Earth

  1. Ecosystems

    To save Appalachia’s endangered mussels, scientists hatched a bold plan

    Biologists have just begun to learn whether their bold plan worked to save the golden riffleshell, a freshwater mussel teetering on the brink of extinction.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Many U.S. neighborhoods with the worst air 40 years ago remain the most polluted

    Air pollution has declined in the United States, but marginalized communities are still disproportionately affected despite the improvement.

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  3. Oceans

    These ancient seafloor microbes woke up after over 100 million years

    Scientists discover that microbes that had lain dormant in the seafloor for millions of years can revive and multiply.

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  4. Earth

    COVID-19 lockdowns dramatically reduced seismic noise from humans

    Human-caused seismic activity was reduced by as much as 50 percent around the globe during lockdowns as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

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  5. Microbes

    Scientists stumbled across the first known manganese-fueled bacteria

    A jar left soaking in an office sink helped scientists answer a century-old question of whether bacteria can use manganese for energy.

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  6. Physics

    A giant underground motion sensor in Germany tracks Earth’s wobbles

    A giant underground gyroscope array has taken its first measurements of how the world goes ’round.

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  7. Earth

    An asteroid impact, not volcanism, may have made Earth unlivable for dinosaurs

    New simulations add to growing evidence that an asteroid strike, rather than the Deccan Traps eruptions, caused the end-Cretaceous extinction.

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  8. Climate

    Climate change made Siberia’s heat wave at least 600 times more likely

    Siberia’s six-month heat wave during the first half of 2020 would not have happened without human-caused climate change, researchers find.

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  9. Earth

    Agriculture and fossil fuels are driving record-high methane emissions

    Releases of the heat-trapping gas methane from human activities have ramped up in the 21st century, especially in Africa and Asia.

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  10. Earth

    Earth’s annual e-waste could grow to 75 million metric tons by 2030

    Unwanted electronic waste is piling up rapidly around the globe, while collection and recycling efforts are failing to keep pace, a new report shows.

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  11. Climate

    4 ways to put the 100-degree Arctic heat record in context

    June’s record heat in Siberia is part of a much bigger picture of dramatic climate change in the Arctic.

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  12. Earth

    Two lightning megaflashes shattered distance and duration records

    Satellite data show that the two extreme bolts, both appearing over South America, more than doubled the previous records.

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