Month: May 2018

What Kilauea’s eruption can reveal about volcanoes on other worlds–and possibly, alien life

05.14.18.

Over the three decades it has belched toxic gases and churned out lava, Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano has been a menace to the area that surrounds it. Last week, Kilauea’s eruption destroyed more than two dozen homes and forced the evacuation of nearly 2,000 people. On Sunday, a new fissure — stretching nearly 1,000 feet —…
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Astronaut receives honorary doctorate while in space

05.14.18.

Walking across the stage and receiving a diploma is at once a small step and a giant leap for high school and college graduates. Before that happens, however, there’s usually some pomp and circumstance graduates have to sit through. Friday’s graduation ceremony at Purdue University was no different–but the bestowing of honorary degrees was something…
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Kilauea eruption, junk news effects, human quantum tests: this week in science

05.11.18.

The Big Island is getting bigger by the moment… Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano has been erupting nearly continuously since 1983. But what’s happening on the Big Island now is unprecedented. As I write, 15 fissures have opened up in a community near the volcano, spewing lava over more than 116 acres. Thirty six structures have been…
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How does junk news change perceptions? We followed two political opposites.

05.10.18.

Facebook is exquisitely designed to feed our addiction to hyper-partisan content. In this world, fringe players who are apt to be more strident end up at the top of our news feeds, burying the middle ground. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien reports on the ways junk news feeds into our own beliefs about politics, institutions and…
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Understanding the Eruption at Kilauea – with Geologist Mike Garcia

05.08.18.

As Hawaii trembles with earthquakes and the Kilauea volcano continues to spew forth lava and gas, residents and the wider world watch and wonder: how long will this renewed activity continue? To find out, we turn to Mike Garcia, professor of geology at the University of Hawaii and funded by the National Science Foundation. He…
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Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano opens up rift in residential area.

05.05.18.

On Thursday, Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano trembled and a new rift opened up in the small community of Leilani Estates, spewing lava into the air like a fountain and forcing evacuations. No injuries are reported and a state of emergency has been declared. Earlier in the week, a nearby volcanic crater vent collapsed, putting the world…
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