Posts by 

Deborah Byrd

Sharks’ 6th sense tuned to attack

In recent studies, sharks had a simple reaction to a wide range of electric fields, suggesting their system is tuned for one thing: catching prey.

Globular clusters not as old as thought?

New research suggests that globular clusters - once thought to be nearly as old as the universe itself - aren't that old, after all. They might be only around 9 billion years old.

Guatemala’s Fuego volcano erupts in fury

The death toll is up to 65, with hundreds injured, from Sunday's powerful eruption of Volcan de Fuego in Guatemala.

These distant moons may harbor life

Astronomers have identified 121 giant exoplanets whose moons might be capable of supporting life.

Shelf cloud over Florida

People see and photograph shelf clouds most often when these clouds are moving just ahead of intense lines of thunderstorms.

2017’s costliest hurricanes

Harvey, Irma and Maria - all 2017 hurricanes - are among the top 5 costliest Atlantic hurricanes since record-keeping began in 1851.

Today is Walt Whitman’s birthday

"Love the earth and sun and the animals ..." - Walt Whitman

Could we learn E.T.’s language?

If an extraterrestrial civilization had a language, would it have common features with Earth languages? Linguists explain why they think it's possible.

Lightning sprites over Oklahoma

My best sprite lightning capture to date, said long-time observer Paul Smith.