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Earth Sciences news
In Eastern Africa, the cradle of humankind is tearing apart
Eastern Africa's Turkana Rift is both a hotbed for fossil discoveries of our earliest ancestors and a literal hotbed of volcanic activity caused by shifting tectonic plates. Now researchers have found that Earth's underlying ...
Earth Sciences
14 minutes ago
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Measuring how stressed rocks 'sigh' before breaking could help predict geohazards
Too much stress can make even a rock crack. But before rocks reach their breaking point, they "sigh" a chemical warning by releasing nuclides, a type of atom defined by the number of neutrons as well as protons in the nucleus. ...
Earth Sciences
10 hours ago
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This volcano that 'slept' for 100,000 years was never truly quiet
For more than 100,000 years, the Methana volcano in Greece appeared dormant. No lava, no explosions, no ash clouds. It appeared extinct, like many other volcanoes today. An international research team led by ETH Zurich has ...
Earth Sciences
10 hours ago
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New study quantifies lake CO₂ emissions and their rising trend in China
Lakes are often described as "hotspots" in the global carbon cycle, yet quantifying their "breath"—the exchange of carbon dioxide (CO2) between water and the atmosphere—has long been notoriously difficult due to extreme variability ...
Earth Sciences
15 hours ago
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It wasn't just water: The hidden force inside Japan's 2011 tsunami changed everything
Mud-rich coastlines could face a greater tsunami risk, at least that may have been the case for the 2011 Tōhoku-oki tsunami that killed more than 19,000 people and led to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. According ...
Geoengineering could protect Amazon rainforest from climate change
Geoengineering could protect the Amazon rainforest from climate change, new research shows. Stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) aims to artificially cool Earth by increasing the reflection of incoming solar radiation, thereby ...
Earth Sciences
17 hours ago
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Cities and countries warming fast, new climate stripes show
New climate stripes for cities and countries all over the world have been launched to mark Earth Day (April 22). The updated graphics, which now include an additional stripe to represent temperatures from 2025, show the rapid ...
Earth Sciences
21 hours ago
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Deep-rooted grass stores significantly more carbon, says new study
Soil biologist Eric Slessarev has some advice for conservationists, landscapers, and farmers with fallow fields: Go touch deep-rooted grass. Or better yet, go plant some. Slessarev, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 21, 2026
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Simple ocean-based model forecasts a powerful El Niño, over 2 °C warmer than normal
For decades, scientists have worked to improve predictions of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a climate powerhouse that can cause droughts, flooding, marine heat waves, and more around the world. Researchers from the ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 21, 2026
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Nitrogen isotope analysis reveals Southern Hemisphere waters dominated Indonesian Throughflow for 800,000 years
A research team with scientists from MARUM—Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen studied the hemispheric origin of Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) and found a high Southern Hemispheric contribution ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 20, 2026
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AI model accurately predicts the spread of wildfires in real time
USC researchers are developing a computational model that combines satellite data and physics-based simulations to forecast a wildfire's path, intensity, and growth rate. If you've ever been evacuated from your home during ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 20, 2026
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Ocean eddies move far less carbon than expected, study suggests
The biological carbon pump moves carbon from near the ocean's surface to deeper regions, maintaining the upper ocean's ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. One component of this system is driven by eddies, or relatively ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 20, 2026
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Lost millennium of Galapagos deep-sea corals linked to major Pacific climate shift
Scientists have discovered that deep-water corals in the Galapagos region vanished for more than 1,000 years before eventually recovering. The findings reveal that deep-water coral ecosystems may be more susceptible to climate ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 20, 2026
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Why climate models and ocean observations diverge, and what it means for rain and drought
Scientific models have predicted that climate change will drive oceans in the Northern Hemisphere to warm faster than oceans in the Southern Hemisphere. However, observational data over the last 70 years show the opposite—that ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 20, 2026
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Total solar eclipse quiets seismic noise for cities within its path
A seismic hush fell over U.S. and Canadian cities that were in the "path of totality" during the 8 April 2024 total solar eclipse, according to new research presented at the 2026 SSA Annual Meeting.
Earth Sciences
Apr 20, 2026
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Atlantic current shows two-decade decline across four deep-ocean monitoring sites
A paper published in the journal Science Advances is adding to the growing body of research showing that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is weakening. In this new study, instead of relying mainly on ...
Earth's tectonic elevator hauls ancient buried microbes back to the seafloor to revive and spread
In subduction zones, the sites of the world's largest earthquakes, tectonic activity may generate a "pump" that transports long-buried subseafloor microbes back toward the seafloor, according to research presented at the ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 18, 2026
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Taiwan landslide's hidden motion comes into focus as fiber optics track deep slip
Placed within a borehole drilled deep through the layers of a landslide, a fiber optic cable captured tiny, periodic stick-slip events that offer a unique glimpse at the complex movements within the landslide's shear zone.
Earth Sciences
Apr 18, 2026
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Machine learning detects more than 60,000 earthquakes during 2025 Santorini sequence
The seismic crisis that gripped the Greek island of Santorini and its neighbors in 2025 contained more than 60,000 earthquakes, according to a unique machine learning study that identified the earthquakes as they occurred ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 17, 2026
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Indonesia's fire crisis comes into focus as high-resolution satellite maps expose 5.62 million hectares affected
Indonesia experiences massive forest fires as the dry season approaches. They are a major environmental challenge because they damage forests and other land, endanger lives, and disrupt local economies. Using sharp, high-resolution ...
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Novel technique drills more detail into ice core records
This drone reveals what lies beneath snow and soil
Other news
Classical physics can explain quantum weirdness, study shows
Both bonobos and dolphins form unexpected alliances with 'outsiders'
A new route for plasma-based particle accelerators
When humidity changes, so do the colors of sweat bees
The 'resource curse': Why natural resource abundance can be a double-edged sword
Q&A: Scientists decode the logic behind cells' mysterious protein stockpiles
Soundwaves settle debate about elusive quantum particle
AI for molecular simulations may not need built-in physics to deliver strong results
Copper's 'gatekeeper' could unlock cleaner energy future
As polar ice changes, so do the rules governing it
Super magma reservoirs discovered beneath Tuscany
Clearing crowded supermarket aisles lifts sales by 11.5% in field tests
Light-powered propulsion expands space exploration possibilities
