Sid Perkins
Sid Perkins is a freelance science writer based in Crossville, Tenn.
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All Stories by Sid Perkins
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Earth
Grape-harvest dates hold climate clues
The vintner's habit of picking no grapes before their time may give scientists a tool that could help verify reconstructions of European climate for the past 500 years.
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Paleontology
Fossils Indicate. . .Wow, What a Croc!
Newly discovered fossils of an ancient cousin of modern crocodiles suggest that adults of the species may have been dinosaur-munching behemoths that grew to the length of a school bus and weighed as much as 8 metric tons.
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Paleontology
Even flossing wouldn’t have helped
Small particles trapped in minuscule cracks or pits in the teeth of plant-eating dinosaurs could give scientists a way to identify the types of greenery the ancient herbivores were munching.
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Paleontology
CT scan unscrambles rare, ancient egg
A tangled heap of bones and bone fragments in the bottom of an unhatched elephant bird egg may soon be reassembled into a model of the long-dead embryo, thanks to high technology—and scientists won't even have to crack open the egg to do it.
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Paleontology
How did Triceratops grow its horns?
Newly discovered fossil skulls of juvenile Triceratops may help reveal how the dinosaurs grew their three trademark horns.
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Paleontology
Fossils found under tons of Kitty Litter
Excavations at North America's largest Kitter Litter mine have yielded fossils of ancient aquatic reptiles, as well as evidence of a tsunami generated by the extraterrestrial impact that killed off the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago.
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Earth
Lowland tree loss threatens cloud forests
Changes in regional climate brought about by large-scale deforestation in the eastern lowlands of Central America are affecting weather in the mountains downwind, imperiling ecosystems there.
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Paleontology
Large shadows fell on Cretaceous landscape
Paleontologists have unearthed the remains of what they believe could be the largest flying creature yet discovered—a 12-meter-wingspan pterosaur.
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Anthropology
Isotopes reveal sources of ancient timbers
Isotopic analysis of architectural timbers from ancient dwellings in the U.S. Southwest has shown from which distant forests the massive logs came.
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Earth
Dust, the Thermostat
Analyses suggest that dust has profound, complex, and far-reaching effects on the planet's climate.
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Earth
Quantum physics explains core anomaly
Scientists have used the principles of quantum physics to answer the long-standing puzzle of why seismic waves travel at different speeds in different directions across Earth's inner core.
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Earth
Himalayas may be due for big temblors
Scientists say that a narrow region that rims the southern edge of the Tibetan Plateau could be the spawning grounds for large earthquakes that could threaten millions in southern Asia in the decades to come.