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…
AI detectors have a bias against non-native English speakers
GPT detectors wrongfully flagged a majority of submissions by non-native English speakers as AI-generated content, raising concerns about their use. For better or worse, generative AI models have sparked a revolution. Their…
Canada’s Crawford Lake could mark the beginning of the Anthropocene
Scientists are one step closer to defining a new chapter in geology, one in which humans have become the dominant driver of Earth’s climate and environment. Out of 12 locations around the…
This seagrass is taking over the Chesapeake Bay. That’s good and bad news
On the U.S. mid-Atlantic seaboard, efforts to restore the health of the Chesapeake Bay over the last 10 years have faced a mysterious challenge — massive booms and busts of the seagrass…