All Stories by Devin Powell
- Earth
Natural gas wells leakier than believed
Measurements at Colorado site show methane releases are twice as high as previously estimated.
- Life
Ocean noise is a whale of a stressor
The post-9/11 quiet in Atlantic shipping lanes calmed the biggest marine mammals, hormone measurements suggest.
- Earth
Little Ice Age began with a bang
Frozen moss suggests climate cooling kicked off fast, possibly with help from volcanic eruptions.
- Earth
Some corals like it hot
Western Australian reefs are faring better than their eastern counterparts, at least for now.
- Humans
Intel Science Talent Search names top 40 finalists
More than 1,800 high school students entered the 2012 competition.
- Health & Medicine
Turn off, tune in, drop out
Magic mushrooms reduce blood flow to parts of the brain responsible for sense of self.
- Climate
Amazon may become greenhouse gas emitter
South America’s massive rain forest may soon release more carbon into the atmosphere than it absorbs.
- Life
Boas take pulse as they snuff it out
Snakes use the waning throb in their prey as a signal to stop squeezing.
- Physics
String theorists squeeze nine dimensions into three
A supercomputer simulation of the Big Bang’s immediate aftermath may explain why space has three directions.
- Earth
Small efforts to reduce methane, soot could have big effect
Simple measures could slow global warming and reduce premature deaths.
- Physics
Neutrino parents call into question faster-than-light results
The particles’ precursor doesn’t have enough energy to produce the speeds reported.
- Ecosystems
Groundwater dropping globally
Nine-year record collected from orbit finds supply dropping mostly due to agriculture.
