Carolyn Gramling

Carolyn Gramling

Earth & Climate Writer

Carolyn Gramling is the Earth & Climate writer at Science News. Previously she worked at Science magazine for six years, both as a reporter covering paleontology and polar science and as the editor of the news in brief section. Before that she was a reporter and editor at EARTH magazine. She has bachelor’s degrees in Geology and European History and a Ph.D. in marine geochemistry from MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She’s also a former Science News intern.

All Stories by Carolyn Gramling

  1. Climate

    Climate models agree things will get bad. Capturing just how bad is tricky

    Climate models are better than ever at simulating complex interactions between ocean, air, ice and land. But scientists still aren’t really sure what the worst-case scenario might be for Earth’s future climate.

  2. Earth

    Debate over signs of early life inspires dueling teams to go to Greenland — together

    The remote site — which may or may not contain evidence of the most ancient life on Earth — could help scientists plan how to study such signs on Mars.

  3. Paleontology

    Science News’ favorite fossils of 2019

    Fossil discoveries reported this year included Cambrian creatures, ancient bone cancer and a peek at life’s recovery after the dinosaur die-off.

  4. Climate

    Record-breaking heat amplified waves of student climate protests in 2019

    While the world experienced record-breaking heat, Greta Thunberg and other activists pushed decision makers to take climate change seriously.

  5. Earth

    Flooding Earth’s atmosphere with oxygen may not have needed a triggering event

    Building an oxygen-rich world doesn’t require volcanism, supercontinent breakups or the rise of land plants — just nutrient cycling, a study finds.

  6. Earth

    Fingerprints of climate change are increasingly appearing in extreme weather

    A new report finds evidence that some of 2018’s extreme weather events were linked to human-caused climate change.

  7. Climate

    See how an Alaskan glacier has shrunk over time

    Scientists have created a time-lapse series of images of the retreat of an Alaskan glacier using NASA and U.S. Geological Survey Landsat data.

  8. Science & Society

    ‘A Polar Affair’ delves into a centurylong cover-up of penguin sex

    In a new book, Lloyd Spencer Davis seeks to understand why an Antarctic explorer kept some of his penguin observations a secret.

  9. Life

    An ancient critter may shed light on when mammals’ middle ear evolved

    Rare skeletons are helping to pin down the evolution of mammals’ three middle ear bones, known popularly as the hammer, anvil and stirrup.

  10. Climate

    Countries urgently need to ramp up emissions cuts to meet climate targets

    A new U.N. report finds that pledged emissions cuts aren’t nearly enough to limit warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius by 2100.

  11. Climate

    50 years ago, scientists puzzled over a slight global cooling

    Five decades ago, scientists were puzzled over a slight dip in global temperatures. Today we know it was just a blip, and that Earth’s climate is warming thanks to industrial activity over the last century.

  12. Climate

    The loss of ‘eternal ice’ threatens Mongolian reindeer herders’ way of life

    Mongolian reindeer herders help scientists piece together the loss of the region’s vital “eternal ice” patches.