Earth

Plants

Here’s what a leaf looks like during a fatal attack of bubbles

Office equipment beats synchrotrons in showing how drought lets air bubbles kill the water-carrier network of veins in plant leaves.

Animals

Cause of mass starfish die-offs is still a mystery

Sea stars off the U.S. west coast started dying off en masse in 2013. Scientists are still struggling to figure out the cause.

Earth

Rainwater can help trigger earthquakes

Rainwater plays a major role in the triggering of earthquakes along New Zealand’s Alpine Fault.

Climate

Fizzled 2014 El Niño fired up ongoing monster El Niño

The ongoing El Niño, one of the strongest on record, got a heat boost from a 2014 event that failed due to unfavorable winds.

Agriculture

Bacterium still a major source of crop pesticide

Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria have provided pest-fighting toxins for over 50 years.

Planetary Science

How alien can a planet be and still support life?

Geoscientists imagine the unearthly mechanisms that could keep alien planets habitable.

Animals

Scientists find a crab party deep in the ocean

A trip to check out the biodiversity off the coast of Panama revealed thousands of crabs swarming on the seafloor.

Climate

Wildfire shifts could dump more ice-melting soot in Arctic

Wildfires will emit more soot into the air in many regions by the end of the century, new simulations show.

Environment

EPA boosts estimate of U.S. methane emissions

A new report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency revises the agency’s methane emission estimates upward by 3.4 million metric tons.

Ecosystems

Heat may outpace corals’ ability to cope

Corals may soon lose their ability to withstand warming waters.

Environment

EPA underestimates methane emissions

Methane estimates by the Environmental Protection Agency fail to capture the full scope of U.S. emissions of the greenhouse gas, studies show.

Climate

Pollen becoming bee junk food as CO₂ rises

Rising CO2 lowers protein content in pollen, threatening nutrition for bees.