Laser identifies explosive powders 400 meters away
Science News, August 2014A lightning-fast laser lightshow could help detect explosive powders from a distance, a study in the August 11 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests.
World’s largest ocean dead zone may shrink as Earth warms
Science News, August 2014Waning winds could give the world’s largest oxygen-starved ocean region a breath of fresh air as the planet warms, researchers report in the Aug. 8 Science. Scientists previously thought the North Pacific dead zone would grow, not shrink, under climate change.
Siberian crater mystery may be solved
Science News, August 2014Methane, not an alien spacecraft crash, is probably responsible for the 30-meter-wide crater that suddenly appeared in Siberia in mid-July.
Early life probably fell victim to massive space rocks
Science News, July 2014Space rocks larger in diameter than Spain bombarded the early Earth, probably repeatedly eradicating emerging life. The last of these death rocks struck around 4.3 billion years ago, scientists estimate in the July 31 Nature, providing an upper limit to when life first took hold on Earth.
Merging magma can set off supervolcanoes in less than 10,000 years
Science News, July 2014Massive supervolcanic eruptions can be triggered much more quickly than previously thought, scientists report July 21 in Geology.
Wonders of the northern lights
Science News, July 2014Tens of kilometers above the icy waterfalls surrounding Iceland’s Kirkjufell Mountain, Earth’s magnetic field drags electrons from the sun to their visually stunning demise. The zooming particles collide with nitrogen and oxygen in the upper atmosphere, an interaction that produces a brilliant blue-green light show called an aurora.
Sandstone structures form without cement
Science News, July 2014Gravity, not glue, allows towering sandstone pillars and arches to withstand howling wind and pouring rain, researchers propose July 20 in Nature Geoscience.
Cell phone towers monitor African rains
Science News, July 2014Distorted cell phone signals could help track the rains down in Africa.
Diamonds under pressure impersonate exoplanet cores
Science News, July 2014Researchers have squeezed diamonds to a record-setting pressure — 14 times as high as that inside Earth’s core. The compressed diamond’s properties could reveal the extreme conditions deep inside supersized distant planets, the team reports in the July 17 Nature.
Saharan dust explains Bahamas’ paradoxical existence
Science News, July 2014The Bahamas owes its origins to windswept dust from Africa’s Sahara Desert, scientists propose June 30 in Geology.