By Tim Radford Scientists have recruited the elephant seal—the bruiser of the pinniped world—to explore and report back on the dynamics of ocean currents in the Antarctic winter. Elephant seal carrying satellite-linked sensor in Prydz Bay, Antarctica.University of Tasmania And the mammals have delivered a potentially ominous message: because fresh water is melting from the […]
By Robert McSweeney Rising sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic are likely to be behind a recent surge in cases of diarrhoeal diseases from marine bacteria in northern Europe and the U.S. East Coast, a new study says. In their analysis that goes back to 1958, the researchers show that levels of Vibrio bacteria—which […]
By Douglas Bevington In California, dead trees are big news. In June, the U.S. Forest Service reported that 66 million trees had died since 2010 as the state has experienced a prolonged drought. Drought stress has weakened trees’ natural defenses to native bark beetles, resulting in a pulse of tree mortality. Yet amid all of […]
For the first time in history, the U.S. government has approved a private company’s plans to visit the moon. The lunar mission will be undertaken by Cape Canaveral, Florida-based Moon Express, Inc., an aerospace startup founded in 2010 by space entrepreneurs Dr. Robert (Bob) Richards, Naveen Jain and Dr. Barney Pell. The landmark approval was […]
The corpse flower, best know for its terrible smell, is blooming in two locations in the U.S. But you might not want to stop and smell this flower. Photo credit: U.S. Botanic Garden via Wikimedia Commons Brave soles—or those that don’t have a sense of smell—can bare witness to this once-a-decade event at New York […]
Chinese scientists believe they have discovered the deepest “blue hole” on the planet. “Dragon Hole,” in the Paracel Islands—which are disputed islands claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam—is reported to be 987 feet deep, according to Chin’s state-run news agency Xinhua. The blue hole—a giant pit in the sea that is known for its distinctive […]
Fifteen mysterious bubbles have been discovered in Siberia. The mysterious bubbles produce a natural waterbed-like reaction when stepped on. Photo credit: Giphy Researchers Alexander Sokolov and Dorothee Ehrich, working on the island of Belyy, first spotted a mysterious bubble last year. While the exact reason for these spots hasn’t been determined, environmental researchers think they […]
Neonicotinoids, a common and highly controversial class of insecticides linked to catastrophic bee deaths, could be significantly lowering the sperm count of male drone honey bees and cutting their life span by a third, Swiss researchers found. Researchers from the Institute of Bee Health at the University of Bern, Switzerland discovered that male drone honeybees […]
By Astrid Caldas There is just so much to digest in the latest release of monthly global temperature data by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), I thought I needed to say something. I just don’t know where to start, so bear with me, please, as […]