Earth

  1. Agriculture

    Just adding pollinators could boost small-farm yields

    Adding pollinators could start closing gap in yields for small farms.

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  2. Climate

    2015 smashed heat records

    Spurred by global warming and a “super El Niño,” 2015 now ranks as the warmest year since record-keeping began in 1880.

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  3. Climate

    Atmospheric tides alter rainfall rate

    Atmospheric tides caused by the moon’s gravitational pull ever-so-slightly alter rainfall rates on Earth by producing rises and falls in atmospheric pressure.

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  4. Animals

    Whales are full of toxic chemicals

    For decades, scientists have been finding troublesome levels of PCBs, mercury and other toxic chemicals in whales and dolphins.

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  5. Oceans

    Ocean heating doubles

    Earth’s oceans now absorb twice as much heat as they did 18 years ago, with more than a third of that warmth going into the ocean depths.

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  6. Environment

    PCB levels still high in Europe’s killer whales, smaller dolphins

    PCBs banned for decades still show up at extremely high concentrations in Europe’s killer whales and other dolphins.

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  7. Earth

    Succession of satellites keep eye on Earth

    50 years after plans were laid for the first Earth-observing spacecraft, the youngest Landsat satellites are still flying and imaging the planet’s surface.

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  8. Animals

    The moon drives the migration of Arctic zooplankton

    In the darkness of the Arctic winter, the moon replaces the sun as the driver of zooplankton migration, a new study finds.

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  9. Cosmology

    ‘Origins’ offers science-based account of creation

    In Origins, a science writer compiles an ambitious yet concise history of the universe and life on Earth.

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  10. Earth

    Ground shakes expose faraway earthquake hot spots

    A major earthquake in Costa Rica revealed faraway areas where fluids have weakened rock and boosted the risk of a major earthquake, new research suggests.

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  11. Oceans

    Phytoplankton flunk photosynthesis efficiency test

    Nutrient-poor ocean waters make phytoplankton photosynthesis inefficient

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  12. Earth

    Five things science can (and can’t) tell us about North Korea’s nuclear test

    North Korea’s claim about its recent nuclear bomb test isn’t entirely backed up by scientific evidence.

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