10+ mon, 2+ week ago   (636+ words) This still doesn't mean we should just try to change the planet to our whims. The term “ecosystem engineering” has been used for decades as a way to describe organisms that drastically alter their environment, changing the abiotic factors in…...

10+ mon, 3+ week ago   (419+ words) A new study suggests that two of Arizona’s most famous landmarks may be linked. When it comes to famous holes in the ground, northern Arizona has two: Grand Canyon and Barringer Meteorite Crater. “These are two iconic features of Arizona....

11+ mon, 3+ week ago   (971+ words) Home → Environment → Climate The algae at the bottom of the world are alive, mobile, and rewriting biology’s rulebook. If you were to slice a chunk of Arctic sea ice and peer at it under a microscope, you probably wouldn’t expect…...

10+ mon, 3+ week ago   (293+ words) Home → Other → Fossil Friday The ancient rulers of the seas can be turned into "fool's gold" For over 300 million years, the ammonites ruled the prehistoric seas. Finding an ammonite fossil isn’t particularly rare (they can be unearthed all over the…...

7+ mon, 1+ week ago   (391+ words) Iron isotopes show that salty seawater pockets beneath the ice were as cold as −15°C. In Nature Communications, researchers reported the first measured sea temperature from a snowball Earth episode: −15°C ± 7°C. If this figure holds up, it will be the…...

7+ mon, 2+ week ago   (592+ words) These planets could be much more life-friendly than we thought. Super-Earths are the galaxy’s “middle children.” They are beefier than Earth but smaller than gas giants like Neptune. We find them everywhere, and many sit comfortably in the “Goldilocks zone…...