A long-feared scenario in which global warming causes Arctic permafrost to melt and release enough methane—a potent greenhouse gas–to accelerate warming and cause catastrophe probably won’t happen. That is the conclusion of a study appearing in the journal Science that began more than 20 years ago as a query posed by Jeff Severinghaus, a geoscientist at the Scripps Institution […]
The Arctic has experienced the warming effects of global climate change faster than any other region on the planet. Scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography have developed a new theory aided by computer simulations and observations that helps explain why this occurs. A team led by Scripps researcher Emma Beer observed the changes taking place […]
Mini-microplastics uncovered in the stomachs of filter-feeding marine organisms Nothing seems safe from plastic contamination. A new study by NSF-funded researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography suggests there could be a million times more pieces of plastic in the ocean than previously estimated. Biological oceanographer Jennifer Brandon found some of the tiniest microplastics in seawater at much higher […]
For the first time, astronomers have detected a signal from stars emerging in the early universe. Using a radio antenna not much larger than a refrigerator, the researchers discovered that ancient suns were active within 180 million years of the Big Bang. The astronomers, from Arizona State University (ASU), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) […]
A sensor array off the Pacific Northwest coast has captured the cracking, bulging and shaking from the eruption of Axial Seamount, a nearly mile-high undersea volcano, in more detail than ever before. A series of papers published this week in the journals Science and Geophysical Research Letters — and announced today during a press conference […]
Two people stationed at the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station have arrived safely in Punta Arenas, Chile, for medical treatment. The arrival completes a nine-day, global evacuation operation that NSF coordinated to prioritize the health and safety of station and rescue personnel. “NSF is committed to supporting scientific exploration — which often […]
For the first time, scientists have observed ripples in the fabric of spacetime called gravitational waves, arriving at Earth from a cataclysmic event in the distant universe. This confirms a major prediction of Albert Einstein’s 1915 general theory of relativity and opens an unprecedented new window to the cosmos. Gravitational waves carry information about their […]
Weddell seals have biological adaptations that allow them to dive deep–as much as of hundreds of meters–while hunting, but also an uncanny ability to find the breathing holes they need on the surface of the ice. Now, researchers supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) believe they have figured out how they do it–by using […]
Scientists have sketched out one of the greatest baby booms in North American history, a centuries-long “growth blip” among southwestern Native Americans between 500 and 1300 A.D. It was a time when the early features of civilization–including farming and food storage–had matured to a level where birth rates likely “exceeded the highest in the world […]