Earth

Climate

Climate change may spread Lyme disease

The territory of the ticks that transmit Lyme disease is growing as the climate warms.

Earth

How the Chicxulub impact made acid rain

Using lasers to accelerate materials to asteroid-like impact velocities, scientists have shown how the Chicxulub asteroid impact, which happened roughly 65 million years ago, could have created a mass extinction in the oceans.

Climate

Warm, wet weather may have helped Genghis Khan rule

Mild, wet weather — not drought — may have helped Genghis Khan expand the Mongolian empire to the largest in human history.

Physics

Shifting grains may explain earthquake lightning

Mysterious lightning before or during earthquakes could get its spark from underground shifting.

Animals

Spotted seals hear well in and out of water

Spotted seals, native to the northern parts of the Pacific, hear frequencies that may mean they are susceptible to the effects of anthropogenic noise.

Climate

Cloudy forecast

Over decades climatologists have grown more confident in their projections of the future impact of greenhouse gas emissions. But whether shifts in cloudiness will amplify global warming continues to vex researchers.

Agriculture

Where antibiotics go

Of the 51 tons of antibiotics consumed every day in the United States, about 80 percent goes into animal production.

Climate

Extreme heat on the rise

Recent years saw an increase in peak high temperatures on land despite Earth’s stalled averages.

Environment

Handling receipts increases exposure to BPA

People who handle cash register receipts printed on thermal paper show notable exposure to bisphenol A.

Earth

Age of Earth’s crust confirmed

Decaying atoms traced in zircon uphold dating of Earth's crust at about 4.374 billion years old.

Environment

Legionnaires’ disease bacteria lurk in tap water

Found in nearly half of faucets, contamination could explain sporadic cases of disease.

Animals

Fish lose their fear on a denuded reef

Juvenile damselfish lose their ability to smell danger when in a degraded habitat.