La Nina ‘linked’ to flu pandemics
La Nina events may make flu pandemics more likely, research suggests. US-based scientists found that the last four pandemics all occurred after La Nina events, which bring cool waters to the surface of the...
Category: Geophysical
Antarctic fossil shows sauropod dinosaurs were global
ANTARCTICA has yielded its first sauropod fossil. The long-necked plant-eating dinosaurs are already known to have plodded across the six other continents. The 70 to 80-million-year-old fossil is too incomplete to be given an...
Killer whales near Calif. coast
(multimedia) A group of killer whales have been spotted much further south along the California coast than ever before. Lee Cowan reports on what maybe causing the rare sightings.
Could Lack of Snowpack Lead to Water Concerns?
Snowpack across the western United States right now is paltry when compared to this time last year. Below is an image showing the expansive and deep snow cover (white, blue, purple shadings) across the...
NASA Finds Russian Runoff Freshening Canadian Arctic
PASADENA, Calif. – A new NASA and University of Washington study allays concerns that melting Arctic sea ice could be increasing the amount of freshwater in the Arctic enough to have an impact on...
Volcanic activity is causing the earth to rise in Oregon
Volcanic activity is causing the earth to rise in Oregon, scientists have found. Though whether such uplift is a sign of an imminent eruption remains uncertain. As early as the summer of 1996, a...
Impossible crystals are ‘from space’
Examples of a crystal previously thought to be impossible in nature may have come from space, a study shows. Quasicrystals have an unusual structure – in between those of crystals and glasses. Until two...
Mexican scientists finger volcanoes as a cause of Mayas’ collapse
A just completed six year long study of the Maya city of Palenque found evidence that the city may have been destroyed by superheated volcanic gases and covered with ash. Acid rain caused by...
GLOBAL CLIMATE RISK INDEX 2012
Summary As in previous years, the Global Climate Risk Index 2012 analyses to what extent countries have been affected by the impacts of weather-related loss events (storms, floods, heat waves etc.). The most recent...
record-breaking year for disasters
(CNN) — From the tsunami in Japan to famine in East Africa to the deadly tornado outbreaks in the United States, 2011 has been a historic year for natural disasters. A dozen weather-related disasters...
