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Fruit bat clicks may inspire driverless car design
The Egyptian fruit bat uses navigation techniques similar to those modern-day military and civil surveillance use, new research suggests. The finding could inspire new directions for driverless cars...
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Melting glacier leads to first modern ‘river piracy’
A warming climate has melted northern Canada’s Kaskawulsh Glacier so much that the glacier’s “retreat” has changed the course of a nearby river, new research shows. Last spring, the glacier’s retreat...
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Paying farmers not to farm saved sage grouse
A Reagan-era federal government program that subsidizes farmers to plant year-round grasses and native shrubs instead of crops has had a surprisingly large and beneficial effect on the Eastern...
View ArticleRocks might not be such a good ‘thermostat’ for Earth
The textbook understanding of global chemical weathering—in which rocks dissolve, wash down rivers, and eventually end up on the ocean floor to begin the process again—does not depend on Earth’s...
View ArticleEarth will likely pass heat ‘tipping point’ by 2100
Warming of the planet by 2 degrees Celsius is often seen as a “tipping point” that people should try to avoid by limiting greenhouse gas emissions. But the Earth is very likely to exceed that by the...
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‘Wiretap’ aims to determine what crows caw about
What are crows saying when their loud caws fill the night? Despite the ruckus, nobody quite knows. The birds congregate daily before and after sleep, and they make some noise, but what might be...
View ArticleAsk an expert: How unusual were hurricanes in 2017?
The United States just suffered the most intense hurricane season in more than a decade, and possibly the costliest ever. Hurricane Harvey hit Houston in mid-August. Hurricane Irma struck Florida in...
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Ocean ‘bathtub drains’ pull flotsam together
Marine debris, or flotsam, clumps together as it moves on the surface of the ocean, new research featuring the largest flotilla of sensors ever deployed in a single area suggests. Researchers placed...
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New strategy for finding alien life goes beyond oxygen
Researchers have found a new recipe for providing evidence that a distant planet harbors life, one that might be more promising than just looking for oxygen. “…our suggestion is doable, and may lead to...
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Fruit bat clicks may inspire driverless car design
The Egyptian fruit bat uses navigation techniques similar to those modern-day military and civil surveillance use, new research suggests. The finding could inspire new directions for driverless cars...
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Gobi Desert’s ‘starving glaciers’ shrank during last Ice Age
A new study is the first to date ancient glaciers in the high mountains of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and compare them with records from nearby mountains to reveal how glaciers behave in extreme...
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Bowhead whales sing a varied, jazzy repertoire
Bowhead whales have a surprisingly diverse, constantly shifting vocal playlist, a new study shows. Scientists analyzed audio recordings gathered year-round east of Greenland. Humans almost hunted this...
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Earth’s temperature history is good news for finding alien life
An analysis of temperature during early Earth’s history supports more moderate average temperatures throughout the billions of years when life slowly emerged on Earth. Theories about the early days of...
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Keyboard tech speeds browsing for blind internet users
A new keyboard tool makes it easier for blind internet users or those who have low vision to quickly access options on popular websites. Browsing through offerings on Airbnb, for instance, means...
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Absurdly thin magnets could store way more data
Researchers have taken the magnetic materials that form the backbone of modern digital information technologies, such as hard-disk storage, one step further by encoding information using magnets that...
View ArticleHigher temps could slash global corn yields
Warmer temperatures by the end of the century will reduce corn yields worldwide, according to a new study. The study also shows dramatic increases in the variability of corn yields from one year to the...
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Whirlpools are hot spots for great white sharks
Marine biologists studying the movements of adult female white sharks in the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Ocean have discovered, to their surprise, that they prefer warm-water eddies—ocean whirlpools...
View ArticleThese Arctic mammals are most at risk from ships
As Arctic seas become increasingly ice-free, seasonal ship traffic from tourism and freight is expected to rise. A new study shows which animals will be the most vulnerable to the change. In August...
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Climate change isn’t to blame for slower Atlantic circulation
Global warming isn’t the cause of slowdown in a huge circulation pattern in the Atlantic Ocean, which is, in fact, part of regular, decades-long cycle that will affect temperatures in coming decades,...
View ArticleWhy winter air in the Eastern U.S. is still so dirty
Despite overall lower levels of harmful emissions from power plants and vehicles throughout the year, winter air pollution in the Eastern United States remains high. A new study explains why. Summer...
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