Thomas Sumner
Science News
Washington, DC, United States
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Past articles by Thomas:
Why you can hear and see meteors at the same time
People can see and hear meteors simultaneously because of radio waves produced by the descending space rocks. → Read More
‘Fossil’ groundwater is not immune to modern-day pollution
Ancient groundwater that is thousands of years old is still susceptible to modern pollution, new research suggests. → Read More
New tech harvests drinking water from (relatively) dry air using only sunlight
A prototype device harvests moisture from dry air and separates it into drinkable water using only sunlight. → Read More
Mars may not have been born alongside the other rocky planets
Mars formed farther away from the sun than its present-day orbit, not near the other terrestrial planets, new research suggests. → Read More
More than one ocean motion determines tsunami size
The horizontal movement of the seafloor during an earthquake can boost the size of the resulting tsunami, researchers propose. → Read More
Whirlwinds of crystals called gravel devils spotted in Andes Mountains
Large whirlwinds in northern Chile can carry gravel-sized gypsum crystals several kilometers before dumping them in mounds. → Read More
Competing ideas abound for how Earth got its moon
The moon may have formed from one giant impact or from about 20 small ones. → Read More
Thinning ice creates undersea Arctic greenhouses
Arctic sea ice thinned by climate change increasingly produces conditions favorable for phytoplankton blooms in the waters below, new research suggests. → Read More
Warming soils may belch much more carbon
New measurements suggest soils below 15 centimeters deep could play a sizable role in boosting carbon emissions as the planet warms. → Read More
Earth’s mantle may be hotter than thought
Earth’s mantle is warmer than previously thought, suggests a new experiment that better accounts for water content in rocks. → Read More
Saturn’s ‘Death Star’ moon may not conceal an ocean after all
A lack of cracks on Mimas suggests that the icy moon of Saturn doesn’t conceal a subsurface ocean of liquid water. → Read More
Petrified tree rings tell ancient tale of sun’s behavior
The 11-year cycle of solar activity may have been around for at least 290 million years, ancient tree rings suggest. → Read More
Earth’s mantle is cooling faster than expected
The thinning of newly formed oceanic crust suggests that Earth’s mantle is cooling much faster than previously thought. → Read More
There’s something cool about Arctic bird poop
Ammonia from seabird poop helps brighten clouds in the Arctic, slightly cooling the region’s climate. → Read More
Glass bits, charcoal hint at 56-million-year-old space rock impact
Glassy debris and the burnt remains of wildfires suggest that a large space rock hit Earth near the start of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum warming event around 56 million years ago. → Read More
New desalination tech could help quench global thirst
Designed with better, more energy-efficient materials, next-generation desalination plants may offer a way to meet the world’s growing need for freshwater. → Read More
Nuclear bomb debris can reveal blast size, even decades later
Measuring the relative abundance of various elements in debris left over from nuclear bomb tests can reveal the energy released in the initial blast, researchers report. → Read More
Plate tectonics just a stage in Earth’s life cycle
Plate tectonics is just a phase in a planet’s lifetime between conditions that are too hot or too cold for the planet-churning mechanism, new simulations suggest. → Read More
Here’s where 17,000 ocean research buoys ended up
A combined look at 35 years’ worth of ocean buoy movements reveals the currents that feed into ocean garbage patches. → Read More
Most diamonds share a common origin story
Most diamonds form from fluids deep inside Earth’s interior that contain carbonate compounds, new research suggests. → Read More