Science

Arctic Melting Defies Scientists

Arctic Melting Defies Scientists

By Alex Kirby In an unusually stark warning, a leading international scientific body said the Arctic climate is changing so fast that researchers are struggling to keep up. The changes happening there, it said, are affecting the weather worldwide. As ice melts, the liquid water collects in depressions on the surface and deepens them, forming […]

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    Greenland Ice Sheet Melting 7% Faster Than Previously Thought

    Greenland Ice Sheet Melting 7% Faster Than Previously Thought

    By Jeremy Deaton You might know the feeling—after months of encouraging news from your bathroom scale, you discover the device is broken. The outlook on your weight-loss goal is worse than you realized. Scientists just went through something similar, except instead of a scale, it was a system of satellites, and instead of your winter […]

    Stephen Hawking + 374 Top Scientists: Trump’s Climate Denial Would Have ‘Severe and Long-Lasting’ Consequences

    Stephen Hawking + 374 Top Scientists: Trump’s Climate Denial Would Have ‘Severe and Long-Lasting’ Consequences

    During his final UN General Assembly address, President Obama pressed for a “sense of urgency” in bringing the Paris agreement into force and for scaling up ambition on climate action. He also called for more clean energy investment in developing countries. According to the United Nations, 30 countries are expected to formally join the Paris […]

    Alarming Levels of Mercury Contamination Found Across Western North America

    Alarming Levels of Mercury Contamination Found Across Western North America

    An international team of scientists led by the U.S Geological Survey (USGS) released a comprehensive report last week showing widespread mercury contamination across western North America. The report, based on decades of mercury data and research, found alarming levels of mercury and methylmercury in the forests, fishes, wildlife, plants and waterways of America’s western landscapes. […]

    Arctic Ice Shrinks to Summer Low

    Arctic Ice Shrinks to Summer Low

    Arctic sea ice shrank to just 1.60 million square miles this week, hitting its summer low point and reaching a statistical tie with 2007 for the second lowest extent on record. Arctic sea ice melted to 2nd smallest level in nearly 40 years, reaching low point Sept 10: https://t.co/ko8MlRh92c pic.twitter.com/YeQIp2jay5 — NASA (@NASA) September 15, […]

    Humans Are Driving ‘Unprecedented’ Mass Extinction in Oceans

    Humans Are Driving ‘Unprecedented’ Mass Extinction in Oceans

    By Nadia Prupis People are driving marine ecosystems to “unprecedented” mass extinction, according to a new study published Wednesday in the journal Science. Large-bodied animals will be the first to go, the study says—blue whales, great white sharks and bluefin tuna, for example. Their size is part of their vulnerability, making them more susceptible to […]

    NASA Satellite Images Show Massive Ice Avalanche in Tibet

    NASA Satellite Images Show Massive Ice Avalanche in Tibet

    On July 17, 130 million cubic yards of ice and rock suddenly let go from a glacier in Tibet, hurtling down six-tenths of a mile and killing nine herders along with 350 sheep and 110 yaks. Scientists were baffled. Now, by examining satellite images before and after the event, they think it is an example […]

    Millions of Honeybees Killed in Attempt to Prevent Zika

    Millions of Honeybees Killed in Attempt to Prevent Zika

    Aerial spraying of the pesticide naled in a South Carolina county, done in an attempt to prevent Zika-infected mosquitoes from gaining a foothold in the state, resulted instead in the massacre of millions of honeybees. On one farm in Summerville, South Carolina, 46 hives were wiped out instantly, killing 2.5 million bees.Flowertown Bee Farm and […]

    Closing the High Seas to Fishing Could Save Coastal Fisheries

    Closing the High Seas to Fishing Could Save Coastal Fisheries

    Researchers from the University of British Columbia say that closing the high seas to fishing could help coastal fisheries, increasing catches by 10 percent. But our waters are now more polluted than ever, threatening the entire food chain. © Australian Fisheries Management Authority / WWF Fish have responded to warming ocean waters by moving north […]