All Stories by Carolyn Gramling
- Climate
The new UN climate change report shows there’s no time for denial or delay
Human-caused climate change is unequivocally behind extreme weather events from heat waves to floods to droughts, a massive new assessment concludes.
- Space
A lunar magnetic field may have lasted for only a short time
New analyses of Apollo-era lunar rocks suggest that any magnetosphere that the moon ever had endured for no more than 500 million years.
- Climate
A stunning visualization of Alaska’s Yukon Delta shows a land in transition
Water and ice helped form the Yukon River’s delta. Now, climate change is reshaping it.
- Paleontology
Pterosaurs may have been able to fly as soon as they hatched
A fossil analysis shows the flying reptile hatchlings had a stronger bone crucial for lift-off that adults and shorter, broader wings for agility.
- Paleontology
Insects had flashy, noise-making wings as early as 310 million years ago
The structure of a grasshopper-like insect’s fossilized wing suggests it crackled and reflected light, perhaps to attract mates or warn off predators.
- Climate
Hurricanes may not be becoming more frequent, but they’re still more dangerous
A new study suggests that there aren’t more hurricanes now than there were roughly 150 years ago.
- Earth
Satellites show how a massive lake in Antarctica vanished in days
Within six days, an Antarctic lake with twice the volume of San Diego Bay drained away, leaving a deep sinkhole filled with fractured ice.
- Environment
Why planting tons of trees isn’t enough to solve climate change
Massive projects need much more planning and follow-through to succeed – and other tree protections need to happen too.
- Climate
Human-driven climate change sent Pacific Northwest temperatures soaring
As scientists dissect what pushed temperatures up to 5 degrees Celsius above previous records, they may have to revamp how to predict heat waves.
- Earth
A WWII submarine-hunting device helped prove the theory of plate tectonics
With a boost from World War II, the fluxgate magnetometer became a portable and invaluable tool.
- Climate
3 things to know about the record-smashing heat wave baking the Pacific Northwest
Road-buckling, cable-melting, life-threatening heat waves in the Pacific Northwest may become more common as global temperatures rise.
- Paleontology
An ancient creature thought to be a teeny dinosaur turns out to be a lizard
CT scans of hummingbird-sized specimens trapped in amber reveal that the 99-million-year-old fossils have a number of lizardlike features.
