All Stories by Carolyn Gramling
- Climate
2024 set new record for hottest year, passing a dangerous heat threshold
For the first year in recorded history, Earth’s average temperature topped 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.
- Climate
Meet Chonkus, a mutant microbe that could help fight climate change
A hulking marine cyanobacterium, Chonkus has traits that appears to make it especially good for storing away carbon on the ocean floor.
- Earth
Earthquakes upped the death toll at Pompeii
Broken bodies found at a house in Pompeii suggest that earthquakes played a role in the legendary tragedy.
- Earth
Surprise! The jet stream can trigger cloud formation
Most cloud-seeding particles may come from a newly discovered mechanism — stratospheric intrusion.
- Space
Summer ‘space hurricanes’ are emerging high above Earth’s magnetic poles
A separation — and later recombining — of Earth’s magnetic field lines may be what churns up these super-high-altitude storms of plasma.
- Climate
Stashing more CO2 in the ocean could slow climate change
More research is needed on ways to safely remove some CO2 from the water to make room for more — such as by seaweed farming and iron fertilization.
- Earth
Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano recently erupted like a stomp rocket
This appears to be a newfound type of eruption. It could only be recognized because of the extensive monitoring of Kilauea's crater.
- Climate
Climate change is changing how scientists measure time
Polar ice sheets are melting faster. This is slowing Earth’s spin, which changes how we sync our clocks to tell time.
- Earth
Many natural underground stores of freshwater are shrinking
A lot of these aquifers are quickly disappearing due to climate change and overuse. Fortunately, there is growth in some of the world’s major aquifers.
- Oceans
Explainer: Why are so many hurricanes strengthening really fast?
This dangerous trend appears relatively new — and growing. Studies also have begun linking it to our warming world.
- Chemistry
Creation of quantum dots wins 2023 chemistry Nobel
The award honors three scientists who discovered and built quantum dots, which are now used in everything from TVs to medical tools.
- Agriculture
Cow dung spews a climate-warming gas. Adding algae could limit that
But how useful this is depends on whether cows eat the red algae, a type of seaweed — or it gets added to their wastes after they’re pooped out.
