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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: Earth

Earth stories: 42 news summaries

1 - 20 of 42 Stories | 1 2 3 Next >>

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 Relax, World Isn't 
 Ending in 2012 

Scientists are busy debunking growing urban legend

Oct 17, 09 12:36 PM CDT
(Newser) - The statement issued by a Los Angeles observatory and Sky & Telescope magazine this week says it all: "The world will not come to an end on Dec. 21, 2012." It seems a confluence of events—the coming end of the Mayan calendar, for one, and the... More »

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Earth • apocalypse • armageddon • 2012 • urban legend

(Newser) - The shuttle Discovery detached from the International Space Station today and began its journey home to Earth, Space.com reports. The 13-day mission help resupply and repair the station; the seven crewmembers are scheduled to return to Florida’s Kennedy Space Center at 7:05pm Thursday. More »

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Florida • space shuttle • Earth • Kennedy Space Center • International Space Station • landing • Discovery space shuttle • Discovery • Earth orbit

OPINION

 Sony Armageddon 
 Hoax in Crashing 
 Bad Taste 

World will end in 2012: Sony site

Jun 15, 09 2:07 AM CDT
(Newser) - The latest Armageddon hoax has a marketing spin that LiveScience's Robert Roy Britt describes as a "sick twist." Sony Pictures went to elaborate lengths to disguise its movie plug on the "Institute for Human Continuity" website, which warns of "cataclysmic events that will devastate our planet"... More »

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entertainment • Sony • Earth • hoax • movies • armageddon • Election 2012

BOX OFFICE ROUNDUP

 Box Office 
 Obsessed 
 With Beyoncé 


Apr 26, 09 3:32 PM CDT
(Newser) - Beyoncé Knowles’ Obsessed clobbered rivals in this weekend’s box office prizefight, banking $28.5 million, Entertainment Weekly reports. 17 Again stayed pretty with $11.7 million, while Fighting ($11.4 million) demolished The Soloist ($9.7 million) in the battle for third. Disney’s Earth orbited into fifth with... More »

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entertainment • film • Earth • box office • Beyonce • Entertainment Weekly

(Newser) - The sun may be heading for one of its dimmest periods in history, but that doesn't mean the big star is joining the battle against global warming, according to scientists. The sun hit a 100-year low in sunspot activity last year, reports the Telegraph. More »

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climate change • global warming • space • Earth • sun • extrasolar planets • excessive heat • sunspots • solar activity

(Newser) - Astronomers in Chile looking for an Earth-like planet have discovered the closest one in size yet, the BBC reports. Don’t get your hopes up: Though Gliese 581 e, which lies outside our solar system, is just twice as large as Earth, it travels far too close to its sun... More »

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telescope • Earth • Chile • solar system • exoplanet • outer space • Gliese 581 e

 Scientists Spot End of World 

Remains of solar systems discovered around dead stars

Apr 21, 09 2:50 AM CDT
(Newser) - Astronomers looking at dead stars trillions of miles away believe they have glimpsed Earth's eventual fate, the Times of London reports. The scientists found that many white dwarfs—stars that swelled, burned out, and collapsed—are surrounded by a dust they think is the remnants of planets like ours destroyed... More »

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planet • dwarf star • star • Earth • Spitzer orbiting telescope • solar system • outer space

 Calif. Utility Aims to Buy 
 Power From Space 

Orbiting solar farm planned for 2016

Apr 14, 09 2:48 PM CDT
(Newser) - California’s Pacific Gas and Electric is seeking approval for its commitment to buy electricity from an innovative source, the San Francisco Chronicle reports: an orbiting solar power array that would beam electricity back to Earth. Solaren Corp. plans to deploy the satellite sometime before 2016; PG&E has signaled... More »

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California • alternative energy • space • Earth • satellite • renewable energy • solar cells • solar array

 Kepler Begins
 Search for 
 Other 'Earths'

Spacecraft will spend next 3 years searching for planet in 'Goldilocks zone'

Mar 7, 09 2:18 AM CST
(Newser) - NASA's planet-hunting spacecraft Kepler was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral last night, Space.com reports. Kepler, the widest-field telescope ever sent into space, will spend the next three years scanning the sky for a planet in the "Goldilocks zone" where conditions are just right for liquid water to exist... More »

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space exploration • planet • Earth • exoplanet • Cape Canaveral • Kepler spacecraft • space telescope • outer space

(Newser) - NASA will launch its Kepler space telescope tomorrow on a 3-year mission to look for planets as habitable to life as Earth, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Kepler will use a sophisticated digital camera, 10 times more sensitive than consumer models, to survey distant stars for orbiting planets with... More »

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NASA • Earth • satellite • Kepler spacecraft • space telescope • outer space • habitable planet

 Scientists Pitch 
 Massive Mirror 
 Sun Shade 
 to Save Earth 

Mastermind convinced $350T project will get off ground in some 20 years

Feb 27, 09 5:17 AM CST
(Newser) - Scientists are proposing a stunning rescue project right out of a science fiction movie to save the earth from global warming: a massive 100,000-square-mile mirrored "sun shade." Trillions of tiny mirrors would be blasted by a cannon into space a million miles above earth to deflect the... More »

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global warming • Earth • deep space • rescue • 2001: A Space Odyssey

 Alien Life 
 'Inevitable': 
 Astronomer 

Countless Earth-like planets likely in universe

Feb 15, 09 12:21 PM CST
(Newser) - Scientists now believe there could be as many habitable planets in the cosmos as there are stars, and that makes life’s existence elsewhere “inevitable” over billions of years, says one. “It is sort of like running an experiment in your refrigerator—turn it off and something will... More »

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NASA • planet • Earth • extraterrestrial life • aliens • universe • Kepler spacecraft

 Volcano Showers 
 Tokyo With Ash 

Residents warned larger explosion may follow

Feb 2, 09 3:16 AM CST
(Newser) - Powdery ash showered Tokyo this morning as Japan's Mount Asama volcano erupted 90 miles away, Reuters reports. Smoke burst a mile into the air and rocks flew onto sparse neighboring towns, but there was little damage and no visible lava from the explosion. Scientists have warned people not to approach... More »

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environment • Japan • Earth • Tokyo • volcano • tectonic plates • volcanoes • Mount Asama

 Did Volcanoes 
 Drive Dinos to 
 Extinction? 

Scientists question 30-year-old crater theory

Dec 17, 08 2:51 PM CST
(Newser) - Colossal, repeated volcanic eruptions in India 65 million years ago released sulfuric gases that sent the dinosaurs, well, the way of the dinosaurs, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. A group of scientists at a Bay Area conference this week is questioning the decades-held theory that a meteor killed off dinosaurs.... More »

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India • Mexico • science • Earth • dinosaur • meteorites • volcanoes • scientific study

 Huge Holes Found in 
 Earth's Magnetic Shield 

The Earth is in for a wild geomagnetic ride

Dec 17, 08 2:40 AM CST
(Newser) - Scientists have discovered two large and unexpected holes in the magnetic field that protects the Earth from solar winds, reports Space.com. The leaks won't pose any risk to health, but increased disruption to satellites and electrical systems can be expected when the cycle of solar storms reaches its next... More »

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Earth • sun • solar • solar wind • magnetic field • aurora borealis

(Newser) - Scientists told the UN today that the world needs a $100 million system to seek and destroy incoming asteroids, the Guardian reports. Asteroids large enough to cause significant damage strike Earth two or three times every thousand years, they said, and the effects can be catastrophic. "We cannot shirk... More »

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Earth • asteroid

opinion

Pixar's Lovable Robot Has
Important Lessons For Us

Wall-E warns about our over-consumption

Jul 11, 08 11:06 AM CDT
(Newser) - Yes, Wall-E has environmental themes, but its main point is a moral one, writes Michael Gerson in the Washington Post. Not simply a critique of capitalism, as some conservatives have suggested, the movie sets its satirical sights on our self-imprisoning culture of consumption—and the snacking, reclining consumers in the... More »

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Earth • Pixar • consumption • robot • consumerism • computer animation • Wall-E

 Mercury Is Shrinking   

Messenger spacecraft reveals planets core still molten

Jul 3, 08 6:35 PM CDT
(Newser) - The planet Mercury is shrinking, the LA Times reports. Data from NASA’s Mercury Messenger spacecraft reveal that the planet’s diameter has shrunk by a mile over its history, probably because its core is cooling. Messenger flew in for a close-up in January, and scientists are now piecing together... More »

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NASA • planet • Earth • solar system • scientist • magnetic field • Mercury • molten rock

 Earth Hits Cosmic Pitch 

Cacophonous radiation beamed from planet could easily be intercepted by aliens

Jul 1, 08 3:55 PM CDT
(Newser) - Earth’s atmosphere produces a natural sound and beams it off into the universe, Space.com reports. The sound—a painful series of chirps and whistles—is made by the collision of charged particles from the solar wind with Earth’s magnetic field. More »

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radio • space • Earth • sound • aliens • solar system • radiation • solar wind

 There's a Huge Moon 
 on the Rise 

Solstice makes heavenly body look bigger tonight, tomorrow—but it's an illusion

Jun 17, 08 4:59 PM CDT
(Newser) - Northern Hemisphere residents, check out the night sky tomorrow for an extra-large-looking moon. The moon illusion—a trick our brain plays on us—is enhanced by the summer solstice, and when Earth's satellite rises close to the horizon, conditions are perfect, LiveScience notes. More »

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astronomy • space • Earth • solar system • moon • illusion • Northern Hemisphere

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