Odd Creatures: Earth & Climate

July 26, 2024

Top Headlines

Eyes for Love: Searching for Light and a Mate in the Deep, Dark Sea, Male Dragonfishes Grow Larger Eyes Than the Females They Seek

July 23, 2024 — The eyes of the male dragonfish grow larger for mate seeking, a sexual dimorphism that makes the dragonfish an anomaly in vertebrate evolution, researchers ...

A Recipe for Zero-Emissions Fuel: Soda Cans, Seawater, and Caffeine

July 25, 2024 — Engineers discovered that when the aluminum in soda cans is purified and mixed with seawater, the solution produces hydrogen -- which can power an engine or fuel cell without generating carbon emissions. The reaction can be sped up by adding ...

The Ocean Is Becoming Too Loud for Oysters, Research Finds

July 24, 2024 — Baby oysters rely on natural acoustic cues to settle in specific environments, but new research reveals that noise from human activity is interfering with this critical ...

Whale Shark Tracked for Record-Breaking Four Years

July 24, 2024 — Researchers have been tracking a 26-foot endangered whale shark -- named 'Rio Lady' -- with a satellite transmitter for more than four years -- a record for whale sharks and one of the longest tracking endeavors for any species of ...

Latest Headlines

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Weather Experts Discover New Effect of Storm -- In a Teacup

July 16, 2024 — A new study reveals that Storm Ciaran cut an invisible path of mayhem across southern Britain last autumn, destroying any possibility that 20 million people could have a proper cup of tea at ...

Smart Soil Can Water and Feed Itself

July 17, 2024 — A newly engineered type of soil can capture water out of thin air to keep plants hydrated and manage controlled release of fertilizer for a constant supply of ...

Scientists Create Computer Program That 'Paints' the Structure of Molecules in the Style of Piet Mondrian

July 12, 2024 — Scientists have created a computer program that 'paints' the structure of molecules in the style of famous Dutch artist, Piet Mondrian. Researchers ...

Lion With Nine Lives Breaks Record With Longest Swim in Predator-Infested Waters

July 10, 2024 — A record-breaking swim by two lion brothers across a predator-infested African river has been documented in a new study. The researchers say the 1km ...

Groundbreaking Study Reveals Oceanic Seabirds Chase Tropical Cyclones

July 9, 2024 — A new study reveals that the rare Desertas Petrels (Pterodroma deserta), a wide-ranging seabird in the North Atlantic, exhibit unique foraging behaviors during hurricane season. Contrary to other ...

First Local Extinction in the US Due to Sea Level Rise, Study Suggests

July 9, 2024 — The United States has lost its only stand of the massive Key Largo tree cactus in what researchers believe is the first local extinction of a species caused by sea level rise in the ...

Everybody Needs Good Neighbors: Resident Quolls Help Newcomers Settle in at Mulligans Flat

July 1, 2024 — GPS tracking collars have revealed how newly reintroduced eastern quolls are settling in at Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary in Canberra, with ...

Organic Material from Mars Reveals the Likely Origin of Life's Building Blocks

July 1, 2024 — Two samples from Mars together deliver clear evidence of the origin of Martian organic material. The study presents solid evidence for a prediction ...

Sixty-Million-Year-Old Grape Seeds Reveal How the Death of the Dinosaurs May Have Paved the Way for Grapes to Spread

July 1, 2024 — Scientists discovered the oldest fossil grapes in the Western Hemisphere, which help show how after the death of the dinosaurs, grapes spread across ...

Small, Adsorbent 'Fins' Collect Humidity Rather Than Swim Through Water

June 26, 2024 — Clean, safe water is a limited resource and access to it depends on local bodies of water. But even dry regions have some water vapor in the air. To harvest small amounts of humidity, researchers ...

Whale Remains Tracked to Highlight Sustainable Disposal Benefits

July 10, 2024 — A new study highlights the sustainable, cultural and ecosystem benefits of offshore removal or decomposition of whale remains. The study tracked the remains of a humpback whale that was intercepted ...

Investigating Newly Discovered Hydrothermal Vents at Depths of 3,000 Meters Off Svalbard

June 28, 2024 — Hydrothermal vents can be found around the world at the junctions of drifting tectonic plates. But there are many hydrothermal fields still to be discovered. During a 2022 expedition of the MARIA S. ...

Almonds, Pottery, Wood Help Date Famed Kyrenia Shipwreck

June 26, 2024 — Researchers have identified the likeliest timeline of the famous Hellenistic-era Kyrenia shipwreck, discovered and recovered off the north coast of Cyprus in the ...

Shocked Quartz Reveals Evidence of Historical Cosmic Airburst

June 26, 2024 — Researchers continue to expand the case for the Younger Dryas Impact hypothesis. The idea proposes that a fragmented comet smashed into the Earth's atmosphere 12,800 years ago, causing a ...

Frog 'Saunas' a Lifeline for Endangered Frog Populations

June 26, 2024 — New biologist-designed shelters will help endangered frogs survive the devastating impacts of a deadly fungal disease by regulating their body temperature to fight off ...

Study Challenges Popular Idea That Easter Islanders Committed 'Ecocide'

June 21, 2024 — Some 1,000 years ago, a small band of Polynesians sailed thousands of miles across the Pacific to settle one of the world's most isolated places -- a small, previously uninhabited island they ...

Where to Put Head and Tail?

June 18, 2024 — Formation of the body axes is a critical part of embryonic development. They guarantee that all body parts end up where they belong and that no ears grow on our backs. The head-tail axis, for ...

Wear It, Then Recycle: Designers Make Dissolvable Textiles from Gelatin

June 17, 2024 — Researchers hope their DIY machine will help designers around the world experiment with making their own, sustainable fashion and other textiles from a range of natural ingredients -- maybe even the ...

Sweaty Cattle May Boost Food Security in a Warming World

June 13, 2024 — Climate change is making it more difficult to raise cattle -- growth and reproduction are affected by heat -- so it's critical to breed cattle better adapted to a hotter and longer summer. A new ...

The Rotation of Earth's Inner Core Has Slowed, New Study Confirms

June 13, 2024 — The new study provides unambiguous evidence that the inner core began to decrease its speed around 2010, moving slower than the Earth's ...

Parliamentary Members Use Simpler Language on Hot Days

June 13, 2024 — Climate change has many widespread and complicated effects on the well-being of people and the planet, and a new study has now added a surprising one to the list. After analyzing the language used in ...

Laser Tests Reveal New Insights Into Key Mineral for Super-Earths

June 12, 2024 — Scientists have for the first time observed how atoms in magnesium oxide morph and melt under ultra-harsh conditions, providing new insights into this key mineral within Earth's mantle that is ...

Are Plants Intelligent? It Depends on the Definition

June 12, 2024 — Goldenrod can perceive other plants nearby without ever touching them, by sensing far-red light ratios reflected off leaves. When goldenrod is eaten by herbivores, it adapts its response based on ...

A Mountainous Mystery Uncovered in Australia's Pink Sands

June 12, 2024 — Deposits of deep-pink sand washing up on South Australian shores shed new light on when the Australian tectonic plate began to subduct beneath the Pacific plate, as well as the presence of previously ...

Millions of Insects Migrate Through 30-Meter Pyrenees Pass

June 11, 2024 — Over 17 million insects migrate each year through a single mountain pass on the border between France and Spain, new research ...

Scientists Unlock Secrets of How Archaea, the Third Domain of Life, Makes Energy

June 11, 2024 — An international scientific team has redefined our understanding of archaea, a microbial ancestor to humans from two billion years ago, by showing how they use hydrogen gas. The findings explain how ...

The Solar System May Have Passed Through Dense Interstellar Clouds 2 Million Years Ago, Altering Earth's Climate

June 10, 2024 — Astrophysicists calculate the likelihood that Earth was exposed to cold, harsh interstellar clouds, a phenomenon not previously considered in geologic climate ...

A New Study Reveals That Marine Cyanobacteria Communicate

June 6, 2024 — A breakthrough study changes the way we understand cyanobacteria, which are essential for the sustenance of life. The study shows that these organisms do not operate in isolation, but rather ...

Researchers Solve 2,000-Year-Old Mystery of the Shipworm

June 5, 2024 — They bedeviled ancient Greek navies, helped shipwreck Christopher Columbus, aided in the sinking of the Spanish Armada and caused the wharves in San Francisco Bay to collapse into the sea, but until ...

Blood Sausages and Yak Milk: Bronze Age Cuisine of Mongolian Nomads Unveiled

June 5, 2024 — Bronze cauldrons were used by the inhabitants of the Mongolian steppe around 2,700 years ago to process animal blood and milk. This is shown by a protein analysis of archaeological finds from this ...