Earth
- Agriculture
Just adding pollinators could boost small-farm yields
Adding pollinators could start closing gap in yields for small farms.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Oceans
Phytoplankton flunk photosynthesis efficiency test
Nutrient-poor ocean waters make phytoplankton photosynthesis inefficient
- 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.
