When tree rings, ice cores, and cave formations can’t cut it, try your luck with whale earwax or bat poop.

JoAnna Wendel
JoAnna Wendel is a freelance science writer and cartoonist. She covers topics ranging from the geology of faraway moons to the behavior of animals in our oceans. She served as a staff writer for Eos from 2014 to 2018, then worked in communications in NASA’s Planetary Sciences Division. JoAnna is now freelancing full time as a writer and artist.
Homemade “Spatter Bombs” Can Reveal Volcanic Secrets
Researchers use trial and error to develop a technique to create volcanic lava bombs.
Lunar and Planetary Science Inspires Out-of-This-World Poetry
Writing a haiku to accompany your abstract is a long-standing tradition of the annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Here are some of our favorites from this year’s program.
Five Takeaways from Trump’s Proposed Budget for NASA
Exploration and privatization dominate the president’s proposed budget for the space agency in the 2019 fiscal year, whereas a major cut to a flagship mission surprises scientists.
Tyler Prize Honors Two Leaders in Marine and Climate Science
Biological oceanographers Paul Falkowski and James McCarthy helped revolutionize the world’s understanding of Earth’s changing climate, both past and present.
When Your Weird Science Gets Stopped at Airport Security
“Gamma ray spectrometer,” “rock hammer,” and “putty knife” are not phrases that airport security likes to hear.
Global Average Temperatures in 2017 Continued Upward Trend
Even when the warming from El Niño is removed, 2017 ranks among the hottest years on record.
A Window into the Emerging Anthropocene…Through Art
Want a snapshot of how humans have been changing their landscapes since the Industrial Revolution? Look at artwork at a local museum, one geoscientist says.
Read Them Again: Eos’s Most Viewed Stories of 2017
From mesmerizing maps to glacial floods and massive earthquakes, here’s a look back on last year’s most popular stories.