Sid Perkins

2 weeks ago | sciencenews.org | Sid Perkins

The collision of two lightning-bolts-in-the-making spawned an exceedingly brief but extremely energetic flash of gamma rays. This first-of-its-kind observation may help explain an origin of some of the most energetic radiation on Earth. Researchers have for years linked the production of gamma rays to the acceleration of electrons by strong electric fields in thunderstorms.

Feb 13, 2025 | sciencenews.org | Sid Perkins

Even though immense rains repeatedly pummeled California in 2023, they barely helped recharge aquifers drawn down by decades of drought and human pumping, a new study reveals. About one-third of the water supply in Los Angeles, which is susceptible to long dry spells, comes from groundwater. But in the first three months of 2023, more than a dozen atmospheric rivers — long, narrow weather systems chock full of water vapor — brought rainfall to the West Coast.

Jan 10, 2025 | science.org | Paul Voosen |Sid Perkins

It’s a record foretold: 2024 was the hottest year in human history, even hotter than the record-breaking year before it. Global surface temperatures were somewhere between 1.45°C and 1.6°C higher than the average from 1850 to 1900, multiple climate monitoring groups reported today. “We are now living in a very different climate from that which our parents and our grandparents experienced,” said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).

Nov 21, 2024 | sciencenews.org | Sid Perkins

Roughly one-third of Americans could be exposed to a long-sought, newly identified breakdown product of some chlorine-based water treatments. Although the toxicity of the by-product, an electrically charged molecule, is yet to be determined, analyses suggest the substance could have several detrimental health effects.

Oct 4, 2024 | sciencenews.org | Sid Perkins

A red dwarf star known as Barnard’s star, which lies a mere six light-years from our solar system, has at least one — and possibly a handful — of small rocky planets orbiting it, a new study suggests. Barnard’s star, which is about one-sixth the mass of our sun, is the closest individual star to our solar system. Only the three stars in the Alpha Centauri system are closer.