Earth & Environment
Hot weather and air pollution together may raise suicide risk
Suicide is a major public health concern in the United States and around the world. Over the past several decades, suicide rates in the...
Ancient plant viruses may have originated before the last ice age
A group of plant viruses that infect many important crops may have origins stretching back tens of thousands of years, long before humans began...
The Sun has a heartbeat
Think you know the Sun?
You glance up on a clear day, feel the warmth on your face, and it seems reassuringly constant. Same star,...
Tiny zircon crystals reveal new secrets about Earth’s earliest history
Scientists still have many questions about the earliest years of our planet.
Earth formed about 4.55 billion years ago, but almost no rocks from that...
Climate change could wipe out 20% of Colombia’s cocoa land by 2050, study warns
Colombia may lose nearly one-fifth of the land currently suitable for growing cocoa by 2050, according to a new scientific study.
The research suggests that...
Why many middle‑aged Americans feel worse than previous generations
A growing number of Americans in their 50s and early 60s say they feel lonelier, more depressed, and physically weaker than people of the...
Why dance tracks dominate TikTok while love songs rule Spotify
What makes a song become a hit today?
While listeners certainly play a role, new research suggests that streaming platforms and their algorithms also have...
US is less prone to oil price shocks than in past decades
Oil is a global market, so when prices rise in one place, they rise everywhere. The current war against Iran has already raised oil...
Scientists grow chickpeas in “moon dirt,” opening the door to farming on the Moon
As NASA prepares for future missions that could send astronauts back to the Moon, scientists are trying to answer an important question: what will...
Elephants steer clear of humans much more than other wildlife, study finds
Wild animals do not all react to human activity in the same way.
A new study from Botswana shows that some species are much more...
Antarctica has lost ice the size of 10 Los Angeles cities in 30 years
A new 30-year study has revealed how Antarctica’s ice is slowly retreating along parts of its vast coastline.
Scientists led by researchers at the University...
Did the first land plants accidentally trigger two ancient ocean extinctions?
Hundreds of millions of years ago, the first plants began spreading across Earth’s land. This major turning point helped transform the planet into the...
FEATURED
Why did glacial cycles intensify a million years ago
Something big happened to the planet about a million years ago.
There was a major shift in the response of Earth’s climate system to variations...
Scientists find a previously unknown mass extinction event
Sixty-three percent.
That’s the proportion of mammal species that vanished from Africa and the Arabian Peninsula around 30 million years ago, after Earth’s climate shifted...
Low ocean oxygen levels could blind sea creatures
Scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, have found that low oxygen levels in seawater could blind...
Fuel efficiency of one car may be cancelled by your next car purchase
In a recent study, researchers find that consumers tend to buy something less fuel efficient than they normally would for their second car after...
Scientists reveal the survival secrets of the deepest sea life: Hadal Snailfish
Researchers have just published a new report all about the extraordinary adaptations of one of the world's most extreme creatures, the hadal snailfish.
Scientists decode 3,000-year-old Egyptian wheat genome for first time
The genome of an ancient Egyptian wheat has been sequenced for the first time by a UCL-led team, revealing historical patterns of crop movement...
What the French Revolution tells us about the dangers of inflation
Did you know the French Revolution can teach us important lessons about money today? Yes, that's right.
A study led by Louis Rouanet, a professor...
Why Mastercard’s new face recognition payment system raises concerns
Mastercard's "smile to pay" system, announced last week, is supposed to save time for customers at checkouts.
It is being trialed in Brazil, with future...