News | Freelance Science Writer

Writing on the Church Wall

Archaeology Magazine, 10 August 2015
www.archaeology.org/issues/190-1509/letter-from/3554-letter-from-england-medieval-church-graffiti

Graffiti from the Middle Ages provides insight into personal expressions of faith in medieval England

When hurricanes hardly happen

The Guardian, 22 June 2015
www.theguardian.com/news/2015/jun/22/weatherwatch-when-hurricanes-hardly-happen

Kate Ravilious on the current North American hurricane drought, and why it might have another year to run.

Meteorology outwits malaria

The Guardian, 15 June 2015
www.theguardian.com/news/2015/jun/15/weatherwatch-meteorology-outwits-malaria

Kate Ravilious on how thousands of lives could be saved by a new system that uses targeted weather forecasts to predict outbreaks of malaria.

Terrawatch: the enemy below

The Guardian, 31 May 2015
www.theguardian.com/science/2015/may/31/terrawatch-volcano-eruption

Kate Ravilious on the near impossibility of predicting eruptions, even on well-monitored volcanoes, let alone those that appear inactive.

How to keep wind turbines turning

The Guardian, 25 May 2015
www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/25/weatherwatch-wind-turbines-research

Research from the University of Colorado on wind data from Australia, Canada and the US, shows how careful spacing of turbines can keep the power on.

Quake heightens Nepal landslide concern

BBC News, 13 May 2015
www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32721277

The magnitude 7.3 earthquake that shook Nepal on Tuesday lies right under one of the most landslide-prone parts of the country.

Pollen shed in rain – brings more showers

The Guardian, 13 May 2015
www.theguardian.com/news/2015/may/13/weatherwatch-ravilious-research-michigan-pollen-trees-rain-clouds-asthma

Cycle of plant growth revealed as scientists find trees’ pollen exploding in downpours helps to form clouds.

Terrawatch: a continental pile up

The Guardian, 3 May 2015
www.theguardian.com/science/2015/may/03/terrawatch-nepal-earthquake-fault

Kate Ravilious explains the geological background to the devastating earthquake that rocked Nepal.

Why some quakes are worse than others

BBC News, 1 May 2015
www.bbc.co.uk/news/32549706

Nepal quake: Why are some tremors so deadly?

Kathmandu earthquake nightmare not yet over

Cosmos , 27 April 2015
cosmosmagazine.com/earth-sciences/kathmandu-earthquake-nightmare-not-yet-over

Geologists believe unrelieved strain still remains within the fault line that ruptured in Nepal on Saturday and claimed thousands of lives. Kate Ravilious reports

Nepal earthquake: how to prevent thousands more deaths

New Scientist, 27 April 2015
www.newscientist.com/article/dn27416-nepal-earthquake-how-to-prevent-thousands-more-deaths.html#.VT5EfbqR8UU

The 2008 Sichuan earthquake taught us that managing and preventing landslides could save thousands of lives in Nepal over the coming weeks

Even a deluge can have its upside

The Guardian, 27 April 2015
www.theguardian.com/news/2015/apr/27/weatherwatch-even-deluge-upside

Kate Ravilious on how analysis of satellite data overturned an assumption about the effect of rainfall on violent winds.

Nepal quake ‘followed historic pattern’

BBC News, 26 April 2015
www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32472310

Nepal’s devastating magnitude 7.8 earthquake on Saturday was primed over 80 years ago by its last massive earthquake in 1934, geologists working in the region say.

Case of the Giant Blob

The Guardian, 16 April 2015
www.theguardian.com/news/2015/apr/16/weatherwatch-case-giant-blob

Kate Ravilious on how an unusual envelope of warm water in the Pacific has been bringing extraordinary weather to parts of the US.

Terrawatch: the history of dirt

The Guardian, 5 April 2015
www.theguardian.com/science/2015/apr/05/terrawatch-soil-earth-origins-life-erosion

Kate Ravilious on the soil to which we owe our existence, relatively new to Earth at a mere 450 million or so years old, and now under increasing threat of eroding away.

Weatherwatch: It may feel like spring, but we are not out of the winter woods yet

The Guardian, 23 March 2015
www.theguardian.com/news/2015/mar/23/weather-spring-oceans-snow

Weatherwatch: The ‘eclipse wind’ – help solve the mystery

The Guardian, 16 March 2015
www.theguardian.com/science/2015/mar/16/solar-eclipse-wind-uk-friday-experiment-weather

Iron from the sky

Archaeology, 1 March 2015
www.archaeology.org/issues/

Archaeologists and planetary scientists experiment with meteorites, ancient Egypt’s first source of precious iron

Terrawatch: The wells will run dry

The Guardian, 1 March 2015
www.theguardian.com/science/2015/mar/01/terrawatch-oil-energy

Oil is millions of years in the making: we consume it at a rate of 30 billion barrels per year. We have to accept that it is going to run out.

Weatherwatch: Hay bale city is finding way to a healthier environment indoors

The Guardian, 23 February 2015
www.theguardian.com/news/2015/feb/23/weatherwatchuk-environment

Weatherwatch: The ups and downs of North Atlantic storms

The Guardian, 16 February 2015
www.theguardian.com/news/2015/feb/16/weatherwatch-north-atlantic-storms-historical-research

Terrawatch: The rain that fell in the light of the faint young sun

The Guardian, 1 February 2015
www.theguardian.com/science/2015/feb/01/terrawatch-fossil-raindrops-atmosphere

Kate Ravilious on a project using fossil raindrop craters to study Earth’s early atmosphere

fossil raindrops

Looking for microbes on Mars

Cosmos, 29 January 2015
cosmosmagazine.com/physical-sciences/looking-microbes-mars

Scientists are fossicking in our planet’s most unearthly places to practise searching for life on Mars. Kate Ravilious investigates.

Weatherwatch: Juno storm switches tack barrelled along by jet stream

The Guardian, 28 January 2015
www.theguardian.com/news/2015/jan/28/weatherwatch-us-juno-storm-jetstream-alberta-clipper

Kate Ravilious New Yorkers braced for severe blizzard receive milder Alberta Clipper storm

Weatherwatch: Too hot for take-off

The Guardian, 18 January 2015
www.theguardian.com/news/2015/jan/18/weatherwatch-aviation-take-off-speed

Kate Ravilious on a study showing that higher temperatures could lead to increased numbers of aircraft carrying reduced cargo or fewer passengers to achieve take-off speed.

When Earth was a frozen Snowball

BBC Earth, 12 January 2015
www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150112-did-snowball-earth-make-animals

715 million years ago the entire planet was encased in snow and ice. This frozen wasteland may have been the birthplace of complex animals

Weatherwatch: A real icy blast

The Guardian, 12 January 2015
www.theguardian.com/news/2015/jan/12/weatherwatch-real-icy-blast

Kate Ravilious explains the ‘weather bomb’ phenomenon that was responsible for the unusually strong winds that have been pounding Scotland and northern England

Terrawatch: Taking a closer look at Ben Nevis

The Guardian, 31 December 2014
www.theguardian.com/science/2014/dec/31/terrawatch-a-closer-look-at-ben-nevis

Taking a closer look at Ben Nevis

Under Stonehenge

Archaeology, 15 December 2014
www.archaeology.org/issues/161-1501/features/2782-england-stonehenge-neolithic-ceremonial-landscape

Remote-sensing technologies reveal that Stonehenge is surrounded by thousands of yet-to-be-interpreted Neolithic archaeological features.

Weatherwatch: If it’s snow you want – head for the heights

The Guardian, 14 December 2014
www.theguardian.com/news/2014/dec/14/weatherwatch-snowfall-britain-altitude

Kate Ravilious compares the statistics for snowfall in the UK, and finds that your chances of getting out the toboggan this winter depend on where exactly you live

Weatherwatch: Why a chilly morning was good news for Oxfordshire slatters

The Guardian, 8 December 2014
www.theguardian.com/news/2014/dec/08/weatherwatch-slatters-stonesfield-slate-oxford-quarry

Stonesfield slate, which covers many Oxford colleges’ roofs, needs a frost – a cold snap meant plenty of work for quarrymen

Terrawatch: Fire and ice creators of Yosemite’s plains and canyons

The Guardian, 3 December 2014
www.theguardian.com/science/2014/dec/03/terrawatch-ravilious-yosemite-fire-ice-granite-canyons

How did fire and ice create Yosemite’s plains and canyons?

Transport pollution killed nearly quarter of a million in 2005

Environmental Research Web, 25 November 2014
environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/article/news/59309

Particulate matter from vehicles caused 242,000 premature deaths

Climate change could cut West African sorghum yields by a fifth

Environmental Research Web, 24 November 2014
environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/article/news/59308

Rising temperatures, rainfall changes and shifting monsoon set to harm crop output

Sun’s magnetic field alters lightning strikes on Earth

Environmental Research Web, 19 November 2014
environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/article/news/59305

Sun’s magnetic field alters lightning strikes on Earth. Findings could ultimately help with lightning forecasts

Weatherwatch: ‘No flowers, no birds – November!’

The Guardian, 16 November 2014
www.theguardian.com/news/2014/nov/16/weatherwatch-no-flowers-no-birds-november

Kate Ravilious finds Thomas Hood’s poem describes a different month to the ones we experience today

Weatherwatch: All eyes on the sun

The Guardian, 10 November 2014
www.theguardian.com/news/2014/nov/10/country-diary-all-eyes-sun

Kate Ravilious on why astronomers are keeping an anxious watch on AR 12192, the biggest sunspot to appear since 1990

Terrawatch: Tibetan plateau shifting and stretching over time

The Guardian, 5 November 2014
www.theguardian.com/science/2014/nov/05/terrawatch-tibetan-plateau-shift-height-zhada-basin-shells

Kate Ravilious on the Tibetan Plateau shift

Weatherwatch: The greatest droughts in a thousand years

The Guardian, 19 October 2014
www.theguardian.com/news/2014/oct/19/california-drought-dust-bowl

Kate Ravilious on a study showing that California’s current crippling three-year drought may be caused by the same atmospheric conditions as triggered the “Dust Bowl” of the 1930s

Clothes that recharge your laptop – the near-endless possibilities of artificial leaves

Horizon - The EU research and innovation magazine, 16 October 2014
Clothes that recharge your laptop – the near-endless possibilities of artificial leaves

Weatherwatch: Clouds are weighty wonders, but how do they stay up?

The Guardian, 13 October 2014
www.theguardian.com/news/2014/oct/13/weatherwatch-clouds-environment

Kate Ravilious explains why clouds don’t fall to earth – until it rains

Terrawatch: Mount Ontake eruption

The Guardian, 1 October 2014
www.theguardian.com/science/2014/oct/01/terrawatch-mount-ontake-eruption-japan-steam

Kate Ravilious on why the eruption of the Japanese volcano may have been almost impossible to predict.

Weatherwatch: Every leaf tells a story

The Guardian, 14 September 2014
www.theguardian.com/news/2014/sep/14/weatherwatch-leaves-shape-climate

Kate Ravilious on how the shape of a tree’s leaf is influenced by the climate that the tree prefers

Weatherwatch: Prediction impossible

The Guardian, 8 September 2014
www.theguardian.com/news/2014/sep/08/weatherwatch-prediction-impossible

Kate Ravilious on why those alluring ‘super precise’ forecasts of summer showers are so frequently inaccurate

Terrawatch: Bárðabunga plays the waiting game

The Guardian, 5 September 2014
www.theguardian.com/science/2014/sep/05/terrawatch-iceland-volcano-bardabunga

Kate Ravilious reports on the stirrings of a volcano that has erupted more lava than any other on Earth in the last 10,000 years.

The Great War in miniature

Archaeology, 1 September 2014
www.archaeology.org/issues/144-1409

The excavation of a unique battlefield model provides insight into military tactics and the evolution of warfare

Weatherwatch: Every drop counts

The Guardian, 29 August 2014
www.theguardian.com/news/2014/aug/29/weatherwatch-rainfall-data-school-children

Kate Ravilious on how a project involving primary school children with the collection of rainfall data could significantly improve weather forecasts

Weatherwatch: Every flash – as it happens

The Guardian, 17 August 2014
www.theguardian.com/news/2014/aug/17/weatherwatch-lightning-map-live

Kate Ravilious on how a network of enthusiasts with lightning detectors has created a live online map of the world’s electrical storms

Weatherwatch: Boomerang Bertha

The Guardian, 11 August 2014
www.theguardian.com/news/2014/aug/11/weatherwatch-storm-bertha-boomerang

Kate Ravilious on how it may become more common in the future for tropical storms to bounce back across the Atlantic and batter western Europe

Terrawatch: The everlasting fire

The Guardian, 1 August 2014
www.theguardian.com/science/2014/aug/01/terrawatch-everlasting-fire

Kate Ravilious describes what happens when a coal seam catches alight deep beneath the ground.