Earth
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Environment
An acid found in soil may make a disease killing deer less infectious
An incurable neurodegenerative disease crippling North American deer, elk and moose may be thwarted by an organic soil compound.
- Climate
Here’s how much climate change could cost the U.S.
A report by hundreds of scientists from 13 federal agencies starkly outlines the economic impacts of climate change on the United States.
- Earth
A new algorithm could help protect planes from damaging volcanic ash
A computer program that tracks the temperature and height of clouds in the atmosphere could keep planes away from volcanic ash.
- Environment
Engineers are plugging holes in drinking water treatment
Drinking water quality has come a long way in the past hundred years — but challenges remain.
- Agriculture
50 years ago, screwworm flies inspired a new approach to insect control
The United States has wiped out screwworm flies repeatedly since 1966 using the sterile male eradication technique.
- Animals
Hemp fields offer a late-season pollen source for stressed bees
Colorado’s legal fields of low-THC cannabis can attract a lot of bees.
- Climate
Development near natural areas puts more Californians in the path of wildfires
As urbanization extends its reach into once-natural areas, more homes and people are at risk from wildfires.
- Earth
A massive crater hides beneath Greenland’s ice
The discovery of a vast crater in Greenland suggests that a 1-kilometer-wide asteroid hit the Earth between 2.6 million and 11,700 years ago.
- Animals
Climate change may have made the Arctic deadlier for baby shorebirds
What were once relatively safe havens in the Arctic are now feasting sites for predators of baby birds.
- Environment
Car tires and brake pads produce harmful microplastics
Scientists surveyed tiny airborne plastics near German highways and found that bits of tires, brake pads and asphalt make up most of the particles.
- Earth
These tiny, crackly bubbles are a new type of volcanic ash
Scientists have identified a new type of volcanic ash made up of millimeter-long spheres with a crackled surface.
- Physics
Bizarre metals may help unlock mysteries of how Earth’s magnetic field forms
Weyl metals could simulate the dynamo effect that generates the planet’s magnetism, a new study suggests.
