New book eyes Earth"s excavators, from microbes to elephants and dinosaurs
The ordinary person looks at Stone Mountain and sees a solid, unmovable monolith. Emory paleontologist Anthony Martin, who thinks in geologic time, sees something more akin to a giant sugar cube......»»
Could microbes help create sustainable electronics?
Imagine a world where electronic devices are powered by living organisms and biodegrade after use, eliminating the problem of electronic waste. This isn't the plot of a futuristic sci-fi movie—it's a real, growing area of research known as bioelect.....»»
Pakistan"s record smog triggers anguish and anxiety
On the streets of Pakistan's second biggest city, smog stings eyes and burns throats. Inside homes, few people can afford air purifiers to limit the damage of toxic particles that seep through doors and windows......»»
White truffles, Italy"s gold, menaced by climate change
Deep in a thick forest in Italy's northwestern Piedmont region, the hunt is on for the white Alba truffle, with excited dogs zigzagging and digging into the wet earth......»»
Hubble captures barred spiral galaxy NGC 1672
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features NGC 1672, a barred spiral galaxy located 49 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Dorado. This galaxy is a multi-talented light show, showing off an impressive array of different celes.....»»
Heretic review: a must-see thriller with a killer lead performance
Heretic keeps your heart rate up and your eyes glued to the screen for all of its 111 minutes......»»
Powerful new US-Indian satellite will track Earth"s changing surface
Data from NISAR will improve our understanding of such phenomena as earthquakes, volcanoes, and landslides, as well as damage to infrastructure......»»
Geologists rewrite textbooks with new insights from Cambrian rocks of Grand Canyon
Since soon after our planet formed, Earth's 4.6 billion-year-long history was dominated by single-celled life. Something dramatic happened about 500 million years ago called the Cambrian "explosion," during which an incredible diversity of life forms.....»»
Planetary Boundaries framework gains traction in sustainability science
The Planetary Boundaries (PB) framework is a pivotal tool for tackling the climate crisis and safeguarding humanity's future on Earth. For the first time, the full story of the Planetary Boundaries is now being told from its beginning......»»
Cracked earth in Greece"s saffron heartland as drought takes toll
At a field outside Kozani, northern Greece, the strikingly blue-and-purple petals of saffron give off an intoxicating scent that underscores the value of one of the country's most lucrative crops......»»
Astronaut’s photo shows Earth as you’ve never seen it before
NASA's oldest serving astronaut has shared an image taken from the space station that shows Earth in a most unusual way......»»
Advances in plate tectonics research provide a new view of deep Earth"s carbon emissions
From time to time, when Earth's tectonic plates shift, the planet emits a long, slow belch of carbon dioxide. In a new modeling study published in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, R. Dietmar Müller and colleagues show how this gas released from.....»»
Nearly three years since launch, Webb is a hit among astronomers
Demand for observing time on Webb outpaces supply by a factor of nine. From its halo-like orbit nearly a million miles from Earth, the James Webb Space Telescope is seeing farther.....»»
SpaceX reveals date for next flight of Starship megarocket
The Elon Musk-led spaceflight company will attempt to catch the Super Heavy booster for a second time as it returns to Earth......»»
Experiment reveals how Earth"s magnetic field influences flow in planet"s core
A trio of physicists, two with Coventry University, in the U.K., and the third with Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses, in France, has demonstrated how Earth's magnetic field may be influencing internal flow, using what they descri.....»»
Ancient unicellular organism indicates embryonic development might have existed prior to animals" evolution
Chromosphaera perkinsii is a single-celled species discovered in 2017 in marine sediments around Hawaii. The first signs of its presence on Earth have been dated at over a billion years, well before the appearance of the first animals......»»
Making farming better for bees: Can we breed crops that produce more nectar and pollen?
Where once there were vast areas of forest and other natural habitats, farmland now covers much of Earth—including 70% of the UK. This transition has helped feed a growing number of people......»»
Microbial slime: The ultimate system to understand our planet
Billions of years ago, Earth was home to extreme environments, including intense UV radiation, frequent volcanic eruptions, and very high concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Yet, under these conditions, biofilms formed and within thes.....»»
Earth 2 at 30: A look back at NBC’s big swing at sci-fi in the early ’90s
A long-forgotten sci-fi series premiered on NBC 30 years ago this month, but it paved the way for some of the shows that came after it......»»
"The nastiest soils on Earth" are getting recognized as a bigger problem
Acid sulfate soils are characterized by their orange hue and their tendency to kill surrounding vegetation and fish. Anders Johnson's extensive research along Sweden's coastline reveals the widespread presence of these soils, underscoring their signi.....»»
Testing thousands of RNA enzymes helps find first "twister ribozyme" in mammals
The "RNA world" hypothesis proposes that the earliest life on Earth may have been based on RNA—a single-stranded molecule similar in many ways to DNA—like some modern viruses. This is because, like DNA, RNA can carry genetic information, but, lik.....»»