Top Stories

How Cooling the Planet with Geoengineering Would Upend Climate Economics

Climate scientists and policymakers have long warned of a dangerous threshold: If global temperatures rise more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial averages, we risk devastating consequences, including severe flooding, heat waves, and drought.

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Volunteer Develops Machine-Learning Tool to Identify Rare Clouds

Certain kinds of clouds are misbehaving – appearing more often and lower in the sky than they used to.

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The Turtle Who Wants to Cross the Road

An eastern box turtle living in the New Hope Creek watershed near Duke’s campus wants to leave its habitat in search of resources or a mate.

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Fast-Moving Wildfires Leave Forests Less Able to Recover, Study Finds

The severe, drought-fueled fires now burning across much of the American West and Canada may be scorching forests so thoroughly that they cannot recover to the forests they once were, new research shows.

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Amid Drought, Hundreds of French Rivers Are Drying Up

An ongoing drought in Europe has sapped French rivers. Officials say that 43 percent of small waterways in France have been partially or completely dried up.

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Neptune's Inner Moons May Be Shattered Remains of Ancient Icy Worlds

In 1989, the Voyager 2 mission discovered six new moons orbiting Neptune, including five tiny ones that orbit just outside the planet's main rings.

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Rate of Climate Change Affects Stability of the AMOC

For several years, climate scientists have shown that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) could come to a halt if the world warms too much. 

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Why Is Venus Hotter than Mercury, When Mercury Is Closer to the Sun?

As part of The Conversations’ “Curious Kids” series, an astronomer explains how a runaway greenhouse effect has made the surface temperature of Venus hot enough to melt lead.

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In an Already Broiling Summer, El Niño Is About to Turn up the Heat

El Niño is expected to intensify in the weeks ahead, fueling more severe heat across the globe, according to the U.N. World Meteorological Organization. 

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Could Hawaiʻi’s Eucalyptus Forests Become a New Source of Building Materials?

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa researchers are working to determine whether Hawaiʻi-grown eucalyptus could become a reliable source of lumber for construction, helping reduce the state’s reliance on imported building materials while supporting healthier forests.

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