Climate
- Animals
Extreme climate shifts long ago may have helped drive reptile evolution
The end-Permian extinction left reptiles plenty of open ecological niches. But rapid climate change may be what kick-started the animals’ dominance.
- Earth
The Arctic is warming even faster than scientists realized
The Arctic isn’t just heating up two to three times as quickly as the rest of the planet. New analyses show that warming is almost four times as fast.
- Animals
Relocated beavers helped mitigate some effects of climate change
Along a river in Washington state, the repositioned beavers built dams that lowered stream temperatures and boosted water storage.
- Climate
Humans may not be able to handle as much heat as scientists thought
Humans’ capacity to endure heat stress may be lower than previously thought — bad news as climate change leads to more heat waves around the globe.
- Environment
How to make jet fuel from sunlight, air and water vapor
Solar kerosene could one day replace petroleum-derived jet fuel in airplanes and help stabilize greenhouse gas emissions.
- Environment
Underground heat pollution could be tapped to mitigate climate change
Data from thousands of groundwater well sites in Europe reveal that more than half of the locations possess usable underground heat.
- Environment
How to build better ice towers for drinking water and irrigation
“Ice stupas” emerged in 2014 as a way to cope with climate change shrinking glaciers. Automation could help improve the cones’ construction.
- Health & Medicine
Western wildfires’ health risks extend across the country
As western wildfires become more common, hazardous smoke is sending people — especially children — to emergency rooms on the East Coast.
- Climate
Ancient penguin bones reveal unprecedented shrinkage in key Antarctic glaciers
Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers are losing ice faster than any other time in the last 5,500 years. That history is written in bones and shells.
- Science & Society
Growing wildfire threats loom over the birthplace of the atomic bomb
Climate change is expected to make wildfires worse across much of the Southwest United States. A key nuclear weapons lab could be in the hot zone.
- Climate
Scientists hope to mimic the most extreme hurricane conditions
A $12.8 million NSF grant is funding the design of a facility that can generate winds of at least 290 kilometers per hour and towering storm surges.
- Life
High altitudes may be a climate refuge for some birds, but not these hummingbirds
After being moved to a spot high above their typical home, Anna’s hummingbirds seemed to struggle to hover in the thin air.
