Earth
- Plants
Ancient ozone holes may have sterilized forests 252 million years ago
Swaths of barren forest may have led to Earth’s greatest mass extinction.
- Ecosystems
Humans are overloading the world’s freshwater bodies with phosphorus
Human activities are driving phosphorus levels in the world’s lakes and other freshwater bodies to a critical point.
- Animals
A peek into polar bears’ lives reveals revved-up metabolisms
Polar bears have higher metabolisms than scientists thought. In a world with declining Arctic sea ice, that could spell trouble.
- Agriculture
Grapevines are more drought-tolerant than thought
Grapevines handle drought better than previously thought. This could inform irrigation management.
- Earth
Gassy farm soils are a shockingly large source of these air pollutants
California’s farm soils produce a surprisingly large amount of smog-causing air pollutants.
- Earth
Life may have been possible in Earth’s earliest, most hellish eon
Heat from asteroid bombardment during Earth’s earliest eon wasn’t too intense for life to exist on the planet, a new study suggests.
- Environment
Plastic pollution increases risk of devastating disease in corals
Researchers estimate about 11 billion pieces of plastic are polluting Asia-Pacific corals, raising the risk of disease at scores of reefs.
- Earth
Overlooked air pollution may be fueling more powerful storms
The tiniest particles in air pollution aren’t just a health threat. They also strengthen thunderstorms, new research suggests.
- Earth
Robots map largest underwater volcanic eruption in 100 years
High-resolution mapping of a 2012 underwater volcanic eruption just goes to show there’s a lot we don’t know about deep-sea volcanism.
- Earth
Volume of fracking fluid pumped underground tied to Canada quakes
Study links volume of fracking fluid injected underground with hundreds of quakes in central Canada, and not the rate at which the fluids were injected.
- Animals
The mystery of vanishing honeybees is still not definitively solved
The case has never been fully closed for colony collapse disorder, and now bees face bigger problems.
- Astronomy
Pollution is endangering the future of astronomy
Astronomers discuss multiple threats from pollution that will make it harder to observe the night sky.
