Earth
- Humans
Record ‘Arctic’ ozone minimum expands beyond Arctic
In mid-March, our online story about the thinning of stratospheric ozone over the Arctic noted that conditions appeared primed for regional ozone losses to post an all-time record. On April 5, World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Michel Jarraud announced that Arctic ozone had indeed suffered an unprecedented thinning. And these air masses are on the move to mid-latitudes.
- Life
Worries grow over monarch butterflies
Migrants overwintering in Mexico rebounded somewhat this past winter, but still trending downward.
- Earth
Earth/Environment
A new explanation of cold northeast winters, plus shrinking newborns and the Russian heat wave in this week’s news.
- Humans
Climate meddling dates back 8,000 years
Cutting down trees put lots of carbon into the atmosphere long before the industrial revolution began.
- Earth
Major earthquakes not linked
Global seismic risks don’t rise following big events, scientists say.
- Earth
Earth/Environment
Monsoons may have sped India's tectonic plate, plus saber-toothed reptiles and leaden bones in this week's news.
- Humans
Noise is what ails beaked whales
Large-scale experiments reveal a sensitivity to sonar, apparently at lower levels than other species.
- Earth
Global gale warning
Over the world’s oceans, the strongest winds may be getting more powerful, a new study shows.
- Life
Fruit-eating fish does far-flung forestry
Overfishing may be robbing trees in the Amazonian floodplain of vital seed dispersers.
- Earth
Earth/Environment
Nuclear-test monitoring eavesdrops on volcanoes, too, plus tiny tar balls and nonstick hemoglobin in this week’s news.
- Tech
U.S. network detects Fukushima plume
Traces of radioactivity attributable to the earthquake-damaged Fukushima reactor complex in Japan have reached the West Coast of the United States.
- Tech
Chernobyl’s lessons for Japan
Radioactive iodine released by the Chernobyl nuclear accident has left a legacy of thyroid cancers among downwinders — one that shows no sign of diminishing. The new data also point to what could be in store if conditions at Japan’s troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear-power complex continue to sour.
