All Stories by Douglas Fox
- Climate
Microbes that dwell in tree bark devour major climate gases
Hidden in plain sight, this huge community of tree-bark microbes dines on gases — such as methane — that warm Earth’s atmosphere.
- Environment
Antarctica faces a green and weedy future
Warming is allowing alien species to invade a land that had been isolated for 30 million years. They now threaten local ecosystems unique to Antarctica.
- Earth
Can engineering save Antarctica’s most vulnerable glacier?
Bold engineering projects might stabilize Thwaites Glacier and slow sea level rise. But no one knows if they will work — or have serious side effects.
- Earth
A landslide in a Greenland fjord echoed around Earth for 9 days
Warming permafrost and glacial melt destabilized a fragile mountain slope, leading to a landslide-triggered tsunami in a fjord. Is this a sign of more to come?
- Earth
As Yellowstone’s supervolcano slumbers, another big danger lurks
Superheated water beneath Yellowstone could fuel hydrothermal explosions with the force of an atomic bomb. And lessons from the past suggest they could happen today.
- Plants
Rampaging vines are slowly strangling tropical forests
Called lianas,these vines are growing out of control. They may cause tropical forests to absorb less carbon dioxide — worsening climate change.
- Ecosystems
A weird upside-down world lurks beneath Antarctica’s ice
A vast swath of ocean surrounds Antarctica, hidden under the ice. Here, strange creatures burrow into the dark underbelly of a floating glacier.
- Climate
Warmer seas trigger skyrocketing ice loss in 3 Antarctic glaciers
Destabilized by waves and vanishing sea ice, one of the glaciers lost 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) of ice in 16 months — a possible hint of worse to come.
- Earth
Under the ice, a hidden lake hints at its origin — and coming end
Lake Mercer may serve as a model for better understanding the birth and life of Antarctica’s hundreds of subglacial lakes.
- Earth
A natural ‘cathedral’ lurks deep under Antarctic ice
By drilling into this cavern, scientists have opened a window into the mysterious world of hidden lakes, their occupants — and rivers that run uphill.
- Animals
Living mysteries: This critter has 38 times more DNA than you do
The genomes of salamanders are bloated with genetic “parasites.” That extra DNA slows down their lives and strands them in perpetual childhood.
- Earth
Uplifting Antarctic shores point to accelerating loss of glaciers
It appears the Pine Island and “Doomsday” Thwaites glaciers are losing ice — and shrinking faster — than at any time in the past 5,500 years.
