Climate-related environmental disasters have not let up this summer. Heat waves are roasting the United States, Europe, China and North Africa (SN: 7/19/23), while wildfires are raging in Canada and Greece. Choking…
July 2023 nailed an unfortunate world record: hottest month ever recorded
Most humans felt the scorching touch of climate change in July. July 2023 was the hottest month ever recorded, and climate change made the elevated temperatures across 51 percent of Earth’s land…
Cow poop emits climate-warming methane. Adding red algae may help
Earth has a cow problem. Cow agriculture is one of the largest emitters of climate-warming methane to the atmosphere. But adding a type of red algae known for its methane-inhibiting properties to…
50 years ago, scientists thought they had found Earth’s oldest rocks
Oldest rocks — Science News, July 21, 1973 Until recently, Greenland possessed the oldest known rocks in the world. They date back 3.7 billion years (SN: 12/9/72, p. 374). Now granite and…
The most intense sunlight on Earth can be found in the Atacama Desert
Forget Arizona or Florida — sun worshippers ought to head to the Atacama Desert in South America. It’s there that the sun’s rays on Earth are most intense, beating out places like…
Here’s how much climate change increases the odds of brutally hot summers
The recent, record-breaking heat waves that have scorched the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, China and southern Europe were made dramatically more likely due to human-caused climate change, researchers report July…
‘The Next Supercontinent’ predicts a future collision of North America and Asia
The Next SupercontinentRoss MitchellUniv. of Chicago, $30 Today, there are seven continents. Some 200 million years from now, there will be just one. In The Next Supercontinent, geophysicist Ross Mitchell previews what…
What’s causing this summer’s extreme heat waves?
The dog days of summer are upon us. Brutal heat waves are roasting regions around the globe, smashing records with unrelenting severity. In the southwest United States and northern Mexico, devastating heat…
Last week was the hottest ever recorded — here’s why we keep smashing records
Global temperatures are shattering records as El Niño and climate change compound. On July 3, the planet sweltered as the average global temperature reached 17.01° Celsius (62.62° Fahrenheit), the highest ever recorded,…
Mystery of gravity hole in Indian Ocean solved
The mystery around a region where Earth’s gravitational pull is weaker than other parts of our planet may finally have an answer. In the middle of the Indian Ocean lies a gravity…