A new analysis spanning more than 86,000 plant species finds that on this human-dominated planet, many more species of plants are poised to 'lose' rather than 'win.' T
Hawaiian corals show surprising resilience to warming oceans
A long-term study of Hawaiian coral species provides a surprisingly optimistic view of how they might survive warmer and more acidic oceans resulting from climate change.
Cutting HFCs to cool the Earth
To have a better chance of holding global warming to 1.5°C, we need to accelerate the phase-down of HFC refrigerants under the Montreal Protocol. This could also reduce pollution and improve energy access.
Non-social jays surprise scientists by learning as skillfully as birds living in groups
The California scrub-jay, a generally non-social bird, can learn just as well as another species of jay that lives in groups, a finding that surprised animal intelligence researchers who devised a novel food puzzle to study cognition in the wild.
How a virus packages its genetic material
Physics and astronomy professors have developed a theory and performed a series of simulations that may help explain how a virus finds its native genome and how capsids form around it and not around other RNAs in the cell.
Florida’s 76,000 stormwater ponds emit more carbon than they store
As Florida and other states become more urbanized, an increasing number of stormwater ponds are built. Florida already has 76,000 such ponds. The newer ones emit more carbon than they store, a new study finds. Researchers hope this finding will inform policy makers and others about when, where and how...
Giant impact crater in Greenland occurred a few million years after dinosaurs went extinct
Danish and Swedish researchers have dated the enormous Hiawatha impact crater, a 31 km-wide meteorite crater buried under a kilometer of Greenlandic ice. The dating ends speculation that the meteorite impacted after the appearance of humans and opens up a new understanding of Earth's evolution in the post-dinosaur era.
Office buildings with infrequent water use may have poor water quality
Low-consumption office buildings with infrequent water use could have chemical and microbiological safety issues, according to a new study. The research could have implications for office buildings used less frequently during pandemic lockdowns, and suggests that regular water testing in commercial buildings may be needed.
Caribbean coral reefs have been warming for at least 100 years
A new analysis outlines 150 years of sea-surface temperature history throughout the Greater Caribbean region, highlighting significant warming trends that have disrupted coral reef ecosystems.
X-ray view of subducting tectonic plates
Earth's thin crust softens considerably when it dives down into the Earth attached to a tectonic plate. That is demonstrated by X-ray studies carried out on a mineral which occurs in large quantities in basaltic crust. This softening can even cause the crust to peel away from the underlying plate....