Earth

  1. Oceans

    Lack of nutrients stalled rebound of marine life post-Permian extinction

    Warm sea surface temperatures slowed the nitrogen cycle in Earth’s oceans and delayed the recovery of life following the Permian extinction, researchers propose.

    By
  2. Animals

    Evidence piles up for popular pesticides’ link to pollinator problems

    Neonicotinoid pesticides linked to population declines in California butterflies and wild bee extinctions in Great Britain.

    By
  3. Earth

    Americas’ hookup not so ancient after all

    Debate lingers over when the Isthmus of Panama formed and closed the seaway that separated North and South America millions of years ago.

    By
  4. Earth

    General relativity has readers feeling upside down

    Readers respond to the June 25, 2016, issue of Science News with questions on Earth's age, moaning whales, plate tectonics and more.

    By
  5. Environment

    New desalination tech could help quench global thirst

    Designed with better, more energy-efficient materials, next-generation desalination plants may offer a way to meet the world’s growing need for freshwater.

    By
  6. Climate

    India’s monsoon winds trace back nearly 13 million years

    The intense monsoon winds that carry torrential rain to India each year first started blowing around 12.9 million years ago, new research suggests.

    By
  7. Science & Society

    Sea life stars in museum’s glass menagerie

    See Leopold and Rudolf Blaschkas’ delicate glass jellyfish, anemones, sea worms and other marine invertebrates at the Corning Museum of Glass.

    By
  8. Earth

    China’s mythical ‘Great Flood’ possibly rooted in real disaster

    Folktales of an ancient flood that helped kick off Chinese civilization may reference a nearly 4,000-year-old deluge.

    By
  9. Paleontology

    Woolly mammoths’ last request: Got water?

    Woolly mammoths survived on an Alaskan island thousands of years after mainland mammoths went extinct. But they died out when their lakes dried up, thanks to a warming climate and rising sea levels.

    By
  10. Animals

    Pup kidnapping has a happy ending when a seal gets two moms

    A female fur seal kidnapped another seal’s pup. But this turned out to be a positive the young seal, scientists found.

    By
  11. Oceans

    50 years ago, humans could pick the oceans clean

    Scientists have long recognized that we might overfish the oceans. Despite quotas, some species are paying the price of human appetite.

    By
  12. Earth

    Science finds many tricks for traveling to the past

    Our editor in chief discusses what science can tell us about the past.

    By