All Stories by Gabriel Popkin
- Astronomy
Year in Review: Visitor from the Oort cloud
A visitor from the outer solar system flies past the sun.
- Cosmology
Year in Review: Dark energy gets more confusing
New data raise the prospect of a ‘Big Rip’ destroying the cosmos.
- Environment
Protein fibers trap greenhouse gas
The method could scrub exhaust from cars and power plants.
- Environment
Stillbirth rates tied to lead in drinking water
Fetal death rates rose in Washington, D.C., in parallel with two recent spikes in drinking water’s lead levels.
- Astronomy
Sun’s rotation driven by enormous plasma flows
Long-lasting plasma flows 15 times the diameter of Earth transport heat from the sun’s depths to its surface, helping explain solar rotation.
- Astronomy
ISON appears to have broken up after brush with sun
Comet ISON has disintegrated in the sun’s intense heat and gravity, according to a growing consensus among astronomers.
- Earth
Earth’s plate boundaries may nurture diamond formation
An experiment mimicking conditions deep in the Earth suggests that some tectonic plate boundaries may make ideal diamond nurseries.
- Astronomy
ISON seems to have survived close call with sun
Comet ISON seems to have emerged from its brush with the sun diminished but intact, according to the latest reports.
- Astronomy
Comet ISON approaches sun for Thanksgiving flyby
On Thanksgiving, Comet ISON will pass near the sun and may disintegrate.
- Planetary Science
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot explained
A computer simulation is the first to explain how Jupiter’s Great Red Spot has survived for the nearly 200 years humans have observed it.
- Climate
Methane emissions may be far higher than estimated
U.S. fossil fuel and cattle industries may emit far more methane than government estimates indicate.
- Physics
Ripple effect
If you want ripples in your icicles, just add salt. This recipe comes from physicists reporting in the October New Journal of Physics.
