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19 July 1999 | ScienceNOW

Warm Oceans Predict Rift Valley Epidemics

by Ayala Ochert

Ocean temperatures off Tahiti and Madagascar can predict outbreaks of disease in Kenya, according to a study in the current issue of Science (16 July, p. 397). The researchers found...

28 June 1999 | ScienceNOW

Ozone Prophet

by Science News Staff

Frank Sherwood Rowland, who helped explain how synthetic chemicals degrade the atmosphere's ozone layer, was born on this day in 1927. Rowland, a chemist at the University of California, Irvine,...

12 April 1999 | ScienceNOW

Ozone Tightens Sunspot Link

by Richard A. Kerr

The "weather" in the stratosphere has for decades mysteriously matched the 11-year cycle of sunspots--dark splotches on the sun's surface that mark an increase in solar activity. Now a group...

1 April 1999 | ScienceNOW

Catching Sprites by Radio

by Meher Antia

High above the tumult of thunderstorms, gigantic reddish apparitions called sprites sometimes light the sky for a fraction of a second. So far, the only way to record this fleeting...

26 February 1999 | ScienceNOW

Foul Weather Friend

by Robert Irion

Satellites that detect subtle geological ripples in the landscape also can espy patches of water vapor in the air that might unleash storms, a new study shows. The radar technique,...

11 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

SAN FRANCISCO--Videos are revealing the fine-scale structure of eerie red flashes that dance delicately atop thunderclouds. Known as "sprites" and resembling high-altitude Christmas trees, the ephemeral flashes show a surprising...

9 December 1998 | ScienceNOW

Summers in the City Worse Than Ever

by Jennifer Couzin-Frankel

Grandpa may recall hot summers from his youth, but chalk those memories up to youthful hormones. The dog days of summer have been more brutal in recent years for U.S....

3 November 1998 | ScienceNOW

The Eye of the Cyclone

by Science News Staff

One hundred one years ago yesterday, Jacob Bjerknes, a Norwegian meteorologist who paved the way for weather forecasting, was born. Bjerknes is known for explaining how cyclones cross the ocean,...

7 October 1998 | ScienceNOW

Pesticides Pollute Mountain Slopes

by Robert Irion

Surprisingly high levels of pesticides and industrial pollutants sully the snows of western Canada's stunning mountain ranges, ecologists have found. According to a study in tomorrow's Nature, these toxic compounds...

6 October 1998 | ScienceNOW

Deep Chill Triggers Record-Breaking Ozone Hole

by Richard A. Kerr

WASHINGTON, D.C.--This year's thinning of the stratospheric ozone layer over Antarctica is as severe as almost any seen before, and it stretches over an area larger than North America, a...

1 October 1998 | ScienceNOW

Mexican Fires Charge Distant Clouds

by Robert Irion

The ancient Greeks believed that lightning bolts sprang from the rage of Zeus in his home on Olympus. Now an odd new discovery suggests that Zeus' moods have a long...

29 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Plants a Player in Ozone Hole?

by Robert Irion

When former President Ronald Reagan slipped and said that trees can pollute the air, it turns out he wasn't far off the mark. New research shows that some leafy green...

10 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Soot Blamed for Smog Woes

by Christine Hong

Fresh soot may be the root of urban smog. The finding, published in today's Nature, could solve a long-standing mystery about what triggers smog formation, but it probably won't make...

2 September 1998 | ScienceNOW

Cyclones May Fan the Global Warming Flames

by Robert Irion

Hurricane-force winds whip the ocean so fiercely that the seawater belches dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere like a shaken bottle of soda, scientists have discovered. Three storms that...

25 August 1998 | ScienceNOW

Ozone Layer Gets a Breather

by Robert Irion

A potent source of ozone-eating gas in Earth's upper atmosphere is showing signs of leveling off. A 20-year study by German scientists has found that the rate of increase of...

14 August 1998 | ScienceNOW

Forests' Small Appetite for Nitrogen

by Jocelyn Kaiser

BALTIMORE--A glut of nitrogen washing over the land from car and factory exhaust and crop fertilizers is degrading water and air quality and even altering precarious balances in species diversity....

11 August 1998 | ScienceNOW

A Volcanic Spark for Early Life

by Science News Staff

Flashes of lightning in volcanic ash clouds may have helped set the stage for life on Earth. Volcanic plumes were ideal crucibles for sparking stable nitrogen to form reactive compounds...

6 August 1998 | ScienceNOW

Pollution Law Slackens Acid Rain

by David Malakoff

WASHINGTON, D.C.--A controversial air pollution law substantially reduced acid rain in the United States in 1995, researchers reported Tuesday. The success story could spur the wider adoption of market-based pollution...

24 April 1998 | ScienceNOW

Hard-Rolling Hurricanes

by Science News Staff

Working amidst gale-force winds and torrential rains, a team of researchers has discovered that hurricanes whip up highly localized "rolls" of wind that bring stormy air from high in the...