Earth

  1. Climate

    Cargo ships must cut their emissions in half by 2050

    A new international agreement places a cap on greenhouse gas emissions from international cargo ships.

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  2. Genetics

    Sweet potatoes might have arrived in Polynesia long before humans

    Genetic analysis suggests that sweet potatoes were present in Polynesia over 100,000 years ago, and didn’t need help crossing the Pacific.

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  3. Oceans

    Ocean heat waves are becoming more common and lasting longer

    Over the last 100 years, the world’s oceans have sweltered through a rising number of heat waves.

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  4. Environment

    Microplastics may enter freshwater and soil via compost

    Compost is pinpointed as a source of plastic pollution, but environmental fate and effects unknown.

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  5. Paleontology

    This ancient lizard may have watched the world through four eyes

    A lizard that lived 50 million years ago had both a third and a fourth eye.

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  6. Earth

    Efforts to contain Mississippi floods may have made them worse

    Intensive management of the Mississippi River has increased the size of its largest floods, suggests a new study.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Are we ready for the deadly heat waves of the future?

    As heat waves become more common, cities try to respond.

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  8. Climate

    Seafloor map shows why Greenland’s glaciers melt at different rates

    A new high-res look at the seafloor shows how ledges and dips affects whether relatively warm ocean water reaches the ice.

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  9. Earth

    Powerful New England quake recorded in pond mud

    The newfound sediment signature of the 1755 Cape Ann earthquake could be used to trace other prehistoric temblors.

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  10. Animals

    Humpback whale bumps have marine biologists stumped

    Christine Gabriele is taking tissue samples from humpback whales in Hawaii to determine why more and more have nodular dermatitis.

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  11. Science & Society

    How past disasters can help us prepare for the future

    In The Big Ones, seismologist Lucy Jones examines the science behind some of the most catastrophic natural disasters in human history.

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  12. Environment

    How bees defend against some controversial insecticides

    Some bees have enzymes that allow them to resist toxic compounds in some neonicotinoid pesticides.

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