Scientists have identified a newly recognized threat lurking beneath the ocean’s surface: sudden episodes of underwater darkness that can last days or even months. Caused by storms, sediment runoff, algae blooms, and murky water, these “marine darkwaves” dramatically reduce light reaching the seafloor, putting kelp forests, seagrass, and other light-dependent...
Scientists Create a System for Tracking Underwater Blackouts
Clouds, smoke and fog may darken the skies, but sediment, algae blooms and organic matter can turn day into night on the seafloor.
Minimising the Impact of Melting Glaciers
They have been described as the water towers of the world, and with good reason.
Farm-to-Table via Supercomputer
Picture a Northern California vineyard, rows of grapevines bathed in morning fog, workers hand-thinning vines, exposing them to sunlight, and the slow rhythm of the seasons guiding each harvest.
Extreme heat is breaking honey bees’ natural cooling system
Honey bees can normally keep their hives perfectly climate-controlled, but extreme heat can overwhelm their defenses. During a scorching Arizona summer, researchers found that high temperatures caused damaging temperature fluctuations inside hives, leading to population declines. Smaller colonies were hit hardest, experiencing the most severe swings. As global temperatures rise,...
A shocking amount of plastic is floating in city air
Plastic pollution is not just in oceans and soil. Scientists have now found enormous amounts of microscopic plastic floating through urban air, far exceeding earlier estimates. Road dust and rainfall play a major role in moving these particles through the atmosphere. The findings suggest the air may be one of...
Scientists discover what’s linking floods and droughts across the planet
Scientists tracking Earth’s water from space discovered that El Niño and La Niña are synchronizing floods and droughts across continents. When these climate cycles intensify, far-apart regions can become unusually wet or dangerously dry at the same time. The study also found a global shift about a decade ago, with...
A new test reveals which antibiotics truly kill bacteria
Some antibiotics stop bacteria from growing without actually killing them, allowing infections to return later. Scientists at the University of Basel created a new test that tracks individual bacteria to see which drugs truly eliminate them. When tested on tuberculosis and other serious lung infections, the method revealed big differences...
What Past Global Warming Reveals About Future Rainfall
"Proxies" in geologic record show rainfall was more intense, but less regular during the Paleogene.
Ocean Temperatures Reached Another Record High in 2025
A new international analysis published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences on 9 January finds that the Earth's ocean stored more heat in 2025 than in any year since modern measurements began.