Canada could remove more than five times its annual carbon emissions from the atmosphere by the end of the century by planting trees along the northern edge of its boreal forest, a new study suggests. In recent decades forests have slowly moved north in response to climate change — in particular the taiga area on … Read more
Carbon dioxide emissions from China have flatlined or fallen for 21 months, meaning the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter may have reached a global turning point sooner than expected. China’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions dropped by 1% in the last quarter of 2025 and likely by 0.3% over the whole year, keeping them just beneath … Read more
Mass tree planting in China is turning one of the world’s largest and driest deserts into a carbon sink, meaning it absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits, new research reveals. The Taklamakan Desert (also spelled Taklimakan or Takla Makan) is slightly larger than Montana, stretching across about 130,000 square miles (337,000 square … Read more
In the Hollywood blockbuster “Inception” (2010), a dedicated team of “dream extractors” is hired to alter a CEO’s decision-making by manipulating his dreams. In the movie, this feat involves a private jet and liters of sedative gas — but a new study suggests they could have achieved a similar effect with only some steel-drum jingles … Read more
Beneath Earth’s surface lies a kingdom of undiscovered microscopic life. These “intraterrestrials” survive in some of the harshest conditions on the planet — and scientists are hunting for these microbes. In this excerpt from “Intraterrestrials: Discovering the Strangest Life on Earth” (Princeton University Press, 2025), author Karen G. Lloyd, a microbial biogeochemist at the University … Read more
Many tiny specks of ancient water are locked within one of the oldest and most famous Martian meteorites ever to fall to Earth, a new study finds. The surprising discovery, achieved using a new form of “neutron scanning,” reveals more clues about the Red Planet’s watery past, which may have set the stage for extraterrestrial … Read more
New evidence of ancient rivers suggests Mars may have been a “blue planet,” thanks to an ocean spanning its entire northern hemisphere. Cameras from several Mars orbiters captured the dusty remnants of apparent river deltas, which were described in research published Jan. 7 in the journal NPJ Space Exploration. The team, led by researchers at … Read more
The ocean soaked up more heat last year than in any year since modern measurements began around 1960, according to a new analysis published in Advances in Atmospheric Science. The world’s oceans absorb more than 90% of excess heat trapped in Earth’s atmosphere by greenhouse gas emissions. As heat in the atmosphere accumulates, heat stored … Read more
Today, trans people face politicization of their lives and vilification from politicians, media and parts of broader society. But in some of history’s earliest civilizations, gender-diverse people were recognized and understood in a wholly different way. As early as 4,500 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia, for instance, gender-diverse people held important roles in society with … Read more
NASA recently revealed the first pictures of its newly constructed Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which could soon help researchers hunt for exoplanets, map the Milky Way and unravel some of the universe’s biggest mysteries, such as the true nature of dark matter. Experts have also revealed the most probable launch date for the next-generation … Read more
