new device that harnesses the power of waves to produce cheap, clean electricity. Pioneered by scientists at Energetech, a small alternative-energy company in Randwick, Australia, a prototype of the $1.5-million...

Dec 31, 2005

Tailpipe Test: Study Finds Worst Polluters

The make of your car makes a big difference in how much it pollutes, according to a comprehensive comparison of pollution levels by manufacturer. Age is a huge factor, too. A vehicle from 1985 emits almost 38 times more carbon monoxide than a 2001 model, on average. Researchers analyzed data...

Dec 31, 2005

Photos Show It's True: No Two Snowflakes Alike

Through rain and sleet and dead of night and all that, your letters next winter can be delivered bearing snowflakes artfully photographed by a physicist who weathers those same storms to study nature's crystal magic. Starting in October, the U.S. Postal Service will issue a set of four stamps featuring...

Dec 31, 2005

Less Pollution on City Sidewalks than Streets

Passengers in taxis, buses, and cars all inhale substantially more pollution than cyclists and pedestrians, a new study shows. Researchers measured levels of ultrafine, traffic-produced pollution particles on busy London streets using a newly developed particle counter fitted with a video recorder. The equipment allowed them to match particle levels...

Dec 31, 2005

California School Agrees to Stop Teaching 'Intelligent Design'

FRESNO, California (AP) _ A rural California school district agreed to stop teaching a religion-based alternative to evolution as part of a court settlement filed Tuesday. Frazier Mountain High School will stop teaching the course next week and will never again offer a course that promotes or endorses creationism, creation...

Dec 31, 2005

Irrigation Fuels Warmer Temps in California's Central Valley

Irrigation of California's Central Valley, which turned it from desert to productive farmland, could be to blame for warmer summer nights that have been recorded in recent years. What was once dry, light-colored soil that didn't absorb much solar warmth is now dark and damp and can absorb heat like...

Dec 31, 2005

Darker Days in China as Sun Gets Dimmer

Smog is blocking sunlight in China and making much of the country significantly darker than it was half a century ago. Using nearly 500 instruments spread throughout the country that record the amount of sunlight reaching the ground, researchers found that solar radiation has decreased by about 2 percent per...