In September 2017 Hurricane Irma passed close to Puerto Rico, and its torrential rainfall and high winds led to widespread power outages, saturated ground, blocked roads, and damaged water systems. Just two weeks later, Hurricane Maria moved directly across the island with sustained winds of... click to read more

Radio astronomy is experiencing a renaissance due to global work toward the Square Kilometer Array, which will be the world’s largest radio telescope. Our team works on a radio telescope that explores new technologies for the SKA: the Murchison Widefield Array. It observes at low... click to read more

Twinkle, twinkle, little star. Why do the stars twinkle? It is because of the turbulence in the atmosphere. You may hear turbulence from the airplane broadcast when the airplane is shaking. The turbulence shakes not only airplanes, but also the light from the stars, by altering... click to read more

Volcanoes shape the surface of the Earth, by bringing molten rock from the deep interior to the surface and creating the crust. The majority of the Earth’s volcanism happens at plate boundaries, so called inter-plate volcanism, including the mid-ocean ridges (like the East Pacific Rise... click to read more

The inner core of the Earth is a solid spinning ball of mostly iron, almost the size of the Moon. Temperatures on the surface of the inner core can reach close to those at the surface of the Sun. The next layer, the outer core,... click to read more