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Damond Benningfield, Science Writer

Damond Benningfield

Damond Benningfield is a freelance science writer and audio producer in Austin, Texas. Among other projects, he writes and produces StarDate, a daily radio program about astronomy and space exploration, and Science and the Sea, a weekly program about marine science. He has been involved with several other short-format radio programs. Benningfield, a native of Austin, also serves as executive editor of StarDate magazine. He has contributed to almost 50 magazines, newspapers, and websites, including Air & Space/Smithsonian, Smithsonian, and Astronomy. He has a bachelor of journalism degree from The University of Texas at Austin.

Sunset from the ocean drilling communitiy’s scientific workhorse, the Joides Resolution.
Posted inFeatures

There is No JOIDES in Mudville

Damond Benningfield, Science Writer by Damond Benningfield 15 November 202328 August 2024

After almost 4 decades of research, the JOIDES Resolution will retire in 2024, leaving the ocean floor in peace (for now).

A spacecraft consisting of a bright central box and two cross-shaped solar panels flies above the jagged landscape of a large asteroid.
Posted inENGAGE, News

Getting Psyched Up for an Asteroid Mission

Damond Benningfield, Science Writer by Damond Benningfield 4 October 20235 October 2023

The first mission to a metallic asteroid, scheduled for launch on 5 October, could provide clues to the formation of Earth and the solar system’s other inner planets.

A boxy spacecraft with large solar “wings” takes a detailed look at Earth’s surface.
Posted inENGAGE, News

Major Lakes Have Suffered Major Water Losses over the Past Few Decades

Damond Benningfield, Science Writer by Damond Benningfield 27 June 202329 June 2023

A new study shows that losses are global in both arid and humid regions and could have significant impacts on a quarter of Earth’s population.

The lower part of Bear Glacier, Alaska, tripled in velocity in 2019, a phenomenon largely attributable to an ice-dammed lake suddenly draining through it.
Posted inFeatures

Redefining “Glacial Pace”

Damond Benningfield, Science Writer by Damond Benningfield 24 April 202324 April 2023

As Earth’s climate warms, glaciers and ice sheets are retreating, cracking, and adding to sea level rise at record speeds.

An orange “doughnut,” the plasmasphere, encircles Earth, with curved lines representing Earth’s magnetic field arcing through it and the Moon in the background.
Posted inNews

Tides Ripple Across Earth’s Plasma “Donut”

Damond Benningfield, Science Writer by Damond Benningfield 4 April 20234 April 2023

Interactions between lunar gravity and the terrestrial magnetic field may cause a 90° offset from the Moon’s position in its orbit.

The skyline of San Francisco, shrouded by clouds and smog, sits against a pastel blue and orange background.
Posted inENGAGE, News

“Revolutionary” Instrument to Watch North American Skies

Damond Benningfield, Science Writer by Damond Benningfield 17 March 202317 March 2023

TEMPO, scheduled for launch this April, will monitor ozone and other pollutants during hourly daytime scans, providing data for better air quality forecasts and atmospheric models.

Artist’s illustration of a large yellow sphere with red curved lines running through it. A red striped sphere is in the foreground.
Posted inNews

“Hot Jupiter” Is in a Possible Death Spiral

Damond Benningfield, Science Writer by Damond Benningfield 31 January 202331 January 2023

Kepler’s first exoplanet is migrating toward its star, an evolved subgiant that is much bigger than first thought.

Illustration of NASA’s Cassini spacecraft diving through the plume of Saturn’s moon Enceladus in 2015
Posted inFeatures

Marine Science Goes to Space

Damond Benningfield, Science Writer by Damond Benningfield 4 January 202325 September 2023

Space and ocean scientists take a splash course in multidisciplinary science to chart our solar system’s ocean worlds.

The orange moon Titan passes in front of the striped disk of the planet Saturn, with Saturn’s rings seen edge on, forming a thin line between the moon and planet.
Posted inNews

Long-Gone Moon Could Explain Birth of Saturn’s Rings

Damond Benningfield, Science Writer by Damond Benningfield 20 October 202224 May 2023

Named Chrysalis, the moon could have disintegrated during a close encounter with the gas giant roughly 100 million years ago.

Gloved hands hold a dark chunk of rock, a part of the Aguas Zarcas meteorite.
Posted inNews

Tiny “Pancakes” Suggest Some Asteroids May Stay Active

Damond Benningfield, Science Writer by Damond Benningfield 22 September 202222 September 2022

Analysis of a meteorite that fell in Costa Rica shows that its parent body may resemble the asteroid Bennu.

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Over a dark blue-green square appear the words Special Report: The State of the Science 1 Year On.

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