Buried within the Las Pinturas pyramid in San Bartolo, Guatemala, thousands of painted plaster mural fragments offer a window into ancient Maya civilization. Two of those fragments form the earliest…
Author: ID
This is the biggest known comet in our solar system
The nucleus of a comet discovered in 2014 is the largest ever spotted. The “dirty snowball” at the center of comet C/2014 UN271 is about 120 kilometers across, researchers report…
How ancient, recurring climate changes may have shaped human evolution
Recurring climate changes may have orchestrated where Homo species lived over the last 2 million years and how humankind evolved. Ups and downs in temperature, rainfall and plant growth promoted…
More than 57 billion tons of soil have eroded in the U.S. Midwest
With soils rich for cultivation, most land in the Midwestern United States has been converted from tallgrass prairie to agricultural fields. Less than 0.1 percent of the original prairie remains.…
‘Paradise Falls’ thrusts readers into the Love Canal disaster
Paradise FallsKeith O’BrienPantheon, $30 In December 1987, my family moved from sweltering Florida to a snow-crusted island in the Niagara River just north of Buffalo, N.Y. There on Grand Island,…
Climate change intensified deadly storms in Africa in early 2022
Climate change amped up the rains that pounded southeastern Africa and killed hundreds of people during two powerful storms in early 2022. But a dearth of regional data made it…
New thermal maps of Neptune reveal surprising temperature swings
Neptune’s atmospheric temperature is on an unexpected roller-coaster ride, and it could take decades for scientists to piece together what’s happening at the distant planet. The ice giant’s global temperature…
How a mound-building bird shapes its Australian ecosystem
Earthen piles built by a chicken-like bird in Australia aren’t just egg incubators — they may also be crucial for the distribution of key nutrients throughout the ecosystem. In the…
Mars has two speeds of sound
On Mars, the speed of sound depends on its pitch. All sound travels slower through Mars’ air compared with Earth’s. But the higher-pitched clacks of a laser zapping rocks travels…
50 years ago, the future of solar energy looked bright
Farming the sun’s energy – Science News, April 8, 1972 More and more scientists and engineers are beginning to believe that solar conversion will account for a significant portion of…
