Earth
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Earth
Floodwaters may trigger fault motion
In sediments under California’s Salton Sea, geologists find evidence for a natural disaster one-two punch.
- Earth
Earth/Environment
Platypuses in trouble, toxins in lakes and a chemical link to early puberty in this week’s news.
- Paleontology
Big dinosaurs kept their cool
Body temperature of long-gone beasts resembled that of mammals, study of fossil teeth suggests.
- Earth
Modern-day sea level rise skyrocketing
A spike that began during the 19th century appears to be linked to rising temperatures and increasing greenhouse gases.
- Earth
Earth & Environment
Earth’s bulging waistline, plus ancient mangrove swamps and new threats from wildfires in this week’s news.
- Earth
Death of a Continent, Birth of an Ocean
Africa’s Afar region gives glimpses of geology in action.
- Humans
Couch potatoes: Where the risks lie
Several new studies finger television viewing as a potentially unhealthy pastime. I know, that hardly sounds surprising. For years, research has been linking hours in front of TV screens with an elevated risk of developing heart disease and diabetes, not to mention obesity. But what makes the recent spate of analyses different, researchers argue, is that they’re finally homing in on consistent estimates of the magnitude of risks — and hints at what underlies them.
- Earth
Tsunami lit up the heavens
Camera captures glowing atmospheric ripples triggered by Japan’s deadly quake as they pass over Hawaii.
- Earth
Earth & Environment
Climate change brings a thirstier West and thinner polar bears, plus parsing the sun and moon's effects in this week's news.
- Life
Weeds increasingly immune to herbicides
Agricultural scientists warn that crop yields could drop as a result of emerging resistance.
- Earth
Earth/Environment
Flameproofing baby products, early tectonics, the future of tomatoes and more in this week's news.
- Life
Go deep, small worm
A discovery in a South African mine suggests life can thrive far below the surface.
