Whale poop may have been a key fertilizer for oceans
Whale poop contains iron that may have helped fertilize past oceans, researchers report. The blue whale is the largest animal on the planet. It consumes enormous quantities of tiny, shrimp-like animals...
View Article1 ice grain from Jupiter’s moon may be enough to find signs of life
Individual ice grains ejected from some of the moons orbiting Saturn and Jupiter may contain enough material for instruments headed there in the fall to detect signs of life, if such life exists. The...
View ArticleShallow soda lakes may be where life started on Earth
New research provides support for the idea that life could have emerged from lakes on the early Earth, roughly 4 billion years ago. Charles Darwin proposed that life could have emerged in a “warm...
View ArticleTeam links greenhouse gas emissions to polar bear survival
A new study quantifies the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and the survival of polar bear populations. The paper, published in the journal Science, combines past research and new analysis...
View ArticleSeabird die-offs follow ocean heat waves
Persistent marine heat waves lead to massive seabird die-offs months later, research finds. New study uses data collected by coastal residents along beaches from central California to Alaska to...
View ArticleAre Europa’s streaks a frozen mix of water and salt?
A new substance created in a lab on Earth could form at the surface and bottom of Europa’s deep oceans, say researchers. The red streaks crossing the surface of Jupiter’s moon are thought to be a...
View ArticleClimate change seems to be favoring La Niña events
In the short term, climate change is favoring La Niña events, research suggests. Forecasters are predicting a “three-peat La Niña” this year. This will be the third winter in a row that the Pacific...
View Article‘Extremely dangerous’ heat will be much more common by 2100
Even if global warming is limited to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), dangerous heat waves will become much more common by the end of the century, according to a new study. Further, many...
View ArticleBeach ‘sticky zones’ act as trash magnets
Certain beaches are “sticky zones” that accumulate litter, a new study shows. Citizen scientists recorded trash on Pacific Northwest beaches, from southern Oregon to Anacortes, Washington, to...
View ArticleThese homebody polar bears don’t need sea ice to survive
Researchers have documented a previously unknown subpopulation of polar bears living in Southeast Greenland. The polar bears survive with limited access to sea ice by hunting from freshwater ice that...
View ArticleTests gauge the freezing point of water in icy moons
Researchers have conducted experiments that measured the physical limits for the existence of liquid water in icy extraterrestrial worlds. They aim to aid the search for extraterrestrial life and the...
View ArticleWhy Antarctica sea ice retreats faster than it forms
New research explains why sea ice around Antarctica retreats more quickly than it advances. In the Southern Hemisphere, the ice cover around Antarctica gradually expands from March to October each...
View ArticleSoil-friendly farming produces healthier food
New research shows how regenerative farming practices—soil-building techniques that minimize plowing, use cover crops, and plant diverse crops—affect the nutritional content of the food. Results of the...
View ArticleAI could boost accuracy of lightning forecasts
Machine learning—computer algorithms that improve themselves without direct programming from humans—can improve lightning forecasts, a new study shows. Lightning is one of the most destructive forces...
View ArticleWere ancient volcanoes behind Earth’s first whiff of oxygen?
Volcanic eruptions may have stimulated population surges of marine microorganisms, creating the first puffs of oxygen into the atmosphere, a new analysis of 2.5-billion-year-old rocks from Australia...
View ArticleDry, warm air boosts nighttime wildfire activity
Drier, warmer night air is making some Western wildfires more active at night, researchers report. Firefighters report that Western wildfires are starting earlier in the morning and dying down later at...
View ArticleModel predicts 10-year burst of wildfire, then gradual decline
A look at the long-term future of wildfires predicts an initial roughly decade-long burst of wildfire activity, followed by recurring fires of decreasing area. In recent years, wildfires on the West...
View ArticleClimate change threatens the Arctic’s ‘Last Ice Area’
Parts of an Arctic region called the Last Ice Area are already showing a decline in summer sea ice, researchers report. In a rapidly changing Arctic, the area might serve as a refuge—a place that could...
View ArticleEndangered blue whales are singing in the Indian Ocean
Endangered blue whales are present and singing off the southwest coast of India, research shows. The findings suggest conservation measures should include this region, which is considering expanding...
View ArticleAI could mine the past for faster, better weather forecasts
Artificial intelligence can analyze past weather patterns to predict future events, much more efficiently and potentially someday more accurately than today’s technology, researchers say. Today’s...
View Article