Katherine Kornei

All Stories by Katherine Kornei

  1. At the Integrated Command Control Centre in Varanasi, India, people look on as the country’s Chandrayaan-3 mission approaches the surface of the moon on August 23.
    Space

    India’s successful moon landing follows recent failures by other countries

    The Chandrayaan-3 mission delivered a lander and rover to the moon. Attempts by other countries this year show that getting there is still a challenge.

  2. A photo of Lejía Lake with the volcanoes Aguas Calientes and Acamarachi in the background.
    Environment

    The most intense sunlight on Earth can be found in the Atacama Desert

    On the Chilean Altiplano plateau, every square meter of the ground receives, on average, more solar power than Mount Everest and occasionally almost as much as Venus.

  3. A photo of the lunar surface
    Planetary Science

    Granite likely lurks beneath the moon’s surface

    Without plate tectonics or water, granite is hard to make. But a 50-kilometer-wide hunk sits beneath the moon’s surface, lunar orbiter data suggest.

  4. A photo of a conifer forest with mountains in the background and a bright blue sky.
    Environment

    Surviving a drought may help forests weather future dry spells

    Climate change is making droughts more intense and frequent, but conifer forests have a trick up their sleeve, airplane and satellite data show.

  5. A photo of a black rock being held in a person's hand.
    Planetary Science

    Why you shouldn’t use magnets when looking for meteorites

    A popular tool for identifying meteorites can overwrite records of magnetic fields stored within the space rocks.

  6. An elevation image of Kelvin Seamount, in a rainbow of color with purple at the bottom and red at the top, on a black background.
    Oceans

    Satellite data reveal nearly 20,000 previously unknown deep-sea mountains

    By looking for tiny bumps in sea level caused by the gravity of subsurface mountains, researchers have roughly doubled the number of known seamounts.

  7. A satellite view of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with a clear tornado track carving through the city
    Environment

    Satellite imagery reveals ‘hidden’ tornado tracks

    Twisters that churn over barren landscapes leave scars that are invisible to human eyes but are detectable with infrared light.

  8. An overhead image of tomatoes in four crates.
    Agriculture

    Dry farming could help agriculture in the western U.S. amid climate change

    Some farmers in the western United States are forgoing irrigation, which can save on water and produce more flavorful fruits and vegetables.

  9. Mars' Cerberus Fossae region, seen as a barren landscape with a prominent fault line running through it
    Planetary Science

    Marsquakes hint that the planet might be volcanically active after all

    Seismic data recorded by NASA’s InSight lander suggest molten rock moves tens of kilometers below the planet’s fractured Cerberus Fossae region.

  10. An elevation map of Montana near Yellowstone National Park with high elevation on the right and low elevation on the left
    Earth

    Landslides shaped a hidden landscape within Yellowstone

    Scientists have used lasers to get a detailed view of the national park’s topography, and they’ve spotted more than a thousand landslides.

  11. image of Mars’ south polar ice cap
    Planetary Science

    Mars’ buried ‘lake’ might just be layers of ice and rock

    Evidence grows that possible detections of liquid water buried near Mars’ south pole might not hold water.

  12. photo shows mangrove trees in the foreground and a beach with boats on the water in the background
    Environment

    Mangrove forests expand and contract with a lunar cycle

    The carbon-sequestering trees grow in a roughly 18-year cycle according to tides influenced by the moon’s orbit, a study in Australia finds.