Science News

This Sunday, the thing most football fans will be worrying about is the score of the biggest game of the year—not the 1 million lbs. of CO2 released into the atmosphere because of it. But the NFL isn’t dropping the ball on global warming: For the first time, renewable energy credits (RECs) will help offset all of the Super Bowl’s greenhouse gas emissions....
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Scientists are ready to look underground for more water on the Red Planet, while Richard Branson thinks the world is ready for more stem-cell research — not that Boeing is ready for onboard wireless. Plus, are we ready for the world's most expensive new home?...
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The runway decision was difficult enough to comprehend when we first examined the crash. But now it becomes even harder to discern why two experienced pilots continued down an unlit airstrip that, according to the NTSB, was designated strictly for daytime use....
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The derailed train in Kentucky conjures memories of an earlier PM investigation, as does an independent report on the BP refinery disaster. Plus, traffic-ticket software, the Golden Globes and a new Hubble date....
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Geologist and PM blogger Trevor Williams files his final report from McMurdo Station, where he just spent five days peering down a 3000-ft. hole measuring sediment data that may explain climate change—then looked up at a 12,000-ft. volcano and its lava lake....
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A new study has revealed that, post-Katrina, the Mississippi Delta's unstable coastland is sliding into the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, confusion over a downed airliner in Indonesia and a would-be UFO sighting in Chicago....
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Geologist Trevor Williams checks in from the bottom of the Earth to break down the hard-core process of drilling through 250 ft. of ice—and sloshing through 2800 feet of water....
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Our Antarctic geologist at McMurdo analyzes this week's news about the melting of the Arctic Ocean's sea ice by 2040—and considers similar predictions for the bottom of the Earth. Plus: Penguins!...
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Samples from NASA's Stardust mission—winner of a 2006 PM Breakthrough Award for bringing back the oldest material ever collected—indicate that, 4.6 billion years ago, material from the innermost part of our early solar system travelled all the way past Pluto....
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New concerns about the Airbus A380's exemption from fuel-tank fire rules popped up the same day that the A380 received approval for lift-off. Meanwhile, brief concerns for the Shuttle and big ones for potential attacks on U.S. space assets, plus super flying squirrels....
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