Earth
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Chemistry
This eco-friendly glitter gets its color from plants, not plastic
Using cellulose extracted from wood pulp, researchers have created a greener alternative to traditional glitter.
- Space
An ancient exploding comet may explain why glass litters part of Chile
A 75-kilometer-long corridor of chunks of glass in the Atacama Desert probably formed when a comet exploded 12,000 years ago, a study finds.
- Earth
Scientists are racing to save the Last Ice Area, an Arctic Noah’s Ark
The Last Ice Area may be the final refuge for summer sea ice and the creatures that depend on it. Saving it is an ambitious goal with many hurdles.
- Animals
Climate change may be shrinking tropical birds
Scientists had previously found that migratory birds are getting smaller as temperatures rise. Dozens of tropical, nonmigratory species are too.
- Earth
A mineral found in a diamond’s flaws contains the source of some of Earth’s heat
A mineral theorized to exist in the mantle was found hiding in a diamond. Dubbed davemaoite, it could explain where some of Earth’s heat comes from.
- Earth
Earth’s lower atmosphere is rising due to climate change
In the Northern Hemisphere, the upper boundary of the troposphere, the slice of sky closest to the ground, rose 50 to 60 meters a decade from 1980 to 2020.
- Climate
Earth will warm 2.7 degrees Celsius based on current pledges to cut emissions
The world still lags on its commitments to lower greenhouse gas emissions and forestall the worst effects of global warming, a new U.N. report shows.
- Earth
Here’s how ice needles sculpt patterns into cold, rocky landscapes
Striking stone patterns decorate remote, frigid landscapes. The recipe for these naturally forming stripes and swirls: Freeze, thaw, repeat.
- Life
How these sea-loving mangroves ended up far from the coast
On the Yucatán Peninsula, mangroves trapped nearly 200 kilometers from the ocean are part of a “relict ecosystem” that’s more than 100,000 years old.
- Earth
Earth is reflecting less light. It’s not clear if that’s a trend
A decrease in Earth’s reflectance shows our planet is absorbing more solar radiation, but it’s not clear if the trend will last.
- Science & Society
How our SN 10 scientists have responded to tumultuous times
COVID-19, social justice movements and the realities of climate change have given our Scientists to Watch new perspective.
- Physics
Work on complex systems, including Earth’s climate, wins the physics Nobel Prize
Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann pioneered work on computer simulations of Earth’s climate. Giorgio Parisi found hidden patterns in disordered complex materials.
