The other greenhouse gases warming the planet
While carbon dioxide, or CO2, is the best known greenhouse gas, several others, including methane and nitrous oxide, are also driving global warming and altering the Earth's climate......»»
Research suggests Earth"s oldest continental crust is disintegrating
Earth's continental configurations have changed dramatically over its billions of years' history, transforming not only their positions across the planet, but also their topography as expansion and contraction of the crust made a mark on the landscap.....»»
New study eases concerns over possible "doomsday" asteroid swarm
Astronomers have good news about potentially hazardous asteroids lurking near our planet: There aren't as many as we thought......»»
Nuclear rockets could travel to Mars in half the time, but designing the reactors that would power them isn"t easy
NASA plans to send crewed missions to Mars over the next decade—but the 140 million-mile (225 million-kilometer) journey to the red planet could take several months to years round trip......»»
How future heat waves at sea could devastate UK marine ecosystems and fisheries
The oceans are warming at an alarming rate. 2023 shattered records across the world's oceans, and was the first time that ocean temperatures exceeded 1°C over pre-industrial levels. This led to the emergence of a series of marine heat wave events ac.....»»
Liquefied natural gas carbon footprint is worse than coal, study finds
Liquified natural gas leaves a greenhouse gas footprint that is 33% worse than coal, when processing and shipping are taken into account, according to a new Cornell study......»»
OpenAI secures $6.6 billion in latest funding round
Thanks to $6.6 billion in funding from the likes of Microsoft and Nvidia with a $157 billion valuation, OpenAI is now one of the wealthiest private enterprises on the planet......»»
Scientists offer a detailed look at the skeleton of an ancient predator that thrived in extreme conditions
Imagine a world on the brink of collapse: volcanic eruptions spewing toxic gases, oceans turning acidic, and up to 90% of Earth's species vanishing in the blink of an eye. This was the reality at the end of the Permian Period, around 252 million year.....»»
Mercury"s magnetic landscape mapped in 30 minutes
As BepiColombo sped past Mercury during its June 2023 flyby, it encountered a variety of features in the tiny planet's magnetic field. These measurements provide a tantalizing taste of the mysteries that the mission is set to investigate when it arri.....»»
Study: Wildfires will make the land absorb much less carbon, even if warming is kept below 1.5°C
One of the aims of the Paris Agreement was to "pursue efforts" to keep global warming below 1.5°C, but even this ambitious target would not stop the land's ability to absorb carbon weakening as wildfires become fiercer and more frequent, according t.....»»
Climate change is causing algal blooms in Lake Superior for the first time in history
Lake Superior is known for its pristine waters, but a combination of nutrient additions from increasing human activity (including farming and development), warming temperatures and stormy conditions have resulted in more frequent blooms of potentiall.....»»
Supercharged storms: how climate change amplifies cyclones
From Hurricane Helene to Typhoon Yagi, powerful storms are battering the globe, and scientists warn that a warming planet is amplifying their destructive force to unprecedented levels......»»
As temperatures rise, researchers identify mechanisms behind plant response to warming
Microscopic pores on the surface of leaves called stomata help plants "breathe" by controlling how much water they lose due to evaporation. These stomatal pores also enable and control carbon dioxide intake for photosynthesis and growth......»»
Researchers develop Biodiversity Digital Twins to model our planet"s life
Biodiversity is essential for the processes that support all life on Earth. It provides critical resources such as food and energy, and supports ecosystem health. However, climate change, deforestation, and pollution are destroying habitats, altering.....»»
Q&A: Researchers examine link between light pollution and interest in astronomy
Picture walking outside on a dark, cloudless evening. You look up to admire the stars—maybe even a planet, if you're lucky—and a sense of wonder washes over you. New research from the University of Washington shows this might be more than a memor.....»»
Arctic plant study suggests the rate of climate change threatens to exceed the adaptive capacity of species
A research group at the Finnish Museum of Natural History is investigating the adaptive potential of plant species amid a warming climate. Their recent study investigates the Siberian primrose, a plant species that occurs on the coasts of the Bothnia.....»»
Fires taking Amazon closer to "point of no return": Expert
A year ago, Carlos Nobre, one of Brazil's top climate scientists, was a rare voice of optimism about the future of the planet......»»
Research highlights global plant diversity "darkspots" where scientific efforts are urgently needed
An ambitious project led by scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, along with global partners, seeks to shed light on the planet's "plant diversity darkspots"—regions teeming with biodiversity but where geographic and taxonomic data remain.....»»
NASA"s instruments capture sharpest image of Earth"s radiation belts
From Aug. 19–20, ESA's (European Space Agency's) Juice (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) mission made history with a daring lunar-Earth flyby and double gravity assist maneuver, a spaceflight first. As the spacecraft zipped past our moon and home planet.....»»
Scientists discover planet orbiting closest single star to our sun
Using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT), astronomers have discovered an exoplanet orbiting Barnard's star, the closest single star to our sun. On this newly discovered exoplanet, which has at least half the mass of.....»»
How emissions from Brazilian Pantanal"s soda lakes contribute to climate change
Seasonal variations with alternating dry and rainy seasons and fluctuating levels of nutrients are factors that significantly influence greenhouse gas emissions from soda lakes in the Pantanal, considered less common than emissions from freshwater la.....»»