Earth
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EnvironmentThe Deepwater Horizon oil spill ruined long-term shore stability
For at least eight years, the oil disaster continued to kill soil-retaining marsh plants along the Louisiana coast, accelerating shoreline loss.
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ClimateWildfires in boreal forests released a record amount of CO2 in 2021
Boreal forests store about one-third of the world’s land-based carbon. With wildfires increasing there, fighting climate change could get even harder.
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ClimateMany Antarctic glaciers are hemorrhaging ice. This one is healing its cracks
Scientists have explored the recesses of an Antarctic glacier that is currently stable, helping improve predictions of the continent’s fate.
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ClimateAn incendiary form of lightning may surge under climate change
Relatively long-lived lightning strikes are the most likely to spark wildfires and may become more common as the climate warms.
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EnvironmentAir pollution made an impression on Monet and other 19th century painters
The impressionist painting style can be partly explained by the reality of rising air pollution from the industrial revolution, an analysis finds.
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ClimateGreta Thunberg’s new book urges the world to take climate action now
Greta Thunberg's ‘The Climate Book’ covers the basic science of climate change, the history of denialism and inaction, environmental justice and solutions.
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Oceans50 years ago, scientists discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
In 1973, plastic bottles adrift in the North Pacific alarmed scientists. Fifty years later, more than 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic litter the area.
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ClimateRapid melting is eroding vulnerable cracks in Thwaites Glacier’s underbelly
Thwaites is melting slower than thought, but the worst of it is concentrated in underbelly cracks, threatening the Antarctica glacier’s stability.
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ClimateClimate ‘teleconnections’ may link droughts and fires across continents
Far-reaching climate patterns like the El Niño-Southern Oscillation may synchronize droughts and regulate scorching of much of Earth’s burned area.
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PaleontologyIn the wake of history’s deadliest mass extinction, ocean life may have flourished
Ocean life may have recovered in just a million years after the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, fossils from South China suggest.
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EarthWhat to know about Turkey’s recent devastating earthquake
Science News spoke with U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Susan Hough about the fatal February 6 earthquake near the Turkey-Syria border
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Science & SocietyMany plans for green infrastructure risk leaving vulnerable people out
Green infrastructure is one way to help combat climate hazards like flooding. But without equitable planning, only some communities will benefit.