Earth

  1. Earth

    A drop in CFC emissions puts the hole in the ozone layer back on track to closing

    After a recent bump in illicit CFC-11 pollution, emissions of the ozone-destroying chemical are back down to pre-2013 levels.

    By
  2. Earth

    Three things to know about the disastrous flood in India

    The flood, which killed at least 30 people, may have been caused by a collapsing glacier or a landslide, with climate change possibly playing a role.

    By
  3. Earth

    Fossil mimics may be more common in ancient rocks than actual fossils

    Evidence of early life may be harder to preserve than pseudofossils — structures that form abiotically but resemble living remnants.

    By
  4. Earth

    The birth of a lightning bolt was caught on video

    High-speed imagery shows the formation of an electrical connection between opposing currents, offering new insight into how these flashes form.

    By
  5. Earth

    An upwelling of rock beneath the Atlantic may drive continents apart

    Rock rising from more than 600 kilometers deep at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge may play a more active role in plate tectonics than thought.

    By
  6. Climate

    Ship exhaust studies overestimate cooling from pollution-altered clouds

    Lines of clouds formed by ship exhaust offer a window into aerosol-cloud interactions but may overestimate how much pollution-altered clouds cool the climate.

    By
  7. Climate

    How much will Africa capitalize on cheap renewable energy as its power grid grows?

    An analysis of the successes and failures of past electrical power projects across Africa suggests the continent isn’t likely to go green before 2030.

    By
  8. Earth

    Space station detectors found the source of weird ‘blue jet’ lightning

    The origins of an enigmatic type of lightning in the upper atmosphere has been traced to a 10-microsecond flash of bright blue light.

    By
  9. Animals

    Some bacteria are suffocating sea stars, turning the animals to goo

    For years, researchers thought an infectious pathogen was behind sea star wasting disease. Instead, bacteria deplete the starfishes’ oxygen.

    By
  10. Climate

    ‘The New Climate War’ exposes tactics of climate change ‘inactivists’

    In his new book, climate scientist Michael Mann draws the battle lines for a new phase of the struggle against climate change denialism.

    By
  11. Climate

    2020 and 2016 tie for the hottest years on record

    Ocean temperature data as well as temperatures measured over land at weather stations around the globe revealed the extent of the warming.

    By
  12. Science & Society

    Marie Tharp’s groundbreaking maps brought the seafloor to the world

    In part because of her gender, Tharp was the right person in the right place at the right time to make the first detailed maps of the ocean’s bottom.

    By