Earth

  1. Climate

    As temperatures rise, so do insects’ appetites for corn, rice and wheat

    Hotter, hungrier pests likely to do 10 percent to 25 percent more damage to grains for each warmer degree.

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  2. Earth

    Artificial intelligence could improve predictions for where quake aftershocks will hit

    Scientists trained an artificial intelligence system to figure out where aftershocks are likely to occur.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    As algae blooms increase, scientists seek better ways to predict these toxic tides

    Scientists around the United States are developing programs that can predict harmful algal blooms in advance.

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  4. Climate

    Chances of an Atlantic hurricane season busier than 2005’s are slim — for now

    The 28 named tropical storms that swirled through the Atlantic Ocean in 2005 is about as many as the region can produce in a year.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Air pollution is shaving a year off our average life expectancy

    The first country-by-country look at how dirty air affects when we die shows it can have more impact on mortality than breast or lung cancer.

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  6. Earth

    Scientists create a mineral in the lab that captures carbon dioxide

    Magnesite takes a long time to form in nature. Now, a team has found a way to speed up the making of the mineral, which can store carbon dioxide.

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  7. Oceans

    Beaked whales may frequent a seabed spot marked for mining

    Grooves in the seafloor may signal that whales visit a region that is a prime target for future seabed mining.

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  8. Ecosystems

    A freshwater, saltwater tug-of-war is eating away at the Everglades

    Saltwater is winning in the Everglades as sea levels rise and years of redirecting freshwater flow to support agriculture and population growth

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  9. Materials Science

    A filter that turns saltwater into freshwater just got an upgrade

    Smoothing out a material used in desalination filters could help combat worldwide water shortages.

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  10. Earth

    In 1968, scientists tried taming hurricanes

    For over 20 years, the U.S. government tried to subdue hurricanes through cloud seeding, with mixed results.

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  11. Life

    More than 2 billion people lack safe drinking water. That number will only grow.

    By 2050, half the world’s population may no longer have safe water to drink or grow food. What then?

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  12. Oceans

    Viruses may help phytoplankton make clouds — by tearing the algae apart

    Sick phytoplankton shed their calcium carbonate plates more easily than their healthy counterparts, which could play a role in forming clouds.

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