Earth
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- 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.
- Science & Society
Climate, new physics and Jupiter on the horizon for 2016
The first issue of the new year features stories about what will, editor in chief Eva Emerson predicts, hold on as scientific newsmakers during 2016.
- Climate
Arctic passageways let species mingle
People aren’t the only animals likely to use passages that open up as the Arctic melts.
- Physics
The science of avalanches
High-tech instruments are helping researchers study how temperature can change the character — and danger — of an avalanche
- Physics
Halo of light crowns Antarctica
Ice crystals in the air bend sunlight into a ring over a research base in eastern Antarctica.
