Top Stories

Solar eclipse caused bow waves in Earth's atmosphere

The celebrated Great American Eclipse of August 2017 crossed the continental U.S. in 90 minutes, and totality lasted no longer than a few minutes at any one location. The event is well in the rear-view mirror now, but scientific investigation into the effects of the moon's shadow on the Earth's atmosphere is still being hotly pursued, and interesting new findings are surfacing at a rapid pace. These include significant observations by scientists at MIT’s Haystack Observatory in Westford, Massachusetts.

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Scientists Unlock Key Information About the World's Soil Microbes

Scientists at the University of Colorado, Boulder have created the first worldwide atlas of soil microbes, mapping 500 of the most common kinds of bacteria found in soil across the globe, from deserts to grasslands to wetlands.

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Scientists, volunteers rescue about 1,000 cold-stunned sea turtles

On the icy cold shores of Florida’s St. Joseph Bay, a team of volunteers and wildlife experts have rescued an estimated 1,000 cold-stunned sea turtles since January 2 in what is believed to be Florida’s second-largest mass cold-stunning event of the 21st century, according to U.S. Geological Survey research biologist Margaret Lamont.

 

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A climate science milestone on Colorado's Continental Divide

On January 16, 1968, in a bracing chill at 11,568 feet above sea level, a Colorado researcher collected an air sample at Niwot Ridge, on the doorstep of the Indian Peaks mountain range. The sample was carried down the mountain and then measured for carbon dioxide at a lab in Boulder, Colorado. The result: 322.4 parts per million.

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Methane from Indian Livestock Adds to Global Warming

Methane produced by India’s livestock population, considered the world’s largest, can significantly raise global temperatures, says a new study designed to help predict climate change linked to greenhouse gas (GhG) emissions from farm animals.

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Reviled Animals Could Be Our Powerful Allies

Animal carnivores living in and around human habitation are declining at an unprecedented rate – but they may provide crucial benefits to human societies.

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Climate Change Affects Fish Reproductive Phenology in Plateau Area: Study

Climate change has threatened the global environment and biodiversity, particularly the aquatic ecosystems as well as the development of human ecosociety. The Tibetan Plateau is the region possessing the richest water resources in Asia but highly affected by the global climate change.

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Mining weather data from Civil War-era Navy logbooks

A new grant will let a University of Washington-based project add a new fleet to its quest to learn more about past climate from the records of long-gone mariners. The UW is among the winners of the 2017 “Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives” awards, announced earlier this month by the Washington, D.C.-based Council on Library and Information Resources.            

 

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USGS Scientist Mobilizes with Recon Team to Learn from Mexico's Earthquake Early Warning System

A few weeks after a magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck central Mexico on Sept. 19, 2017 — leaving hundreds dead and dozens of buildings destroyed — USGS seismologist Elizabeth Cochran and a team of experts mobilized to Mexico City to assess the performance of the Mexico Seismic Warning System (Sistema de Alerta Sísmica Mexicano or SASMEX)  and the public’s perception of the alerts.

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Crop Failure in the Andes

Kenneth Feeley, the Smathers Chair of Tropical Tree Biology in the University of Miami’s Department of Biology, is an expert in studying the effects of climate change on tropical forests. From the mountains of Peru to the lowlands of the Amazon, Feeley examines the ramifications of climate change on the trees and other species that comprise the diverse forests of these regions. Yet, recently, Feeley shifted gears from studying tropical forests to examining the impacts of climate change in rural farming communities in Peru.

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