Earth
- Planetary Science
How Earth’s radiation belt gets its ‘stripes’
The rotation of the Earth may give the planet's inner radiation belt its zebralike stripes.
- 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.
