Humanity"s future depends on our ability to live in harmony with nature
The world is facing multiple—potentially catastrophic—crises, including inequality, poverty, food insecurity, climate change and biodiversity loss. These issues are interconnected and require systemic solutions, as changes in one system affects o.....»»
Climate change: Care for humans, other species and the natural environment is the key to a just transition
Communities across the world are facing two worsening crises: a climate crisis and a care crisis......»»
How mainstream climate science endorsed the fantasy of a global warming time machine
When the Paris agreement on climate change was gaveled into being in December 2015, it briefly looked like that rarest of things: a political victory for climate activists and delegates from the poorest regions of the world that, due to colonization.....»»
A patchwork of spinifex: How we returned cultural burning to the Great Sandy Desert
How can a desert burn? Australia's vast deserts aren't just sand dunes—they're often dotted with flammable spinifex grass hummocks. When heavy rains fall, grass grows quickly before drying out. That's how a desert can burn......»»
Researchers develop a laser that produces the strongest ultra-short laser pulses to date
The word laser usually conjures up an image of a strongly concentrated and continuous light beam. Lasers that produce such light are, in fact, very common and useful. However, science and industry often also require very short and strong pulses of la.....»»
Ancient climate analysis reveals unknown global processes
According to highly cited conventional models, cooling and a major drop in sea levels about 34 million years ago should have led to widespread continental erosion and deposited gargantuan amounts of sandy material onto the ocean floor. This was, afte.....»»
Machine learning cracked the protein-folding problem and won the 2024 Nobel Prize in chemistry
The 2024 Nobel Prize in chemistry recognized Demis Hassabis, John Jumper and David Baker for using machine learning to tackle one of biology's biggest challenges: predicting the 3D shape of proteins and designing them from scratch......»»
"Killer electrons": Lightning storms play cosmic pinball with space weather
When lightning strikes, the electrons come pouring down. In a new study, researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder, led by an undergraduate student, have discovered a novel connection between weather on Earth and space weather. The team utili.....»»
Saturday Citations: All that sparkles is plastic; woke tree diversity; the gravitational basin in which we reside
This week, astronomers considered whether dark energy varies over cosmic timescales. Via neutron analysis, physicists revealed that some Early Iron Age swords were altered recently by swindlers in order to be more historically exciting. And a profess.....»»
Google"s sycamore quantum chip beats classical computers running random circuit sampling
A team of engineers, physicists and quantum specialists at Google Research has found that reducing noise to a certain level allows the company's sycamore quantum chip to beat classical computers running random circuit sampling (RCS)......»»
Europa Clipper mission to investigate potential habitability of Jupiter"s moon
A NASA spacecraft is ready to set sail for Jupiter and its moon Europa, one of the best bets for finding life beyond Earth......»»
AI empowers iNaturalist to map California plants with unprecedented precision
Utilizing advanced artificial intelligence and citizen science data from the iNaturalist app, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed some of the most detailed maps yet showcasing the distribution of California plant spe.....»»
Full moon hazard: 50% rise in wildlife vehicle collisions during moonlit nights
The moon's impact on our planet, culture, and society goes beyond just affecting tides. Recent research by Texas A&M University, published in the journal Transportation Research Part D, indicates a 45.8% increase in wildlife vehicle collisions during.....»»
Eastern Pacific study highlights severe cold-water bleaching as an additional threat to deep reef ecosystems
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC) recently published a paper detailing their observations of a major coral bleaching and mortality event that occurred on the deep reefs of the Clipperton Atoll, a remote coral island in th.....»»
Mountain chickadees songs provide real-time evidence for Darwin"s character displacement theory
Mountain chickadees in Boulder have evolved a different tune to avoid getting mixed up with their cousins, according to a new CU Boulder-led study published Oct. 9 in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology......»»
Interdisciplinary advances in microcombs: Bridging physics and information technology
Researchers are excited about the potential of microcombs, miniature devices that generate precise time and frequency standards. These microcombs could revolutionize fields from high-speed communication, high-resolution measurements to precise atomic.....»»
Novel algorithms detect precursory scale increase to help forecast big quakes
Many people are aware that large earthquakes are often followed by a sequence of aftershocks as stresses are redistributed in the surrounding area. Many may not be aware that there are also sequences of earthquakes that occur before most large earthq.....»»
Exoplanet discovered in a binary system could explain why red dwarfs form massive planets
In recent years, the number of known extrasolar planets (aka. exoplanets) has grown exponentially. To date, 5,799 exoplanets have been confirmed in 4,310 star systems, with thousands more candidates awaiting confirmation. What has been particularly i.....»»
Mars analog stations investigate lichen biodiversity during simulated missions
Once you know where to look for them, lichens are everywhere. These composite organisms—fungal and photosynthetic partners joined into a greater whole—can survive on a vast array of surfaces, from rocks and trees to bare ground and buildings. The.....»»
Research collaboration examines Filipino migration dynamics
Over one million Filipinos leave their country every year to work. The high emigration figures not only concern the Philippine state, but also the economist Andreas Steinmayr. In July 2024, he resumed a long-standing collaboration with the Philippine.....»»