Earth

  1. Climate

    Reef fish act drunk in carbon dioxide–rich ocean waters

    In first test in the wild, fish near reefs that bubble with CO2 lose fear of predators’ scent.

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  2. Oceans

    The surprising life of a piece of sunken wood

    Timber and trees that wash out to sea and sink to the bottom of the ocean hold a diverse community of organisms.

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  3. Climate

    Ocean bacteria may have shut off ancient global warming

    Ocean-dwelling bacteria may have helped end global warming 56 million years ago by gobbling up carbon from the CO2-laden atmosphere.

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  4. Climate

    IPCC calls for swift switch to alternative power

    Rapid adoption of green power production will be necessary to avert a climate crisis, latest IPCC report says.

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  5. Earth

    Huge space rock rattled Earth 3 billion years ago

    An asteroid almost as wide as Rhode Island may have plowed into Earth 3.26 billion years ago, leaving its mark in South Africa’s Barberton greenstone belt.

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  6. Earth

    Tiny minerals may have shaped Earth’s first plate boundaries

    Simulations link weakened rock minerals to the origin of plate tectonics on Earth.

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  7. Earth

    Science can save lives, but only if society lets it

    Society faces lots of problems that science can’t yet fix. But there are also plenty of cases in which scientists know enough to avert tragedy.

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  8. Earth

    Buying time when quakes hit

    On the West Coast, geologists are developing an earthquake warning system that can provide seconds of notice before destructive shaking begins. The system could be ready before the next big quake hits.

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  9. Earth

    Seismic signals chronicle deadly landslide

    Washington state’s deadly Oso landslide was recorded in seismic waves.

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  10. Climate

    World unprepared for changing climate, IPCC says

    The latest intergovernmental report says planetwide impacts continue.

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  11. Earth

    Evolution of river systems

    A river’s erosion downward and across a landscape is based on a variety of factors, including terrain steepness and the arrangement of tributaries.

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  12. Paleontology

    Microbes indicted in ancient mass extinction

    About 252 million years ago an estimated 96 percent of all species were wiped from Earth, and now scientists have a new suspect in the killing — methane-belching microbes.

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