Earth
- Microbes
Bacteria are all around us — and that’s okay
Scientists may have identified less than one percent of all bacteria on Earth. But there’s a reason to keep up the hunt. These microbes could help us understand and protect our planet.
- Animals
This penguin prey knows how to fight back
Scientists attached cameras to gentoo penguins off the Falkland Islands. The video revealed that their tiny prey can sometimes win in a fight.
- Climate
Wilder wildfires? Computing helps predict their path and fury
Math probes how wildfires feed on the air around them to erupt into devastating conflagrations.
- Climate
Is Hurricane Florence one sign of new climate trend?
Despite making landfall as a mere Category 1 tempest, Hurricane Florence proved a beast. And there were warnings it would be as it rapidly strengthened at sea.
- Materials Science
Adhesive from trees could make tape more eco-friendly
The stuff that makes your tape sticky comes from fossil fuels. Now scientists have used tree wastes to engineer a “greener” tape adhesive — one kinder to the environment.
- Science & Society
Climate change sets people on the move
As their homelands experience uncomfortable changes to weather, many people have begun migrating to places with a better climate.
- Earth
Scientists find an easier way to trap carbon dioxide in rock
Scientists have found a much faster and easier way to trap CO2 in minerals. If they can scale it up, it might one day help to slow climate change.
- Earth
Explainer: Where fossil fuels come from
Despite one oil company famously using an Apatosaurus as its logo, oil, gas and coal don’t come from dinosaurs. They do, however, come from a long time ago.
- Earth
Explainer: CO2 and other greenhouse gases
Carbon dioxide is just one of several chemicals that contribute to the greenhouse effect. Nitrous oxide, methane and CFCs are other big contributors.
- Climate
Analyze This: How hot will it get?
Temperatures are rising because of human-caused climate change. But some places will get hot faster than others.
- Oceans
New tools aim to better predict blooms of toxic algae
Scientists across the United States are developing programs that can predict when blooms of toxic algal may occur.
- Climate
Climate change intensified Hurricane Florence, study finds
A new study finds that a warmer climate fattened up Florence. The result: Once it made landfall it would now drop lots more rain and over a broader region.
