Twice a day, at dusk and just before dawn, a faint layer of sodium and other metals begins sinking down through the atmosphere, about 90 miles high above the city of Boulder, Colorado. The movement was captured by one of the world’s most sensitive ‘lidar’ instruments and the regularly appearing layers promise to help researchers…

Just before the closing scenes of the Cretaceous Period, India was a rogue subcontinent on a collision course with Asia. Before the two landmasses merged, however, India rafted over a ‘hot spot’ within the Earth’s crust, triggering one of the largest volcanic eruptions in Earth’s history, which likely contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs.…

Scientists have identified two new dinosaur species. They analyzed fossil finds that were already discovered 30 years ago in Thailand. Both species are distant relatives of T. rex, but with a somewhat more primitive structure. They were efficient predators. Three decades ago a Thai museum employee discovered some fossilized bones during excavations. He handed them…

A new study has revealed that the locations and timing of tiger shark movement in the western North Atlantic Ocean have changed from rising ocean temperatures. These climate-driven changes have subsequently shifted tiger shark movements outside of protected areas, rendering the sharks more vulnerable to commercial fishing. The movements of tiger sharks, (Galeocerdo cuvier) the…

Worldwide, lake temperatures are rising and seasonal ice cover is shorter and thiner. This effects lake ecosystems, drinking water supply and fishing. International research now shows that these global changes in lake temperature and ice cover are not due to natural climate variability. They can only be explained by massive greenhouse gas emissions since the…

A new platform housing data from over 100 apple varieties could shave years off of the breeding process and enable data-driven assessments of how to boost the health benefits of America’s favorite fruit. This new analysis platform developed by a team of Ohio State University scientists combines the genetics behind specific traits and information on…

An analysis by epidemiologists, economists, ecologists and biologists at 21 institutions finds we could reduce the risks of future pandemics by investing as little as 1/20th of the losses incurred so far from COVID into conservation measures designed to stem the spread of zoonotic viruses from wildlife to humans in the first place. This includes…

According to a new study, what’s key to coral reefs surviving climate-driven heatwaves and subsequent bleaching is managing global climate change — and local conditions. The widespread decline is fueled in part by climate-driven heat waves that are warming the world’s oceans and leading to what’s known as coral bleaching, the breakdown of the mutually…

An international team of researchers has analyzed months of data of large nearshore waves to provide new insights that could help improve the designs of a variety of coastal structures from seaports to seawalls to better withstand destructive waves. Now, an international team of researchers has analyzed months of data of large nearshore waves to…

Researchers have identified a novel mechanism in barley plants, which could help crop growers achieve high yields as temperatures rise. With grain production highly sensitive to changing environmental conditions, rising temperatures are known to reduce the number of seeds that can be produced on each plant. One solution is to increase the number of flowers…