Author: Seth Borenstein
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Science Says: That Michigan meteor could have been meatier
WASHINGTON — The fireball that streaked through the Michigan sky put on quite a show but as far as potentially killer space rocks, it was merely a flash in the pan. There are much bigger asteroids careening through our solar system. Scientists who watch for them hope they spot them in time to get people…
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US cold snap was a freak of nature, quick analysis finds
WASHINGTON — Consider this cold comfort: A quick study of the brutal American cold snap found that the Arctic blast really wasn’t global warming but a freak of nature. Frigid weather like the two-week cold spell that began around Christmas is 15 times rarer than it was a century ago, according to a team of…
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US hits record for costly weather disasters: $306 billion
WASHINGTON — With three strong hurricanes, wildfires, hail, flooding, tornadoes and drought, the United States tallied a record high bill last year for weather disasters: $306 billion. The U.S. had 16 disasters last year with damage exceeding a billion dollars, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday. That ties 2011 for the number of billion-dollar disasters,…
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New dinosaur looks like odd mix of duck, croc, ostrich, swan
WASHINGTON — With a bill like a duck but teeth like a croc’s, a swanlike neck and killer claws, a new dinosaur species uncovered by scientists looks like something Dr. Seuss could have dreamed up. It also had flippers like a penguin, and while it walked like an ostrich it could also swim. That’s the…
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Warming to make thunderstorms larger and more frequent
WASHINGTON — Summer thunderstorms in North America will likely be larger, wetter and more frequent in a warmer world, dumping 80 percent more rain in some areas and worsening flooding, a new study says. Future storms will also be wilder, soaking entire cities and huge portions of states, according to a federally-funded study released Monday…
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Misplaced monarchs: Clusters of butterflies stuck up north
WASHINGTON — Monarch butterflies, those delicate symbols of spring and summer, should mostly be in Texas by now, winging their way to Mexico for the winter. But Darlene Burgess keeps seeing colorful clusters of them — and she lives in Canada. “As nice as this is to see, I really wish I wouldn’t see it…
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Scientists witness huge cosmic crash, find origins of gold
WASHINGTON — It was a faint signal, but it told of one of the most violent acts in the universe, and it would soon reveal secrets of the cosmos, including how gold was created. Astronomers around the world reacted to the signal quickly, focusing telescopes located on every continent and even in orbit to a…
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Einstein proof: Nobel winners find ripples in the universe
WASHINGTON — For decades astronomers tried to prove Albert Einstein right by doing what Einstein thought was impossible: detecting the faint ripples in the universe called gravitational waves. They failed repeatedly until two years ago when they finally spotted one. Then another. And another. And another. Three American scientists — including one who initially flunked…
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Sea critters hitchhiked across the Pacific on tsunami debris
WASHINGTON — Nearly 300 species of fish, mussels and other sea critters hitchhiked across the Pacific Ocean on debris from the 2011 Japanese tsunami, washing ashore alive in the United States, researchers reported Thursday. It is the largest and longest marine migration ever documented, outside experts and the researchers said. The scientists and colleagues combed…
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Huge sea turtles slowly coming back from brink of extinction
WASHINGTON — Sea turtles are lumbering back from the brink of extinction, a new study says. Scientists found more populations of the large turtles improving than declining when they looked at nearly 60 regions across the globe. That’s a big change from a decade or two ago, experts said. Long-living sea turtles have been pushed…