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Images of the 2020 Bobcat Fire area indicate soil burn severity and the locations the researchers studied. Credit: a: USDA Forest Service; b: A.J. West; d: Pléiades / CNES, Distribution AIRBUSDS, sourced via SkyWatch Space Applications Inc., and USGS 3D Elevation Program In 2020, one of the largest wildfires in Los Angeles County raged across…
Artist’s depiction of microquasar event captured by FAST Telescope. Credit: Professor Wei Wang, Wuhan University Black holes are the most mysterious objects in the universe, with features that sound like they come straight from a sci-fi movie. Stellar-mass black holes with masses of roughly 10 suns, for example, reveal their existence by eating materials from…
Illustration of a radio telescope listening for signals from an alien civilization. Credit: Zayna Sheikh, Breakthrough Listen In radio astronomy, there are lots of natural radio signals to observe. The glow of hydrogen gas, the swirl of electrons along a magnetic field, or the pop-pop-pop of pulsars. These signals usually have a very natural character…
In coastal sediments, microbial groups relying on labile organic matter are enriched, transforming protein-like DOM into humic-like DOM. In deep-sea sediments, the bio-availability of organic matter decreases and microbial groups that can degrade humic-like DOM become dominant, which lead to the net consumption of humic-like DOM in deep layers and an overall much lower production…
Dusty visible in the sunset, off the coast of Peru. Credit: Jan-Berend Stuut (NIOZ) A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences explores the effects of Saharan dust clouds on atmospheric methane. Its findings have potentially far-reaching implications for understanding the global methane budget and reasons behind the accelerating increase in…
A demonstration that the 2D prediction of percolation theory together with annual storage changes of 10% P (Ep, for AI < 1) and −30% P (Ep for AI < 1) bounds the MOPEX annual water balance data accurately for AI. Credit: AGU Advances (2023). DOI: 10.1029/2022AV000867 Allen Hunt, Ph.D., professor of physics at Wright State University, published a new…
Melting icebergs in Antarctica in 2023 Sebnem Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images The oceans may have been higher than they are now between 4000 and 8000 years ago. Understanding how the ancient climate led to those high seas could improve projections of how climate change will affect sea level in this century. There are three…
The explosion of new species in the Cambrian period saw the emergence of many familiar groups of animals dotted zebra/Alamy When animal life exploded in the oceans more than 500 million years ago, it changed the face of the planet. Now it seems the effects of that burst of evolution reached thousands of kilometres into…
Gríma (Guðrún Eyfjörð) lives beside a strange volcano Lilja Jonsdottir This review contains minor spoilers for Katla. Katla is a story about a community living in the shadow of a glacial volcano that has been erupting for more than a year. But it isn’t just about the threat of disaster – when people presumed missing or…
Uranus as seen by the James Webb Space Telescope NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI/J. DePasquale (STScI) Uranus and its dusty rings have been captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in exquisite detail, along with clouds and a polar cap. The rings around Uranus are difficult to see with most telescopes because the dark rocks…