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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Planetary Science
Scientists find a long-sought electric field in Earth’s atmosphere
The Earth’s ambipolar electric field is weak but strong enough to control the shape and evolution of the upper atmosphere.
- Environment
How much is climate change to blame for extreme weather?
Scientists can estimate how much more likely or severe some past natural disasters were due to human-caused climate change. Here's how.
- Environment
Fiddler crabs are migrating north to cooler waters
The crabs are climate migrants and could be a harbinger of changes to come as more species move in.
- Climate
Summer-like heat is scorching the Southern Hemisphere — in winter
Warmer winters are fast becoming a global phenomenon and can affect everything from the food we grow to the spread of diseases.
- Animals
Here’s how an arthropod pulls off the world’s fastest backflip
While airborne, globular springtails can reach a spin rate of 368 rotations per second, high-speed camera footage shows.
- Oceans
National Geographic’s ‘OceanXplorers’ dives into the ocean’s mysteries
National Geographic’s documentary series ‘OceanXplorers,’ produced by James Cameron, invites you aboard one of the most advanced research vessels in the world.
- Chemistry
A new element on the periodic table might be within reach
Scientists made the known element 116 with a beam of titanium atoms, a technique that could be used to make the undiscovered element 120.
- Climate
Twisters asks if you can 'tame' a tornado. We have the answer
Science News talked to a meteorologist and Twisters’ tornado consultant to separate fact from fiction in Hollywood’s latest extreme weather thriller.
- Genetics
Freeze-drying turned a woolly mammoth’s DNA into 3-D ‘chromoglass’
A new technique for probing the 3-D structure of ancient DNA may help scientists learn how extinct animals functioned, not just what they looked like.
- Health & Medicine
A bizarre video of eyeballs illustrates our pupils shrink with age
Pupil size can decrease up to 0.4 millimeters per decade, hinting at why it can be increasingly harder for people to see in dim light as they age.
- Life
This protist unfolds its ‘neck’ up to 30 times its body length to scout prey
With geometry’s help, 'Lacrymaria olor' can extend its long, necklike protrusion in less than 30 seconds.
- Artificial Intelligence
Reinforcement learning AI might bring humanoid robots to the real world
Reinforcement learning techniques could be the keys to integrating robots — who use machine learning to output more than words — into the real world.
