Earth
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Climate
Antarctic sea ice shrinks to record low
The Antarctic sea ice extent has reached a new low just two years after hitting a record high.
- Ecosystems
Seagrasses boost ecosystem health by fighting bad bacteria
Seagrasses might reduce bacteria levels in ocean water.
- Physics
Sound waves could take a tsunami down a few notches
A tsunami’s ferocious force could be taken down a few notches with a pair of counter waves.
- Climate
Desert songbirds increasingly at risk of dehydration
With no efforts to curb climate warming, hot spots in the U.S. Southwest could turn uninhabitable for some songbirds.
- Oceans
Fleeting dead zones can muck with seafloor life for decades
Low-oxygen conditions can fundamentally disrupt seafloor ecosystems and increase carbon burial, new research shows.
- Earth
Dual magma plumes fueled volcanic eruptions during final days of dinosaurs
Two magma plumes fueled the Deccan volcanic eruptions around the time of the dinosaur extinction 66 million years ago.
- Climate
Hot nests, not vanishing males, are bigger sea turtle threat
Climate change overheating sea turtle nestlings may be a greater danger than temperature-induced shifts in their sex ratios.
- Earth
Oxygen flooded Earth’s atmosphere earlier than thought
The Great Oxidation Event that enabled the eventual evolution of complex life began 100 million years earlier than once thought, new dating of South African rock suggests.
- Anthropology
DNA points to millennia of stability in East Asian hunter-fisher population
Ancient hunter-gatherers in East Asia are remarkably similar, genetically, to modern people living in the area. Unlike what happened in Western Europe, this region might not have seen waves of farmers take over.
- Genetics
CRISPR used in cows to help fight tuberculosis
Chinese researchers used a CRISPR/Cas 9 gene editor to make cows more resistant to tuberculosis.
- Genetics
CRISPR used in cows to help fight tuberculosis
Chinese researchers used a CRISPR/Cas 9 gene editor to make cows more resistant to tuberculosis.
- Oceans
Cone snails wander in circles, lose focus with boosted CO2
Deadly cone snails wander in circles and become less capable hunters when exposed to higher levels of carbon dioxide in seawater.
