Earth
- Astronomy
Pollution is endangering the future of astronomy
Astronomers discuss multiple threats from pollution that will make it harder to observe the night sky.
By Dan Garisto - Climate
Rising CO2 in lakes could keep water fleas from raising their spiky defenses
Rising CO2 in freshwaters may change how predators and prey interact in lakes.
- Science & Society
We’ll be watching the skies, plus a lot more, this year
Acting Editor in Chief Elizabeth Quill predicts 2018 could be a year full of important space discoveries.
- Climate
Warming ocean water is turning 99 percent of these sea turtles female
Green sea turtle populations in part of the Great Barrier Reef are becoming increasingly female due to higher ocean temperatures.
- Planetary Science
NASA is headed to Earth’s outermost edge
NASA’s upcoming GOLD mission will study the charged border between Earth and space.
- Oceans
Corals are severely bleaching five times as often as in 1980
Corals are now bleaching more frequently and severely than they were in the early 1980s.
- Earth
A sinking, melting ancient tectonic plate may fuel Yellowstone’s supervolcano
The subduction of an ancient tectonic plate may be the driving force behind Yellowstone’s volcanic eruptions.
- Science & Society
How science and society crossed paths in 2017
In 2017, Science News covered the science events that everyone was talking about.
By Kyle Plantz - Climate
These weather events turned extreme thanks to human-driven climate change
Ruling out natural variability, scientists say several of 2016’s extreme weather events wouldn’t have happened without human-caused climate change.
- Health & Medicine
Fracking linked to low birth weight in Pennsylvania babies
Babies born to moms living within one kilometer of a hydraulic fracturing site were more likely to be born underweight, researchers say.
- Earth
Federal maps underestimate flood risk for tens of millions of people, scientists warn
New flood maps suggest that the U.S. government underestimates how many people live in floodplains.
- Climate
The Larsen C ice shelf break has sparked groundbreaking research
The hubbub over the iceberg that broke off Larsen C may have died down, but scientists are just getting warmed up to study the aftermath.