Earth

Climate

Wally Broecker divined how the climate could suddenly shift

Wally Broecker’s insight into the shutdown of the great ocean conveyor belt spurred the study of abrupt climate change.

Climate

Forests help reduce global warming in more ways than one

Trees are often touted as bulwarks against climate change for their capacity to sequester carbon, but that’s just one part of the story.

Earth

How climbers help scientists vibe with Utah’s famous red rock formations

Researchers teamed up with rock climbers to collect rare data that help them assess the seismic stability of red rock formations in Utah.

Climate

Smoke from Australia’s intense fires in 2019 and 2020 damaged the ozone layer

Massive fires like those that raged in Australia in 2019–2020 can eat away at Earth’s protective ozone layer, researchers find.

Oceans

Even the sea has light pollution. These new maps show its extent

Coastal cities and offshore development create enough light to potentially alter behavior of tiny organisms dozens of meters below the surface.

Climate

How did we get here? The roots and impacts of the climate crisis

Over the last century and a half, scientists have built a strong case for the roots and impacts of human-caused climate change.

Earth

The mysterious Hiawatha crater in Greenland is 58 million years old

An impact crater spotted in 2015 in Greenland is far too old to be connected to the Younger Dryas cold snap from 13,000 years ago, a study suggests.

Animals

Culturally prized mountain goats may be vanishing from Indigenous land in Canada

As fewer mountain goats are spotted along British Columbia’s central coast, First Nations people team up with biologists to assess the population.

Oceans

Some deep-sea octopuses aren’t the long-haul moms scientists thought they were

Off California’s coast, some octopuses lay eggs in the warmer water of geothermal springs in the “Octopus Garden,” speeding up their development.

Climate

A UN report shows climate change’s escalating toll on people and nature

The latest United Nations' IPCC climate change report underscores the urgent need for action to avoid the worst consequences of global warming.

Planetary Science

An ancient impact on Earth led to a cascade of cratering

For the first time, scientists have discovered clusters of craters on Earth that were formed by the impacts of material thrown out of a larger crater.

Oceans

Sunlight helps clean up oil spills in the ocean more than previously thought

Solar radiation dissolved as much as 17 percent of the surface oil slick spilled after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion, a new study suggests.