Earth
- Life
Ancestors of today’s placental mammals may never have shared the Earth with dinosaurs
A newly constructed family tree dovetails with the fossil record, but differs considerably from previous genetic studies by suggesting that placental mammals emerged after the dinosaur extinction.
- Animals
Compared with rodents, bat species carry more viruses
Viruses that can jump from animals to people may find the flying mammals a fine place to lurk.
- Earth
Salvage Job
With fertilizer prices skyrocketing, scientists scramble to recover phosphorus from waste.
- Earth
Magnitude 8.0 earthquake strikes Solomon Islands
Temblor is the largest in a month of seismic activity on Australian-Pacific plate boundary.
- Chemistry
Gold-digging microbe
By spitting out a molecule, a bacterium draws solid gold out of solution.
- Earth
Indonesian mud eruption will soon die out, scientists predict
Spewing muck since 2006, volcano will calm to a sputter by 2017.
- Oceans
Life found deep below Antarctic ice
Lake buried under 800 meters of ice hosts cells, researchers find.
- Earth
Warmer is not always wetter
Compared to global warming caused by solar radiation, global warming caused by greenhouse gases results in less rainfall, simulations suggest.
- Life
Caribbean’s coral reefs approach tipping point
A survey of 19 colonies suggests many may soon begin to shrink.
- Humans
U.S. team breaks through subglacial lake
Testing should continue for a day or more, probing for life in the Antarctic depths.
- Earth
Human-made waste heat warms climate
Energy dissipated as heat in cities can cause regional temperature changes, simulations suggest.
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