Odd Creatures: Earth & Climate

July 10, 2016

Lush Venus? Searing Earth? It Could Have Happened

Ostrich-Like Bird Once Lived in N. America

During Famine, Microalgae Digest Themselves

Humans Driving Evolution of New Species

Latest Headlines

updated 12:41pm EDT

Opal Discovered in Antarctic Meteorite

June 27, 2016 — Planetary scientists have discovered pieces of opal in a meteorite found in Antarctica, a result that demonstrates that meteorites delivered water ice to asteroids early in ... read more

Whistling Wormholes Discovered in the Caribbean

June 27, 2016 — Scientists have discovered the Caribbean Sea works like a whistle. This finding will enable scientists to predict some sea level changes many months in advance, and may be an ... read more

Giant Blobs of Rock, Deep Inside the Earth, Hold Important Clues About Our Planet

June 24, 2016 — Two massive blob-like structures lie deep within the Earth, roughly on opposite sides of the planet. The two structures, ... read more

The World's Oldest Farmers Were Insects

June 22, 2016 — An international team of researchers has discovered the oldest fossil evidence of agriculture, not by humans, but ... read more

Wild Boars and Wart Hogs May Have an Internal Compass

June 22, 2016 — New research suggests for the first time that wild boars and wart hogs have an internal magnetic compass that helps them orient themselves as they forage for food and inhabit ... read more

Caribbean Sea Acts Like a Whistle and Can Be 'Heard' from Space

June 21, 2016 — A study of the Caribbean Sea has revealed that, in the midst of all the noise of the ocean, this region behaves like a whistle, which blows so loudly that it can be 'heard' from space in the form of ... read more

Understanding Rogue Ocean Waves May Be Simple After All

June 21, 2016 — An international team of scientists has developed a relatively simple mathematical explanation for the rogue ocean waves that can develop seemingly out of nowhere to sink ... read more

Rush Hour on Palmyra Atoll

June 15, 2016 — Halfway between Hawaii and American Samoa lies a group of small islands and inlets. Among them is Palmyra Atoll, an almost 5-square-mile ring ... read more

Minecraft Tree 'Probably' the Tallest Tree in the Tropics

June 8, 2016 — A tree the height of 20 London double-decker buses has been discovered in Malaysia by conservation scientists monitoring the impact of human activity on the biodiversity of a ... read more

Sea Snakes Have Extra Sense for Water Living

June 8, 2016 — The move from life on land to life in the sea has led to the evolution of a new sense for sea snakes, an Australian ... read more

Manatees Are Making A Florida Couple's Lawn A Regular Meal

Making Art out of Pollution

Edible Beer Rings to Keep Marine Life Safe

This Sponge Near The Hawaiian Islands Might Be Bigger Than Your Car

Underwater 'Lost City' Found to Be Geological Formation

June 2, 2016 — New research reveals how an underwater 'lost city' has been found to be a geological formation.The ancient underwater remains of what was thought to be a long lost Greek city, found close ... read more

Methane-Producing Microbes in California Rocks

May 24, 2016 — Scientists report that they have found evidence of hardy, methane-producing microbes in water that surfaces from deep underground at The Cedars, a set of freshwater springs in Sonoma ... read more

In Changing Oceans, Cephalopods Are Booming

May 23, 2016 — Humans have changed the world's oceans in ways that have been devastating to many marine species. But, according to new evidence, it appears that the change has so far been good for cephalopods, ... read more

Human-Eating Monster Crocodile May Be Florida’s Newest Invasive Species

May 20, 2016 — Spotting native alligators and crocodiles in Florida is common, but anyone who sees a large reptile may want to take a second look -- human-eaters that can grow to 18 feet long and weigh as much as a ... read more

Mighty Mealworms: Solution for Food Insecurity, Pollution

May 11, 2016 — Can mealworms be used to solve two global problems? Researchers suggest that yes: for food sustainability and plastic ... read more

Big Thinking in Small Pieces: Computer Guides Humans in Crowdsourced Research

May 10, 2016 — Getting a bunch of people to collectively research and write a coherent report without any one person seeing the big picture may seem akin to a group of toddlers producing Hamlet by randomly pecking ... read more

New Evidence Connects Dung Beetle Evolution to Dinosaurs

May 4, 2016 — Researchers have found an evolutionary connection between dinosaurs and dung beetles. Scientists uncovered the first molecular evidence indicating that dung beetles evolved in association with ... read more

Endangered Venomous Mammal Predates Dinosaurs' Extinction, Study Confirms

May 2, 2016 — Biologists have completely sequenced the mitochondrial genome for the Hispaniolan solenodon, filling in the last major branch of placental mammals on the tree of life. The study confirmed that the ... read more

Can Mountain-Climbing Bears Rescue Cherry Trees from Global Warming?

Apr. 25, 2016 — As the planet warms, one way for plants and animals to find their way to cooler territory is to move up higher into the mountains. Now, researchers have found that cherry trees are indeed making ... read more

Adding Some Salt to the Recipe for Energy Storage Materials

Apr. 22, 2016 — A team of researchers has recently discovered a way to improve the recipe for energy storage materials, and make the resulting materials bigger and better and soaking up energy -- the secret? Just ... read more

Forest Discovery: Trees Trade Carbon Among Each Other

Apr. 14, 2016 — Forest trees use carbon not only for themselves; they also trade large quantities of it with their neighbors, botanists report. The extensive carbon trade among trees -- even among different species ... read more

Fresh Look at Trope About Eskimo Words for Snow

Apr. 13, 2016 — Researchers have taken a fresh look at words for snow, taking on an urban legend referred to by some as 'the great Eskimo vocabulary ... read more

Recyclable, Sugar-Derived Foam: A Renewable Alternative to Traditional Polyurethanes?

Apr. 13, 2016 — Polyurethanes in products from cushy sofas to stretchy spandex have made sitting, sleeping and walking more comfortable. But once they have served their purpose, most of the non-degradable materials ... read more

The Pyrophilic Primate

Apr. 12, 2016 — Fire, a tool broadly used for cooking, constructing, hunting and even communicating, was arguably one of the earliest discoveries in human history. But when, how and why it came to be used is hotly ... read more

Swarming Red Crabs Documented on Video

Apr. 12, 2016 — A research team studying biodiversity at the Hannibal Bank Seamount off the coast of Panama has captured unique video of thousands of red crabs swarming in low-oxygen waters just above the ... read more

Laser Cloaking Device Could Help Us Hide from Aliens

Mar. 31, 2016 — Two astronomers suggest humanity could use lasers to conceal the Earth from searches by advanced extraterrestrial ... read more

City Birds Are Smarter Than Country Birds

Mar. 21, 2016 — Birds living in urban environments are smarter than birds from rural environments. But, why do city birds have the edge over their country friends? They adapted to their urban environments enabling ... read more

Could Ireland’s Ecosystems Cope If We Introduced St. Patrick’s Scaly Foes?

Mar. 17, 2016 — The legend of St. Patrick banishing snakes from the emerald isle some 1,500 years ago is indelibly etched in folklore -- even if science suggests snakes were unlikely to have colonized the country ... read more

First Successful Extraction of Ancient DNA from a Southern African Mummy

Mar. 16, 2016 — Researchers have presented one of the first CT scans of a mummified individual from southern Africa, and also completed the first successful ancient DNA extraction from such ... read more

Unique Beak Evolved With Tool Use in New Caledonian Crow

Mar. 15, 2016 — Cornell researchers have quantified what makes the New Caledonian crow's beak different and how it got that way. Their findings were published March 9, 2016 in the journal Scientific ... read more

Thursday, June 2, 2016