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Scientists explain why methane spiked in the early 2020s

A combination of weakened atmospheric removal and increased emissions from warming wetlands, rivers, lakes, and agricultural land increased atmospheric methane at an unprecedented rate in the early 2020s, an international ...

Unlocking the 'black box' of Grand Canyon's water supply

Every year at Grand Canyon National Park, millions of visitors from all over the world stop at one of a dozen water spigots. Most people are on a rim, seeing the canyon's majesty for the first time, when they step off the ...

AI to track icebergs adrift at sea in boon for science

British scientists said Thursday that a world-first AI tool to catalog and track icebergs as they break apart into smaller chunks could fill a "major blind spot" in predicting climate change.

Spain, Portugal face floods and chaos after deadly new storm

Spanish rescuers on Thursday desperately searched for a woman missing after a new storm hit the Iberian peninsula while Portugal warned of a heightened flood risk after several months' worth of rain fell in a few hours.

When continents try, and fail, to break apart

Great things can come from failure when it comes to geology. The Midcontinent rift formed about 1.1 billion years ago and runs smack in the middle of the United States at the Great Lakes. The rift failed to completely rupture, ...

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Environment
From sea to space: Turning the tide on microplastic pollution with satellite technology
Environment
Temperature of some cities could rise faster than expected under 2°C warming
Earth Sciences
Hadean zircons reveal crust recycling and continent formation more than 4 billion years ago
Environment
Lüften sounds simple, but 'house-burping' is more complicated in Pittsburgh
Environment
Reclaiming water from contaminated brine can increase water supply and reduce environmental harm
Environment
Zambia's farmers are working in dangerous heat: How they can protect themselves
Environment
Using influencers to encourage people to drink tap water
Earth Sciences
Solid, iron-rich megastructure under Hawaii slows seismic waves and may drive plume upwelling
Earth Sciences
Global warming is speeding breakdown of major greenhouse gas, research shows
Earth Sciences
New model predicts the melting of free-floating ice in calm water
Earth Sciences
Under snowpacks, microbes drive a winter-to-spring nitrogen pulse, study finds
Earth Sciences
Ozone-depleting CFCs detected in historical measurements—20 years earlier than previously known
Environment
Modeling finds old-growth wildfire risk highest where low-severity fires once burned
Earth Sciences
Accurately predicting Arctic sea ice in real time
Environment
A UK climate security report backed by the intelligence services was quietly buried until now
Environment
Global plastics treaty negotiations: Success is still possible, researchers argue
Environment
Study finds long-term research partnerships can strengthen sustainable urban farming
Earth Sciences
Study highlights stressed faults in potential shale gas region in South Africa
Environment
Climate change threatens the Winter Olympics' future, and even snowmaking has limits for saving the Games
Environment
Microplastics behave differently in aquatic environments depending on whether they are fragments or fibers

Other news

Mathematics
A 'crazy' dice proof leads to a new understanding of a fundamental law of physics
Molecular & Computational biology
CRISPR screen maps 250 genes essential for human muscle fiber formation
General Physics
VIP-2 experiment narrows the search for exotic physics beyond the Pauli exclusion principle
Evolution
Ancient bird routes mapped via plant diversity
Plants & Animals
From deer to chickadees: How fewer social encounters could raise extinction risk
Cell & Microbiology
Live-cell tracking reveals dynamic interaction between protein folding helpers and newly produced proteins
Plants & Animals
Could apes 'play pretend' like toddlers? A study tracks imaginary juice and grapes
Plants & Animals
Seeds 'listen' to mom: Study finds mother plants send ABA hormone signals that set seed dormancy
Planetary Sciences
When Earth's magnetic field took its time flipping
Polymers
The compleximer: New type of plastic mixes glass-like shaping with impact resistance
Social Sciences
Philadelphia communities help AI machine learning get better at spotting gentrification
Archaeology
Hannibal's famous war elephants: Single bone in Spain offers first direct evidence
Archaeology
Petra aqueduct survey uncovers rare 116-meter lead conduit beside terracotta pipe
Ecology
Increasing pesticide toxicity threatens global biodiversity protection goal: Only one country is currently on target
Plants & Animals
Two-day-old babies show brain signs of rhythm prediction, study finds
Biotechnology
Teaching machines to design molecular switches
Education
Study finds numbing the mouth may speed up silent reading
Astronomy
Dark matter, not a black hole, could power Milky Way's heart
Astronomy
A new comet was just discovered. Will it be visible in broad daylight?
Astronomy
The Amaterasu particle: Cosmic investigation traces its origin

With planning, birds and floating solar can coexist

Solar panels on bodies of water in the northeastern U.S. might generate renewable energy but could also carry risks for birds, especially waterbirds. Now a new study provides a data-informed approach to siting floating solar ...

What air pollution does to the human body

I grew up in rural Colorado, deep in the mountains, and I can still remember the first time I visited Denver in the early 2000s. The city sits on the plain, skyscrapers rising and buildings extending far into the distance. ...

Q&A: Why Philly has so many sinkholes

In early January, a giant sinkhole formed at an intersection in the West Oak Lane neighborhood of North Philadelphia after a water main break. Just two weeks earlier, the city reopened a section of the Schuylkill River Trail ...