Earth

  1. Plants

    Ultrasound reveals trees’ drought-survival secrets

    Scientists used ultrasound sensors and electrical probes to reveal how drought affects the tissues of living trees.

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  2. Earth

    A massive cavern beneath a West Antarctic glacier is teeming with life

    A subglacial river has carved out the cavern beneath the Kamb Ice Stream, a West Antarctic glacier, and may be supplying nutrients necessary for life.

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  3. Climate

    Methane may not warm the Earth quite as much as previously thought

    Methane absorbs both longwave and shortwave radiation, with competing effects on climate, a study finds. The gas remains a potent warmer of the planet.

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  4. Earth

    The Great Salt Lake is shrinking. What can we do to stop it?

    A dropping lake level affects agriculture, public health and the environment — but water conservation can halt the decline.

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  5. Climate

    The summer of 2021 was the Pacific Northwest’s hottest in a millennium

    Tree ring data from the Pacific Northwest reveal that the region’s average summer temperature in 2021 was the highest since at least the year 950.

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  6. Climate

    ‘Flash droughts’ are growing increasingly common

    Droughts are forming faster more often in much of the world due to climate change, a new study finds.

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  7. Environment

    Satellite imagery reveals ‘hidden’ tornado tracks

    Twisters that churn over barren landscapes leave scars that are invisible to human eyes but are detectable with infrared light.

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  8. Climate

    How an Indigenous community in Panama is escaping rising seas

    The Indigenous Guna peoples' relocation from Panama could offer lessons for other communities threatened by climate change.

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  9. Climate

    Baseball’s home run boom is due, in part, to climate change

    Higher air temperatures led to an average of 58 more home runs each MLB season from 2010 to 2019, a study shows.

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  10. Oceans

    ‘Jet packs’ and ultrasounds could reveal secrets of pregnant whale sharks

    Only one pregnant whale shark has ever been studied. New underwater techniques using ultrasound and blood tests could change that.

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  11. Math

    Here’s why the geometric patterns in salt flats worldwide look so similar

    New research suggests the shared geometry of salt flats from Death Valley to Iran comes from fluid flows underground.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Microplastics are in our bodies. Here’s why we don’t know the health risks

    Researchers are racing to try to understand how much humans are exposed and what levels are toxic.

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