SciGlow | All Science News In One Place
SciGlow is a newsletter of science stories from the major research labs. Headlines link to in-depth articles and editorials. SciGlow keeps scientists and others up-to-date on current research.
A newly published series of dates of grape harvest covering the past 664 years is the latest line of evidence confirming how unusual the climate of the past 30 years has been. The record shows wine grapes in Burgundy, eastern France, have been picked 13 days earlier on average since 1988 than they were in … Read more
How does ice form? Surprisingly, science hasn’t fully answered that question. Differences in ice formation on various surfaces still aren’t well understood, but researchers today will explain their finding that the arrangements that surface atoms impose on water molecules are the key. The work has implications for preventing ice formation where it isn’t wanted (windshields, … Read more
Climate change is altering the ability of the Southern Ocean off the West Antarctic Peninsula to absorb carbon dioxide, according to a Rutgers-led study, and that could magnify climate change in the long run. The study, led by scientists at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, is published in the journal Nature Climate Change. The West Antarctic Peninsula is experiencing some … Read more
The Earth is the only planet in the solar system that has continents, whereas on other rocky planets like Mars, continents never emerged. How these continents came into being is a very debate unsolved question amongst scientists. A team of researchers from Belgium, South Africa, Germany and Australia led by Luc André (Royal Museum for … Read more
The oceans act as a carbon sink and have already absorbed more than 40% of anthropogenic carbon emissions. The majority of this CO2 has been taken up by the Southern Ocean making these waters hotspots of ocean acidification (OA). Lead author of the paper published in Nature Climate Change, Dr Katherina Petrou from the University of … Read more
This summer, Alaska has experienced record high temperatures and devastating wildfires. If such events become more frequent, how might that impact our northernmost forests? A team of researchers led by the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) projected that the combination of climate change and increased wildfires will cause the iconic evergreen … Read more
A new study reveals why the magma chambers that feed recurrent and often explosive volcanic eruptions tend to reside in a very narrow depth range within the Earth’s crust. The findings, published in Nature Geoscience, could help scientists to better understand volcanic processes the world over. The research makes use of computer models that capture the physics … Read more
The enzyme-nitrogenase-can be traced back to the universal common ancestor of all cells more than four billion years ago. Found only in bacteria today, nitrogenase is nevertheless essential for the production of oxygen from water in photosynthesis, making it instrumental in how aquatic bacteria produced Earth’s first molecular oxygen 2.5 billion years ago. “For half … Read more
For the world’s estimated 1.8 billion Muslims – roughly one-quarter of the world population – making a pilgrimage to Mecca is considered a religious duty that must be performed at least once in a lifetime, if health and finances permit. The ritual, known as the Hajj, includes about five days of activities, of which 20 … Read more
“We have found a new trigger to explain the start-up of the Atlantic current system during the greenhouse-icehouse climate transition: During the warm climate, buoyant fresh water flooded out of the Arctic and prevented the ocean-sinking that helps power the conveyor. We found that the Arctic-Atlantic gateway closed due to tectonic forces, causing a dramatic … Read more