Climate
- Climate
Climate change shifts how long ants hang on to coveted real estate
Simulated climate warming reveals a new pattern in turnover of ant nests.
- Climate
Wanted: New ways to chill air conditioners, fridges
A new amendment to the Montreal Protocol will phase out potent greenhouse gases currently used in air conditioners and refrigerators, prompting a hunt for eco-friendly alternatives.
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- Climate
Extreme lightning events set records
A lightning flash stretching 321 kilometers across and one that lasted 7.74 seconds have been named the most extreme events on record, thanks to a new rule change.
- Earth
Glass bits, charcoal hint at 56-million-year-old space rock impact
Glassy debris and the burnt remains of wildfires suggest that a large space rock hit Earth near the start of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum warming event around 56 million years ago.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Genetics
Single exodus from Africa gave rise to today’s non-Africans
Genetics and climate studies differ on when modern humans left Africa.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
