Earth
- Agriculture
Plants engineered to always be on alert don’t grow well
Scientists bred a type of weed to lack proteins that help stem the production of bitter chemicals used to ward off insect attacks.
- Climate
More tornadoes are popping up east of the Mississippi
Tornadoes are becoming slightly less frequent in Tornado Alley, while more are touching down farther east in the United States, a study suggests.
- Archaeology
The water system that helped Angkor rise may have also brought its fall
A complex water system magnified flooding’s disruption of the medieval Cambodian city of Angkor.
- Earth
These ancient mounds may not be the earliest fossils on Earth after all
A new analysis suggests that tectonics, not microbes, formed cone-shaped structures in 3.7-billion-year-old rock.
- Agriculture
Add beer to the list of foods threatened by climate change
Barley crops around the world will be threatened by drought and heat.
- Environment
We’re probably undervaluing healthy lakes and rivers
Clean water legislation often doesn’t seem like a good deal on paper. Here’s why that may be misleading.
- Climate
Here’s what’s unusual about Hurricane Michael
Warm Gulf waters were the engine behind Hurricane Michael’s quick intensification.
- Earth
These light-loving bacteria may survive surprisingly deep underground
Traces of cyanobacteria DNA suggest that the microbes live deep below Earth’s surface.
- Science & Society
The economics of climate change and tech innovation win U.S. pair a Nobel
Climate change and tech innovations inspired the new Nobel Memorial Prize winners in Economic Sciences.
- Climate
Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees versus 2 has big benefits, the IPCC says
A new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change compares the impact of warming targets on extreme weather, sea level rise and habitat loss.
- Climate
How wind power could contribute to a warming climate
If the United States had enough wind turbines to generate all of its power, they would warm the country by 0.24 degrees Celsius on average.
- Climate
Tracking how rainfall morphs Earth’s surface could help forecast flooding
After Hurricane Harvey, scientists used GPS networks to track how Earth’s surface morphed under the weight of floodwaters.
