Topic: Earth Science
Weird light could mean Aliens, but probably doesn’t

Weird light could mean Aliens, but probably doesn’t

Image of an Eagle of Big Bear Observatory shown with a plot of how birds affect light measurements. There are a lot of really solid scientists putting thought and observational time toward looking for life orbiting other stars. From searching for biosignatures in atmospheres to looking for technosignatures like radio signals or laser pulses, researchers are looking in a variety of ways. While this hasn’t found us definitive evidence of alien life, it has found some weird things, including, most recently, some super high-speed pulses in the light of sun-like stars. Retired JPL astronomer...

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1 year ago this week: Aurorae!

1 year ago this week: Aurorae!

Aurorae from Bethalto, Illinois . Credit: Pamela L Gay A year ago this week, on May 10-13, 2024, the Sun triggered an amazing series of auroras that were visible to folks living in the mid-latitudes. Those amazing few nights - and another set of events in October 2024...

Ancient Crater Found Hiding in Australia

Ancient Crater Found Hiding in Australia

I want to bring you a story that looks to rewrite a bit of our world's history. Researchers studying the geology of an Australian feature called the North Pole Dome, despite being located in Western Australia, found evidence that the feature is associated with a 3.5...

Ordering Enough Water for Early Planet Earth

Ordering Enough Water for Early Planet Earth

artist's depiction of planets colliding. While major asteroid and comet impacts have often been devastating for life on Earth, life on Earth wouldn’t be here without impacts that occurred early in our world’s history.  As the story goes, Due to our planet’s...

Modern Melt

Modern Melt

Our Earth is currently working its way toward being the exact opposite of a snowball Earth as we see glaciers and ice caps receding across the planet. This is fundamentally changing our landscape and how we as humans interact with that landscape.  These changes...

Between Fire and Ice is Slush

Between Fire and Ice is Slush

Snowball Earth. Credit: NASA Our planet has been driven to environmental extremes at many times in its history, and many plants and animals - including humans - have demonstrated they can survive less than ideal conditions. The last major ice age hit its peak 20 to 26...

Dinosaurs Thrived After Ice

Dinosaurs Thrived After Ice

Archaeopteryx Credit: Peter Montgomery Jupiter’s moon Io is the most volcanic object in our solar system today, but our planet gave Io a run for its money more than 200 million years ago. At that point in our planet's history, our world was dominated by the Triassic...

Dino Prints Match Continents

Dino Prints Match Continents

One of the reasons we study the Moon is to help us understand the history of our own planet Earth. The shifting continents and weather patterns of Earth join forces to erase our world’s history. Occasionally, however, our planet reveals its past through the rocks...