Planet Earth, features and articles | Educational Science

Aug 31, 2007

First 'Modern' Ears Found

The first backboned creatures to conquer land were largely deaf, lacking anatomical features whereby tiny bones help transmit airborne sounds into the inner ear. Advanced hearing was assumed to have evolved shortly before the emergence of dinosaurs, roughly 200 million years ago. Now, scientists have found that weasel-sized prehistoric reptiles...

Aug 31, 2007

Arctic Meltdown Opens Fabled Northwest Passage

A fabled sea route above North America linking the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans has become a reality thanks to global warming. Scientists have confirmed that in August, Arctic sea ice shrank to its lowest levels since satellite measurements began monitoring the region nearly 30 years ago. One consequence of this...

Aug 31, 2007

Greenland Snowmelt This Year Could Cover U.S. Twice

The amount of ice that has melted away from Greenland's ice sheet this year could cover an area twice the size of the United States, with more melting occurring in 2007 than the average going back to 1988, a new study finds. Using satellite data, NASA scientists compared the average...

Aug 31, 2007

Global Warming Fix: Help the Earth Cure Itself

Add a new one to the list of somewhat zany suggestions to counteract global warming, only this time the idea comes from the Gaia guy. James Lovelock, environmentalist, futurologist and creator of the Gaia hypothesis and its view of Earth as a huge organism, proposes that we help the planet...

Jul 31, 2007

In Surprise, Major Earthquake Fault Slips Backward

A vast chunk of Earth sliding under Mexico has surprisingly reversed direction, puzzling geologists and leaving them wondering whether the ground might be poised to pummel Mexico City with a devastating earthquake. The offshore tectonic plate had been sliding toward Mexico City at a rate of 1 inch per year,...

Jul 31, 2007

Life Resurrected From Glaciers

Germs long frozen in glaciers may resurrect as Earth's warming climate melts ice, potentially speeding up the evolution of microbes, research now reveals. Although Earth germs can apparently survive up to millions of years on ice, scientists added the harsh rigors of space make it unlikely that alien life or...

Jul 31, 2007

Coral Reefs Disappearing Faster Than Thought

Coral reefs in the central and western Pacific are disappearing twice as fast as rainforests are on land—faster than was previously thought, a new study says. The reefs in this region, called the Indo-Pacific, are disappearing at a rate of 1 percent per year—nearly 600 square miles of reef have...

Jul 31, 2007

California Farm Town Is Nation's Smoggiest

ARVIN, Calif. -- Lying in a rich agricultural region dotted with vineyards and orange groves, this central California community seems an unlikely place for a dubious distinction: the most polluted air in America. Hemmed in by mountains, Arvin is the final destination for pollutants from cities as far away as...

Jul 31, 2007

Study: Cities Make Storms More Fierce

Cities make summer thunderstorms more intense than they would be in the countryside, a new study suggests. Scientists have noted before that urban environments seem to alter the behavior of storms, but had not made observations of specific storms. Researchers at Princeton University consulted models and observations of an extreme...

Jul 31, 2007

New Paper Batteries Powered by Blood

Sheets of paper can be made to work like batteries and power electronics, research now reveals. The paper sheets could even get power from sweat or blood and, in the future, energize devices implanted within people, scientists said. “When we get this technology down, we'll basically have the ability to...

Jul 31, 2007

Mount Everest Deadlier for Older Hikers

When it comes to trekking up Earth's tallest peak, age matters. New research reveals 60-year-olds lag behind 40-year-olds in reaching Mount Everest's summit. And for those who make it, the 60-and-overs are more likely to die on the descent. On Everest, youth and vigor trump age and experience, the study...

Jul 31, 2007

Warmer Ocean Fuels Hurricane Dean

A new NASA animation shows the rise in sea surface temperatures that helped to spawn Hurricane Dean in the central Atlantic and Tropical Storm Erin in the Gulf of Mexico this week. Sea surface temperatures are a key ingredient for hurricane and tropical storm formation and they were warming up...

Jul 31, 2007

Astronauts See Hurricane Dean: 'Scary'

The looming threat of Hurricane Dean will force NASA's shuttle Endeavour to land Tuesday, one day earlier than planned, mission managers said Friday. Meanwhile, spacewalkers Clayton Anderson and Dave Williams paused in their work outside the International Space Station to gaze at the monster storm. Hoo man, you can't miss...

Jul 31, 2007

Autumn Snow Predicts Winter Weather

A new weather-forecasting model based on autumn snowfall in Siberia could help meteorologists predict winter temperatures and snowfall in the United States and Europe. The model results, reported this week in the Journal of Climate, could help make climate prediction more accurate and reliable for fields such as agriculture, water...

Jul 31, 2007

Take a Deep Breath, and Thank a Volcano

Volcanoes are partly to thank for the air you’re breathing right now, a new study shows. Billions of years ago, Earth had very little oxygen in its atmosphere, in part because most of the volcanoes on our planet were undersea. The mixture of gases and lavas that erupted from these...