Science

Microplastics May Heat Marine Turtle Nests and Produce More Females

Microplastics May Heat Marine Turtle Nests and Produce More Females

By Mariana Fuentes Have you ever considered that small pieces of plastic less than 5 millimeters long, or smaller than a pencil eraser head, called microplastics, can affect large marine vertebrates like sea turtles? My research team first discovered this disturbing fact when we started to quantify the amount and type of microplastic at loggerhead […]

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    Emails Show EPA’s Cozy Alliance With Major Climate Denial Group

    Emails Show EPA’s Cozy Alliance With Major Climate Denial Group

    Newly released emails show that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Scott Pruitt has routinely been in contact with one of the most prominent climate denier groups, the AP reported this weekend. The emails, obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request by the Environmental Defense Fund and the Southern Environmental Law Center, show […]

    New Oceans Study Could Alter Climate Predictions

    New Oceans Study Could Alter Climate Predictions

    A study published Monday in Nature Geoscience discovered a new factor that is lowering the rate at which oceans absorb carbon dioxide, a finding that could have a major impact on future climate change predictions. Currently, around one-fourth of human generated carbon dioxide emissions are absorbed by oceans, making them the world’s largest carbon sink. […]

    Earth’s Shifting Crust Linked to Climate Change, Scientists Propose

    Earth’s Shifting Crust Linked to Climate Change, Scientists Propose

    By Tim Radford Movements of the earth’s crust may mean that global warming driven by greenhouse gases from power stations and vehicle exhausts isn’t the only threat to life the world faces. About 700 million years ago, global temperatures fell so low that glaciers may have reached the equator. Snowball Earth may have all but […]

    We Just Experienced 400 Straight Months of Unusual Warmth

    We Just Experienced 400 Straight Months of Unusual Warmth

    April 2018 was the 400th consecutive month of global temperatures above the 20th century average, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA) announced Thursday. That means the last time Earth was cooler than that average was December 1984—the same month Band Aid released “Do They Know It’s Christmas.” This three-decade streak is not some […]

    Record Heat Means Hurricanes Gain Ferocity Faster

    Record Heat Means Hurricanes Gain Ferocity Faster

    By Tim Radford Hurricanes are becoming more violent, more rapidly, than they did 30 years ago. The cause may be entirely natural, scientists say. But Hurricane Harvey, which in 2017 assaulted the Gulf of Mexico and dumped unprecedented quantities of rain to cause devastating floods in Texas, happened because the waters of the Gulf were […]

    Emissions of Ozone-Destroying Chemical Mysteriously Rising

    Emissions of Ozone-Destroying Chemical Mysteriously Rising

    A new study from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows an “unexpected and persistent increase” in global emissions of an ozone-depleting chemical even though an international treaty forced production to completely halt by 2010. NOAA scientists suggest that emissions are most likely from new, unreported production from an unidentified source in eastern Asia. […]

    California Tree Loss Could Have Implications for Forests Nationwide

    California Tree Loss Could Have Implications for Forests Nationwide

    Climate change puts forests at risk. A recent study found that a third of the conifers in the unique Klamath region in California and Oregon could disappear by the end of this century. California has lost 130 million trees since 2010 due to the combined impacts of drought, warming temperatures and the insects and diseases […]