Earth's Systems
- Environment
Australian wildfires pumped smoke to record heights
Wildfires in Australia in late December and early January spurred an unusual smoke plume that still hasn’t fully dispersed.
- Earth
Lightning megaflashes set big new distance and duration records
Scans of satellite images identified two lightning bolts with previously unheard-of dimensions. Both flashed through the skies over South America.
- Health & Medicine
Deadly heat: Expected by century’s end, it’s here already
Instances of hot and humid conditions that threaten human lives are on the rise.
- Fossils
The challenge of dinosaur hunting in deep caves
Spelunkers aren’t the only people to find caves interesting. So do paleontologists. Though getting to work may be harrowing, they find it’s worth it.
- Earth
Did rain put the Kilauea volcano’s lava-making into overdrive?
Scientists share strongly conflicting opinions about why Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano spewed an overabundance of lava in 2018.
- Animals
Minecraft’s big bees don’t exist, but giant insects once did
Big bees buzz in Minecraft. In our world, blocky bees might starve and be stuck on the ground. Yet long ago, giant insects did roam our planet.
- Earth
A rainforest once grew near the South Pole
A forest flourished within 1,000 kilometers of the South Pole. That was a while ago, as in millions of years ago.
- Climate
How to curb the climate heating by contrails
Contrails are narrow clouds left behind in the sky by jets. They add to climate change. But a new study suggests a way to curb their contribution.
- Tech
Here’s one way to harvest water right out of the air
Need water but you have no access to rain, lakes or groundwater? Materials known as metal-organic frameworks could be used to slurp that water from the air, new data show.
- Earth
Newfound ‘dunes’ is among weirdest of northern lights
There’s a new aurora dubbed the 'dunes.' It’s weird and joins the ranks of black auroras, STEVE and other odd natural light shows.
- Earth
Study appears to rule out volcanic burps as causing dino die-offs
New data on when massive volcanic eruptions happened do not match when the dinosaur mass extinction took place.
- Physics
How to temporarily ‘fossilize’ a soap bubble
Here’s how to freeze a soap bubble in midair. Warning: The environment needs to be frosty, and even then it can take a certain amount of trial and error.
