All Stories by Sid Perkins
- Earth
Even epic rainfall may not be enough to refill SoCal’s aquifers
More than a dozen atmospheric rivers dumped rainfall on California in 2023 but replenished only 25 percent of the water lost from aquifers since 2006.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists identify a long-sought by-product of some drinking water treatments
Chlorine-based water treatments create many by-products, but one has been elusive. Its identification sets the stage for studying its health effects.
- Astronomy
Barnard’s star has at least one planet orbiting it after all
After decades of searching, a telltale gravitational wobble points to an exoplanet orbiting the nearby red dwarf every 3.15 days.
- Astronomy
Starlink satellites’ leaky radio waves obscure the cosmos
Starlink satellites unintentionally emit radio waves that appear more than 10 million times brighter than natural sources, as seen by ground-based radio telescopes.
- Climate
Zapping sand to create rock could help curb coastal erosion
Low voltages generated minerals that help bind the sand into erosion-resistant rock, offering hope for shorelines ravaged by waves.
- Space
Scientists are getting serious about UFOs. Here’s why
UFOs have been rebranded as UAPs (unidentified anomalous phenomena). Probably not aliens, they might impact national security and aircraft safety.
- Oceans
In a seafloor surprise, metal-rich chunks may generate deep-sea oxygen
Instead of sinking from the surface, some deep-sea oxygen may be created by battery-like nodules that split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
- Earth
An ancient earthquake changed the course of the Ganges River
Flooding from a similar earthquake today could threaten about 170 million people in India and Bangladesh who live in low-lying regions nearby.
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Rock from the impact that formed the moon may linger in Earth’s mantle
When the young Earth and a Mars-sized body collided 4.5 billion years ago, it left behind dense mantle rock that survives to today, a study finds.
- Planetary Science
Here’s another strike against Venus having copious lightning
Past data and the Parker Solar Probe’s new discovery of weird whistler waves overturn the idea that Venus’ hellish atmosphere has a lot of lightning.
- Paleontology
A one-of-a-kind trilobite fossil hints at what and how these creatures ate
The preserved contents suggest the trilobite fed almost continuously and had a gut environment with an alkaline or neutral pH, researchers say.
- Planetary Science
Flashes in Venus’ atmosphere might be meteors, not lightning
With upcoming missions planned for Venus, scientists are eager to figure out the origin of the mysterious flashes.
Despite more than a dozen atmospheric rivers pummeling California with epic rainfall early in 2023, drought-ravaged aquifers there still didn’t get fully recharged. Water vapor for one of those atmospheric rivers is depicted in shades of teal.
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Around one-third of U.S. residents may be exposed to a newly identified breakdown product of some chlorine-based water treatments, a new study reveals.
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A small rocky planet (in the foreground in this illustration) orbits Barnard’s star, a red dwarf that lies a mere six light-years from our solar system, a new study suggests.
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Unintentional radio emissions from Starlink satellites (a group of which are shown here crossing the sky) threaten radio astronomy, a new study suggests.
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As seas batter fragile coasts, erosion can turn a paradise into disaster. Here, the battered remains of a house that collapsed earlier this month litter the beach in Rodanthe, N.C.
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UFOs have been rebranded as unexplained anomalous phenomena, or UAPs, and are now getting attention from mainstream scientists.
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Metallic nodules (such as the 10-centimeter one seen above being collected from the North Atlantic Ocean seafloor in 2021) can act like weak batteries and produce enough voltage to split seawater into hydrogen and oxygen, new research suggests.
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A previously unknown earthquake about 2,500 years ago changed the course of the Ganges River near where it meets the sea, a new study suggests.
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Continent-sized zones of dense rock — leftovers from the cosmic collision (illustrated) that formed the moon — sit atop Earth’s core, a study finds.
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Marked by quick frequency changes from high to low, whistler waves detected in the atmosphere of Venus by the Parker Solar Probe (illustrated here) during a flyby in 2021 weren’t triggered by lightning, a new study suggests.
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A high-resolution 3-D scan of a fossilized trilobite reveals what the ancient marine arthropod ate before it died: shell fragments, bits of sea urchin–like creatures and other bottom-dwellers (represented in shades of red and blue).
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Mysterious bursts of light in the atmosphere of Venus may be meteors burning up, a study suggests.
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