Science

Is It Too Late to Save ‘America’s Amazon’ in Alabama?

Is It Too Late to Save ‘America’s Amazon’ in Alabama?

By Tara Lohan When longtime environmental journalist Ben Raines started writing a book about the biodiversity in Alabama, the state had 354 fish species known to science. When he finished writing 10 years later, that number had jumped to 450 thanks to a bounty of new discoveries. Crawfish species leaped from 84 to 97 during […]

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    23% of Earth’s Natural Habitats Could Be Gone by 2100, Study Finds

    23% of Earth’s Natural Habitats Could Be Gone by 2100, Study Finds

    By Carly Nairn Climate change and global food demand could drive a startling loss of up to 23 percent of all natural habitat ranges in the next 80 years, according to new findings published in Nature Communications. Habitat loss could accelerate to a level that brings about rapid extinctions of already vulnerable species. Shrinking ranges […]

    Researchers Are Measuring Fossil Fuel Emissions Using New Methods

    Researchers Are Measuring Fossil Fuel Emissions Using New Methods

    By Daniel Grossman Millions of stacks and tailpipes in cities around the world send up 70 percent of the carbon dioxide ejected into the atmosphere by human beings. And in the parts of the world, including the U.S., where many governments at all levels have offered only anemic or counterproductive responses to the climate crisis, […]

    NASA Spacecraft Successfully Collects Asteroid Samples

    NASA Spacecraft Successfully Collects Asteroid Samples

    A NASA spacecraft has successfully collected a sample from the Bennu asteroid more than 200 million miles away from Earth. The samples were safely stored and will be preserved for scientists to study after the spacecraft drops them over the Utah desert in 2023, according to the Associated Press (AP). The asteroid is round and […]

    Why Sleep Experts Say It’s Time to Ditch Daylight Saving Time

    Why Sleep Experts Say It’s Time to Ditch Daylight Saving Time

    By Michael S. Jaffee For most of the U.S., the clock goes back one hour on Sunday morning, Nov. 1, the “fall back” for daylight saving time. Many of us appreciate the extra hour of sleep. But for millions, that gain won’t counter the inadequate sleep they get the rest of the year. About 40% […]

    NASA Detects More Water and Ice on the Moon Than Previously Thought

    NASA Detects More Water and Ice on the Moon Than Previously Thought

    A pair of studies released Monday confirmed not only the presence of water and ice on the moon, but that it is more abundant than scientists previously thought. Those twin discoveries boost the prospect of a sustainable lunar base that could harvest the moon’s resources to help sustain itself, according to the BBC. Both studies […]

    Study: Amazon Droughts Can Be Predicted in Advance

    Study: Amazon Droughts Can Be Predicted in Advance

    By Jennifer Ann Thomas For the first time, researchers have developed a model capable of anticipating drought periods in the Amazon up to 18 months in advance. The study was conducted by scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), in Germany, as part of the Tipping Points in the Earth System (TiPES) […]

    CO2 Emissions Caused Earth’s Largest Mass Extinction, Study Confirms

    CO2 Emissions Caused Earth’s Largest Mass Extinction, Study Confirms

    The excess carbon dioxide emitted by human activity since the start of the industrial revolution has already raised the Earth’s temperature by more than one degree Celsius, increased the risk of extreme hurricanes and wildfires and killed off more than half of the corals in the Great Barrier Reef. But geologic history shows that the […]

    14-Year-Old Girl Wins $25,000 for Work on Possible COVID Cure

    14-Year-Old Girl Wins $25,000 for Work on Possible COVID Cure

    Scientists at top universities searching for a coronavirus cure have just gotten help from an unexpected source: a 14-year-old from Texas. Anika Chebrolu of Frisco, Texas has been named “America’s Top Young Scientist” for identifying a molecule that can selectively bind to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, in hopes of developing a cure […]