All Stories by Sid Perkins
- Planetary Science
NASA’s DART mission lofted a swarm of boulders into space
Hubble telescope images of the asteroid Dimorphos reveal a halo of 37 dim, newfound objects — most likely boulders shaken loose from the surface.
- Science & Society
Humans exploit about one-third of wild vertebrate species
An analysis of nearly 47,000 vertebrate animal species reveals that using them for food, medicine or the pet trade is helping push some toward extinction.
- Earth
Irrigation may be shifting Earth’s rotational axis
Computer simulations suggest that from 1993 to 2010 irrigation alone could have nudged the North Pole by about 78 centimeters.
- Climate
Why is the North Atlantic breaking heat records?
Record-breaking sea-surface temperatures off the coast of Africa may affect the 2023 hurricane season. What’s fueling the unusual heat is unclear.
- Anthropology
These ancient flutes may have been used to lure falcons
Seven bird-bone flutes unearthed from a site in northern Israel are about 12,000 years old and may have been used as bird calls.
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New discoveries are bringing the world of pterosaurs to life
The latest clues hint at where pterosaurs — the first vertebrates to fly — came from, how they evolved, what they ate and more.
- Climate
The summer of 2021 was the Pacific Northwest’s hottest in a millennium
Tree ring data from the Pacific Northwest reveal that the region’s average summer temperature in 2021 was the highest since at least the year 950.
- Paleontology
Newfound bat skeletons are the oldest on record
The newly identified species Icaronycteris gunnelli lived about 52.5 million years ago in what is now Wyoming and looked a lot like modern bats.
- Astronomy
The biggest planet orbiting TRAPPIST-1 doesn’t appear to have an atmosphere
TRAPPIST-1b is hotter than astronomers expected, suggesting there’s no atmosphere to transport heat around the planet.
- Paleontology
520-million-year-old animal fossils might not be animals after all
Newly described fossils of Protomelission gatehousei suggest that the species, once thought to be the oldest example of bryozoans, is actually a type of colony-forming algae.
- Paleontology
The oldest known pollen-carrying insects lived about 280 million years ago
Pollen stuck to fossils of earwig-like Tillyardembia pushes back the earliest record of potential insect pollinators by about 120 million years.
- Planetary Science
NASA’s Perseverance rover captured the sound of a dust devil on Mars
A whirlwind swept over Perseverance while its microphone was on, capturing the sound of dust grains hitting the mic or the NASA rover’s chassis.
A trail of dust extends from the asteroid Dimorphos (bright object at left in this Hubble telescope image), which now has 37 previously unseen boulders (circled) traveling alongside it.
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Humans exploit nearly one-third of the world’s nearly 47,000 species of vertebrates — including the African lion, resplendent quetzal, golden poison frog and blue shark (left to right).
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Sprinklers water crops near Rio Vista, Calif. Similar irrigation around the world has pulled so much water out of the ground that Earth’s rotation might have shifted.
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Large swaths of the North Atlantic are well above normal temperature (orange and red) for this time of year, a trend that could affect the forthcoming hurricane season.
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These seven flutes (each shown from three views) made from the bones of small waterfowl are the oldest known wind instruments from the Middle East, a new study says. The largest measures only about 63 millimeters, or 2.5 inches.
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Pterosaurs originated well over 200 million years ago during the Triassic Period and were the first vertebrates to take to the skies.
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In 2021, average summer temperatures in the Pacific Northwest were the highest on record. This map of North America illustrates those temperatures, with reds being warmer than the 1950–1980 global summer average and blues being cooler.
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Two complete fossils of the newfound bat species Icaronycteris gunnelli (one shown) are the oldest known bat skeletons, researchers say.
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Exoplanet TRAPPIST-1b (illustrated), which circles a star nearly 40 light-years from Earth, probably has little or no atmosphere, a new study suggests.
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Protomelission gatehousei was thought to be a marine animal called a bryozoan. New fossils suggest that the ancient organisms (two dark brown pieces seen attached to a fossil shell) were actually a type of algae.
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Fossils reveal that the earwig-like insect Tillyardembia (illustrated) transported pollen from plant to plant about 280 million years ago.
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NASA’s Perseverance rover (whose wheel is seen at left) is seen here exploring Mars’ dusty Jezero crater on November 5. In September 2021, the rover made the first-ever audio recording of a Martian dust devil as it swept over the robotic explorer.
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