EXPLAINER: What is a derecho?
Multiple tornadoes and thunderstorms that struck the Great Plains and upper Midwest on Dec. 15 were the result of a rare event called a derecho, according to the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center. It was the first on record in Decem.....»»
EXPLAINER: Stuck jet stream, La Nina causing weird weather
America's winter wonderland is starting out this season as anything but traditional......»»
EXPLAINER: Why India has repeated air pollution problems
New Delhi struggles with pollution year-round, but the problem becomes acute during fall and winter months. On Wednesday, the concentration of tiny pollution particles was nearly 30 times above the level deemed safe over a 24-hour period by the World.....»»
EXPLAINER: How warming affects Arctic sea ice, polar bears
Majestic, increasingly hungry and at risk of disappearing, the polar bear is dependent on something melting away on our warming planet: sea ice......»»
EXPLAINER: Why are schools revisiting gifted education?
New York City officials announced plans this month for its school system, the country's largest, to phase out its program for gifted and talented students......»»
No, your antibodies are not better than vaccination: An explainer
Infection does offer some immune protection—but it's unreliable compared with vaccines. Enlarge / Dr. Silvia Gelvez gestures after receiving a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19, at Colombia University Clinic in Bog.....»»
EXPLAINER: What Kilauea"s history tells us about its future
Kilauea, one of the most active volcanos on Earth, began erupting on Hawaii's Big Island Wednesday. The eruption is not in an area with homes and is entirely contained within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park......»»
EXPLAINER: Why home protection is important in wildfires
Wildfires have destroyed nearly 50,000 homes in California alone in the last five years, and scientists say global warming is only making things worse......»»
EXPLAINER: Fountaining Hawaii lava creates molten rock lake
Kilauea, one of the most active volcanos on Earth, began erupting on Hawaii's Big Island Wednesday. The eruption is not in an area with homes and is entirely contained within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park......»»
EXPLAINER: Wide dangers ahead for Spanish volcanic island
A small Spanish island in the Atlantic Ocean is struggling days after a volcano erupted, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people, and authorities are warning that more dangers from the explosion lie ahead......»»
EXPLAINER: 4 will circle Earth on 1st SpaceX private flight
For the first time in 60 years of human spaceflight, a rocket is poised to blast into orbit with no professional astronauts on board, only four tourists......»»
Explainer: Why it takes months to subdue some wildfires
At nearly every community meeting on firefighting efforts in the U.S. West, residents want to know why crews don't simply put out the flames to save their homes and the valuable forests surrounding them......»»
EXPLAINER: How Blue Origin"s Jeff Bezos will soar into space
When Blue Origin launches people into space for the first time, founder Jeff Bezos will be on board. No test pilots or flight engineers for Tuesday's debut flight from West Texas, just Bezos, his brother, an 82-year-old aviation pioneer and a teenage.....»»
Explainer: How Richard Branson will ride own rocket to space
Virgin Galactic will become the first rocket company to launch the boss when Richard Branson straps into one of his sleek, shiny space planes this weekend......»»
EXPLAINER: What"s behind the heat wave in the American West?
Much of the American West has been blasted with sweltering heat this week as a high pressure dome combines with the worst drought in modern history to launch temperatures into the triple digits, toppling records even before the official start of summ.....»»
EXPLAINER: The significance of China"s new space station
Adding a crew to China's new orbiting space station is another major advance for the burgeoning space power......»»
EXPLAINER: What are cicadas and why do they bug some people?
Cicadas, red-eyed bugs singing loud sci-fi sounding songs, can seem downright creepy. Especially since the trillions of them coming this year emerge from underground only every 17 years......»»
EXPLAINER: How come nations" climate targets don"t compare?
This week's climate change summit features lots of talk from different nations about their goals for reducing carbon emissions. But in the weird world of national climate pledges, numbers often aren't quite what they seem......»»
The moments we realized the pandemic would change everything
COVID-19, one year later: Ars staff looks back on.... truly something else. Enlarge We're roughly at the one-year point of the global COVID-2 pandemic—Ars' initial explainer on the virus first published on March 8, the World Health Organiz.....»»
Explainer: Topsy-turvy weather comes from polar vortex
It's as if the world has been turned upside-down, or at least its weather. You can blame the increasingly familiar polar vortex, which has brought a taste of the Arctic to places where winter often requires no more than a jacket......»»
Explainer: how the UAE probe reached Mars" orbit
The first Arab interplanetary mission reached Mars' orbit Tuesday in the most critical stage of its journey to unravel the secrets of weather on the Red Planet......»»