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.
Tropical glaciers in Africa and South America began their retreat simultaneously at the end of the last ice age about 20,000 years ago, according to a Dartmouth study. The finding of synchrony in ice retreat across the global tropics clarifies how the low latitudes transformed during one of Earth’s most extreme climate change events and … Read more
Underground fiber-optic cables, like those that connect the world through phone and internet service, hold untapped potential for monitoring severe weather, according to scientists at Penn State. Researchers turned miles of cables under the University Park campus into thousands of virtual sensors capable of detecting tiny seismic events caused by thunder echoing down from the … Read more
Concentrations of methane, a greenhouse gas about 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide, have risen steadily in Earth’s atmosphere since 2007. Although several potential explanations, including an increase in methane emissions from the tropics, could account for this upsurge, due to a lack of regional data scientists have been unable to pinpoint the source. … Read more
Using instruments onboard the International Space Station, researchers have observed millisecond pulses of gamma-rays produced by thunderstorms, clarifying the process by which these flashes are made, and discovering that they can produce an ultraviolet emission known as an “Elve.” The results help reveal the process by which terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) are generated from thunderstorms, … Read more
The oxygenation of Earth’s surface – which transformed the planet into a habitable haven for all life as we know it – may have been the consequence of global biogeochemical feedbacks, rather than the product of discrete planetary-scale biological and tectonic revolutions as proposed, according to a new study. The findings have implications for the … Read more
Greenland is losing ice seven times faster than in the 1990s and is tracking the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s high-end climate warming scenario, which would see 40 million more people exposed to coastal flooding by 2100. A team of 96 polar scientists from 50 international organisations have produced the most complete picture of Greenland … Read more
New research led by scientists from Florida Institute of Technology found that megadroughts – strong and long-lasting droughts – parched the usually moist Peruvian cloud forests, spurring farmers to colonize new cropland. The study, “2,100 years of human adaptation to climate change in the High Andes,” reveals that Andean climate changes – especially droughts – … Read more
The release of more than 50 floating sensors, called Mobile Earthquake Recording in Marine Areas by Independent Divers (MERMAIDs), is increasing the number of seismic stations around the planet. Scientists will use the floating array to clarify the picture of the massive mantel plume in the lower mantel lying below the South Pacific Ocean. This … Read more
Stormquakes are a recently discovered phenomenon characterized by seismic activity originating at the ocean floor due to powerful storms. Catherine de Groot-Hedlin, a researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, was part of the group that first observed stormquakes. She will discuss their properties and meteorological significance during … Read more
A convoy of farmers and other community members affected by drought are heading to Canberra today to protest about water management in the Murray Darling Basin. They say it’s failing communities. Water experts Professor Jamie Pittock and Professor Quentin Grafton from The Australian National University (ANU) are available to speak to media on the issue, … Read more