Earth
- Life
Climate change may leave many mammals homeless
In some places over the next century, projected warming threatens the survival of more than one in three species.
- Earth
Big Antarctic ice sheet appears doomed
Warming climate is expected to trigger the sudden retreat of a partially floating glacier on the continent’s western side by 2100.
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- Earth
Study keeps pace with Greenland glaciers
Herky-jerky motion of the island’s ice suggests that melting ice is unlikely to contribute to dramatic sea level rise this century, but the news isn’t all good.
- Earth
Oceans’ salinity changed over last half-century
Warmer atmosphere may be to blame for changes in the water cycle.
- Life
Bacteria, insects join forces against pesticide
Microbes in gut, rather than genetic changes, allow insects to develop chemical resistance.
- Earth
Arctic sea emits methane
Source of climate-warming gas remains uncertain, but might be microbes.
- Life
Polar bears older than previously thought
New analysis reveals that the Arctic species dates back to about 600,000 years ago.
- Earth
Indonesian quake passes without major tsunami
A magnitude 8.6 tremor displaced far less water than the 2004 Indian Ocean disaster.
- Humans
Warming Marches in
People may argue about why Earth is warming, how long its fever will last and whether any of this warrants immediate corrective action. But whether Earth is warming is no longer open to debate. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has just published domestic examples to reinforce what Americans witnessed last month — either on TV or in their own backyards.
- Life
Bat-killing fungus is a European import
Tracing the origins of the strain that causes white-nose syndrome in U.S. animals to Europe, scientists show that infection ups arousal rate during hibernation, depleting energy stores.
- Humans
Bat killer is still spreading
Since 2006, some 6 million to 7 million North American bats have succumbed to white-nose syndrome, a virulent fungal disease. That figure, issued in January by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, at least sextupled the former estimate that biologists had been touting. But the sharp jump in the cumulative death toll isn’t the only disturbing new development. On April 2, scientists confirmed that white-nose fungus has apparently struck bats hibernating in two small Missouri caves. The first signs of clinical disease have also just emerged in Europe.
