All Stories by Katherine Kornei
- Earth
A weaker magnetic field may have paved the way for marine life to go big
Decreased protection from cosmic radiation may have increased oxygen levels in the atmosphere and oceans, allowing animals to grow larger.
- Planetary Science
An asteroid may have exploded over Antarctica about 2.5 million years ago
Tiny spherules of rock found in Antarctic ice may point to the oldest known “airburst,” or midair disintegration of an incoming asteroid.
- Oceans
Ocean heat waves often lurk out of sight
About 1 in 3 marine heat waves occur below the surface, a new study reports, suggesting these harmful events are more common than previously thought.
- Planetary Science
How drones are helping scientists find meteorites
Searching for fallen space rocks is labor intensive. A team of researchers in Australia is speeding things up with drones and machine learning.
- Animals
For the first time, researchers decoded the RNA of an extinct animal
The Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, was hunted nearly to extinction. Now RNA extracted from a museum specimen reveals how its cells functioned.
- Space
India’s successful moon landing follows recent failures by other countries
The Chandrayaan-3 mission delivered a lander and rover to the moon. Attempts by other countries this year show that getting there is still a challenge.
- Environment
The most intense sunlight on Earth can be found in the Atacama Desert
On the Chilean Altiplano plateau, every square meter of the ground receives, on average, more solar power than Mount Everest and occasionally almost as much as Venus.
- Planetary Science
Granite likely lurks beneath the moon’s surface
Without plate tectonics or water, granite is hard to make. But a 50-kilometer-wide hunk sits beneath the moon’s surface, lunar orbiter data suggest.
- Environment
Surviving a drought may help forests weather future dry spells
Climate change is making droughts more intense and frequent, but conifer forests have a trick up their sleeve, airplane and satellite data show.
- Planetary Science
Why you shouldn’t use magnets when looking for meteorites
A popular tool for identifying meteorites can overwrite records of magnetic fields stored within the space rocks.
- Oceans
Satellite data reveal nearly 20,000 previously unknown deep-sea mountains
By looking for tiny bumps in sea level caused by the gravity of subsurface mountains, researchers have roughly doubled the number of known seamounts.
- Environment
Satellite imagery reveals ‘hidden’ tornado tracks
Twisters that churn over barren landscapes leave scars that are invisible to human eyes but are detectable with infrared light.
