The Tonga Eruption Is Still Revealing New Volcanic Dangers
[ad_1] It’s clear that Hunga involved an unusually explosive recipe that may not be easily replicated. For about a month, the eruption had progressed as expected—moderately violent, with gas and…
When Did the Anthropocene Actually Begin?
[ad_1] Invasive species introduced by humans to new regions can also be markers, the scientists said. The inadvertent import of alien species in the ballast water of ships arriving in…
El Niño Is Coming—and the World Isn’t Prepared
[ad_1] In 2023, the relentless increase in global heating will continue, bringing ever more disruptive weather that is the signature calling card of accelerating climate breakdown. According to NASA, 2022…
A New NASA Satellite Will Map Earth’s Rising Seas
[ad_1] SWOT could turn out to be a major improvement over measurements by previous satellites. “Instead of a ‘pencil beam’ moving along the Earth’s surface from a satellite, it’s a…
These Algorithms Are Hunting for an EV Battery Mother Lode
[ad_1] “These things are hard to tip over,” geologist Wilson Bonner assures me as the four-wheeled all-terrain vehicle he’s piloting tilts suddenly sideways, pitching me toward the churned up mud…
Pink Snow Is Not a Cute Phenomenon—Here’s Why
[ad_1] The scientists used the device to record the snow’s albedo, a measure of what fraction of the sunlight beaming down is reflected back up. Red snow means lower albedo,…
Pliocene-Like Monsoons Are Returning to the American Southwest
[ad_1] Leaf waxes also predate climate records from Antarctic ice cores, which go back only about a million years and require a climate that can support ice. One study used leaf…
A New Tool for Eruption Forecasting: Carbon-Catching Drones
[ad_1] She and her team flew these drones while they were standing inside the crater to compare faraway atmospheric measurements with those closer to the source. They also used traditional…
If Humans Went Extinct, Would a Similar Species Evolve?
[ad_1] The rise of powerful new technology means that humanity must confront the risk of its own demise. The invention of nuclear weaponry, for example, has already shown just how…
How Long Droughts Make Flooding Worse
[ad_1] On Wednesday, August 17, Hannah Cloke—a hydrologist at the University of Reading—was sitting in her home office when the rain started coming down. It was a welcome sight. Much…
New Evidence Points to the Moon Once Being Part of Earth
[ad_1] Roughly 4.5 billion years ago, a primordial version of Earth covered in molten lava orbited the sun. Barely into its newfound existence, it was struck by a smaller object…
The Hidden Chaos That Lurks in Ecosystems
[ad_1] By the early ’90s, ecologists had amassed enough time-series data sets on species populations and enough computing power to test these ideas. There was just one problem: The chaos…
Life Helps Make Almost Half of All Minerals on Earth
[ad_1] “Each one of those kinds of pyrite is telling us something different about our planet, its origin, about life, and how it’s changed through time,” said Hazen. For that…