The Washington Post: Oil and gas industry is causing Texas earthquakes, a ‘landmark’ study suggests

Huffington Departhment of Earth Sciences

The Washington Post: Oil and gas industry is causing Texas earthquakes, a ‘landmark’ study suggests

The Washington Post covered the landmark earthquake research of a team of SMU geophysicists led by SMU Associate Professor Beatrice Magnani in the SMU Department of Earth Sciences.

The Washington Post: Volcanic activity may have shifted the moon’s axis

imrs.phpReporter Rachel Feltman at The Washington Post covered the research of SMU planetary scientist and research assistant professor Matthew Siegler and a team of scientists who discovered the moon wandered off its axis billions of years ago due to a shift in its mass. The article, "Volcanic activity may have shifted the moon’s axis," published March 23. A report on the discovery of the rare event was published today in Nature.

New fossils intensify mystery of short-lived, toothy mammals unique to ancient North Pacific

Desmo, Ray Troll, Louis Jacobs, SMU, AlaskaIdentification of a new species of marine mammal has intensified the rare animal’s brief mysterious journey through prehistoric time. A big, hippo-sized animal with a long snout and tusks — the new species is a marine mammal belonging to the order Desmostylia.

Daily Mail: The 17 million-year-old whale that reveals when man first walked on two feet: Mammal’s wrong turn up river sheds light on Africa’s ancient swamplands

17 million year old fossil whale, kenya, Louis Jacobs London's Daily Mail covered the research of SMU paleontologist Louis L. Jacobs, a professor in the Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences of SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences. Jacobs is co-author of a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Fossil supervolcano in Italian Alps may answer deep mysteries around active supervolcanoes

James Quick, SMU, supervolcano, Italy, Sesia ValleyThere’s nothing subtle about the story told by the rocks in northern Italy’s Sesia Valley. Evidence of ancient volcanic activity is all around, says geologist and volcanologist James Quick, Southern Methodist University, Dallas. But the full story is much less obvious, said Quick, who led an international team that in 2009 announced they had discovered a 282-million-year-old fossil supervolcano in Sesia Valley.