Oldest rocks — Science News, July 21, 1973 Until recently, Greenland possessed the oldest known rocks in the world. They date back 3.7 billion years (SN: 12/9/72, p. 374). Now granite and…
Author: Carolyn Gramling
The most intense sunlight on Earth can be found in the Atacama Desert
Forget Arizona or Florida — sun worshippers ought to head to the Atacama Desert in South America. It’s there that the sun’s rays on Earth are most intense, beating out places like…
‘The Next Supercontinent’ predicts a future collision of North America and Asia
The Next SupercontinentRoss MitchellUniv. of Chicago, $30 Today, there are seven continents. Some 200 million years from now, there will be just one. In The Next Supercontinent, geophysicist Ross Mitchell previews what…
Mystery of gravity hole in Indian Ocean solved
The mystery around a region where Earth’s gravitational pull is weaker than other parts of our planet may finally have an answer. In the middle of the Indian Ocean lies a gravity…
AI detectors have a bias against non-native English speakers
GPT detectors wrongfully flagged a majority of submissions by non-native English speakers as AI-generated content, raising concerns about their use. For better or worse, generative AI models have sparked a revolution. Their…
Canada’s Crawford Lake could mark the beginning of the Anthropocene
Scientists are one step closer to defining a new chapter in geology, one in which humans have become the dominant driver of Earth’s climate and environment. Out of 12 locations around the…
This seagrass is taking over the Chesapeake Bay. That’s good and bad news
On the U.S. mid-Atlantic seaboard, efforts to restore the health of the Chesapeake Bay over the last 10 years have faced a mysterious challenge — massive booms and busts of the seagrass…
This ancient, Lovecraftian apex predator chased and pierced soft prey
One of the earliest apex predators, and perhaps the freakiest to ever haunt the sea, may have also been a delicate eater. For decades, paleontologists have assumed that the long-extinct Anomalocaris canadensis…
Tear-resistant rubbery materials could pave the way for tougher tires
A new material design could reduce pollution where the rubber meets the road. Strategically adding weak points along microscopic chains called polymers actually makes them harder to tear, researchers report in the…
Tracing life’s origins with early Earth chemistry
Billions of years ago, Earth was a vastly different planet characterized by a harsh environment that could not support life. Volcanic eruptions, lightning storms, and the constant bombardment of meteorites and comets…