Earth

  1. Climate

    Last week was the hottest ever recorded — here’s why we keep smashing records

    Global temperature records are being shattered as El Niño and climate change combine to push the Earth into uncharted territory, researchers say.

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  2. Earth

    How Kenya is helping its neighbors develop geothermal energy

    Renewable energy is crucial to halting climate change. In East Africa, the region’s geology makes geothermal energy a viable option.

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  3. Earth

    Wildfires aren’t going away. Here’s how smoke can affect your health

    How does repeat exposure to wildfire smoke affect our health? Three experts weigh in on the massive air pollution fueled by Canada’s ongoing fires.

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  4. Climate

    Canada’s Crawford Lake could mark the beginning of the Anthropocene

    The mud of a Canadian lake holds an extremely precise record of humans’ influence on Earth. But the Anthropocene isn’t an official geologic epoch yet.

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  5. Materials Science

    This ‘thermal cloak’ keeps spaces from getting either too hot or cold

    A new thermal fabric prototype could help keep cars, buildings and other spaces a comfortable temperature during heat waves while reducing CO₂ emissions.

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  6. Ecosystems

    This seagrass is taking over the Chesapeake Bay. That’s good and bad news

    Higher water temperatures are wiping out eelgrass in the Chesapeake Bay and weedy widgeongrass is expanding. Here’s why that seagrass change matters.

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  7. Paleontology

    This ancient, Lovecraftian apex predator chased and pierced soft prey

    Half a billion years ago, Anomalocaris canadensis probably used its bizarre headgear to reach out and snag soft prey with its spiky clutches.

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  8. Chemistry

    Tear-resistant rubbery materials could pave the way for tougher tires

    Adding easy-to-break molecular connectors surprisingly makes materials harder to tear and could one day reduce microplastic pollution from car tires.

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  9. Climate

    Antarctic sea ice has been hitting record lows for most of this year

    Since hitting a record low minimum back in February, the amount of Antarctic sea ice has stayed well below normal all year.

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  10. Environment

    Dust from a shrinking Great Salt Lake may be accelerating Utah’s snowmelt

    About a quarter of the record-breaking, snow-melting dust on the Wasatch Mountains in 2022 may have come from exposed lakebed at Great Salt Lake.

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  11. Climate

    The snow forest of North America may be about to shrink

    From 2000 to 2019, the boreal forest’s northern boundary didn’t move while southern tree cover thinned due to climate change, wildfires and logging.

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  12. Earth

    Irrigation may be shifting Earth’s rotational axis

    Computer simulations suggest that from 1993 to 2010 irrigation alone could have nudged the North Pole by about 78 centimeters.

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