• Record breaking temperatures cause largest wildfires in 40 years, Sweden

    Fast-growing fire has consumed Västmanland, Sweden, since July 31 and grew to become the largest Sweden has seen in 40 years. As of August 8, it had charred more than 150 square kilometers (60 square miles), killed one person, and forced thousands to evacuate…

  • Investigating giants of the Georgian Caucasus

    Early in 2014, whilst I was busy researching and exploring the ancient megalithic ruins here in Ecuador nicknamed as ‘The Lost City of Giants’, I was contacted by a television production company interested in giants. This contact eventually led to my being i

  • Night sky guide for August 2014

    Late July and early August can be one of the best times of the year to observe meteors, weather permitted. This is because there are several minor meteor showers emanating from the adjacent constellations of Capricornus and Aquarius. However, the closest and the largest

  • Early days of Earth’s sixth mass biological extinction event

    An international team of scientists warns that loss and decline of animals is contributing to what appears to be the early days of the planet's sixth mass biological extinction event. The planet's current biodiversity, they claim, is the highest in history of li

  • Landsat’s global perspective on natural disasters, urban change and more

    On July 23rd, 1972, the first Landsat spacecraft launched into orbit. At the time, it was called "Earth Resources Technology Satellite," or ERTS, and was the first satellite to use a scanning spectrophotometer. Previous satellites relied on film cameras (eject

  • The most thorough map of the Martian surface to date

    The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has released the most thorough map of the Martian surface to date. The data for the new map was collected by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and