Planet Earth, features and articles | Educational Science

Oct 31, 2006

Faraway Volcanoes Shrunk the Mighty Nile

Volcanic eruptions on Iceland generated a cascade of events that led to record low levels of water in the Nile River in Africa and brought famine to the region more than two centuries ago, a new study concludes. The findings will inform climate forecasting related to future volcanic activity. From...

Sep 30, 2006

Wave of Destruction: Asian Tsunami Disaster

Kalutara, Sri Lanka (Before) (Image credit: Digital Globe)This image shows the area detail of the coast of Kalutara, Sri Lanka prior to the Tsunami disaster. This before photograph was taken almost a year earlier, on January 1, 2004. Map Overview: Earthquake Spawns Tsunamis (Image credit: USGS)The Earth’s solid surface floats...

Sep 30, 2006

Waves from Top of the World Destroy Huge Iceberg at Bottom

On a calm, clear day in October 2005, a huge Antarctic iceberg broke into half a dozen pieces. Today, scientists said the event was triggered by ocean swells kicked up during an Alaskan storm—half a world away. At 60 miles long and 18.5 miles wide, the iceberg called B15A was...

Sep 30, 2006

Maine Quake Causes Dramatic Drop in Well Water Level

A minor earthquake that shook parts of Maine at 8:07 p.m. local time Monday caused water to drop 2.5 feet at a U.S. Geological Survey monitoring well. Nearly 17 hours later, the water level was still dropping, scientists announced today. Hydrologists call the change in the well “dramatic,” and said...

Sep 30, 2006

10 Surprising Ways Weather Has Changed History

How Weather Changed History The NASA GOES-13 satellite captured a snapshot of three tropical storms (and a tropical wave) on July 22. Hurricane Dora is in the Pacific, while Bret and Cindy whirl in the Atlantic. Low #1, a tropical wave, has brought rain to parts of the Caribbean. None...

Sep 30, 2006

Life's Cradle Also a Living Museum

The tropics are where new species begin and older species continue to live, according to a new study that settles a long-running debate. I think we've killed the idea that the tropics is either a cradle or a museum of biodiversity,” said study co-author James W. Valentine, professor emeritus of...

Sep 30, 2006

Report: American West Faces Dire Future

Without action to reduce carbon emissions, global warming will dramatically alter the Western U.S. landscape, according to a nongovernmental report released Thursday by the National Wildlife Federation. America's addiction to fossil fuels is coming at an enormous price, one that threatens not only people but the fish, wildlife and ecosystems...

Sep 30, 2006

Alaskan Lakes Dry Up

More than 10,000 Alaskan lakes have dried up or shrunk in size in a span of 52 years, scientists reported today. Between 1950 and 2002, Alaska experienced longer growing seasons, increased thawing of permafrost, and greater water loss from evaporation of open waters. All of these changes, along with the...

Sep 30, 2006

Human Activity Linked to Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapse

Human-caused global warming was responsible for the collapse of an Antarctic ice shelf in 2002, scientists said today. Changing weather patterns, a consequence of global warming, has caused stronger westerly winds to blow warm air from the middle latitudes to the Antarctic Peninsula. These winds are responsible for the summer...

Sep 30, 2006

World's 10 Most Polluted Places

Areas that researchers have declared the most polluted in the world are typically little known even in their own countries. Yet they in total afflict more than 10 million people, experts reported today. The kinds of pollution in these areas not only lead to cancers, birth defects, mental retardation and...

Sep 30, 2006

Ozone Hole Breaks Record

During its seasonal peak, the ozone hole set a record this year, scientists reported today. The ozone hole, which covers much of Antarctica, is thought to be caused by human-produced compounds which release chlorine and bromine. Chemical reactions high in the atmosphere cause these gases to destroy ozone. The presence...

Sep 30, 2006

Rising Seas and Stronger Storms Threaten New York City

Global warming could substantially raise sea levels around New York City over the next century and put the Big Apple at greater risk of being flooded by hurricane waves, a new computer model predicts. Sea level around the city could jump 15 to 19 inches by 2050 and by more...

Sep 30, 2006

The World's Worst Thunderstorms

A new global satellite survey of thunderstorm activity has helped meteorologists pinpoint exactly where Earth’s hotspots for intense thunderstorms are: the American Midwest, Argentina , and some semi-arid regions like the edges of the Sahara desert. The new study, which appeared in the August issue of the Bulletin of the...

Aug 31, 2006

Tiny Island Was Violent Microcosm of World Strife

A tiny island in the middle of nowhere is like a world in miniature, a new study finds. Rapa island lies isolated in the South Pacific, halfway between South America and New Zealand. Initially cooperative, its first settlers turned to violence when faced with the same pressures of environment and...

Aug 31, 2006

Town Let's Nature Deal with Nudity

BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) -- Mother Nature, not an ordinance, will draw the covers over public nudity in Brattleboro. The town's Select Board decided Tuesday to take no action on an anti-nudity ordinance that was introduced in response to a clothing-optional movement launched by local teenagers this summer. Winter is coming....