Earth

  1. Climate

    The certainty of climate change

    How sure are scientists that people are to blame for global warming? “Extremely likely,” says an international panel of climate change researchers in a new report.

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  2. Earth

    World’s biggest volcano is hiding under the sea

    Tamu Massif is currently sleeping with the fishes some 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

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  3. Microbes

    Mystery microbes of the sea

    Biologists find archaea a true curiosity. They make up one of life’s three main branches. The two better known branches are bacteria and eukaryotes (u KARE ee oatz). That last branch includes animals, plants and fungi. But archaea have remained mysterious. Very little is known about them. In fact, their unique status wasn’t even recognized until relatively recently, in 1977.

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  4. Animals

    Alien carp leap onto the scene

    Last summer, Alison Coulter got a big surprise as she piloted a boat along the Wabash River in Indiana. Startled by her boat’s motor, a 60-centimeter (24-inch) carp leaped out of the river. In some cases, jumping Asian carp have broken a boater’s nose, jaw or arm.

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  5. Animals

    Mud worth more than gold

    Reed Scherer and Ross Powell have studied mud from all over the world. It is different in each place. Mud from the Sulu Sea near Borneo is as smooth as cream cheese. Mud from Chesapeake Bay, in the mid-Atlantic United States, clings to your skin like peanut butter.

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  6. Earth

    Explainer: Ice sheets and glaciers

    Ice sheets and glaciers give scientists clues about climate change.

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  7. Earth

    Explainer: Antarctica, land of lakes

    There are many, although they tend to be buried under rivers of ice.

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  8. Environment

    Unconventional spill

    An accidental spill of extra-heavy crude oil points to some unusual challenges in safely getting this petroleum to market.

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  9. Environment

    Explainer: All crude oil is not alike

    Crude oil comes in conventional and unconventional types.

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  10. Animals

    Gorgeous eco-bullies

    ‘Foreign’ lionfish — aquarium castoffs — have been invading American coastal waters at an alarming rate and gobbling up the natives.

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  11. Climate

    Climate change: The long reach

    Scientists who study the environment to better gauge Earth’s future climate now argue that current changes may not reverse for a very long time.

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  12. Tech

    Explainer: What is fracking?

    Energy companies have found new use for hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas from shale rock.

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