Earth

  1. Tech

    The U.S. power grid desperately needs upgrades to handle climate change

    The climate is changing faster than the U.S. power grid is adapting. Smarter grids and smaller grids could help.

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  2. Ecosystems

    Will Australia’s forests bounce back after devastating fires?

    Intense bushfires that have blazed down Australia’s eastern coast could have long-lasting effects on the continent’s unique plants and animals.

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  3. Oceans

    Noise pollution from ships may scare Arctic cod from feeding grounds

    Melting Arctic sea ice is opening up northern waters to increased shipping, and the vessel noise is taking a toll on Arctic cod.

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  4. Earth

    Here are 5 of the weirdest auroras, including the newly spotted ‘dunes’

    A newfound type of aurora dubbed the “dunes” joins the ranks of black auroras, STEVE and other obscure auroral phenomena.

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  5. Climate

    Climate change may be speeding up ocean circulation

    Circulation in the top 2,000 meters of the world’s oceans has increased as a result of faster winds around the globe, a study suggests.

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  6. Climate

    A new roadmap shows how the U.S. could be carbon-neutral by 2050

    A new report charts a roadmap for the U.S. to have zero carbon footprint by 2050, but only with heavy and immediate investment in carbon removal technologies.

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  7. Ecosystems

    Fewer worms live in mud littered with lots of microplastics

    The environmental effects of microplastic pollution are still hazy, but new long-term, outdoor experiments could help clear matters up.

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  8. Life

    Engineered honeybee gut bacteria trick attackers into self-destructing

    Tailored microbes defend bees with a gene-silencing process called RNA interference that takes on viruses or mites.

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  9. Earth

    Tiny meteorites suggest ancient Earth had a carbon dioxide–rich atmosphere

    Simulations of reactions between 2.7-billion-year-old micrometeorites and atmospheric gases hint Archean Earth’s atmosphere had high levels of CO2.

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  10. Archaeology

    Mount Vesuvius may have suffocated, not vaporized, some victims

    A new study suggests people living near Pompeii who hid in stone boathouses died a slower death when the volcano erupted in A.D. 79.

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  11. Earth

    Fed by human-caused erosion, many river deltas are growing

    Deforestation and river damming are changing the shape of river deltas around the globe.

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  12. Earth

    A 2.2-billion-year-old crater is Earth’s oldest recorded meteorite impact

    The newly dated Yarrabubba crater in Western Australia extends Earth’s impact record by more than 200 million years.

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