Climate
- Chemistry
A new iron-based catalyst converts carbon dioxide into jet fuel
Jet fuel made from carbon dioxide could one day reduce pollution from air travel.
- Climate
Wildfires, heat waves and hurricanes broke all kinds of records in 2020
Climate change did not take a break during the pandemic.
- Earth
Towering fire-fueled thunderclouds can spew as many aerosols as volcanic eruptions
A massive plume of smoke lofted into the stratosphere during Australia’s fires may represent a new class of “volcanic-scale” pyrocumulonimbus clouds.
- Earth
In the past 15 years, climate change has transformed the Arctic
Accumulating evidence and new tools have helped scientists better understand how the Arctic is changing, but the pace has been faster than expected.
- Archaeology
Ancient people may have survived desert droughts by melting ice in lava tubes
Bands of charcoal from fires lit long ago, found in an ice core from a New Mexico cave, correspond to five periods of drought over 800 years.
- Microbes
50 years ago, scientists suspected microbes flourished in clouds
In 1970, scientists presented early evidence that microbes in clouds may be alive and kicking.
- Climate
Once hurricanes make landfall, they’re lingering longer and staying stronger
Warmer ocean waters due to human-caused climate change can help power hurricanes’ fury even after they roar ashore.
- Earth
With Theta, 2020 sets the record for most named Atlantic storms
Climate change is expected to fuel fewer — yet more intense — Atlantic storms. With a whopping 29 storms but few strong ones, 2020 may be an outlier.
- Animals
How frigid lizards falling from trees revealed the reptiles’ growing cold tolerance
Some Florida lizards’ ability to handle temperatures down to 5.5° C may provide clues to how they might deal with the extremes of climate change.
- Oceans
Even the deepest, coldest parts of the ocean are getting warmer
Deep-sea temperatures seem to be rising, but it’s too soon to say whether that’s a result of climate change caused by humans, researchers say.
- Oceans
Large-scale changes in Earth’s climate may originate in the Pacific
A new study suggests that the melting of Alaska’s glaciers into the North Pacific could have far-ranging effects on ocean circulation and the climate.
- Climate
By 2100, Greenland will be losing ice at its fastest rate in 12,000 years
The rate of loss of Greenland’s ice will soar over the next century even with greatly reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
