Ten deadliest quakes of the 21st century
The massive earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on February 6 is the fifth-deadliest this century......»»
Cleaner snow boosts future snowpack predictions
Less pollution settling into snow should help cut the decline of snowpack in the Northern Hemisphere later this century. Though the snowpack will still diminish due to rising temperatures, the outlook is less dire when the cleaner snow of the future.....»»
To make a better vinegar, this company went back 200 years to find the right technology
American Vinegar Works founder Rodrigo Vargas found the innovation he needed in an illustration from a 19th century encyclopedia. In my 30-odd years spent with American food artisans, I always wondered why vinegar—that dagger of acidity that.....»»
Newly found rooms in Sahura’s Pyramid challenge what we know of such structures
Cheap construction reduced the monument at Abusir in Egypt to rubble over millennia. Enlarge / The Pyramid of Sahura in Abusir, Egypt. (credit: Mohamed Ismail Khaled) Over a century after a British archaeologist noted a.....»»
Tribe catches coho salmon on free-flowing Elwha River, a first since dam removals
With the plonk of fishing tackle in clear, green water, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe's first fishery on a free-flowing river in more than a century got underway......»»
The changing climate creates more noise in the oceans
Due to the changing climate, the underwater world is getting ever noisier. That is the main conclusion of a study that was published today in the journal PeerJ. "In some places, by the end of this century, the sound of ships, for example, will be fiv.....»»
The Atlantic Ocean"s major current system is slowing down—but a 21st century collapse is unlikely
Whether the water at your local beach is being roiled by nasty weather or is a perfectly calm expanse of blue, there's always a great deal going on under the surface. The ocean is composed of various currents and water masses; those currents flow aro.....»»
Humans got to America 7,000 years earlier than thought, new research confirms
When and how humans first settled in the Americas is a subject of considerable controversy. In the 20th century, archaeologists believed that humans reached the North American interior no earlier than around 14,000 years ago......»»
RIP Stoneman Willie: US mummy buried after 128 years
After more than a century living with a macabre mystery, the US town of Reading, Pennsylvania closed the casket Saturday on its oddest-ever resident—a mummified man who was finally buried......»»
RIP Stoneman Willie: US mummy to be buried after 128 years
After more than a century living with a macabre mystery, the US town of Reading, Pennsylvania is finally closing the casket on its oddest-ever resident—a mummified man set to be buried Saturday......»»
Is there really a 1 in 6 chance of human extinction this century?
In 2020, Oxford-based philosopher Toby Ord published a book called The Precipice about the risk of human extinction. He put the chances of "existential catastrophe" for our species during the next century at 1 in 6......»»
Study shows defects spreading through diamond faster than the speed of sound
Settling a half century of debate, researchers have discovered that tiny linear defects can propagate through a material faster than sound waves do......»»
Simultaneous large wildfires will increase in Western US, says study
Simultaneous outbreaks of large wildfires will become more frequent in the Western United States this century as the climate warms, putting major strains on efforts to fight fires, new research shows......»»
Superconductivity at room temperature remains elusive a century after Nobel Prize for landmark discovery
On April 8, 1911, Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes scribbled in pencil an almost unintelligible note into a kitchen notebook: "near enough null.".....»»
Ars takes a close-up look at the first US lunar lander in half a century
"Our strategy is being there and being ready to go." Enlarge / The Nova-C lander is seen at Intuitive Machines' facility in Houston, Texas. (credit: Lee Hutchinson) HOUSTON—It has been 18,558 days since the United Stat.....»»
DNA from discarded whale bones suggests loss of genetic diversity due to commercial whaling
Commercial whaling in the 20th century decimated populations of large whales but also appears to have had a lasting impact on the genetic diversity of today's surviving whales, new research from Oregon State University shows......»»
Hermit "scribblings" of eccentric French math genius unveiled
Tens of thousands of handwritten pages by one of the 20th century's greatest mathematicians, Alexander Grothendieck, many of which the eccentric genius penned while living as a hermit, were unveiled in France on Friday......»»
Researchers revive a chemical synthesis method abandoned a century ago. Why?
Organic synthesis is the art of creating molecules, used for creating essential items like pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and materials for high-tech gadgets such as smartphones. Think of it as playing with LEGO bricks at a microscopic level—chemi.....»»
Students made Oxford the murder capital of late medieval England, research suggests
A project mapping medieval England's known murder cases has now added Oxford and York to its street plan of London's 14th century slayings, and found that Oxford's student population was by far the most lethally violent of all social or professional.....»»
Tree rings reveal a new kind of earthquake threat to the Pacific Northwest
In February, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake shook the Turkey-Syria border, followed by one nearly as large nine hours later. Shallow faults less than 18 miles beneath the surface buckled and ruptured, causing violent focused quakes that leveled thousands.....»»
Workshop synthesis paper describes value of prescribed fire in wilderness areas
Many of the wilderness areas that we treasure were historically shaped by fire. Yet today, many wilderness landscapes are caught in the wildfire paradox—widespread suppression and exclusion of burning over the last century have increased the likeli.....»»