Odd Creatures: Earth & Climate

September 23, 2023

Top Headlines

Researchers Issue Urgent Call to Save the World's Largest Flower -Rafflesia -- From Extinction

Sep. 20, 2023 — A new study finds that most Rafflesia species, which produce the world's largest flowers, face extinction. Lack of protection at local, national, and international levels means that remaining ...

16 Strange New Parasitoid Wasp Species Discovered in Vietnam

Sep. 19, 2023 — Researchers have discovered 16 new species of strange-looking parasitoid wasps from the Loboscelidia group. The study also revealed for the first time the unique parasitic behavior of a captive female from one species, who after parasitizing her ...

A Newly Identified Virus Emerges from the Deep

Sep. 20, 2023 — Marine virologists analyzed sediment from the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on Earth, and identified a new ...

Prehistoric Fish Fills 100 Million Year Gap in Evolution of the Skull

Sep. 20, 2023 — X-rays of an ancient jawless fish shows earliest-known example of internal cartilage skull, unlike that of any other known ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:12pm EDT

Hot Summer Air Turns Into Drinking Water With New Gel Device

Sep. 11, 2023 — Researchers have focused on the moisture present in the air as a potential source of drinking water for drought-stressed populations. They reached a significant breakthrough in their efforts to ...

Floating Sea Farms: A Solution to Feed the World and Ensure Fresh Water by 2050

Sep. 11, 2023 — The sun and the sea -- both abundant and free -- are being harnessed in a unique project to create vertical sea farms floating on the ocean that can ...

Fossil Spines Reveal Deep Sea's Past

Sep. 5, 2023 — Right at the bottom of the deep sea, the first very simple forms of life on earth probably emerged a long time ago. Today, the deep sea is known for its bizarre fauna. Intensive research is being ...

A Lightweight Wearable Device Helps Users Navigate With a Tap on the Wrist

Aug. 29, 2023 — Scientists have developed a fabric-based wearable device that 'taps' a user's wrist with pressurized air, silently helping them navigate to their destination. The study demonstrated that users ...

Scientists Solve Mystery of Why Thousands of Octopus Migrate to Deep-Sea Thermal Springs

Aug. 23, 2023 — Researchers used advanced technology to study a massive aggregation of deep-sea octopus gathered at thermal springs near an extinct underwater ...

Barnacles May Help Reveal Location of Lost Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370

Aug. 23, 2023 — Geoscientists have created a new method that can reconstruct the drift path and origin of debris from flight MH370, an aircraft that went missing over the Indian Ocean in 2014 with 239 passengers and ...

Heat Sensor Protects the Venus Flytrap from Fire

Aug. 22, 2023 — The sensory hairs of the Venus flytrap contain a heat sensor that warns the plant of bush fires. It reacts to rapid temperature jumps, as researchers have ...

Clever Coating Turns Lampshades Into Indoor Air Purifiers

Aug. 16, 2023 — Indoor air pollution may have met its match. Scientists have designed catalyst-coated lampshades that transform indoor air pollutants into harmless compounds. The lampshades work with halogen and ...

Cleaning Water With 'Smart Rust' and Magnets

Aug. 16, 2023 — Pouring flecks of rust into water usually makes it dirtier. But researchers have developed special iron oxide nanoparticles called 'smart rust' that actually makes it cleaner. The magnetic ...

Transforming Flies Into Degradable Plastics

Aug. 14, 2023 — Imagine using insects as a source of chemicals to make plastics that can biodegrade later -- with the help of that very same type of bug. That concept is closer to reality than you might expect. ...

Earlier Headlines

Summaries
Headlines

Tattoo Technique Transfers Gold Nanopatterns Onto Live Cells

Aug. 10, 2023 — For now, cyborgs exist only in fiction, but the concept is becoming more plausible as science progresses. And now, researchers are reporting that they have developed a proof-of-concept technique to ...

Drops of Seawater Contain Traces of an Ancient World

Aug. 9, 2023 — New research links chemical changes in seawater to volcanic activity and ...

Butterflies Can Remember Where Things Are Over Sizeable Spaces

Aug. 7, 2023 — Heliconius butterflies are capable of spatial learning, scientists have discovered. The results provide the first experimental evidence of spatial learning in any butterfly or moth ...

Energy-Storing Supercapacitor from Cement, Water, Black Carbon

July 31, 2023 — Engineers have created a 'supercapacitor' made of ancient, abundant materials, that can store large amounts of energy. Made of just cement, water, and carbon black (which resembles powdered ...

Sun 'Umbrella' Tethered to Asteroid Might Help Mitigate Climate Change

July 31, 2023 — Earth is rapidly warming and scientists are developing a variety of approaches to reduce the effects of climate change. An astronomer has proposed a novel approach -- a solar shield to reduce the ...

'Time-Traveling' Pathogens in Melting Permafrost Pose Likely Risk to Environment

July 27, 2023 — Ancient pathogens that escape from melting permafrost have real potential to damage microbial communities and might potentially threaten human health, according to a new ...

Bacteria as Blacksmiths

July 27, 2023 — A hot bath is a place to relax. For scientists, it is also where molecules or tiny building blocks meet to form materials. Researchers take it to the next level and use the energy of swimming ...

Egg 'Signatures' Will Allow Drongos to Identify Cuckoo 'Forgeries' Almost Every Time, Study Finds

July 26, 2023 — Egg 'signatures' will allow drongos to identify cuckoo 'forgeries' almost every time, study finds. African cuckoos may have met their match with the fork-tailed drongo, which ...

It's Sewage, Not Fertilizer Fueling Nitrogen Surge in Florida's Indian River Lagoon

July 18, 2023 — Fertilizer restrictions along Florida's 156-mile-long Indian River Lagoon were intended to reduce nutrient inputs from urban and agricultural land uses. The hope was that water quality would ...

Fungi Blaze a Trail to Fireproof Cladding

July 12, 2023 — Scientists have shown it's possible to grow fungi in thin sheets that could be used for fire-retardant cladding or even a new kind of fungal ...

Sex Lives of Orchids Reads Like Science Fiction

July 12, 2023 — Scientists have created a global database of pollination data for almost 3000 orchid ...

Why There Are No Kangaroos in Bali (and No Tigers in Australia)

July 6, 2023 — Researchers are using a new model to clarify why millions of years ago more animal species from Asia made the leap to the Australian continent than vice versa. The climate in which the species ...

Turning Old Maps Into 3D Digital Models of Lost Neighborhoods

June 28, 2023 — Imagine strapping on a virtual reality headset and 'walking' through a long-gone neighborhood in your city -- seeing the streets and buildings as they appeared decades ago. That's a ...

Squash Bugs Are Attracted to and Eat Each Other's Poop to Stock Their Microbiome

June 28, 2023 — Squash bugs, a common and difficult-to-control agricultural pest, need healthy bacteria in their gut to grow and stay alive. However, they do not acquire any bacteria from their parents when they are ...

How Urea May Have Been the Gateway to Life

June 28, 2023 — Urea reacts extremely quickly under the conditions that existed when our planet was newly formed. This new insight furthers our understanding of how life on Earth might have ...

Orangutans Can Make Two Sounds at the Same Time, Similar to Human Beatboxing, Study Finds

June 27, 2023 — Orangutans can make two separate sounds simultaneously, much like songbirds or human beatboxers, according to a new ...

Do Hummingbirds Drink Alcohol? More Often Than You Think

June 22, 2023 — Animals that eat fruit or sip nectar often ingest alcohol because naturally occurring yeasts turning sugar into ethanol. But how do animals feel about that? A new study details an experiment to ...

Scientists Unearth 20 Million Years of 'Hot Spot' Magmatism Under Cocos Plate

June 20, 2023 — A team of scientists has observed past episodic intraplate magmatism and corroborated the existence of a partial melt channel at the base of the Cocos Plate. Situated 60 kilometers beneath the ...

Navigating Underground With Cosmic-Ray Muons

June 15, 2023 — Superfast, subatomic-sized particles called muons have been used to wirelessly navigate underground in a reportedly world first. By using muon-detecting ground stations synchronized with an ...

We've Pumped So Much Groundwater That We've Nudged Earth's Spin

June 15, 2023 — By pumping water out of the ground and moving it elsewhere, humans have shifted such a large mass of water that the Earth tilted nearly 80 centimeters (31.5 inches) east between 1993 and 2010 alone, ...

Thursday, August 10, 2023