Climate
- Earth
This long-buried glacier ice is at least 770,000 years old
Thanks to climate change, thawing permafrost in the Canadian Arctic has revealed this glacier remnant that could be more than a million years old.
- 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.
- Ecosystems
There’s life beneath the snow — but it’s at risk of melting away
The organisms that make winter homes in this subnivium help forests thrive year-round. But climate change is making this ecosystem disappear.
- Climate
Why is Los Angeles on fire?
High heat and little rain have extended wildfire season to year-round in some parts of California. Fast winds and dry conditions are fueling L.A.’s current infernos.
- 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?
- Climate
Trees may be even bigger climate heroes than we thought
These plants absorb methane, a potent greenhouse gas, in addition to carbon dioxide. Methane’s uptake is likely thanks to microbes living in tree bark.
- Climate
An ancient log shows how burying wood can fight climate change
A blanket of clay soil helped the wood hold onto the carbon it had absorbed — for thousands of years.
- Earth
Surprise! The jet stream can trigger cloud formation
Most cloud-seeding particles may come from a newly discovered mechanism — stratospheric intrusion.
- Climate
Let’s learn about how much climate change is to blame for extreme weather
Scientists can find out whether a natural disaster was more frequent or severe due to human-caused climate change. Here’s how.
- Tech
New system uses evaporation to greatly cool artificial turf
It relies on rainwater that gets stored below a field of plastic "grass." The design also limits how much rain — and pollution — will run off artificial turf.
- 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.
