Earth

  1. Earth

    Newly identified continent Zealandia faces a battle for recognition

    Geologists make the case for a new continent, dubbed Zealandia, found largely submerged beneath the southwestern Pacific Ocean.

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  2. Quantum Physics

    Readers amazed by Amasia

    Quantum spookiness, shifting landmasses and more in reader feedback.

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  3. Animals

    Too many stinkbugs spoil the wine

    Stinkbugs can ruin wine if enough are accidentally processed alive with the grapes. Three or fewer stinkbugs per grape cluster don’t have a noticeable effect on red wine.

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  4. Chemistry

    New, greener catalysts are built for speed

    Researchers are designing catalysts to move chemical reactions without using precious metals, or at least using less of them.

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  5. Climate

    Antarctic sea ice shrinks to record low

    The Antarctic sea ice extent has reached a new low just two years after hitting a record high.

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  6. Ecosystems

    Seagrasses boost ecosystem health by fighting bad bacteria

    Seagrasses might reduce bacteria levels in ocean water.

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  7. Physics

    Sound waves could take a tsunami down a few notches

    A tsunami’s ferocious force could be taken down a few notches with a pair of counter waves.

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  8. Climate

    Desert songbirds increasingly at risk of dehydration

    With no efforts to curb climate warming, hot spots in the U.S. Southwest could turn uninhabitable for some songbirds.

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  9. Oceans

    Fleeting dead zones can muck with seafloor life for decades

    Low-oxygen conditions can fundamentally disrupt seafloor ecosystems and increase carbon burial, new research shows.

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  10. Earth

    Dual magma plumes fueled volcanic eruptions during final days of dinosaurs

    Two magma plumes fueled the Deccan volcanic eruptions around the time of the dinosaur extinction 66 million years ago.

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  11. Climate

    Hot nests, not vanishing males, are bigger sea turtle threat

    Climate change overheating sea turtle nestlings may be a greater danger than temperature-induced shifts in their sex ratios.

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  12. Earth

    Oxygen flooded Earth’s atmosphere earlier than thought

    The Great Oxidation Event that enabled the eventual evolution of complex life began 100 million years earlier than once thought, new dating of South African rock suggests.

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