Guest Thinkers — September 1, 2010

Continuing eruptions at Shiveluch

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

One of Kamchatka’s most active volcanoes is continuing to erupt. Shiveluch, in the northern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, produced a 26,000 foot (~8,000 meter) ash column today (November 6) as the eruptions that started in 2006 persist. The reports suggest little danger to people living on the peninsula, however the ash column is causing problems with the air travel over the region (an important corridor for trans-Pacific travel).

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Map showing tidal ranges in northern Europe. Notable locations include Severn Estuary, Mont Saint Michel Bay, and Gibraltar. Depths indicated in meters and feet.

Strange Maps

Hell or high water: The wonders and dangers of Earth’s tidal ranges

Great tidal ranges are relatively rare on a global scale — and can be very deadly to the unsuspecting foreshore walker.

A physical map of the Earth showing Alaska, Siberia, and the Bering Strait.

The Past

Ancient migration: Bering Strait land bridge from Asia to North America was not a one-way road

Ancient humans crossed the Bering Strait land bridge from Asia into North America. But some of them went back.

Hard Science

Tonga volcano eruption was a once-in-a-millennium event

Impressive but deadly physics underlie catastrophic eruptions.

Strange Maps

U.S. vs. Canada: five modern-day territorial disputes

All of these conflicts have a long history. They may also have a long future.

Hard Science

How space debris created the world’s largest garbage dump

Since 1957, the world’s space agencies have been polluting the space above us with countless pieces of junk, threatening our technological infrastructure and ability to venture deeper into space.

Up Next

Guest Thinkers

A magma chamber’s ebb and flow

nn If you ever want your research to be picked up by the popular press, you pretty much need to publish in the journal Science. It (along with Nature) are […]