Top Stories

Using a Fan and Wetting the Skin Reduces Risk of Deadly Cardiac Strain in Hot and Humid Weather

New collaborative research from the University of Sydney and the Montreal Heart Institute has shown that using a fan in hot and humid weather reduces cardiac strain in older people, contradicting recommendations from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention in the US. 

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Five Minutes of Exercise a Day Could Lower Blood Pressure

New research suggests that adding a small amount of physical activity – such as uphill walking or stair-climbing – into your day may help to lower blood pressure.

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How Gophers Brought Mount St. Helens Back to Life in One Day

When Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, lava incinerated anything living for miles around. 

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Climate Change Parching the American West Even Without Rainfall Deficits

Higher temperatures caused by anthropogenic climate change made an ordinary drought into an exceptional drought that parched the American West from 2020–2022. 

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Microplastics Impact Cloud Formation, Likely Affecting Weather and Climate

Scientists have spotted microplastics, tiny pieces of plastic smaller than 5 millimeters, in some of the most pristine environments on Earth, from the depths of the Mariana Trench to the snow on Mt. Everest to the mountaintop clouds of China and Japan.

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Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki Spews Ash

In early November 2024, a series of explosive, deadly eruptions occurred at Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki—a volcano on the Indonesian island of Flores.

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New PFAS Removal Process Aims to Stamp Out Pollution Ahead of Semiconductor Industry Growth

A University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign study is the first to describe an electrochemical strategy to capture, concentrate and destroy mixtures of diverse chemicals known as PFAS — including the increasingly prevalent ultra-short-chain PFAS — from water in a single process.

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Could Crowdsourcing Hold the Key to Early Wildfire Detection?

The 2023 blaze in Lahaina, Hawaii, which claimed more than 100 lives and burned 6,500 acres of land across Maui, is a tragic example of how rapid wildfire spread can make effective response efforts impossible, resulting in the loss of life and property.

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Researchers Help Solar Power Take Flight

Solar panels have the power to make the aviation industry greener than it’s ever been, but they can also impose challenges for pilots and air traffic control.

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How Plants Evolved Multiple Ways to Override Genetic Instructions

Biologists at Washington University in St. Louis have discovered the origin of a curious duplication that gives plants multiple ways to override instructions that are coded into their DNA.

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