Climate
- Animals
Eggs and other land foods won’t feed polar bears
Polar bears will not be able to survive on land by eating birds, eggs and vegetation, a new review concludes.
- Climate
Fewer cold snaps in the forecast
Rapid Arctic warming will reduce the frequency of cold snaps throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere, new research suggests.
- Climate
Antarctic ice shelves rapidly melting
Melting around Antarctica is accelerating, with several ice shelves projected to vanish entirely within 100 years.
- Climate
Rain slows whipping hurricane winds
Taking raindrop drag into account — which may slow hurricane winds by as much as 30 percent — could help improve hurricane forecasts.
- Climate
Winter storms 24 times as deadly as estimated
By ignoring car and plane crashes related to bad weather, U.S. tallies of winter storm deadliness severely underestimate hazard.
- Paleontology
Rise of East African Plateau dated by whale fossil
A whale fossil is helping to pinpoint when the East African Plateau started to rise and how the uplift played a role in human evolution, scientists say.
- Climate
Arctic warming bolsters summer heat waves
Sagging storms brought on by rapid Arctic warming worsen summertime heat waves across the Northern Hemisphere.
- Animals
Insects may undermine trees’ ability to store carbon
Insects eat more leaves on trees grown in carbon dioxide-rich environments than those grown without the extra CO2. That may undermine forests as carbon sinks in the future.
- Earth
Volcanic lightning forges tiny glass balls from airborne ash
The lightning that crackles through volcanic plumes can melt ash into tiny glass beads.
- Plants
Plant growth patterns changing on much of Earth’s surface
More than half of Earth’s land surface has seen major changes in factors such as leaf-on date and how much vegetation grows in a season.
- Climate
Coastal Los Angeles losing fog to urban sprawl
Fog in parts of Southern California has become significantly less frequent due to urban warming.
- Climate
Scientists confirm amassing CO2 heats Earth’s surface
Rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide increase the amount of thermal radiation striking Earth’s surface.
