Climate
- Earth
Polar forests may have just solved a solar storm mystery
Spikes of carbon-14 in tree rings may be linked to solar flares, but evidence of the havoc-wreaking 1859 Carrington event has proven elusive until now.
- Environment
Heat waves cause more illness and death in U.S. cities with fewer trees
There are usually fewer trees in neighborhoods with higher populations of people of color. Planting trees could save hundreds of lives every year.
- Climate
‘On the Move’ examines how climate change will alter where people live
Journalist Abrahm Lustgarten explores which parts of the United States are most vulnerable to the effects of global warming and how people's lives might change.
- Earth
Climate change is changing how we keep time
Polar ice sheets are melting faster, slowing Earth’s spin. That is changing how we synchronize our clocks to tell time.
- Climate
Waterlogged soils can give hurricanes new life after they arrive on land
New studies show that the long-hypothesized “brown ocean effect” is real, helping to refuel 2018’s Hurricane Florence and other storms after landfall.
- Climate
Cold, dry snaps accompanied three plagues that struck the Roman Empire
New climate data for ancient Italy point to temperature and rainfall influences on past infectious disease outbreaks.
- Earth
Many but not all of the world’s aquifers are losing water
Many aquifers are quickly disappearing due to climate change and overuse, but some are rising because of improved resource management.
- Climate
Numbats are built to hold heat, making climate change extra risky for the marsupials
New thermal imaging shows how fast numbats’ surface temperature rises even at relatively reasonable temperatures.
- Earth
Speed bumps under Thwaites Glacier could help slow its flow to the sea
A seismic survey of Thwaites’ icy underbelly shows the Antarctica glacier may be snagging on tall rises in land. That could help slow global sea level rise.
- Physics
Invisible comet tails of mucus slow sinking flakes of ‘marine snow’
New measurements reveal the gunk that surrounds the particles, an important factor in understanding how the ocean sequesters carbon.
- Climate
3 Antarctic glaciers show rapidly accelerated ice loss from ocean warming
Destabilized by ocean waves and vanishing sea ice, Antarctica’s Hektoria glacier lost 25 kilometers of ice in 16 months — a possible hint of what’s to come.
- Climate
COP28 nations agreed to ‘transition’ from fossil fuels. That’s too slow, experts say
COP28 ended with a historic climate agreement to begin moving away from fossil fuels, but stopped short of mandating phasing them out.
