Light is an important cue for nearly all life on Earth. Plants use light for photosynthesis, animals use light to set sleep cycles, and marine organisms use light to find food, avoid predators and even hide in plain sight.

Chinook salmon, an iconic species in the Pacific Northwest that supports a major fishery industry and indigenous traditions, have lost up to two-thirds of their genetic diversity over the past 7,000 years, according to a new study. Scientists warn the loss could make it difficult for the species to cope with warming global temperatures and ocean acidification — environmental changes that are already impacting the fish today.

A paper appearing in Geophysical Research Letters uses machine learning to craft an improved model for understanding geothermal heat flux — heat emanating from the Earth’s interior — below the Greenland Ice Sheet. It’s a research approach new to glaciology that could lead to more accurate predictions for ice-mass loss and global sea-level rise.

One of the most puzzling questions in breast cancer research is why some tumors stay put, while rogue cells from others break free and spread to surrounding tissues, the first step toward creating a more lethal disease. Although researchers have found some signs in mutated genes or telltale proteins on the cell’s surface, those discoveries don’t tell the whole story.

Princeton University researchers have found that the climate models scientists use to project future conditions on our planet underestimate the cooling effect that clouds have on a daily — and even hourly — basis, particularly over land.

When grocery stores tout sustainable products, consumers may take their claims at face value. Yet few studies have analyzed whether or not companies who claim to improve the sustainability of their products are actually changing practices in their supply chains.

The Great Lakes will have a network of well-equipped guardians thanks to a plan hatched by a UWindsor researcher with funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Ontario’s Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science and Ministry of Economic Development and Growth.

Aaron Fisk and his nine collaborators will receive $15.9 million for the Real-time Aquatic Ecosystem Observation Network (RAEON), a collaborative research project which will provide infrastructure and data management for Canadian scientists to carry-out cutting-edge research on freshwater ecosystems.

A team of scientists at the Keck School of Medicine of USC is looking to some deep sea dwellers to create a better way to develop cancer-fighting therapies. Harnessing the power of the enzymes that give these marine animals the ability to glow, the team created a test that makes it easy for researchers to see whether a therapy is having its intended effect — killing cancer cells. The results of their study were published in Scientific Reports Jan. 9.

An international research team led by Université de Montréal astrophysicist Lauren Weiss has discovered that exoplanets orbiting the same star tend to have similar sizes and a regular orbital spacing. This pattern, revealed by new W. M. Keck Observatory observations of planetary systems discovered by the Kepler Telescope, could suggest that most planetary systems have a different formation history than the solar system.

University of Adelaide scientists have demonstrated how climate change can drive the collapse of marine “food webs”.