All Stories
- Planetary Science
Journey to Mars
The rugged Mars Exploration Rover (MER) is scheduled to land on Mars on Jan. 4, 2004. A variety of Web sites offer information about the exploration of Mars and Mars rovers. Check out the official MER Web site for background information and up-to-the-minute reports. San Francisco’s Exploratorium Web site highlights various Mars-related activities. Go to: […]
- Earth
New technique dates glaze on desert rocks
Scientists have developed a quick, easy, portable, and nondestructive way to determine the age of desert varnish, the mysterious dark coating that slowly develops on rocks in many arid regions of the world.
- Earth
Newfound fault may explain quakes
Tsunami simulations suggest that a newly discovered fault zone beneath the Atlantic Ocean could have released most of the seismic energy from three earthquakes that destroyed Lisbon, Portugal, on the morning of Nov. 1, 1755.
- Earth
Alaska shook, mountains spoke
Small pulses in atmospheric pressure detected in Fairbanks soon after the magnitude 7.9 Denali quake on Nov. 3, 2002, suggest that the temblor literally moved mountains.
- Earth
Earth sometimes shivers beneath thick blankets of ice
New analyses of old seismic data have distinguished the ground motions spawned by a previously unrecognized type of earthquake—quakes created by brief surges of massive glaciers.
- Planetary Science
Lunar finding doesn’t hold water
A new radar study of craters at the moon's north and south poles reveals that neither region contains substantial amounts of frozen water.
- Health & Medicine
Protein found central to ecstasy fever
Scientists have identified a protein contributing to the high fevers that are sometimes generated by the drug ecstasy.
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I find the language in this article to be judgmental and unscientific. For example, “desert pavement and their biota are wounded by human activity” is neither artistic nor scientific. Such narrow, biased views of ecology have no place in a scientific journal. Boone MoraGarden Valley, Calif.
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- Planetary Science
Next Stop, Interstellar Space
Data recorded by the venerable Voyager 1 spacecraft suggest the craft has either recently encountered or will soon enter a key region near the edge of the solar system.
- Health & Medicine
Cold Comfort . . . Not!
No doubt about it: We’re in the throes of cold and flu season. Sniffles, coughs, sneezes, headaches, scratchy throats, loss of appetite, stuffy heads, and occasional vomiting can leave us feeling wretched for days to weeks on end. The youngest sufferers are especially miserable. Echinacea purpurea, a species of the purple coneflower, is the main […]
- Math
Sculpting with a Twist
There’s more than one way to slice a bagel. A bagel (or a doughnut) can serve as a physical model for a mathematical surface called a torus. You can slice it horizontally (or longitudinally) so that you end up with two halves, each containing a hole. That’s great for making sandwiches because the cut exposes […]
