Earth
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Environment
Invasive jumping worms damage U.S. soil and threaten forests
Also known as snake worms, these writhing wrigglers turn forest leaf litter into bare ground, changing soil composition and ecosystems as they go.
- Climate
Global warming may lead to practically irreversible Antarctic melting
Simulations suggest that even if the Paris climate goals are met, melting Antarctica ice will still cause sea levels to rise by more than 2 meters.
- Environment
What we know and don’t know about wildfire smoke’s health risks
As wildfires become more frequent and severe in California, Oregon and throughout the West Coast, concerns rise about harmful air pollution.
- Oceans
Underwater earthquakes’ sound waves reveal changes in ocean warming
A new technique uses the echoes of earthquakes in seawater to track the impact of climate change on the oceans.
- Earth
Earth’s rarest diamonds form from primordial carbon in the mantle
Chemical analyses of the rarest diamonds suggest the planet’s carbon cycle may not go as deep as scientists thought.
- Environment
This moth may outsmart smog by learning to like pollution-altered aromas
In the lab, scientists taught tobacco hawkmoths that a scent changed by ozone is from a favorite flower.
- Agriculture
How does a crop’s environment shape a food’s smell and taste?
Scientific explorations of terroir — the soil, climate and orientation in which crops grow — hint at influences on flavors and aromas.
- Climate
New maps show how warm water may reach Thwaites Glacier’s icy underbelly
New seafloor maps around Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica reveal how deep channels could help warm ocean water melt the glacier from below.
- Climate
Bering Sea winter ice shrank to its lowest level in 5,500 years in 2018
Peat cores that record five millennia of climate shifts in the Arctic region suggest recent ice loss is linked to rising carbon dioxide levels.
- Earth
What’s behind August 2020’s extreme weather? Climate change and bad luck
On top of a pandemic, the United States is having an epic weather year — a combination of bad luck and a stage set by a warming climate.
- Planetary Science
Earth’s building blocks may have had far more water than previously thought
Space rocks and dust from the inner solar system could have delivered enough water to account for all the H2O in the planet’s mantle.
- Earth
Improved three-week weather forecasts could save lives from disaster
Meteorologists are pushing to make forecasts good enough to fill the gap between short-term and seasonal.
