ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE

Pushed to the Brink—Humans Put Earth in 'The Danger Zone'

ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE With unprecedented levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, widespread species extinction, habit destruction, and increased levels of nitrogen and phosphorous in the oceans courtesy of polluting fertilizers, the Earth is being pushed to the brink and could one day make it unsafe for the continuation of life. The rate at which humans are destroying the environment is entirely unprecedented, and with such a devastating effect unseen in the last 11,700 years, life is facing an uncertain future ahead.

Human Activity May Lead to a Bleaker Life Under the Sea

A new study has found that human activity is having a drastic impact on the creatures under the sea, with many on the verge of extinction thanks to humans. However, swift intervention could still prevent a "disaster of the magnitude observed on land."The study published this week in the journal Science analyzes the impact humans are having on the oceans. According to the group of researchers who developed the study, several marine species could soon be gone forever if changes are not quickly made.

Giant Sea Animals Are Not So Giant After All

The oceans largest creatures aren't quite as large as we often image, according to a new study. According to a report published in the journal Peer J, humans are not very good at visualizing the size of creatures like the giant squid or whales, and media reports usually exaggerate their size too. The team of researchers from the U.S. and Canada compared popular reports and scientific reports for 25 different species of marine creatures, including whales, sharks, squids and other giant ocean dwellers, and found that most of the animals were actually smaller than what was reported.

How Zebras Got Their Stripes & Why Climate Change is Likely to Blame

While they're not alone in the vast wonders of Africa's abundant plains, zebras in particular have posed quite a quandary to scientists in past decades. Their unique striping of black and white have always sparked interest in their study, but the ever failing hypotheses quickly discouraged the discovery of their significance-if any at all. But while many researchers have failed in associating the stripes with social order of a herd or even as camouflaging tactics in the wild, a new study published this month in the journal Royal Society Open Science, researchers have discovered that the stripes are much more like a tan than we think.

Sea Turtles Reveal A Sixth Sense—Finding Their Way Home & Sensing The Seasons

As a migratory species, Leatherback Sea Turtles (Dermochely coriacea) are a rare oddity of nature that spend their lives mostly in travel, between their breeding grounds in open ocean and their tropical places of birth. Travelling back and forth between the tropics and their hunting grounds to the north, the unique species follows the cool waters, as they flow throughout the oceans they inhabit. But that doesn't even begin to unravel their mysterious origins or how they know to traverse the seas.

NASA Rockets Set to Explore the Aurora Borealis

The aurora borealis, better known as the northern lights, is one of nature's most spectacular displays that has captivated the imaginations of people for generations. And with their popular acclaim in mind, NASA plans to explore the aurora borealis in the coming weeks with several unmanned rocket probes in Alaska.

Threatened Thresher Shark Birth Captured on Film

Thresher sharks are among the open ocean's most interesting predators, using their elongated tails to herd and stun schools of fish. And now, for the first time, a mother pelagic thresher shark was caught on camera giving birth off the Philippine coast.

Study Shows Volcanoes May Be Causing Global Cooling

We have known for a while that massive volcanic eruptions, which eject massive amounts of gases into the atmosphere, can block enough solar radiation to have an effect on the climate. For example, scientists believe the explosion of the Indonesian volcano Mt. Tambora in 1815 caused the severe cold spell in 1816. But while scientists may have arrived at a consensus that our planet is warming, according to a new study published this week, some of the warming effects have been offset by small volcanic eruptions over the last decade. The vast quantities of ash and gases ejected from the volcanoes have had a remarkable cooling effect on the climate, by blocking solar radiation.

NASA Researchers Bring Exoplanets to Life in Kepler Style

How many planets like our Earth are out there in space? Well, while the possibilities are endless, and with the vast expanses of the universe the search may be endless. But thanks to NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, researchers have to date discovered 1,000 Earth-like exoplanets that seem to fit the bill. And in celebration of the record-breaking discovery, researchers at NASA are giving the public a view of what life on these exoplanets inhabited by humans might just look like—with a vintage feel.

New Research Reveals the Life and Death on Easter Island

Easter Island, with its iconic stone-head statues, has long been the subject of a fierce debate among academics. For years, scientists have been baffled by the mystery of Easter Island and simply didn't have a clue about what happened to the Polynesians who once lived there. That is, until now.
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