Earth
- Oceans
Readers question ocean health
Ocean plastics, ant behavior, pollution solutions and more in reader feedback.
- Climate
Sea levels could rise twice as fast as previously predicted
Sea level rise from Antarctica’s melting ice could accelerate faster and sooner than previously thought.
- Microbes
This microbe makes a meal of plastic
A newly identified bacterium can break down plastic waste.
- Environment
Dome effect leaves Chinese megacities under thick haze
Airborne black carbon lowers an atmospheric boundary, trapping pollution around major cities and worsening air quality, researchers propose.
- Animals
In the Coral Triangle, clownfish figured out how to share
In the Coral Triangle in Southeast Asia, an area of rich biodiversity, clownfish species often share anemones, a new study finds.
- Animals
Climate change now bigger menace than forest loss for snowshoe hares
Shorter snow seasons push climate change ahead of direct habitat loss as menace for Wisconsin snowshoe hares.
By Susan Milius - Earth
One of Earth’s missing minerals found locked inside meteorite
Scientists have discovered the last undiscovered dense mineral of the pyroxene group in a meteorite.
- Earth
Quake risk in parts of central U.S. as high as in fault-filled California
A new report from the U.S. Geological Survey shows an increased earthquake hazard from human activities such as the disposal of fracking wastewater.
- Climate
Maximum size for Arctic sea ice hits a new low
Warm temperatures helped drop the Arctic sea ice maximum to the smallest size on record.
- Earth
Beware of rockfalls in warm weather
Cracks in cliff faces grow and shrink as temperatures warm and cool, new research shows.
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- Climate
Organic molecules help fatten cloud-making water droplets
Cloud-forming water droplets can grow larger thanks to organic molecules on the exterior of the drop, new research suggests.