Category: Earth Systems

Beyond the grapes: what influences the flavor of different wines? Rocks, microbes and climate all impact the taste of your favorite wine

Mary Sabuda

You sit down at a restaurant and peruse the menu for the best wine to pair with your dinner. Do you choose a red wine like Cabernet Sauvignon, or something crisper and lighter like Riesling? Do you choose the cheapest READ MORE

New understanding of an ancient man and his tools The remains of an incredibly well-preserved man and his toolbox taught scientists that specialized labor and trade have been around for thousands of years.

Logan King

During the last days of the summer of 1991, tourists hiking in the Ötztal Alps near the Italy – Austria border found the remains of an incredibly well-preserved man. This man, dubbed Ötzi, was dated back to the “Copper Age”: READ MORE

Ivy Can Protect Buildings from Frost Ivy acts as a thermal blanket for masonry buildings and protects them from damage by frost

Namrata Dave

The UK and Ireland were visited by the Beast from the East in 2018 – freezing Arctic winds that dumped inches of snow and brought down temperatures to nearly fatal levels. Such temperatures are catastrophic for buildings as well, which READ MORE

How Humans Can Influence Evolution of Other Species Scientists recently published an analysis of how humans affect evolution, and why we should care

Sciworthy Staff

by Matthew D’Ambrosio Guest Contributor In biology, evolution is how populations change over time from their common ancestor. This process has been happening on Earth since life first began, over 3.5 billion years ago. Evolution, however; is not driven by one factor, READ MORE

Coral Is Sensitive to Small Changes in Ocean Temperature A new study using satellite data shows that the landmark 2015-2016 bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef was more extreme than we thought

Sciworthy Staff

by Robert Emberson Guest Contributor Imagine wandering through a vast desert, empty for thousands of miles in every direction. Think about the relief and joy you’d feel to encounter an oasis full of life. Swimming through the open ocean, bumping READ MORE

Using Gas Bubbles in Lava to Predict Ancient Air Pressure Scientists can estimate what the atmospheric pressure was on Earth 2.7 billion years ago, and the findings may help us understand how life formed

Sciworthy Staff

by Sumeet Kulkarni Guest Contributor, BMSIS Young Scientist Program What was the weather like in New York last week? You can look it up on weather.com. What was it like on March 7, 1953, in the pre-internet era? You might be READ MORE

For a Cooler Climate, Just Add Ice Should scientists attempt to slow climate change by intentionally increasing the size of the Greenland Ice Sheet to reflect sunlight away from the planet?

Sciworthy Staff

Should we geoengineer larger ice caps to reflect radiation away from the Earth to cool the climate? Is this a good idea? This article briefly explores these questions, based on the work of Jacob Haqq-Misra of Blue Marble Space Institute of Science.

Lasers and Fool’s Gold Give a Glimpse Into Our Ocean’s Past The amount of pyrite in the sea floor gives us an idea of how much oxygen was in the ocean millions of years ago.

Daniel Gregory

The amount of trace elements in ocean pyrite correspond to ocean oxygen concentrations at different points in geologic time.

New Cavity Discovered in the Great Pyramid of Egypt Cosmic rays from space allowed scientists to detect a mysterious 4000 year old cavity deep in the Great Pyramid

Sanjoy Som

An international team of scientists recently detected a new cavity in the 4000 year old Great Pyramid of Egypt! The detection method, muon tomography, is non-intrusive and so the discovery still awaits confirmation using more traditional techniques that involve (minimally READ MORE