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Riley Black Science Correspondent In 1780, before the word “paleontology” had even been coined, chalk miners in the Netherlands uncovered a strange skull. The jaws were clearly from an animal unlike any roaming the European countryside and represented a creature that had died at some ancient time. One naturalist thought it was a whale. Another …
Today in the 55th Earth Day – an annual commemoration that was, amazingly enough, conceived and launched in 1970 by an unlikely bipartisan pair of American politicians — Democratic U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin and Republican U.S. Representative Pete McCloskey of California. The “history” section of the Earth Day website provides a powerful reminder …
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Text by Tracy Scott Forson Photographs selected Donny Bajohr Scientists estimate that sharks were swimming the seas some 190 million years before dinosaurs roamed the earth, and they’re still here. That’s only one reason why we’re fascinated by the creatures that live in the oceans—one of the few areas of the earth where humans do …
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By Helen Sullivan Photographs by Michael Aw When he picks me up at the airport, Gary Cobb is wearing a nudibranch baseball cap, a gray T-shirt covered in illustrations of nudibranchs of various kinds, and wraparound sunglasses known colloquially in Australia as “speed dealers.” It is a bright, clear winter’s day in Mooloolaba, on Australia’s …
Fighting off rising seas without reducing humanity’s carbon emissions is like trying to drain a bathtub without turning off the tap. But increasingly, scientists are sounding the alarm on yet another problem compounding the crisis for coastal cities: Their land is also sinking, a phenomenon known as subsidence. The metaphorical tap is still on—as rapid …
Like a nice wool blanket can help a human baby stay warm and healthy, so too does a baby white spruce get protection from a blanket of snow. At the same time, by preventing the chill of winter from reaching the ground, the snow blanket helps thaw permafrost, or frozen soil packed with ancient plant …
A combination of AI, a wild 1970s plan to build underwater cities, and a designer creating furniture on the seabed around the Bahamas might be the solution to the widespread destruction of coral reefs. It could even save the world from coastal erosion. Industrial designer Tom Dixon and technologist Suhair Khan, founder of AI incubator …
Whales sing loud enough that their songs travel through the ocean, but knowing the mechanics behind that has been a mystery. Scientists now think they have an idea, and it’s something not seen in other animals: a specialized voice box. Issued on: 21/02/2024 – 19:04Modified: 21/02/2024 – 19:08 2 min Experts say the discovery, while based …
So whatâs going on here? For one, the oceans have been steadily warming over the decades, absorbing something like 90 percent of the extra heat that humans have added to the atmosphere. âThe oceans are our saviors, in a way,â says biological oceanographer Francisco Chavez of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California. âThings …
This story originally appeared on Grist and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. When governments find themselves fighting the threat of coastal erosion, their default response tends to be pretty simple: If sand is disappearing from a beach, they pump in more sand to replace it. This strategy, known as “beach nourishment,” has become …