Science News

NASA

A massive volcanic eruption that occurred 73,000 years ago killed off much of India's forests and may have pushed humans to the brink of extinction, a new study says. The Toba eruption, which took place on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, sent so much ash into the air that sunlight was blocked for six years.

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Sea Is Swallowing Alaskan Town

posted: 1 DAY 11 HOURS AGOcomments: 441

filed under: National News, Science News

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Huge Explosion Reveals Massive Star

posted: 3 DAYS 2 HOURS AGOcomments: 151

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Are 'Super-Earths' Better Suited to Life?

posted: 3 DAYS 10 HOURS AGOcomments: 29

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NASA / AP

When it comes to supporting life, do planets get any better than Earth? Well, maybe. Scientists have found a few planets two to 10 times more massive than Earth that may be more hospitable to living things, a Harvard astronomer says. He calls Earth "a marginal planet" for fostering complex life forms.

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Top Climate Scientist Steps Aside

posted: 3 DAYS 10 HOURS AGOcomments: 194

filed under: Science News, World News

Caught up in a controversy over claims that climate change data has been suppressed, the director of Britain's influential Climatic Research Institute quits pending a probe. His organization provides data that Congress and the federal government are using in efforts to curb global warming.

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Icebergs Steered Away From New Zealand

posted: 4 DAYS 14 HOURS AGOcomments: 25

filed under: Science News, World News

Iceberg floats past Australia's Macquarie Island in November 2009

AFP / Getty Images

Scores of icebergs that prompted a shipping warning last week have been driven off the course they were following to New Zealand, thanks to strong westerly winds. "It looks like they've all disappeared east of New Zealand," an oceanographer says. The flotilla likely broke off from Antarctica in 2000, when parts of two major ice shelves fell apart, scientists say.