As they are in many places around the globe, glaciers perched high in the Andes Mountains are shrinking. Now, researchers have uncovered evidence that the high-altitude tropical ice fields are likely smaller than they've been at any time since the last ice age ended 11,700 years ago.
The Noxious Cocktail of Wildfire Smoke
Wildfire smoke composition varies depending on factors like the type of fuel and whether the fire is smoldering or flaming, says UBC researcher Dr. Nadine Borduas-Dedekind.
Modern behavior explains prehistoric economies
What if the 'Market Economy' always existed? Archaeologists tried to answer this question by researching how much Bronze Age people used to spend to sustain their daily lives. Their results show that, starting at least 3,500 years ago, the spending habits of prehistoric Europeans were not substantially different from what...
Climate anomalies may play a major role in driving cholera pandemics
New research suggests that an El Nino event may have aided the establishment and spread of a novel cholera strain during an early 20th-century pandemic, supporting the idea that climate anomalies could create opportunities for the emergence of new cholera strains.
Warming stops tiny organisms working together
Hotter conditions prevent two tiny organisms working together for mutual benefit, new research shows.
A Piece of Rhode Island in the Atlantic
Roughly 20,000 years ago, the Laurentide Ice Sheet smothered what is now southern New England beneath a thick layer of ice.
Smithsonian Scientists Devise Method to Secure Earth’s Biodiversity on the Moon
New research led by scientists at the Smithsonian proposes a plan to safeguard Earth’s imperiled biodiversity by cryogenically preserving biological material on the moon.
Strong El Nino Makes European Winters Easier to Forecast
Heavy rain and flooding in Brazil in November could tell forecasters whether December, January and February in Britain will be cold and dry or mild and wet.
3D models provide unprecedented look at corals’ response to bleaching events
Marine biologists are providing a glimpse into coral 'bleaching' responses to stress, using imaging technology to pinpoint coral survival rates following multiple bleaching events off the island of Maui. Using a time series of coral reef 3D models from Maui, the researchers tracked the bleaching response of 1,832 coral colonies...
The next generation of RNA chips
An international research team has succeeded in developing a new version of RNA building blocks with higher chemical reactivity and photosensitivity. This can significantly reduce the production time of RNA chips used in biotechnological and medical research. The chemical synthesis of these chips is now twice as fast and seven...