Earth

  1. Animals

    Barnacles track whale migration

    The mix of oxygen isotopes in the shells of barnacles that latch on to baleen whales may divulge how whale migration routes have changed over millions of years.

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  2. Climate

    Methane didn’t warm ancient Earth, new simulations suggest

    Scarce oxygen and abundant sulfate prevented methane from accumulating enough to keep Earth warm hundreds of millions of years ago, reviving the faint young sun paradox.

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  3. Earth

    Nuclear blasts, other human activity signal new epoch, group argues

    A group of scientists will formally propose the human-defined Anthropocene as a new epoch in Earth’s geologic history within a few years, probably pegging the start date to nuclear tests.

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  4. Earth

    Natural ally against global warming not as strong as thought

    Soils may take in far less carbon by the end of the century than previously predicted, exacerbating climate change.

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  5. Genetics

    Single exodus from Africa gave rise to today’s non-Africans

    Genetics and climate studies differ on when modern humans left Africa.

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  6. Oceans

    Melissa Omand’s clever tech follows the fate of ocean carbon

    Drawn to the water early, oceanographer Melissa Omand now leads research cruises studying how carbon and nutrients move through the seas.

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  7. Ecosystems

    Shrinking sea ice threatens natural highways for caribou, plants

    As Arctic sea ice declines, Peary caribou or plants risk getting stranded when their frozen highways thaw.

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  8. Earth

    Primordial continental crust re‑created in lab

    Compressing rocks from an ocean plateau at high temperatures and pressures re-creates the formation of Earth’s first continental crust.

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  9. Climate

    Arctic sea ice shrinks to second-lowest low on record

    A warm summer helped shrink sea ice in the Arctic Ocean to a statistical tie with 2007 for the second smallest sea ice minimum on record.

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  10. Oceans

    First U.S. ocean monument named in the Atlantic

    A region of ocean off the coast of Cape Cod has become the first U.S. marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean, President Barack Obama announced.

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  11. Animals

    Sandboxes keep chicken parasites at bay

    Fluffing feathers in sand and dust prevents severe mite infections in cage-free hens.

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  12. Earth

    Where the young hot Earth cached its gold

    A simulation of the infant Earth provides a new view of how the iron-loving precious metals ended up buried deep in the planet’s core.

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