Sid Perkins

Sid Perkins is a freelance science writer based in Crossville, Tenn.

All Stories by Sid Perkins

  1. Planetary Science

    An ancient impact on Earth led to a cascade of cratering

    For the first time, scientists have discovered clusters of craters on Earth that were formed by the impacts of material thrown out of a larger crater.

  2. Paleontology

    Fossils reveal what may be the oldest known case of the dino sniffles

    A respiratory infection that spread to air sacs in the vertebrae of a 150-million-year-old sauropod likely led to now-fossilized bone lesions.

  3. Astronomy

    Astronomers identified a second possible exomoon

    Kepler 1708 b i, a newly discovered candidate for an exoplanet moon, has a radius about 2.6 times that of Earth, a new study suggests.

  4. Earth

    Some volcanic hot spots may have a surprisingly shallow heat source

    Mysterious hot spots of volcanic activity in the interior of tectonic plates just got a little stranger.

  5. Paleontology

    ‘Penis worms’ may have been the original hermits

    Soft-bodied critters called penis worms inhabited abandoned shells — a la modern-day hermit crabs — by about 500 million years ago, a study suggests.

  6. Earth

    Earth is reflecting less light. It’s not clear if that’s a trend

    A decrease in Earth’s reflectance shows our planet is absorbing more solar radiation, but it’s not clear if the trend will last.

  7. Chemistry

    Radiometric dating puts pieces of the past in context. Here’s how

    Carbon dating and other techniques answer essential questions about human history, our planet and the solar system.

  8. Paleontology

    Fossil tracks may reveal an ancient elephant nursery

    Fossilized footprints at a site in Spain include those of an extinct elephant’s newborns, suggesting the animals may have used the area as a nursery.

  9. Space

    Jupiter’s intense auroras superheat its upper atmosphere

    Jupiter’s hotter-than-expected upper atmosphere may be caused by high-speed charged particles slamming into the air high above the poles.

  10. Planetary Science

    Marsquakes reveal the Red Planet boasts a liquid core half its diameter

    Analyses of seismic waves picked up by NASA’s InSight lander shed new light on the planet’s core and give clues to the thickness of the crust.

  11. Climate

    Collapse may not always be inevitable for marine ice cliffs

    Runaway collapse of ice cliffs could dramatically boost sea level. But these cliffs may not be so vulnerable, new simulations suggest.

  12. Earth

    A new book uses stories from tsunami survivors to decode deadly waves

    In ‘Tsunami: The World’s Greatest Waves,’ two scientists chronical hundreds of eyewitness accounts to show the human cost of life at the water’s edge.