Robotic probes—including Ranger VIII, launched 50 years ago this week—paved the way for humankind’s giant leap to the Moon. This history may help guide future plans for lunar exploration.
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Two- and Four-Year Colleges Team Up to Support Science Students
Faculty from community colleges play increasingly important roles in promoting science, technology, engineering, and math. What can faculty from four-year colleges and universities do to collaborate?
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Urbanization and Air Pollution: Then and Now
Analysis of decades of mitigation efforts in Los Angeles demonstrates that air quality in megacities can be greatly improved.
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Elders Recall an Earlier Tsunami on Indian Ocean Shores
Legacies of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami include recent interviews with lucid eyewitnesses to an obscure disaster in 1945. The accounts attest to coastal hazards in Oman, Iran, Pakistan, and India.
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Coastal Fog, Climate Change, and the Environment
To climate scientists, marine fog's physical opacity symbolizes how much remains to be discovered about the atmospheric phenomenon.
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Magnetic Storms and Induction Hazards
Electric fields induced in the Earth's lithosphere during magnetic storms can interfere with the operation of electric power grids. Scientists are working to understand this multifaceted hazard.
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Time-Lapse Imaging in Polar Environments
New techniques are speeding up the slowest-changing landscapes on Earth.
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Crowdsourcing Digital Maps Using Citizen Geologists
Could citizen geologists help scientists make geological maps?
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New Indian Ocean Program Builds on a Scientific Legacy
From 1957 to 1965, 46 ships under 14 flags collected data for the International Indian Ocean Expedition. Now, 50 years later, scientists are planning a fresh effort to study the Indian Ocean.
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Crop Residue Burning: A Threat to South Asian Air Quality
Smoke from the residues, burned during October and November to ready fields for next year’s planting, emanate from Punjab, a region spanning northwestern India and eastern Pakistan.