Earth
- Animals
Wayward baby puffins get help from a community-led Puffling Patrol
Fitted with ID tags or tracking devices, birds from one Iceland colony give scientists an eye into puffins’ largely unknown lives at sea.
- 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.
- Earth
Scientists Say: Sundog
A sundog appears in the sky when sunlight shines through tiny ice crystals suspended in the air.
- Earth
Explainer: How volcanoes erupt
Magma can sit underground for tens, hundreds or even thousands of years before an influx of new magma or gush of gas triggers a volcano to erupt.
- 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
It’s electric! Long-sought new field found in Earth’s atmosphere
This ambipolar electric field is weak. Yet it’s still strong enough to control the evolution of Earth’s upper atmosphere — and maybe life as we know it.
- 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
Thunderstorms churn up a ‘boiling pot’ of high-energy gamma rays
A thunderstorm seen in gamma ray vision plays out as a complex, frenzied lightshow above the clouds.
- Earth
Analyze This: Why do atmospheric ‘ghosts’ glow green after red sprites?
Green ghosts — blurs of light that sometimes follow lightning — get their color from oxygen and metals in space dust.
- Oceans
Underwater mountains in the Pacific Ocean may be home to 20 new species
A recent expedition to undersea mountain ranges off the coast of Chile revealed a new seamount and a rich world of deep-sea biodiversity.
- Environment
Scientists want to create a sort of Noah’s Ark on the moon
Climate change is threatening Earth’s biodiversity banks. A lunar “ark” would safeguard seeds and cells against changes happening on Earth.
- Earth
Surprise! The jet stream can trigger cloud formation
Most cloud-seeding particles may come from a newly discovered mechanism — stratospheric intrusion.
