Planetary Science
- Earth
Comet likely culprit in Tunguska blast
Analysis of shuttle plume movement suggests Tunguska event could have caused clouds over London.
- Earth
Lopsided lights
Simultaneous snapshots reveal that northern and southern auroras aren’t always alike.
- Planetary Science
Losing Louisiana
A new model predicts that rises in sea level, combined with subsiding lands, will claim a tenth of the state by century’s end.
- Planetary Science
Solar system’s future could be bumpy
A new study assesses the chances that two planets will collide or a planet will plunge into the sun in the next 5 billion years.
- Earth
Phytoliths as climate clues
Tiny silica plant structures from soil could track temperature changes.
- Earth
Bricks, mortar and magnetism
Medieval French castle, churches yield new data about Earth’s changing magnetic field.
- Earth
A more organic meteorite
Some meteorites may contain a higher concentration of organic chemicals than previously thought.
- Tech
White House commissions spaceflight-review panel
Outside experts are being asked to advise NASA on how to get astronauts into space after the shuttle program dies next year.
- Earth
A little air pollution boosts vegetation’s carbon uptake
Aerosols bumped up world’s plant productivity by 25 percent in the 1960s and 1970s, new research suggests.
- Planetary Science
Antarctic ecosystem holds unusual microbes
Long isolated deep under a glacier, life thrives in dark, salty water by breathing iron and eating sulfates.
- Planetary Science
Seeing the future hot spells
Satellite data could help scientists better predict killer heat waves, such as the one that hit Europe in 2003.
- Space
Galaxy mix: No dark matter required
New ultraviolet observations suggest dwarf galaxies may form without dark matter. The findings have implications for the early universe.
