Sediments from a lake in Switzerland reveal that ancient Romans triggered dead zones caused by the runoff of nutrients. Sound familiar?
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Posted inNews
Severe Drought May Have Helped Hasten Ancient Maya’s Collapse
Chemical signatures from sediments in lake cores reveal that the centuries-long drought during the fall of Classic Maya civilization was worse than researchers had imagined.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
The Case of the Missing Lunar Heat Flow Data Is Finally Solved
Decades-old data analyzed for the first time suggest that astronauts’ disturbance of the Moon surface increased solar heat intake, warming the ground below.
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Tree Rings Tell a Tale of Wartime Privations
In occupied Norway during World War II, the German navy deployed thick chemical fog to protect a precious battleship. The effects are still detectable in trees.
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Corn’s Ancestor Could Help It Go Green
The grandfather of modern corn may hold the key to reducing its need for chemical fertilizers.
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Mystery Quakes May Be Among World’s Longest-Lived Aftershocks
New evidence about where a major earthquake struck central Washington State 145 years ago raises the possibility that today’s unusually frequent quakes in the area still echo that 1872 event.
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Volcanic Woes May Have Contributed to Ancient Egypt’s Fall
Ice cores and ancient river records suggest that volcanic eruptions may have reduced the flow of the Nile River. Failures of the Nile floods that usually irrigated Egypt’s farms could have fed social unrest.
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How to Trigger a Massive Earthquake
Humans may be to blame for California’s second-largest 20th century earthquake, and a team of seismologists has now proposed how that could have happened.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Stories in the Soil
A series of field experiments in the U.S. Midwest is investigating how past, present, and future human activities and climate affect the health of soil.
Posted inNews
Ancient Maya May Have Foreseen Meteor Showers
Modern astronomical techniques have uncovered clues to a possible facet of Mayan astronomy from nearly 2 millennia ago not found in surviving records.