Earth

  1. Climate

    A carbon footprint life cycle assessment can cut down on greenwashing

    As companies try to reduce their carbon footprint, many are doing life cycle assessments to quantify the full carbon cost of their products.

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  2. Climate

    A coral pollution study unexpectedly helped explain Hurricane Maria’s fury

    Tracking coral reef pollution in Puerto Rico, conservation researchers discovered by chance how the coastal ocean fueled Hurricane Maria.

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  3. Earth

    In 2021, a deadly volcano erupted with no warning. Here’s why

    Before the Nyiragongo eruption, underground magma was already close to the surface and so didn’t trigger instruments that look for lava movement.

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  4. Earth

    The Tonga eruption may have spawned a tsunami as tall as the Statue of Liberty

    A massive undersea volcanic eruption in the South Pacific in January created a tsunami that was initially 90 meters tall, computer simulations suggest.

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  5. Science & Society

    A new seasoning smells like meat thanks to sugar — and mealworms

    A spoonful of sugars could help cooked mealworms go down more easily, a potential boon for the planet.

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  6. Earth

    Not one, but two asteroids might have slain the dinosaurs

    A craterlike structure found off West Africa’s coast might have been formed by an asteroid impact around the same time the dinosaurs went extinct.

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  7. Animals

    Extreme climate shifts long ago may have helped drive reptile evolution

    The end-Permian extinction left reptiles plenty of open ecological niches. But rapid climate change may be what kick-started the animals’ dominance.

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  8. Environment

    Common, cheap ingredients can break down some ‘forever chemicals’

    Forever chemicals, or PFAS, are harmful compounds that are very difficult to degrade. But some are no match for lye and dimethyl sulfoxide.

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  9. Earth

    The Arctic is warming even faster than scientists realized

    The Arctic isn’t just heating up two to three times as quickly as the rest of the planet. New analyses show that warming is almost four times as fast.

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  10. Life

    Sea sponges launch slow-motion snot rockets to clean their pores

    Sea sponges rely on a sneezing mechanism to clear their pores, using mucus to flush out debris. This mucus provides food for other marine life.

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  11. Animals

    Relocated beavers helped mitigate some effects of climate change

    Along a river in Washington state, the repositioned beavers built dams that lowered stream temperatures and boosted water storage.

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  12. Environment

    Electrical bacteria may help clean oil spills and curb methane emissions

    Cable bacteria are living electrical wires that may become a tool to reduce methane emissions and clean oil spills.

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